It was time for a get away from it all break, and after my initial plans to go to Sri Lanka unravelled, I ended up in Nepal instead. No hardship there. I find that travel to new places helps clear my head of the ever present quest to document and photograph Gower, plus you always get some new experience along the way. When visiting a country for the first time I tend to use organised tours as I find these a good way of covering a lot of ground quite easily, even though they can limit the photographic opportunities. Once I have got an idea of a country, I will then return with my own custom itinerary, tailored to my needs.
By getting up at, or before dawn, I usually managed a few hours photography before my tour group had to gather. This?gave me?the advantage of being out and about before the other tourists and the street hawkers who were looking for them to sell their tourist memorabilia. The main issue I have with organised trips is the dilemma of what equipment to take.?I usually take a reduced amount to what I would like to take. By reducing the amount of gear it sometimes also helps the photographic process.?With less choice of lenses,? you find you just get on with photographing and working around any issues caused by having a limited choice.
I had no preconcieved ideas about Nepal before I went plus I purposely decided not to do any research before I?set off?and saved it for the long flight out, reading the guide book to pass the time. Although chaotic at times, especially on the roads, Nepal was a bit of a surprise as even though it is in the 20 poorest countries in the world, there is plenty of food and housing pretty much for all even with a population just over 30 million. What I noticed most that even in the countryside you never seemed to get away from humanity, and it didn’t have that wilderness feeling that I had expected. At night it was clear to see with the lights on in the houses how populated the countryside was as well as the main towns and cities. I didn’t go to the far west of the country, so it may be different there. I will need another trip to find out!
