Tag Archives: tibet

BLINDED BY THE SUN – KATHMANDU – NEPAL – 1995

In 1995 I traveled with a lapsed Catholic nun from Lhasa to Shigatse. After several days Dorothy returned to Lhasa. We woke at dawn and breakfasted on Momos or dumpling and butter tea. I wanted to get an early start and Dorothy accompanied me to the southern edge of town. The Asia Friendship Highway ran […]

Snow Beer, Benny Hill, Lhasa 1995

In 1995 Tim Challen a 20 year old Briton wandered the world bound for Tibet. Chengdu, China was the airport of departure to Lhasa. Arranging visas et al he explored the Szechuan capitol arriving at a riverside cafe with two young female Dutch travelers for an afternoon tea. Surrounded by hibiscus flowers calm reigned along […]

Tibet T-Bone 1995

This road ran between Lhasa and Kathmandu. Twenty miles farther Another dirt road diverged to Khailash. The van stopped there and drove off to the Holy Mountain A thousand kilometers away to the west. I stood at the t-bone intersection Headed south to Nepal. I couldn’t have been happier in such desolation Whereas I freak […]

Sony World Band Radio

Before the Internet the Sony World 12-Band Radio was my only connection to the West from Biak, Irian Jaya to Tibet. Primarily the BBC. Big Ben’s bongs sounding the hour and then the soothing voice announcing, “This is the BBC. The time is 12pm Greenwich Mean Time.” Plus listening to the music of the world […]

The Atlas of The Bible = National Geographic

National Geographic Society was founded in 1888 by explorers and scientists at DC’s Cosmos Club with the backing of wealthy patrons as “a society for the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge.” Expanses of unmapped lands sprawled across the continents. The Society financed innumerable treks to Alaska, the Arctic, Antarctica, the steppes of Tibet, the […]