/ Mega Giga, or an Autopanoramic Miracle

I’ve been just introduced to awsome software – Autopano Giga, software for automatic pics stitching into panoramas. Last night before going to bed I fed my Giga to a folder with all our Rainbow pictures – more than 22000 photos. And fell sound asleep. I shall be frank, Giga “died” not being able to digest even half of this heap. But what it did to the first part – by itself, no hands applied to it – is, I think, absolutely fantastic!

Here’s some dozen of its masterpieces (uploaded “as is”, no cropping, no processing):

Salween in Yunnan, near the border of Tibet

A joke by Giga – three Alexes riding in the opposite directions. And no other defects seen 🙂

Read more »

/ Beyond the Safety Zone

We finally managed to escape from the “Safety Zone” of Imphal. And up to the Myanmar border, we hoped to meet no police nor military troops. Only some villages found on satellite images – no other information, no maps, no reports. Seems like nobody ever ventured into these hills – or kept silent about his explorations.

Read more »

(Русский) А теперь в реале! Рассказ про Тибет на Дебаркадере

/ Nags and Nagas

Pictures from the state of Manipur – with lots of rebels and abundance of military forces, trying to keep them in order.
There are two major groups of people, living in the state – peoople of the plains, Meitei and some others. And the hill tribes – kuki, zo, paite, and several clans of nagas.

Only pictures here. The main entry is only available in Russian, sorry.

The beautiful face of Manipur

Read more »

/ Betel

Our last little story on Meghalayans, before we plunge into the dusty clouds of Manipur.

Bethel

This woman also has a talking name, Bethel – and she is to some point a very picture of the whole khasi people.
Read more »

/ Khasi – the Magic of Names

A mantis travelling on Roman’s shoulder

We met no more human ashes, nor voodoo dolls on our way to the cave. The mystic cave turned out to be a hole in a limestone sink, about one meter in diameter. The khasi stayed away from the hole, trying to peep into the vertical hole from a distance.

Read more »

/ Khasi and the Black Magic

On and on, ever turning and turning, and sliding up and down the hills of Meghalaya, we pedal to the East. Towards the state of Manipur, burning in the flames of a revolt. Behind us, in front of us, side by side with us Tata trucks roar they way from the coal mines, huge, rubbed, all heavily loaded with coal. “Give way, you little nuisances!” they horn to us huskily. When tired of climbing up the hills, Roma and Gleb speed up and clutch at the frame of the nearest truck. Tata usually doesn’t like this, but the driver sticks out of the window, looking back at them, smiling and absolutely nonchalant about the road safety.

Road makers greet our peloton

Read more »

/ Tata Trucks

Probably the most creative and cheerful people in India are the long-haul truck drivers. India comes second only to Pakistan in the elaborated beauty and diversity of trucks.

Painted trucks light up the deppressive charcoal drawn scenery

Read more »

/ Meghalaya

Some pictures from the state of Meghalaya in the North-East of India – indigenous cultures, archery counters, charcoal landscapes.
In winter dry season it’s really hard to believe this is the wettest place on Earth with average annual rainfall as high as 1200 cm.

Rice Terraces in Meghalaya

Read more »

/ Our Nyishi

Wandering the hilly and sylvan Land of Nyishi – one of the biggest tribes in Arunachal Pradesh – can bring you all sorts of increaqdible encounters. Just step off the beaten paths, cross the jungle, climb the faraway hills – and meet all these fabular people in their usual rural settings. Be sure – you will be the first foreigner they ever meet. We, actually, were!

Nobody knows what is a saw here. So they just take their knives and their daos (Asian type of machete, a mixture of a sword and a knife, for cutting paths in the jungle) and cut their doors from whole tree trunks. This takes really big effort!

Read more »