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Asia Images Gallery(75 images)

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From April 2011, I will maintain an additional base in Bangkok from where I will more easily be able to add to Southeast Asia, China and India collections. Please view the the growing collections from Vietnam, Nepal, China, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand and look for updates.
  • So legendary are the load-carrying abilities of the Nepalese that the word Sherpa, a term for one of the country's ethnic groups, has become synonymous with "porter." A typical Nepalese porter can carry a load nearly as heavy as he or she is. They are highly regarded as expert mountaineers as well as having good physical endurance and resilience to high altitude conditions.
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  • In Hinduism, a sadhu is a common term for an ascetic or yogi who has given up pursuit of the first three Hindu goals of life: kama (enjoyment), artha (practical objectives), and dharma (duty). The sadhu is dedicated to achieving the fourth and final Hindu goal of life - liberation through meditation. Sadhus usually wear ochre colored clothing, symbolizing renunciation.
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  • Cha Ca, Hanoi's Signature Dish - Tasty morsels of turmeric flavored whitefish are fried tableside in a clapot in oil and accompanied by fresh dill, scallions, basil, peanuts, cilantro and chilli sauce. Vietnamese Vermicelli noodles are served as a side.
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  • Young Novice Collecting Alms - In Buddhism, giving alms is a show of respect given by a lay Buddhist to a Buddhist monk. It is not charity as presumed by Western eyes. It is closer to a symbolic connection to the spiritual and to show humility and respect. The visible presence of monks is a stabilizing influence in Lao society. The act of alms giving assists in connecting lay people to the monk and what he represents.
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  • Pak Ou Caves are 25 km from Luang Prabang. They are a magnificent group of caves that are only accessible by boat. The caves are noted for their impressive Lao style Buddha sculptures assembled over the centuries by local people and pilgrims. Hundreds of mostly wooden Buddhist figures are laid out over the floors and wall shelves. They take many different positions, including meditation, teaching, peace, rain, and nirvana.
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  • Monk Going Online - Even the clergy has to keep in touch with the rest of the world and Laotian monks are certainly no exception, especially when most temples usually double as schools in Laos.
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  • The Tai Dam or Tai Dum are an ethnic group usually found in Laos and Vietnam.<br /> The Tai Dam originate from the vicinity of Dien Bien Phu,in Vietnam,the original area of occupation of the Tai people in the early history of the Tai people settlement in Southeast Asia. According to the legend of Khun Borom, the legendary progenitor of the Tai speaking peoples. The ethnic group's name originates from the women's traditional black skirts and head dresses. The black silk is embroidered with flowers and beautiful patterns. The belt is typically bright green. Tai Dam women still wear traditional clothing, especially at ceremonies. The Tai Dam do not have a defined religion but practice ancestor worship.
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  • Kinkakuji was built in 1393 as a retirement villa for Shogun Yoshimitsu Ashikaga. He intended to cover the exterior with gold, but only managed to coat the third floor with gold leaf before his death. After his death, his son converted the building into a Zen temple of the Rinzai school named Rokuonji in accordance with Ashikaga's wishes.
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  • Geisha on the streets of Arashiyama - geiko as they are called in Kyoto, are traditionally entertainers whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music and dance. Apprentice geisha are called maiko literally "dance child".
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  • Rickshaws still ply the streets of Arashiyama in the rural part of Kyoto. Nowadays the rickshaw pullers tend to be university students, working at a part-time job rather than this being a blue-collar low level job. The bamboo grove at Arashiyama, where this rickshaw and passengers is located, is one of Kyoto's best retreats from the urban scene.
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  • Shoji at Taizo-in Temple - In traditional Japanese architecture a shoji is a door, window or room divider made of translucent paper over a frame of wood or bamboo. <br /> Shoji doors are designed to slide open, and thus conserve space that would be required by a swinging door. They are used in traditional houses especially in the washitsu or Japanese-style room.
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  • Japanese Monk at Daitokuji - The schools of Zen that currently exist in Japan are the Soto, Rinzai, and Obaku. In the year 1410 a Zen Buddhist monk from Nanzenji, a large temple complex in Kyoto wrote out a landscape poem and had a painting done of the scene described by the poem. Then, following the prevailing custom of his day, he gathered responses to the images by asking prominent fellow monks and government officials to inscribe it, thereby creating a shigajiku poem and painting scroll. Such scrolls emerged as a preeminent form of elite Japanese culture in the last two decades of the fourteenth century, a golden age in the phenomenon now known as Japanese Zen culture
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  • Shojin Ryori Vegetarian Temple Cuisine "Shojin Ryori" is vegetarian cuisine at its best, consisting of pickled, seasonal vegetables and a variety of tofu dishes artfully arranged on lacquerware.
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  • Sumo "keiko" or practice at a sumo stable in Tokyo. Sumo is a competitive sport in Japan where two wrestlers attempt to force one another out of a circular ring. The Japanese consider sumo a kind of martial art and the sumo tradition is very ancient. Even today the sport includes many ritual elements, such as the use of salt for purification, harking back to the days when sumo was used in the Shinto religion.
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  • Dancing in Beihai Park - an imperial garden to the northwest of the Forbidden City in Beijing. Originally built in the 10th century, it is among the largest of Chinese gardens and contains numerous historically important structures, palaces and temples.
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  • The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 5th century BC and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire from attack from the Mongols of the North. The Great Wall currently stretches over approximately 6,400 km - It has been estimated that somewhere in the range of 2 to 3 million Chinese died in building the wall over the course of centures - Before the use of bricks, the Great Wall was mainly built from Earth or Taipa, stones, and wood. During the Ming Dynasty, bricks were heavily used in many areas of the wall, as were materials such as tiles, lime, and stone.
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  • The Temple of Heaven, or Tiantan, is sometimes used as the very symbol of Beijing. The temple was visited regularly visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer for good harvests. Speaking of which, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is a magnificent triple-gabled circular building, 32 metres in diameter and 38 metres tall, built on three levels of marble stone base. The building is completely wooden, using no nails in its construction.
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  • Symphony of Lights is a synchronised building exterior decorative light and laser multimedia display, featuring 44 buildings on both sides of the Victoria Harbour of Hong Kong accompanied by symphonic music. Organised by the Hong Kong Tourism Board. Displayed every night with good weather at 8pm Hong Kong Time, the show is an orchestration of music, decoration lights, laser light displays, and pyrotechnic fireworks. The multimedia light and sound show lasts for about 14 minutes.
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  • Chengdu Panda Research Station is the biggest facility of this kind in the world. Because of habitat destruction the giant panda is maybe the most famous endangered animal. It is home to some sixty giant panda but also has some red pandas. Views of the pandas from much closer than is possible at most zoos.
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  • Chinese martial arts consist of a number of styles that were developed over the centuries. Those styles can be classified according to common themes that mimic movements from animals or a history and training method that gather inspiration from various Chinese philosophies, myths and legends. Some styles focus on the harnessing of qi while others concentrate on improving muscle and cardiovascular fitness. Each style offers a different approach to the common problems of self defense, coordination and health.
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  • Painting a Mandala at Dropeling in Lhasa, a cooperative to aid native Tibetan artists and artisans - Thangka Painters - A thangka is a painted or embroidered Buddhist banner which is hung in a monastery or a family altar and occasionally carried by monks in ceremonial processions. Sometimes a thangka is called a scroll painting. Originally, thangka painting became popular among traveling monks because the scroll paintings were easily rolled and transported from monastery to monastery. These thangka served as important teaching tools depicting the life of the Buddha, various influential lamas and other deities and bodhisattvas. One popular subject is The Wheel of Life.
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  • One of the striking features of Tibetan monk debates is that they are quite physical. They are marked by emphatic gestures such as the loud clapping of hands used by the questioner to punctuate each question. These gestures have great symbolic value though debaters are rarely aware of such symbolic meanings, at the time. For them, the clapping and gestures bring them a clarity that can help mobilize the intellectual capacities of the debaters and capture the attention of the audience.
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  • The Snake Temple in Penang was build in the memory of Chor Soo Kong by a Buddhist monk who had immigrated to Penang. Chor Soo Kong had healing powers and had given shelter to snakes when he lived in the jungle. As the story goes, snakes entered the temple after completing and have never left to pay respect to Chor Soo Kong. The Snake Temple original name was the "Temple of the Azure Cloud" in honor of the beauty of Penang's sky..?The temple is dedicated to a deity called Cheng Swee Chor Soo.
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  • Chinese Decorative Incense with Colorful Dragons
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  • Golden Chinese Dragon at Kek Lok Si Temple or Temple of Supreme Bliss, a Buddhist temple situated in Penang and one of the best known temples on the island. It is said to be the largest Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia.
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