Diana Australis' photos

HFF. A large livestock market is held every Sunday in Kashgar, in Xinjiang in Western China. This is basically Central Asia…thé old Chinese Turkestan as it was historically known. The sheep with their long faces and dangling ears are quite pretty..the standard here. They also have very fat bottoms! May your Friday be frivolous in some little way, and your weekend quietly wonderful. Peace and love…Diana

From Fairy Meadows, North Pakistan. At 3,300 meters. Looking out at the north face of the 8,126m Nanga Parbat massif at the extreme end of the Himalaya. From the massif runs this giant Raikot Glacier, which covers 39sq kilometres. Because of its extreme altitude, this glacier is not retreating. It was well worth the hair-raising Jeep drive and subsequent nightmare horse ride to get here and stay a couple of nights in this high altitude grazing land. It is also a stop on the access to Nanga Parbat base camps. Nanga Parbat is commonly known as the Killer Mountain as it has taken the lives of many professional mountaineers attempting to summit it. Have a cracking Friday and a worry free weekend ❤️ There is a fence there…it stops you falling headfirst down a steep abyss into the glacier.

At around 4000m here, in the Himalaya, looking out across the Indus to the Karakoram Range. The mountains rise steeply and abruptly from the deep and treacherous valley below carved out by the mighty Indus River, near its headwaters. The air is thin, thé sky endless and there is a flush of autumn across the low trees and bushes. A most remote area reached by terrifying jeep track, requiring a leap of faith as usual. Very untouristed. I love north Pakistan very much!

At 3800meters in the high altitude Basho Valley in Baltistan, far north Pakistan. On a stunningly beautiful, though crisp and cold, autumn day. May your Friday be a cheerful and happy day, and your weekend a wonderful one. Thanks for the visit. ❤️

An older photo from rural central India, just before an election with political slogans and symbols painted on it. A common occurrence in rural villages. Have a mighty midweek!

A villager in a semi rural street in Baltistan, in the town of Khapalu, Pakistan A typical street in terms of architecture in these remote places. The fence is part of the local chicken shop, where you choose your chicken which is freshly killed for you. It is closed here. Have a marvellous Friday and a cracker weekend. Diana ❤️

Autumn in the Indus Valley in Baltistan, far north Pakistan. The land of amazing high peaks and astonishing landscapes. And bizarre words on rocks! Happy midweek all xxxxx

HFF…no, not lying..there is a guard fence along the highway, visible if the photo is viewed very large. This is ascending the Highway in far north Pakistan, with autumn colours and the mighty 6-7000m Passu Cones as background. The Ismaili Wakhi communities live in villages along this river valley. It is not far from where my darling Wakhi family lives. I love it so much up here. Have a peaceful, happy and productive weekend. Love ❤️

In the ‘old city’ reconstruction in Kashgar, in the remote Taklamakan Desert of China, the walls in one set of alleys are completely covered with carpets , exposed to the rain, as here, and the weather. It is bizarre but very interesting and attractive to roam through. And most colourful. Carpet weaving is one of the traditional crafts of the region. The coloured doors lead into residential housing. Happy midweek from summer in Australia.

In the very high altitude mountain communities of remote Baltistan near the border with India, autumn brings time to collect and store commodities for the bitterly cold, long winters, with temperatures reaching -40°C. Women climb about the rocky, steep hillsides searching for winter stores of wood, their only fuel. It is backbreaking work that they perform day after day…as well as the cooking, laundry, home chores etc. Hope your weekend is fabulous. I am back on deck again after a minor stint of surgery. Peace and love…Diana

Xinjiang, China. Part of the refurbished city centre of the ancient Silk Road city. It is very hot in Australia just now, while it is bitterly cold in parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Hope Friday and the weekend are not too extreme for any of us! Love and best wishes. ♥️

China. Tashkurgan. Xinjiang. It made me laugh. Have a lovely week ahead. I hope the weather settles more calmly in Europe, while here in Australia it is very hot indeed. Peace and love Diana

Too lazy to swim….waddling across a little suspension bridge in Pakistan! Happy, happy Friday, and a fulfilling and cheerful weekend!

My friend took this as I am in the picture. Travelling along the treacherous main road out through Baltistan in North Pakistan there are small 4WD tracks off into very remote and isolated valleys. At each of these turnoffs was a well manned police checkpoint and traffic stop. In case you do not know, Pakistan is one country where polio is still endemic. Why? Because in some isolated border areas are pockets of very hardline, uneducated Muslims who believe that polio vaccination is a plot to sterilise their children. So they kill polio vaccinators, who have to travel with police protection. In the first half of last year in the South of the country 16 vaccinators and police were killed and 34 injured. This is a polio checkpoint, and at each of them is a vaccinator ( in fluoro vest)who checks every vehicle as the police stop it, and vaccinates any unvaccinated children. I talked with a few, and at this stop, met the lady in the photo, a WHO doctor, Nadia Sultan, who is responsible for the rollout of the current vaccination program in all of North Pakistan. I was in awe of her work! My educated family lives in a different remote region of the North where the overall vaccination rate is the same as Sweden’s. Have a fab Friday and a mild weathered weekend! ❤️

Gulmit, North Pakistan, where my beloved adopted family lives. In autumn. The landscape is formed by, and built into, the rugged, jagged mountains. In these narrow river valleys between towering peaks, generations have fought to create as much usable flat areas of land. The best..for cultivation, thé more undulating and rocky, for livestock. The animals are taken to high altitude alpine pastures at 4000+ meters for summer, and brought back down for autumn/ winter. Happy peaceful Friday, and wishing a weekend of lovely photo ops…and some kind weather.

In a difficult to reach high altitude village in Baltistan, it was late autumn. Winters here are brutal. Electricity in not assured…frequently zero. In this area it was the work of the women to roam far and wide to search, cut, and carry these backbreaking baskets of heavy wood. They then carry them up over and around the rocky terrain to their villages to store for winter. It is their only fuel for heating and cooking when it is often -25°. My friend Sher Baz reassured me, as I already know, that thé men do this in their culture in Gojal/ Hunza regions as it is considered too much for women. It certainly is a very hard life in Baltistan for women. Happy week….hot here…keep warm if not in Australia!

Xinjiang, China. Kashgar Old City is a new reconstruction of the ancient Silk Road Town. Despite being new, it is a visual delight, as in this street, using many ancient pillars, and elements salvaged from the old town. Yes, the old town was very interesting and picturesque, but insanitary, crowded and far from ideal living conditions. I have enjoyed both the old, and the new. Happy New Year everyone. For personal renewal, good health and for creative joy in capturing images of your world. Peace and love, Diana

The Passu Cones are a striking Karakoram formation of 6000m jagged peaks which are a backdrop to the village of Passu, in Gojal, far North Pakistan. Driving towards them and winding and ascending through them on The Karakoram Highway leads to the 4700m Khunjerav Pass, and the China border. The fences or border markers here are all stone as it is the most easily available building material. Wood is precious and limited in supply. Wishing a peaceful Friday and weekend during this post- Christmas period and into 2025. If only the whole world were at peace….