Published in Conrad Anker et al., "The Call of Everest: The History, Science, and Future of the World's Tallest Peak," National Geographic, May 2013, p. 114.
A renowned Tibetan Buddhist monastery of the Sherpa community, located in the remote Himalayan village of Tengboche at an altitude of 3,867 metres (12,687 ft) - a couple days away from Everest Base Camp on the trek through the Khumbu region of northeastern Nepal. A stunning Kongde Ri with a fresh dusting of December snow looms large in the backdrop at 6,187 metres (20,299 ft). Noritsu Koki QSS-31 digital slide scan, shot with an Asahi Pentax Spotmatic (SMC Pentax Zoom 45~125mm f/4) in the Winter of 1973.
The monastery was destroyed by a fire in 1989 when Nepal was still a Kingdom. It and the surrounding area has since been rebuilt. Today, several family households and an active monastic community of about 60 monks reside here. Life centres around prayer, meditation, and Buddhist studies in the Tibetan Mahayana tradition. This devotional way of life now seems to stand out in stark contrast to the yearly hustle and flow of climbers, trekkers, tourists, and an incursive environmental footprint of rubbish and human waste.
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A mischievous temple monkey hides out in one of the many shrines at Swayambhunath - an ancient and sacred Buddhist pilgrimage site situated on top of a hill outside Kathmandu, Nepal. This “holy monkey" competes with hundreds of other wily scavengers for rice and food offerings left by pilgrims and devotees. Noritsu Koki slide scan, Asahi Pentax SP Spotmatic, circa 1973.
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A Tibetan Buddhist monk spins prayer wheels at Swayambhunath, an ancient and sacred Buddhist pilgrimage site situated on top of a hill outside Kathmandu in what was known at the time as the Kingdom of Nepal, now renamed as the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. Digital film scan, Asahi Pentax SP Spotmatic (SMC Pentax Zoom 45~125mm f/4), December 1973
Hindu pilgrims and Vajrayana Buddhists from northern Nepal also worship at this site along with Tibetan and Newari Buddhists from central and southern Nepal.
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The small Himalayan Sherpa village of Namche Bazaar (3,440 m, 11,286 ft) is the main trading centre for the Khumbu region of northeastern Nepal. Near Nepal’s border with Tibet to the north and several days further east on the high-altitude trek to Tengboche Monastary, the Khumbu Glacier and Everest base camp.A stunning Kongde Ri with a fresh dusting of December snow looms in the backdrop at 6,187 metres (20,299 ft). Noritsu Koki QSS-31 digital slide scan, shot with an Asahi Pentax Spotmatic in the Winter of 1973.
Postscript: Trekking in Nepal more than five decades ago was no simple matter for most travellers and non-professional climbers - little or no information or trekking infrastructure and no serious maps readily available. Opted to trek solo from teahouse to teahouse along the classic high-altitude foot highways and caravan trade routes, first from Pokhara north to the Mustang district of northcentral Nepal and the border with Tibet (unfortunately without a camera, but with a required police permit obtained in Kathmandu), then to Namche and Tengboche in the Khumbu region of northeastern Nepal.
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A striking feature of ancient Newari-style Nepali architecture is the magnificently carved wooden figures, balconies and window screens that adorn the many temples and palaces concentrated in the Kathmandu Valley.
Lord Shiva and his consort, Parvati, peer down from an exquisitely carved second-story window of the Shiva-Parvati Temple (late 18th Century) in Durbar Square, Kathmandu, Nepal. Slide scan, circa 1973, Asahi Pentax SP Spotmatic, (SMC Pentax Zoom 45~125mm f/4).
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