Dom's Leica M8 camera using a 24mm Elmarit lens

Dom G. shared with us some photos taken with a Leica M8 camera using a 24mm Elmarit lens. 

Selected were some candid people and landscape shots which showed clarity of image and a clean depth of view.

Photos have been resized from its original high resolution raw format.


Larry reviewing the past, Orvin looking to the future

Rare moments when what is in the photographer's hand is a spoon and not the shutter

Dom in a reststop

Our source of water during the day, hot black tea at Phakding

Black tea at Lukla

With the most photographed monk at Tengboche

A view to a kill
Two Pinoys in a Seam Reap temple. a US $ 400 side trip from Bangkok
At the Dingboche Inn

Base camp proof of arrival

Banny at the New Bangkok airport

Is this trip worth it?

Waiting for a delayed flight

TNF 4 Season Tent at Minus 10 C
A view to live for

Pinay Everest Episode of The Correspondents

ABS-CBN aired the Abner Mercado and Wilbert De La Cruz produced Pinay Everest episode of The Correspondents 13 June after midnight. It plugged on its web site the story on the 3 Filipina summiteers, "Another feat has been etched in Filipino history, as Noelle Wenceslao, Karina Dayondon and Janet Belarmino reached the peak of Mt. Everest last May 17 of this year!

Noelle Wenceslao reached the summit first, making her not only the first Filipina to reach the top of the treacherous Mt. Everest, but also the first ASEAN female to do so!

Karina Dayondon followed Wenceslao shortly after, while Janet Belarmino came next!"

Their story provided background information on the trip to Tibet and incidences of Acute Mountain Sickness. Perpectives on the 3 Pinay were highlighted, Janet and her motherhood, Noelle and her relationship with her father and deceased mother and Karina's inclusion in the expedition.

Leo Oracion of PCG and PALMC gave authoritative annotations on the trails the climbers have to go through.

However, to the disappointment of the cheering Filipino trekkers at the Everest Base Camp which was one of the unique moments when the 3 summiteers arrived, their presence was not appropriately mentioned at all.

The episode remains though to be an interesting view. Catch its replay on Studio 23.

-Chito posting from Central Luzon

The Everest Base Camp Trek at a Glance

(Click on map for a bigger image.)

The Everest Base Camp Trek at a Glance

-About 6o kilometers one way
-Elevation from 2,850 at Lukla to 5,357 to base camp
-Acclimatization at Namche to Khumjung for 2 days
-Acclimatization at Lobuje for another 2 days
-Stay at Inns everday, same flavor of meals each meal time
-Alpine landscape starting at Tengboche
-4 hanging bridge crossings to Namche, 3 more hanging bridges to Thukla. 7 bridges mean 7 abrupt ascents and descents

Nepal Photo Captions I

Documentations

Frontpage at the national Nepal paper in a relatively free press.

Map showing route. We came from South heading North to the base camp walking 60 kilometers one way for 9 straight days. This did not take in account the changes in elevation.

First summit now on its 54th anniversary. A Filipino finally stepped foot on the summit of the world's highest point on the 53th year Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached it.
Info on Sagarmatha National Park environment related projects printed on a giant poster
Solukhumbu map as a road signage

News article on the successful expedition
Welcome streamer prepared by the Filipino community in Katmandu. Roughly there are 200-250 Filipino families in the city.

Our footprint at Rum Doodle, a popular restaurant at Thamel, Katmandu. Budget at least 250 Rupees (about 220 pesos) for a meal
After Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, who's next? To organize an expedition to the summit, cost can range from as low as US$ 25,000 for shared group resources to US$ 65,000 for a dedicated team. To trek to the base camp, budget at least US $ 2,300.

Thangkas

Its popular form is in scroll so travelling monks can
conveniently bring it with them.

Nepali thangkas or tangkas are devotional images that act as the centerpiece during a ritual or ceremony and are often used as mediums through which one can offer prayers or make requests. They are religious arts used as a meditation tool to help bring one further down the path to enlightenment. -From Wikipedia



Painted Thangkas are done on cotton canvas or silk with 
water soluble pigments. Canvas is tempered with a herb and
 glue solution


Banny in the company of mischievous young Monks

Orvin doing an Om Mani Padme Hum. Tibetan Buddhists believe that saying the mantra (prayer), Om Mani Padme Hum, out loud or silently to oneself, invokes the powerful benevolent attention and blessings of Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion. Viewing the written form of the mantra is said to have the same effect -- it is often carved into stones.


Prayers directed to the heaven get immediate results. ORANGE is the colour of harmony, self-worth and Renunciation/Divinity (the robes of Buddhist monks) representing dedication and devotion to a higher ideal. As we look beyond the material level, we start questioning and aspiring to higher levels than the material & physical plains and this calls us to trust, accept and bond. ORANGE too helps the blow of oxygen to the brain. ORANGE is the colour of mindfulness, determination, patience and perseverance, and the use of this colour can bring about and encourage deep insights. Orange increases oxygen flow through the blood and brain which helps with clarity on a mental level.

Nepal Photo Captions II

Detailed Thanka inside a chorten

Watching Sherpas negotiate the steep ascent from above
Sleepy Monk inside a forbidden temple at Tengboche durng their morning prayer session

Paragliding Brits at Periche breaking new gliding record

Inn and mountain view at Lobuche, critical point for acclimatization
Capturing our slow motion movement at the 2nd half of the expedition
Early morning photo shoot at Thukla. A must view photo at high resolution.
Monk at Tengboche granting our request for a photo session late afternoon

Preview of Banny Hermano's Works

(Captionized per the artist's request 8 June)

Write to tapuey@yahoo.com.ph for the full presentation

The artists' self portrait with friends

Catching Regie

Proudly pointing his name in a tribute made by his trekking agency

While roaming around Thamel in Katmandu, we met Regie Pablo who just recently descended from his Mt. Everest Summit climb via Tibet.

Regie shared with with us the difficulty and loneliness of technical climbing at the roof the world alone. He joined a group of international climbers with him as the only Filipino.

Climbing on a personal capacity, he wanted to prove he can summit. There were moments of life and death situations for him and his sherpa. Driven by a strong motivation (and anger too) to succeed at all cost, even at the expense of going beyond financial and physical limits, from his own account he said, "I barely made it."

Having achieved his target which he set for over 10 years, I heard him say, "Ito lang pala (ang pakiramdam). I should have devoted my priorities to my family and career." His statement needed validation. As we return back to Manila, there will be other perspectives and stories on his climbing which incurred for him huge payables as a result of his personal feat.

Cover of Jamling's book

Jamling Tenzing Norgay, son of sherpa Tenzing wrote in his book, "Touching My Father's Soul," "My father climbed Everest so his sons need not climb it." Jamling did climb Everest after all to fill in the gap left by his absentee and dead father. After Jamling's successful climb, he declared that "I climbed so my own sons need not climb it."

Regie's climb was lonely and difficult. We, his friends thank him for his completion so we need not go through the same ordeal. As he has climbed the roof of the world and survived it.

One enjoyable lunch at Rum Doodle in Thamel, Katmandu courtesy of Dom

All ears on the Philippines 7th summiteer

To the next journey ahead

Dinner with GMA

Flag and group shot photos by Larry H.

GMA congratulates the Kaya ng Pinay Expedition Team in a dinner at the Palace 1 June. Philippine Coast Guard gives tribute to the 3 Pinay Summiteers in a special military parade and program at the Port Area.

The Expedition Group was deeply honored by the dinner hosted by the President to congratulate the successful Pinay summiteers who set world records at the world's highest point. In between her travels, the President found time to host a dinner for about a hour listening to our stories. Well versed on climbing, the President likewise recalled the 1st time she paid tribute to the Philippines 1st summiteers Leo, Pastor and Romy last year. She listened as Noelle, Carina and Janet narrated the details of their final steps to the top of the world. She remembered that Leo and Pastor climbed from Nepal and the 3 female climbers traversed from Tibet to Nepal. There was a free flowing discussion on AMS, altitude and the mountains we climb in the Philippines (noteworthy were Pulag, Apo and Pinatubo).

The President floored Art when candidly she asked him, "What's your next program Art?" Art was tight-lipped. The group presented to the President a pair of crampon used by the 1st woman to ever traverse Mt. Everest which will be put on display at the Malacanang Museum. Last year, Leo, Pastor and Romy offered the ice ax.

As the President shown interest on every mountaineering topic we opened, we momentarily forgot the feat of climbing to the top of the world. It was as if, we reached another natural high that late Friday night.



(Palace photos courtesy of Fred Jamili to follow)