Image:  View on the slopes from the village - Gulmarg, Jammu & Kashmir, India. Locals are not to keen on using a recycle bin. Unfortunately same applies to the foreign tourists.

Equipment: Panasonic FT-1 (yes, digital, eating my own words here, film camera was too heavy to carry on a free-ride)

Full set @ http://www.tiblu.com/img/kashmir_india_2010/

Full set 2 by Marek @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/laazik/sets/72157623603474437/

Some random thoughts on India. Strictly reflecting my own views on things:

• People are friendly.
• Indian people do the least that works. Example: wiring of street lamps.  In the forest, there was a high voltage line which was so low that you could possibly run into. A motorcycle has fuel filter attached with band-aid. Shocks are over-rated – they are not essential for driving.
• From the point above, I get shivers and shakes when I think of outsourcing any kind of work from India.
• Delhi is too hot for an Estonian (northern) man.
• Bargain on every price. They do try to get max amount of money out of a tourist, but that’s pure business.
• Agree on price before taking a taxi to avoid surprises.
• Take a pre-paid taxi from the airport.  Buy the ticket from the booth and follow the instructions of the seller. Never give your luggage to the guys in front of the booth claiming to be the drivers.
• Delhi is dirty, but you’ll get used to it. Recycle bins are not widely used, everything is dropped to the ground. It must be a custom from old times when everything was natural and just rot and become soil. Unfortunately today we have other materials which don’t rot too fast. I guess it takes generations to get the habit out.
• Delhi seemed safe. While there are complaints about pickpocketing etc. I didn’t spot any suspicious activity which I could spot right away in Tirane, Albania.
• Hanging around in the city at night is totally cool.
• Srinagar airport must be the most secure place in the earth -  taxi checked for explosives, no entrance to airport are without a ticket. Luggage, hand baggage and body checked 3 times.
• Indian army is friendly to civilians.
• Gulmarg, Kashmir is an excellent place for a free-ride.
• Fayaz from Ski-Himalaya is an excellent free-ride guide.
• The hospital of Tangmarg was “interesting” – not too hygienic. Signs on the wall say “don’t spit” and rooms numbers said: “casualty no. X”.  Basically if you end up there with a serious injury, the use of word “casualty” makes sense.
• Spending a few nights after snowboarding Himalayas on boat houses on Dhal lake (Srinagar)  is really relaxing.
• Despite the fact that armed forces are everywhere I would not say there was tension in Kashmir. They suggest you not to hang around mosques on Friday nights though. That is where riots usually start. Unless… unless you are into extreme sports.
• Play in a Bollywood movie, it is fun.
• Auto rickshaw is the best transportation out in the city.
• Vehicles horn is multifunctional – hi! get away! passing! happy! thank you!
• Mirrors are not a common practice for taxi drivers – they have their horn and ears.
• It’s totally OK to urinate in public, usually performed while squat down.
• For those who like hardcore after-ski, Gulmarg is not your place. The place is low on entertainment other that powder (!) and as 90% are muslims, alcohol does not come easy.
• I suggest to see the countryside, small villages are totally cool and visitors welcome.
• Food is spicy.
• Don’t try to fight diarrhea, you’ll get it sooner or later. Stick to spicy food and you’ll get over it in few days or more.
• Pimp-my-Ride must be India’s favourite TV show – cars are hand painted and colourful.
• Inner tourists are the majority in Gulmarg. They come in masses to see the snow for the first time. After buying pair of cloves and a warm hat they swim in it, they eat it, they build a snowman, they ski, they sledge.  It is very cool to see a 70 year old become a kid again seeing snow for the first time in her/his life.
• Is is perfectly normal to snowboard and see an army outpost on the way. It is also normal to ski with a machine-gun.
• The best place for getting a shave in the middle of a market.
• Cows are free animals, they go were they want and when they want. Cemetery is a good place for fresh grass.

In conclusion India is a cool place to travel and Gulmarg is a very cool place to free-ride.

Now waiting for b4apres guys to finish up their cultural ski film about Kashmir.

An old un-posted travel story.._

Intro

“Mediating with Comics in Environmental Education” was the title of the event I was fortunate to participate in France 22.11 – 29.11.2008. Basically the idea of this was to teach and discuss how to raise the awareness of environmental issues through comics. Event was organized by TERA-Maison de l’Europe de la Charente in cooperation with Regional office of the French Ministry of Youth and Sports, the CNBDI (National Center of Comics and Picture), the Centre de découverte d’Aubeterre.
Event took place in little town called Aubeterre-sur-Dronne and Angoulême – World capital of comics. Aubeterre was the headquarters of the event and CNBDI (National Center of Comics and Picture) in Angoulême was where the seminars were held.
Participants gathered from all over the Europe – Creek, Macedonia, Romania, Latvia, Spain and of course hosting country France and myself from Estonia. It was an misfortune that people from Armenia and Georgia couldn’t participate.

Conclusions – in random order:

• French are about cheese, red wine and hospitality.
• French have lunch as a social event – its no problem to eat lunch for an hour.
• Some even speak English.
• The hardest English word for them is “environment”.
• French know how to make a short story long.
• Creek have some strange chewing gum and alcohol. Alcohol must be better than the chewing gum, cause it did not last long, while the gum lasted forever.
• French have some really strange green marmalade jam.
• French have some weird cars (have you seen electric window control in the center console? Fuel filter nearby rear right wheel?)
• French are very thorough.
• An airport can have inner railroad system.
• Romanian men are strong-boned, probably wrestling with a bear in their free time.
• Romanian women don’t talk when they have nothing to say.
• Macedonian men are quiet observers and can tell a joke.
• Paris is very much afraid of terrorists.
• French are very tolerant.
• Countryside around Aubeterre-sur-Dronne is amazing – people, landscape, atmosphere…
• Every house has window covers, I don’t know why.
• French don’t use much spices in their food while desserts are very sweet. Desserts make an excellent combination with coffee.
• French have their morning cereals with warm milk.
• French eat the 300 different types of cheese with bread, not bread with cheese like us.
• There is a university in the World where they teach how to draw comics. That is in Angoulême.
• You need GPS to navigate.
• You can have unlimited roundabouts in a city.
• French love-love-love comics.
• You can have a store which sells only comics and covers about 100 square meters.
• French are very aware of environmental issues and teach ecology in schools.
• Some parts of Spain already face clean water issue and have a factory to make sea water drinkable. So it isn’t a “to come” issue.
• Lost baggage can be found.
• Don’t buy books as souvenirs, nor accepts them as gifts if you don’t have wheels on your suitcase.
• Travel insurance IS needed, accidents DO happen. I hope you get well soon unknown Estonian who was taken to hospital from Amsterdam airport.
• There are book authors who spend about 15 minutes writing-drawing you a dedication.
• There are people who walk around with a sketchbook and pocket-brush in their pocket. They draw anytime and anywhere.
• To some age French children have 4 days of school per week.
• Comics can be excellent way to make long story short. For example this blog post would be on 3 A4s if drawn by a good comic artist instead of way_too_long-hard-to-read-boring text. As they say: “One good picture says more than 1000 words”.
• Comics are extra useful for those who have “visual memory” (like me).
• So comics can be extra efficient educational material.
• Sarkozy can be present in every comic strip in the newspaper. Good guy, no unemployed comic artists!
• Star Alliance’s emergency baggage contains following stuff: perfume, a comb, a razor, shaving foam, a white T-shirt size of XXL, toothpaste, a toothbrush, absorbent cotton, ear cleaning sticks and some strange white powder. I didn’t forget to write shampoo or shower gel here, it wasn’t included in the package.

Image: Momo not just signing, but drawing a full page dedication

Equipment: Hasselblad 500 c/m, Carl Zeiss Planar 80mm f2,8 / Kodak Professional 120

Full set @ http://www.tiblu.com/img/mediumformat2008_4

I’m really out of words. That does not happen often and it feels akward.
Here is the first set from Kiev 6C. I really love 2 shots – the one attached to the post and the other with the girl having the “eagle look” on surroundings, checking out the next victim to photograph.
That’s it and remember: “Actions speak louder than words..”

Image: Mister sleeping on a bench in Prague.

Equipment: Kiev 6C, Vega-12b 90mm f2.8 / Kodak Professional 120

Full set @ http://www.tiblu.com/img/mediumformat_Kiev_6C_2009_1/

That’s it, that’s it, that’s it, the new kit is Kiev 6C, Vega-12b 90mm f2.8, Mir-38b 65mm f3.5 provided by Sten. I must say it is one wicked camera – it looks just like a regular 35mm film camera but it is double in size. It does scare people.
In fact, the camera got me stripped in airport security check – I had to lay out all my stuff on the table, sneakers off, lenses off, caps off, bag empty. They checked each of the item individually. I do remember the face on the lady carrying out the check when she took a look at the Kiev 6C – she was speechless and searching for a viewfinder which I opened up (shaft, not prism) for her after noticing the confusion. After seeing the image from the finder, she was satisfied. As a last thing they searched for traces of explosive materials from my bag. I guess it wasn’t just the camera – I do wear 1960s Eastern-Germany military uniform pants and a jacket.

Got first shutter releases during my trip to Prague and London. Although there were a lot of tourists I loved Prague, it has some “mojo” for me that Rome and Paris don’t. London was obviously different experience – way bigger in size = more people, more rushing and it was my first time there. Lucky enough, I had an excellent companion for the trip – a co-worker from London office – Rita.
Prague: we had great fun navigating the city, eating huge amount of meat, some tasty potato cakes, some chillin’ in Hard Rock Cafe, out with her friends from Portugal in Lebanese restaurant and taking photos while at it. Basically I was there to confuse, she was there to fix it all up. Oh, tube (metro) always confuses me.
London: working from the office at the day time, evenings touring the city and stayed at co-workers for the night at co-workers. Staying in an apartment with a Portuguese, Creek and Estonian = great fun and well fed. Places that I liked the most – St James’s Park, Regeant’s Park (very cool view on the city at night), Victoria Embankment Gardens, Camden markets area, the Tube. I must say I wasn’t all excited about the Big Ben or Tower Bridge or Buckingham. What I did like a lot was the variety of people – very-very different cultures/personalities living together – quite inspiring environment though it does not show in the pictures. I think I took altogether ~20 pictures on the 9 day trip.

Yet again, failed to make long story short. Thanks again to Sten for the scans.

Image: Ladies hunting their ice-cream by the Thames.

Equipment: Kiev 6C, Vega-12b 90mm f2.8 / Fujicolor Reala 100

Full set @ http://www.tiblu.com/img/mediumformat_Kiev_6C_2009_2/
(some shots are in next post…)

NB! If the film packaging says: “Load in dimmed light” – do that or face the consequences.

I was in France from 22th to 29th Nov. That was some amazing trip I must say. I have a blog post draft that I’ve been writing for a day or two and maybe will even publish it some day. Meanwhile take a look at the first roll as a teaser.

Picture: I had a bit time to tour on the streets of Angoulême. There it was, a perfect condition Mini Cooper on the streets looking shiny as an easter-egg.

Equipment: Hasselblad 500 c/m, Carl Zeiss Planar 80mm f2,8 / Kodak Professional 120

Full set @ http://www.tiblu.com/img/mediumformat2008_3/