Wolfgang's photos

Once I watched the German TV and saw in the ARTE channel a cultural program about Bhutan. It was also reported about the Chomolhari trek we did and I recognized the same old herder woman Oliver sitting beside her.

Bhutanese Farm Houses are very colorful, decorative and traditionally built without the use of single nail. All houses follow the same architectural pattern. A visit to Farm House is very interesting and offers a good glimpse into the lifestyle of a farmer.

Hot-stone-bath is a popular form of medication practiced in Bhutan since time immemorial. There is no recorded history of its origin. In the olden times it was a luxury enjoyed by the well to do families. A whole day was spent to organize this particular event where the whole family took turns bathing. This event was very elaborate. Most well to do families consulted their chief astrologer to look for an auspicious day to organize this event. It’s a general belief in Bhutan that any medication done on an auspicious day has more healing power. A team of able bodied men built a huge fire and heated rocks over it. Since it was for the whole family (then families consisted of over fifteen members) large amount of firewood and stones were used.

We nearly come to the end of our nice trekking tour back after the village Shama Zampa. We pass the last Chorten before reaching Drukgyel Dzong which was our starting point too.

At the end of our trek we had a traditional farewell party in a small village. Bhutanese ladies took care for a beautiful mood.

In modern times, the temple's location on the border between Cambodia and Thailand led to a dispute over ownership. In 1954, Thailand formally occupied the temple. In 1959, Cambodia applied to the International Court of Justice in the Hague to rule that the temple lay in Cambodian territory. In subsequent proceedings before the court, Cambodia based much of its case on a map drawn up in 1907 by French officers, some of whom had been part of a 1904 joint border demarcation commission formed by Thailand, then known as Siam, and the French colonial authorities then ruling Cambodia. The map showed the temple as being in Cambodia and was sent to the Siamese authorities as part of formal border demarcation activities. Over the subsequent five decades, in various other international forums, according to Cambodia, the Siamese/Thai authorities did not formally object to the map’s depiction of the temple’s location. Nor did the Siamese object when a French official from the colonial administration received the Siamese scholar and government figure Prince Damrong at the temple in 1930. Thailand counter-argued that the map was not an official document of the 1904 border commission. It also noted that the mutually accepted principle governing demarcation by that commission was that the border would follow the watershed line along the Dângrêk mountain range, which the Thais said would put the temple in Thailand. Thai authorities never felt the need to formally object to the map, the court was told, because they had practical ownership of the temple. Any acceptance of the map, the court was informed, was based on a false understanding that it followed the watershed line. On June 15, 1962, the court ruled that through its long lack of objection and its accepting and benefiting from other parts of a border treaty that grew from the 1904 commission's work, Thailand had in effect accepted the 1907 map, overriding any question of the watershed line, and that the temple belonged to Cambodia. The court declined to take up the question of whether the border as mapped in the vicinity of the temple corresponded to the watershed line. Thailand accepted the court's decision, but many Thais continue to believe that the decision was unfair. The accepted border line now passes just a few meters from the base of the southern steps.

Gopura of the Third Level is the biggest and the most completed gopura; the building is similar to gopura of the first and second level. Beyond, there is a wall or a pa-rapet round a palace which archeologists calls prasat.

In January 2000 this ancient place on Cambodian territory was opened for visitors a short time. My home place in Bangkok is opposite of the Thai Forest Department and we've very good connections to the officers who immediately informed us that this place we could have to visit. Due the permanent conflict between the local Cambodian and Thai officers about making the tourist business this very interesting and amazing place is closed for the public most of the time. Several attempts were made after 1991 to open Khao Phra Vihaan to visitors. This was intermittently successfully but the complex tended to close frequently due to the propensity of Khmer Rouge guerilla units to reoccupy the complex at will. This caused numerous clashes between Cambodian Government and Khmer Rouge forces between 1993 and 1997. After the death of the Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot in 1998 and the eradication of the last Khmer Rouge bases in the area, Khao Phra Vihaan finally reopened to visitors. From that time the only hiccups tended to be bureaucratic, caused by disputes between Thai and Cambodian Officials over dividing up the admission fees to the Complex. For people interested in Khmer monuments together with contemporary history, a place to see is Khao Phra Vihaan in the Isaan province of Sisaket . The monument on the Thai/Cambodia border sits astride a sheer drop mountain ridge on the Dangrek mountain range with sweeping views across North-West Cambodia. Although the monument appears to be on Thai territory, the Temple complex itself actually belongs to Cambodia. This was due to a World Court decision in 1963 recognising in practical terms that the complex was on Thai soil due to its general inaccessibility from Cambodia, but in the end still declared in Cambodia's favour because of its strong connection to the Angkor period of temple construction. Although the complex slumbered out of world view for centuries Khao Phra Vihaan has not escaped the consequences of modern times. After the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia in 1975 and its subsequent defeat by the Vietnamese in 1978, remnants of the Khmer Rouge occupied the complex and surrounding forests. In doing this they seeded the local area and the complex itself with land mines, constructed bomb shelters and even installed some artillery pieces. 1998 I made my first attempt to visit Khao Phra Vihaan. After passing through several Thai Army checkpoints, I reached the border, but couldn't enter the complex due to the reoccupation of the monument by a Khmer Rouge Unit. In 2000, my wife and I tried another visit; we were successful and the following is what happened on our one day visit to Khao Phra Vihaan. Together with my wife Salama, we traveled from the village of Ban Puthsa in Korat province. Like the Khmer Temple at Phanom Rung Hill in Buriram province, the structure of Khao Phra Vihaan is long and narrow with steep stone staircases leading to long/narrow boulevards which in turn lead to further staircases up to the next level of the complex. After years of sloth and overeating, Salama and I looked up at the staircase with trepidation but commenced to climb. The broken and uneven stones made ascending difficult but we finally made it. Once we had made it to the top of the staircase, we came across a long narrow paved walkway which lead up to the next part of the complex. Again we were confronted by another modern reality in post war Cambodia - landmines. Although the walkway was safe, roped off areas on both sides with skull and crossbones warning signs were an appropriate warning that landmines and other unexploded ordnance still awaited the unwary. Teams of engineers were in the roped off areas and were painstakingly searching every square centimetre of earth. The further we walked and climbed into the complex we were entranced by the atmosphere of the place. Because we had arrived early there were only a handful of tourists. The tumbledown nature of the place with most of the stone structures in disrepair did nothing to distract from the magic that is Khao Phra Vihaan. Even amongst the ruins one could only marvel at the vision and patience that would have been required to build such a place. Our walk now was drawing us up to the top of the complex, and it felt like walking along the back of a stone serpent sitting flush against the mountain ridge. We again found further evidence of the previous occupancy by the Khmer Rouge - two bomb shelters, a crashed down chopper and an old artillery piece of either Chinese or Soviet make. At the the top of the complex we stopped and looked out at across Cambodia. Down we could see a still green terrain, dirt roads and at the sides a sheer rocky drop right down to Cambodia. Sitting on a rocky outcrop with my wife I rediscovered my fear of heights but nothing could take away the magic of the moment. By the time of opening the ancient place the number of visitors had markedly increased, including a party of Buddhist Monks who posed for a Photograph. I would certainly suggest any visitor to Isaan to make a visit to Khao Phra Vihaan if their will be further opportunities to step on Cambodian territories and the senseless conflict between the Thai/Cambodian local officers will find an end. Money shouldn't be the reason to detain culture interested visitors this value historical treasure, this should get soon in their mind. If any place can be called as a "must" destination, Khao Phra Vihaan it is.

In a Cambodian legend, the Nāga were a reptilian race of beings who possessed a large empire or kingdom in the Pacific Ocean region. The Nāga King's daughter married an Indian Brahmana named Kaundinya, and from their union sprang the Cambodian people. Therefore still Cambodians say that they are "Born from the Nāga".

The trekking route from Jomson to the capital of Lo Mantang Mustang takes about 4 days and goes over four passes with an altitude of more than 4000 meters, one is the Nyi La (the meaning of "La" is pass).

Tsarang is the second biggest village of Lo Mantang and the last stay before we reached the capital Mustang.

The father of about nine thousand residents in the kingdom Mustang. We got almost two hours for a talk with the King and learned a very high respect to this great person who always support his folk and its poor living standard. Mustang, or Lo Mantang, is the poorest restrict in Nepal and is neglected by the Nepalese government. † His Royal Highness passed away in Kathmandu on 16. Dezember 2016

A Short History of Mustang Mustang is an ancient kingdom with a colorful past. First mentioned in Ladakhi records in the seventh century, Mustang shared much of its history with Tibet to the North. Buddhism came to Mustang at about the same time as to the rest of Tibet. Legend says that before Padmasambhava (the founder of Tibetan Buddhism) could complete construction of Tibet's oldest monastery, Samye, he had to build the temple in Lo Ghekar in Mustang (see legend in the introduction). By the fourteenth century the great warrior Ame Pal became the ruler of Mustang and ushered in Mustang's golden age, which lasted for the next 200 years. Ame Pal built the majority of the capital city of Lo Manthang, including the palace and the four great temples in Lo Manthang. He also convinced the renowned Lama Ngorchen Kunga Sangpo, of the Sakya sect of Buddhism in Tibet, to come to Mustang numerous times in his lifetime. Lama Sangpo's attentions spawned an age of spiritual enlightenment in Mustang, resulting in the building of the many temples and monasteries that dot the Kingdom. By the fifteenth century Mustang had become a central power in Tibetan Buddhism. The Mustang region is relatively low lying and an easily traveled corridor through the Himalaya. The religious revival that occurred during the 15-16th centuries was coupled with the acquisition of great wealth resulting from the control that Mustang exercised over the salt (from Tibet) for grain (from Nepal/India) trade through the Mustang Valley. This did not go unnoticed by Mustang's neighbors and Mustang was continually at war during the 17-18th centuries. The main aggressor was the kingdom of Jumla to the southwest (south of the Himalaya in present day Nepal). Jumla managed to takeover Mustang only to be repelled when Ladakh (due west of Mustang in the Indian Himalaya) and Parbat (due south of Mustang in the Himalayan foothills) came to Mustang's defense. In 1719 Jumla even kidnapped for ransom the future queen (from Ladakh) on her way to marry the king of Mustang. Jumla finally took over Mustang in 1740, but it was again to be a short-lived victory. Forty years later, Prithvi Narayan Shah of Gorkha (to the southeast) conquered Jumla and laid claim to Mustang. Although Mustang was forced to pay tribute for protection, they regained a large measure of autonomy. Prithvi Narayan Shah went on to conquer much of what is now modern Nepal. Mustang remained subjugate to the Shah dynasty through to the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Mustang requested allegiance and protection from the partially democratized government of Nepal during the occupation of Tibet and became an official part of Nepal in doing so. The now safe Mustang valley became home to over six thousand Khampa (Tibetans from the Kham region of eastern Tibet) resistance fighters. The resistance forces in Mustang waged a guerrilla war against the Chinese and were moderately successful in destroying communications and roads in the Tibetan regions around Mustang. Political pressure from China forced Nepal to take action and Mustang was closed in an effort to alienate the resistance army. This was only marginally successful in slowing the advances of the Khampa, but resulted in extreme hardships on the people and lands of Mustang to support this vast army. Many valuable religious items were seized from the local population and temples and sold in the world market to finance the continuing struggle against the Chinese occupation forces. The resistance finally came to an end in the early 70's when the Dalai Lama (the historic religious leader of Tibet) sent a taped plea for an end to the violence. This was followed by a brutal military campaign by the Nepalese government to drive the Khampa from Nepal. Efforts to develop Mustang since the end of the Khampa resistance have been sporadic and largely damaging to the Tibetan Buddhist culture of Mustang. The government of Nepal attempted to integrate Mustang by sending Hindu teachers, police, and aid workers who taught only Hindu and western beliefs, language, and culture. This was coupled with numerous ineffective attempts to bring electricity to Mustang. Only recently has Mustang become open to foreigners and now faces an additional set of challenges in the integration of western ideas. Tourism is a mixed blessing for Mustang. While it may be damaging by exposing Mustangis to the vastly differing lifestyles and values of the modern world, it also has spawned genuine interest in the unique people, temples, and landscape of Mustang. Recently, foreign aid groups have: Funded a school in the capitol city of Lo Manthang that teaches the traditional Mustangi culture, begun preservation efforts on very poorly cared for temples and monasteries, and built medical facilities. The people of Mustang (the Lo-pass) have always had to adapt to survive in the arid environments of Mustang and they will undoubtedly continue to meet these new stresses on their traditional culture with the religious fervor, tenacity, and keen business sense for which they have been recognized for centuries.

Here I'm posting some scanned slides from my tour in Afghanistan 1976. The old diapositives already got damaged by fungus and streaks. With my scanner software and the editing aftermath I got a better result as I was expected. My third and last visit in Afghanistan was in 1976, two years before the bloody Russian invasion was happened. I still keep my nicest memory for this country which suffered such an horrific destiny. In the western city Herat I stayed longer and felt very happy under the hospitality of Hazara people. Father and his son sitting in a wall niche. Everywhere in Herat the inhabitants of the small town welcomed us strangers with high kindness. (The diapositive was scanned by NikonCoolscan 5000ED, original Agfacolor 100 ASA, captured December 1976.)

People have meals in front of their houses in Herat, Western Afghanistan