SketchTravel in Nepal
SketchTravel in Nepal
To Kathmandu and the medieval city of Baktapur
After arriving in Kathmandu, I visited the ancient city of Baktapur, a world heritage site that is a few miles out of town. It felt like someone assembled all the old architectural styles in their history and crammed them together in an ornate palace complex. It is truly awesome to behold. Note: I experimented with sketching on this trip with pen and ink, pencil, watercolors, and line with washes. So they vary some in style and detail. Just mixing it up for fun!
The purpose of this trip for me was to video document a nonprofit project in the country town of Jogitar. I was doing this for the Seattle-based travel nonprofit group Crooked Trails. They call it travel with a purpose. Not only are you exposed to different cultures and places, you stay with the families and engage in community life. It is a true cultural immersion experience. I recommend Crooked Trails to anyone wanting a deeply rewarding travel experience.
Jogitar, a village of subsistence farmers
I stayed with a family in the main part of the village. The room was upstairs in their barn, which was where they also slept. We had our meals with them, sitting on the floor in their hand-made house. We ate lentil soup and rice known as dal bhat, sometimes with chicken (for the guests).
The project we were there to do was to dig a trench across a hillside, lay the pipe and bring water to a middle school. The school itself was also built by volunteers on earlier trips. It was very exhausting work in the heat and on the steep slopes, but it was also teamwork and fun. The villagers did much of the work alongside the volunteers. I made such good friends with the villagers. The scenery was stunning, lush green rolling hills with big rivers and terraced rice paddies. I think of Nepal as a cold, mountainous place, but the valleys are subtropical. When it was time to leave, we were told that even their cows were sad.
Unfortunately many if not all of these buildings I sketched were destroyed in the earthquake a couple years ago. We have lent support and sent money to families who are slowly rebuilding.
The most dangerous airport in the world
After leaving the village we regrouped in Kathmandu and flew to Tenzing Hillary Airport at Lukla. It has a very short runway, so that on one end it is a severe drop off, while on the other end it is a sheer mountain wall. A documentary by the history channel rated it as the most dangerous airport in the world.
We were taking a 6-day trek up toward Mt. Everest, and Lukla is the gateway. This is an unbelievable trek, shared with so many yaks, porters and Sherpas. Along with fantastic views and sobering suspension bridges, we passed countless little stops where a small hotel or café has popped up in recent years/decades for the hikers. Every turn offered new vistas and sketching opportunities, although I was with a group and not really free to wander off to sketch at will. Many villages had prayer wheels that you turn as you walk by. I loved coming upon stupas as well, those spiritual places that are said to have some remnant of the Buddha in them to keep the spirit alive.
I felt that this was like three trips in one. Exploring Kathmandu and Baktapur is amazing and worth the trip. Staying in the village with the community was priceless. And doing the trek in the mountains was entirely different as well. Highly recommended, though you need to be in shape!
This is another outstanding post, your drawings here are amazing, and I’d love to know more about the video project you were working on, that sounds so cool. Resteemed!
Thank you so much @lilyraabe! It may make sense to do a post about the videos I've done for these projects. I will give it some thought. Appreciate your comments.
Congrats on this post’s success by the way! :)
You are phenomenal. I just resteemed and followed you. Have you heard of Sndbox? I think they are a great incubation project for awesome creators like you. I think you should check out their quest that is trying to recruit some new fellows. Yeah it is based on Steem here. May interest you. Go to @guyfawkes4-20's blog to find out if it's one you would want to be involved. You will ace it, for sure. Great to meet another awesome creator. Folks like you should be on the trending page of Steemit. That still remains my dream to now.
Thank you, and thanks for the follow and resteem too! I just learned about sandbox and actually submitted 2 images for their weekly contest. But there is much more I need to learn about it. I just followed you back and will check out your posts. Appreciate it. @misterakpan
These are so incredible * ___ * the sketches are beautiful and very evocative and the text takes me through your journey and thought processes so well * ___ *
Too bad a lot of the buildings have been destroyed now :( Mother nature can be pretty ferocious ! But thank you for sharing your sketches <3 They are really gorgeous <3
upvotes
@veryspider Thank you, I appreciate your comments. It is always a good feeling to capture parts of a trip in sketch form, along with photos. They somehow evoke memories of the place more than photos do. Probably because you have to spend a little time doing them so the sense of place creeps into it. I like feeling invisible and quiet when I draw, so that the birds and bugs and people get back to their normal routines and ignore me.
Aaah, yes, I understand. There is a bit of the artist's personal experience that seeps through the brushes and the pencils onto the art and it gives things a bit more 'soul'... for lack of better terms.
I am a bit more anxious as a person, so I don't really draw a lot at public or open spaces. But looking at your arts made me feel like I should challenge that irrational fear :) I do like the feeling of serenity myself :)
Love your artwork
Wow. I am not kidding you when I say this is one of the best travel posts I have seen on Steem blockchain. To have it illustrated with your own (exceptional) art is amazing. I love your sketches. Crooked Trails sounds like a really cool organization, and what a great way to really experience a place - staying with local families and helping out with local projects. So cool. And even the cows were sad to see you go! Well, I guess I am glad you left so you could end up here on Steem blockchain :)
Much love - Carl "Totally Not A Bot" Gnash / @carlgnash
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Thank you so much Carl! I appreciate your kind comments, and am honored to receive your badge of originality. Yes Crooked Trails really is amazing. While I was with them we went to visit the nonprofit Maiti Nepal in Kathmandu that rescues girls from being kidnapped into the sex trade. A very humbling experience. @humanbot
Geez yeah I bet that was humbling. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this post. Your illustrations remind me of some classic illustrators - reminded me a bit of Arthur Rackham which is super high praise in my (illustrated) book :)
This post was nominated by a @curie curator to be featured in an upcoming Author Showcase post on the @curie blog. If you agree to be featured in this way, please reply and:
You can check out the previous week's Author Showcase to get an idea of what we are doing with these posts.
Cheers - Carl (@curie curator)
@carlgnash Yes please include me as a nominee. You can use any or all of the text and artwork in my post. it would be an honor. I plan to join discord, so I may be able to send you a brief statement in the next day or so. Thanks again, I appreciate it very much.
Perfect. I usually write these posts Wednesday evening (late) Pacific time. I am in Oregon, grew up in Southeast Alaska so kinda all around your neck of the woods :)
Author Showcase post is up :)
https://steemit.com/curation/@curie/curie-author-showcase-march-8th-2018
@mrsomebody very cool sketch
Strokes are really nice. Keep it up 😀
Wow this post is awesome, i have seen many skethes and compilation and this one is among the bests! Deserves resteeming.
@steemsketchbook Thanks a lot. The notes and sketches from a trip always seem like a mess. So once they're all together like here they seem more intentional and planned. haha! You can't go wrong when you visit such an interesting place. There were so many more things I could have drawn given more time. But traveling as part of a group is somewhat limiting in that respect. Just followed you.
It's awesome to know that you are traveling and sketching with a group. Given that limit, you already made good. Kudos to all of you and thanks for the follow :)
It can be possible by a true creative mind.
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I really like the style and the mix of different media! Incredible, @mrsomebody!
Thank you @cookiespooky. I am more of a drawer, so it is a good challenge to switch the technique up.
Excellent work, really enjoy the sketches. @mrsomebody can you tell me a little bit about the cost for such a trip? A friend of mine wants to take a major excursion all the way to the Mt. Everest Base Camp. I’ve never even come close to doing something like that, so I need to know what I am looking at price wise. Any tips? Thanks!
Thank you, I appreciate it. @libertylemon Let's see, my lodging was covered because I was a volunteer. I think you can get hotels in Kathmandu for $20 a night, maybe less. Airfare was... around $1,400 because I booked it late. The 6 day trek was $800 including airfare but Everest base camp was still a couple days away from our furthest point. In my case the arrangements were made through Crooked Trails, so I'm sorry I'm not more help.