Locked in travel

Traditional transport in Karnataka, Southern India. A number of decorated bullock carts, their animals beautifully decorated, were transporting families along a typical Indian highway. Think, hundreds of overloaded trucks, horns blaring, swerving and swaying....and the quiet bullock carts plodding calmly in the chaos! I thought to post virtual travel shots from all over the place to cheer my own confinement indoors!

Traditional dhows are still hand built in Gujarat. India. Metiers/jobs

Woman with tribal tattoos...who was resting while in a road-building gang

Leh. India (Kashmir/Ladakh). Jobs/metiers

India. Fire puja on Ganges banks at Rishikesh

Or chai wallah. Kolkata...and he still uses small disposable clay cups. The tea was wonderful! He sits here all day from early morning til late evening! The clay cups, single use, have been used in India for hundreds of years. They are hygienic, degrade to mere soil, and provide jobs to manufacture. Many other places in India now use plastic or waxed paper...which is an environmental night mare, as they are just thrown all over the ground.

A street scene in Gwalior, India. An escape for the day! Thanks for sharing in the scene. Have a safe weekend, and keep healthy. I hope you have some lovely moments to brighten you up! Hugs from Down Under

Jobs/metiers.

Despite our locked up at home status, we could be in a worse state. Like this chap I photographed non digitally in India in 2000. He spent 40 minutes like this with no sign of any breathing assistance....to earn about 3O cents in small coins. What I call, à super tough gig. Keep well and cheerful!

High in the Bolivian Andes at 4000 meters...a herd of llamas ( meat, milk, wool) Each has the distinctive colour ear tag of its owner. They are kept in communal herds and survive very efficiently at high altitudes

Jai Vilas Palace, Gwalior, India. Crystal balustrades and a 5 tonne Venetian glass chandelier. This is one of the most opulent palaces in India. The Maharajah of Scindia spared no expense. In the grand formal dining room, with a colossal U shaped table is a solid silver miniature railway line running the length of the table, along which ran a silver train. Each carriage contained a liqueur, eg port, cognac, whiskey, and cigars. The train would deliver these to each guest at their seat. And yes...I saw it! Have a wonderful weekend...most of all, stay healthy and well. Hugs from Australia

Magnificent young male at Bandhavgar National Park in eastern Madhya Pradesh, India. It was late June, 50C. At this time foliage has died away, so visibility is excellent. This animal walked out from a distant thicket, slowly. The photo was taken from around 3-4 meters, standing in an open jeep. It is a park which is quite difficult to access, so tourist numbers were very low, and tiger numbers were high. We saw about 10 different animals over 2 days.

A fisherman near Point Pedro in far north Sri Lanka, working on the day’s catch

From the Main Street of Ushguli, in the Upper Svaneti region of the Georgian Caucasus. Next to the border with Russia, and at altitude. The village is very remote, and the road from the south ends here. The electricity was non functional while we were there. Main traffic on this street is pigs and cows Please all look after yourselves. I am so upset at what I see happening around the world just now! Lock up and stay well.

Yerevan, Armenia

In the remote Spiti Valley, at 4300 meters in the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh, India. The yaks are returning home for the night, safe from wolves. Although they are a bit large for snow leopards to tackle, the young can be vulnerable. There is quite a population of snow leopards here, and education has led to a conservation approach among the locals. The landscapes in this remote Buddhist region of India are extraordinary

Paddy melons on the roadside in desert Western Australia, in the Murchison region. The road is the red dirt on the right hand top of the picture. Paddy melons are not edible for humans.....They thrive in desert areas Nothing eats them: they are poisonous. A nice decoration for the desert...and Tiabunna tells me they are a feral import from South Africa. They have certainly colonised Australia well!

At Tso Moriri, at 4600 meters altitude on the Centra Asian side of the Himalaya. Close to the border with Tibet, in Ladakh, India. Very remote...12 hours across trackless sand in high altitude desert, this is the summer grazing lands for the Ladaki herders of Pashmina goats. These nomads spend several months in the yak hair tents, before retreating to lower levels before the winter, with temperatures of -50 degrees arrives. This old woman who was blind, sat here all day while her family accompanied the goats to graze. The shepherds keep the snow leopards and wolves away from the animals. Because these Tibetan people’s have historically long lived inside the Indian border, their lifestyle is not at any risk, as the Indian government is very supportive of these minorities, especially in border regions.