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My Greece travel photos is featured in Feb issue of Marie Claire 10.
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A travel article on my trip from Nepal to Tibet is featured in the Jan issue of Marie Claire.
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Dance of the Sorcerers
The elaborately dressed dancers with imposing masks danced with a slow but steady movement as lamas chant and blow the huge Tibetan trumpets. The crowds were tightly packed at the monastery yard forming a circle round the dancers. As the crowds surged forward a lama with a long branches of leaves drove the crowd back. The ceremony has already started when we reached the temple and I couldn¡¯t squeeze through the crowds to get a better view. Looking around I saw a group of photographers were already on the rooftop of a nearby house. Making my way there I found that I have to pay the house owner RMB20 before I am allowed to climb up the wobbly ladder. The dancers are all monks wearing masks representing different gods and demons. The entire ritual is rather solemn despite the colorful costumes and masks. This ceremony is an important part of the Grand Summons Festival in the first lunar month, lasting over a couple of hours it will ends with a procession where the monks carry the Domar or sacrificial cakes placed on a triangle stand with a skullcap on top to the nearby woods. After more chanting the Domar were thrown into the fire to feed the hungry ghost. This ritual is aimed at dispelling the demons and evil spirits, by purifying the demons and liberates their souls from purgatory. This is one of the many ceremonies that are held from the 8th to 15th in the first lunar month at the temples in the Gannan Tibetan autonomous prefectures of Qinghai and Gansu provinces. These ceremonies are held in different days in each temple, which made it easier for us to follow the celebrations as we moved from one temple to another over a few days.  Tongren County a major historical and cultural site famous for Tibetan Buddhist art and thangka is a favorite among tourists and local. There are 3 important monasteries in Tongren where these ceremonies are held on different day attracting many photographers and hundreds of locals who come from nearby villages to celebrate the New Year. The Tibetan come dressed in their finest clothes and jewelleries to take part in these ceremonies. The highlight of these ceremony is the display of the giant Buddha thangka or popularly known as ¡°sunning the Great Buddha¡±. It begins with hours of chanting and an elaborate ceremony at the temple. The monks and villagers then carry the huge thangka to the nearby hill to be unveiled amidst more chanting and prayers. This once a year ritual usually drew hundreds of devotees from villagers around the provinces. These areas here have some of the finest Tibetan culture and largest monasteries outside of Tibet. In fact I find them so much more culturally stronger than Lhasa, which has become too modernized. Unfortunately we as foreigner as not allowed into the more sensitive area of Xiahe where some of the most major monastery like Labrang and Langmusi are located. Because of this we had to divert our originally planned visit to these 2 monasteries and take a much longer route, which caused us to be late for one of the ceremony. Apart from the cultural experience, the landscape here is equally amazing. Some of this route will take you through mountainous areas of 3000m above sea level passing herds of yaks and sheep gazing, and a hill that is full of Tibetan prayer flags.  
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Feeling at home in Hom
And there is no better place than Hom for nature and photo enthusiasts. Located in the southeast of Kanas Lake Nature Reserve in Xinjiang, Hom is an area surrounded by mountains, forest, valley and a river. Hom or Hemu is a village predominant by Tuva, which is a tribe of Mongolian and their livelihoods depend on grazing and hunting. The village with its many log cabins is quiet and tranquil as horses, sheeps and cows gazed in the nearby fields. But in the recent years it have become a popular destination for tourists especially photographers who are attracted by Hom¡¯s unspoilt scenery. Luckily the increase of log cabins in the village has not spoilt the serene environment as the cabins are built in similar design to the original log cabins of the village.
Tourism has bought many changes to the village but the village is still without electricity as individual guesthouses operate their own generator, which provides electricity for only a few hours at night. The conditions at the guesthouses are basic but clean and comfortable. Summer and autumn from June to early October are the best time to visit Hom as the weather is pleasant and the air is clear with blue sky. Daytime temperature is comfortable but temperature at night and early morning can be very cold as temperature can dips below zero degrees.
The village comes alive very early in the morning as tourists made their way to the nearby hills to wait for sunrise. The villagers with their herd of horses wait at the guesthouses to offer horseback rides for those who do not want to take the 45 minutes hike up the hills. The morning was very cold when I started to hike but by the time I reached the top of the hill I was dripping with sweats. The sunrise was a disappointment that morning as thick clouds blocked the sun. We spend about an hour there without much success and then took a 2km walk to a Mongolian farmhouse where we had a traditional Mongolian breakfast. We had freshly baked bread, fresh hot milk and honey from their farm among other traditional Mongolian treats. After our breakfast and more pictures taking at the farmhouse we continued our hike back to our guesthouse reaching it just in time for lunch. The hike back is pleasant as were passed woods of warm autumn colours and the Hom River.
Later in the afternoon a few member of our group went horseback riding to the nearby hills while some of us decided to explore the village. I choose to check out the village for photo opportunity as I have so far taken only landscape pictures of Hom. The village is surprisingly quiet, with very few people working in the field as crops have already been harvested since winter is just round the corner. The next few hours we took pictures of the villagers, chatting with some of them despite not fully understanding each other. By late afternoon we were at the woods overlooking the village waiting for sunset. On the way back to our guesthouse we lost our way and only after checking out a few lanes we finally found our guesthouse feeling hungry and cold.
Dinner that night was quite a feast as we had roast leg of lamb and lamb satay with potent Chinese wines that make us forget about the freezing temperature. Most of us had a good night sleep that night due to maybe the potent Chinese wines or just tired from today outings.
The next morning we decided to go for another sunrise shooting at another part of the village before we leave for the next destination of our journey in North Xinjiang. It was a very cold morning as we got into our bus for a short ride to another viewpoint and it was so cold that most of us decided to stay inside the bus till we can see the sun is about to rise. Standing at the open hill my hand was frozen numb and I could hardly hold my camera and tripod. After awhile I gave up and went back to the bus without getting any worthwhile shots.
All pictures taken with Olympus PEN E-P1
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I feel the earth move under my feet¡ 
Taking a break from magazine shoot last month I joined a media trip to Taiwan. I have long wanted to visit Taiwan but have not got the opportunities till now. And I also wanted to take a shot of Taiwan¡¯s tallest building, the 101. With my limited Chinese I know it will not be that easy for me to get around but this trip is fully organized and guided trip that I don¡¯t have to do anything on my own. In fact this trip is like an amazing race through Taipei. From the moment we touched down in Taipei airport is a non-stop visit to what¡¯s new and what¡¯s happening in Taipei now and for the year 2010. Joining a group of photographers and journalists from Hong Kong, Korea and Japan we were taken to check out different part of Taipei. One of the main highlights of this trip is the media briefing of the 2010 Taipei International Floral Expo, which will be held from 6 Nov 2010 ¨C 4 April 2011. Unfortunately we were in Taipei when it¡¯s having one of the coldest winter, during my weeklong stay I have not seen the sun at all. The weather has been gloomy, with rain most of the time making it really difficult to get some nice shots. There goes my plan of a good 101 photo. As if this is not enough, we were caught in an earthquake when a 6.8 earthquake strike near Hualien. But it was strong enough to be felt in Taipei. We have just returned to our Hotel and I wanted to leave my camera bag in my room before going out to continue our night itinerary. I was washing my face when I heard loud noise in the ceiling and walls. I was wondering what was that as I continued to wash my face till I can¡¯t stand it and decide to look up. The noise became louder and my room shook, looking around my room I then went to open the door and saw some of the other member too were outside their room. Looking at each other we exclaimed ¡®earthquake¡¯ and lets get downstairs. I went back to my room grab my camera bag, took my passport from my luggage and took off. The following morning we continued with our initial plan and took a train to Hualien as we got words from them that it is still safe to travel there. There were signs of the earthquake and some walls are crack with debris all over. Otherwise everything is back to normal and we spent 2 days there with the locals and were introduced to their way of lives in the countryside. This short trip to Taipei has given me a taste of what Taipei has for visitor, and I have seen some interesting places that I would like to spend more time. Place like the cultural center of Huashan 1914, the eslite art book store and off course all those fancy shopping malls, cool chill out places and yes, the food.  
 Look out for more details of Taipei and what¡¯s going on in the next issue of PCP¡¯s Travelmate and Travelution.
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