At the book launch

A bit over a week ago I attended the launch of Home: New Writing, a collection of essays by New Zealand writers and edited by Thom Conroy. As usual at the City Library, where the launch took place in the evening, the lighting was difficult, but I managed a handful of acceptable photographs.



All content © 2017 Pete McGregor

Mandvi, Gujarat

As I walked back to my room in Mandvi, I got a cheery greeting from these women—yet another example of the welcoming attitude of so many people I met in this small, coastal town. By all means visit Mandvi to see the hand-built wooden ships under construction, but the town has far more to offer.



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Wallah at Josimath, Uttarakhand

Jumping back to much earlier in the journey ... In the early morning, this elderly wallah made chai for me at a small dhaba on the main street of Josimath, deep in Uttarakhand. It was cold then; now, it must feel arctic. The next day I was able to give him a print of the photograph.

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Tuba wallah, Bundi

I had a great time photographing in Bundi. Sometimes I couldn't get a smile while I had the camera up, but that was because it disappeared as soon as I raised the camera and reappeared afterwards. I think many people have the idea that portraits must be formal and smiling's forbidden.

Merry Christmas from Udaipur. Tomorrow evening I catch a sleeper bus all the way to Jamnagar in Gujarat.

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Jeep driver at Rudraprayag

I'd already scored the front passenger seat in a jeep going from Rudraprayag to Rishikesh, but other jeep drivers kept trying to steal me. Maybe that's how this guy scored his black eye ;-)

Speaking of eyes, keep one out for new photographs on my Instagram account.

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Lunch stop on the way to Champawat

After crossing the far western border from Nepal to India, I caught a shared van from Tanakpur to Champawat. We stopped for lunch at one of the typical roadside dhabas. The kitchen staff thought being photographed was hilarious. Great, good-humoured fun all round.

I'm back in Almora, heading for Kausani tomorrow after a few days in Naini Tal. The nights are bitterly cold, and I don't know whether I'll be able to cope with Josimath, so I might be heading for Delhi again sooner than intended.

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Feeding time at Thakurdwara, near Bardia NP, Nepal

One evening I walked along the road leading from the lodge. Several people called out welcomes,and I enjoyed watching some of the daily tasks of life in and around Thakurdwara.

[I'm in Almora, Uttarakhand, India, now. Tomorrow I'll probably head for Naini Tal and do a day visit to nearby Sattal for the birdlife. Then it's on again, to Kausani and deeper into Uttarakhand, eventually to Josimath, then down to Rudraprayag and back to Delhi via Rishikesh. That's the vague plan, but who knows what will happen?]

All content © 2016 Pete McGregor

Rickshaw driver, Nepalgunj

He looks young, but he drove his rickshaw like a pro. I was only an hour or two in Nepalgunj after getting off the flight from Kathmandu, but I liked it.

Finding time to post photographs isn't easy when travelling, and I'm aware I still need to post on the main blog. I do have an Instagram account, though, and posting there's more efficient.

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Road crossing, New Delhi

Although a few places around the aptly named Connaught Circus do have traffic lights and pedestrian crossings, getting to the other side of the street is often a matter of stepping out into the traffic and assuming it'll swerve around you. The locals are much better at this than I am.

All content © 2016 Pete McGregor

Good cheap food at the Capital Hotel Restaurant

In New Zealand you'd pay almost ten times what you pay for a good meal here at the Capital Hotel restaurant. ('Restaurant' might convey slightly the wrong impression, though, as you can probably tell from this photograph.) The bonus is that you get waited on by these guys. Little wonder I like eating here.

All content © 2016 Pete McGregor

Chai wallah, Pahar Ganj, New Delhi

I'd rushed outside to photograph the early morning Sikh ritual, but I couldn't get a good angle for a photograph. I did notice the chai wallah, though. The chai cost me 10 rupees: an affordable luxury despite my almost complete lack of cash.

I hope the vast queues at the ATMs will subside in the next day or two so I can withdraw cash and be able to enjoy frequent cups of this wonderful drink (which bears almost no resemblance to the 'chai latte' in New Zealand.

In case you're wondering, I'm in India again. My arrival in the wee hours of Saturday morning coincided with the chaos following Prime Minister Modi's sudden announcement that 500 and 100 rupee notes were no longer valid, effective immediately.

All content © 2016 Pete McGregor

Rata, No. 1 Line track

The most spectacular of New Zealand's rata are those that eventually become large — sometimes giant — trees, like the Northern rata. But smaller species of rata (this is probably Metrosideros diffusa) grow in profusion in many of our forests, and even when they're not flowering they're lovely to look at.

This photograph is dedicated to the memory of Raewyn Hilliard, who passed away last Saturday — the day I photographed this. It's thanks to the generosity of Raewyn and her husband, Kerry, in granting access over their land, that we're able to enjoy the No. 1 Line track.

All content © 2015 Pete McGregor

The road from Manali to Leh

At the first stop on the second day of the drive from Manali to Leh I chatted with the driver of our minibus. How long had he been driving this route, I asked. He hesitated, then said seven, eight years. Later, someone else asked him and he replied six, seven years. Whatever the true period, he clearly knew the road extremely well.

All content © 2014 Pete McGregor

Failed portrait; Old Town, Leh

I'd walked past this man many times, greeting him with a 'Julley,' to which he always responded with a great smile and nod of the head, and often a 'Julley' also. I'd even inspected some of his motley collection of wares but had finally declined to buy anything after finding one of his bracelets emblazoned with 'aloha', which I assume is not a Ladakhi word. He seemed unperturbed; in fact, he seemed delighted I'd even bothered to stop and take a look.

We continued to greet each other with smiles and Julleys, and on my last day in Leh I asked if I might photograph him. He beamed and nodded and the moment I turned the camera towards him he stopped smiling. I couldn't get him to smile in any of the series of photographs, but as soon as I'd finished and thanked him, that wonderful smile returned. This is why I consider this a failure as a portrait -- it might look O.K. but it doesn't express the personality I encountered.

I'm now back in the Pohangina valley after a very long and tiring journey. Recovering my strength will take some time, but otherwise I'm fine.



All content © 2014 Pete McGregor

Kashmiri carpets

On the way back from Dachigam National Park, near Srinagar, Aijaz took me to visit his uncle's cooperative crafts enterprise (Paradise Crafts, Nishat, Srinagar). Mukhtar's operation sells handcrafts on behalf of thousands of home operations, and among the foremost of these crafts are Kashmir's famous hand-knotted carpets.

Mukhtar explained the process of producing these carpets and what determines their quality. The three most important determinants are the density of knotting (the more knots per square inch, the higher the quality -- top carpets have the astonishing density of 800-900 knots per square inch); the number of colours; and the intricacy of the pattern. Many of these carpets take years to manufacture, even with several people working on them. Some of these I found stunningly beautiful.

But the difference between carpets with, say, 400 knots per square inch and those with 700-800 is immediately obvious. That's the problem -- having seen and touched a top quality carpet you're unlikely to be satisfied with one of lower quality, and even considering that the price includes DHL couriering anywhere in the world, that they'll only appreciate in value, and that a purchase supports a local family, the smallest and least expensive are still several hundred US dollars, so buying one of these isn't a decision to make lightly.

Sadly, the skill of creating these carpets seems to be slowly dying out as young people turn to more lucrative opportunities and those with the skill age.

If you do want to find out more about Mukhtar's co-op, feel free to contact me.

All content © 2014 Pete McGregor

Tandoor Bakery, Leh (2)

Here's another view of this ancient bakery in Old Leh. You're probably tired of my whingeing about trying to process these photographs using Photomate and Android, but the output from Photomate looks markedly different from the photograph while it's being processed. Oh for Lightroom and Windows!

I'm now back in Delhi after a highly eventful trip from Leh to Manali (almost 25 hours of travelling) and a frustrating bus journey from Manali to Delhi. The delays cost me any chance of getting to the Kazakhstan embassy today, so that will have to wait until Friday now. Delhi's still sweltering, although the temperature has dropped a little compared to a month ago.

All content © 2014 Pete McGregor

Tandoor baker, Leh

This bakery in Leh's Old Town has been operating for 600 to 700 years. I assume the bakers aren't the originals, though ;^)

I couldn't walk past this without stopping. Almost everything about it -- the wonderful smell, the simplicity, the thick layer of black tar on the ceiling from hundreds of years of smoke, the dexterity and rhythm of the baker as he formed the dough and slapped it onto the inside of the oven -- fascinated me.

Later in the morning after I photographed this, the entrance was a scrum of people packed several deep, waiting to buy the fresh breads.

All content © 2014 Pete McGregor

The chai seller, Manali

Old Manali clings to the mountainside above the main town and is the preferred option for many visitors. It has an abundance of cafes and restaurants, with the expense of their offerings correlated mostly with how hip they try to be and, as far as my limited experience goes, not at all correlated with the quality (although, to be fair, most is at least good). If, for example, you want good chai, go to somewhere like this: a stall that sits between Old and New Manali. It's a shack made of tin, buckled plywood and grime, with a corrugated iron roof.  I stopped in on a walk back from the new town a couple of days ago, hoping for an aloo paratha, but had arrived too late in the day.
  'Only chai,' the man said.
Only chai was fine with me. I sat in the dark interior with one other customer, an Indian man absorbed in his phone, and drank only chai and watched the passers-by. Afterwards, I paid the 10 rupees for the chai (less than NZ 20 cents) and chatted briefly with the owner (with the cigarette) and his friend. I felt as if I were back in India.

All content © 2014 Pete McGregor

Dog at Dal Lake

One of the guide books describes Dal Lake, one of the points of interest near Dharamsala, as 'underwhelming'. That's an apt description, but the place isn't entirely without interest. The dogs certainly know how to pose for photographs -- plenty of practice, perhaps?

Early tomorrow morning I catch the bus to Manali. Most people apparently take the night bus, but I like to see the places I'm travelling through, particularly when I have to spend 10 hours in a bus.

All content © 2014 Pete McGregor

Samtin

Yesterday my new friends from Shanghai and I visited Dal Lake, just outside Dharamsala. We were accompanied by a couple of other friends, including Samtin, whom William had met on his previous visit. The lake itself is, to put it mildly, unspectacular, so Samtin suggested visiting Naddi village, a short walk away. This proved more interesting. I managed to avoid the leeches this time; unfortunately, Suri and Samtin didn't. An application of hand sanitiser quickly removed the leech from Suri's ankle, but Samtin, like a good buddhist, let his feed unmolested. (The only problem with leeches is the mess they leave behind -- they use an anticoagulant which means the blood flows for a long time.)

'"Samtin" -- sounds like "something",' he explained, laughing.

[I've published a new post on Pohanginapete]

All content © 2014 Pete McGregor