Last month I returned to Nepal for the first time in 11 years. Part of the trip included a trek from Birethanti to Ghorepani (two days of the Annapurna Circuit) then two days across to Chomrong where we joined the Annapurna Base Camp route and returned to Birethanti.

Here are some highlights. Click here for the full gallery.

“Chasing angels or fleeing demons, go to the mountains.”
― Jeffrey Rasley, Bringing Progress to Paradise: What I Got from Giving to a Mountain Village in Nepal Read more

I thought I’d seen some crazy festivals in my time, but the Thai new year celebrations in Bangkok still took me by surprise.

The festival basically amounts to an enormous water fight, although many Thais do visit the wats and temples for merit making, prayers and so on, plus there are some amazing cultural events around the city. But it’s the water you have to look out for. I never got more than a few steps from the hotel without being doused each day – which was fantastic anyway as it was pretty warm around 35 degrees each day.

Wherever you go there are people on street corners with hoses and buckets, cars coming past with water barrels in the back and motorbike riders wielding water guns.

Photography was really difficult and I went out armed with a water proof bags and plenty of plastic and had to shoot under pretty hurried conditions. Still some shots came out okay. Here are some favourites.

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Boats bedecked with swaying dancers in full costume, heaving markets, nightly cultural performances, lantern parades, fireworks… the Regatta Lepa in Semporna in the state of Saba is a feast of images.

Not entirely sure these do it credit but here’s a small taste, click through to the full gallery of Regatta Lepa.

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Feel free to email Jo at admin@visitedplanet.com with your comments/thoughts/photo aspirations. See and learn more at www.visitedplanet.com

I got talking to one of the porters on the Annapurna Sanctuary trek last month and discovered he was carrying a load of live chickens – 35 to be exact.

These were probably being taken up in time for Nepal New Year but might also just have been the regular supply to hotels along the route.

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Feel free to email Jo at admin@visitedplanet.com with your comments/thoughts/photo aspirations. See and learn more at www.visitedplanet.com

As per the last few posts, I am profiling a few photos from galleries of Nepal that will be uploaded shortly (promise).

This sight (unfortunately slightly blurry) greeted us on our trek down to the hot springs below Jhinu Danda on the Annapurna Sanctuary hike. Remarkably it was Easter Sunday and seemed a perfect symbol of the new life represented on this holiday.

The kid had just been born and the mother was licking it clean with the after birth still being delivered. It was gorgeous, even right there in the mud. Rain was pouring down around us and obviously the goat hadn’t had time to find a quiet spot to give birth and had got down to business right in the middle of the trail with other trekkers coming past.

We watched for awhile, got as close as we dared and then went down to the springs. When we returned about 1-2 hours later there was no sign of the kid or its mum. So it must have somehow found its legs and managed to walk off with its mum.

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Feel free to email Jo at admin@visitedplanet.com with your comments/thoughts/photo aspirations. See and learn more at www.visitedplanet.com