Between 2004 and 2008 I travelled extensively, returning to many of the places that I had passed through on my world tour. This time I give each of them more time and even went back for repeat visits; particularly Nepal. Shooting only in Black & White, my favourite colour, I tried to capture the lives and places of the people I met. In the Himalayan mountains of Nepal and Bhutan, in the hills of India and the flatter lands of Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos I lived in tents, mud huts, wooden lodges and the odd four star hotel. I ate locally; dhal and rice in the smoke filled lodges of the mountains, chapatis freshly made for me by an elderly woman in India, fish fresh from the Mekong. In Vietnam they killed the duck especially for me and in Nepal I watched as they cut the steaks from the recently killed buffalo, the meat of which was shared around the villagers who all helped butcher the beast. I met women in their eighties with twinkles in their otherwise cloudy eyes and men who’s eyes told of despair, hardship and hope. In the children I found laughter and happiness and an ability to get dirty that would make a pig proud. And I saw pigs too, having their teeth cut back with an old pair of electricians pliers and cockerels de-sexed with six-inch rusty nails. In a tiny village in northern India I witnessed a man beat his daughter for no apparent reason and then his own wife for trying to stop him. In Vietnam I went to a wedding of the minority Nung people where I drank fire water with the father of the bride and the local fortune teller who said it would bring good luck to the house of the newlyweds. All this and more I experienced as I travelled in and found Another World, not only out there but in myself as well. Feel free to share it with me, it can’t last forever.
