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TIBET'S Horse Racing Festival published in the Asian Geographic Magazine...APERTURE 2 & the .Mac Web Gallery helped to keep the deadline...the story is out.
Check out also the Photography Competition in the Asian Geographic Magazine in 2008...cool prizes and a chance to see your photos published read my previous blog below "Asia Without Borders"
Here is the link for more details:
http://www.asiangeo.com/contest_awb.html
Tibet’s Horse
Racing Festival
PRAYER WHEELS AND HORSE RACES AT 4,500 METRES
Text & Photos
GUNTHER DEICHMANN
Tibet’s province of Nakchu in Tibet hosts many festivals throughout the year, but one stands out more than any other; it is the highest horse racing festival in the world – a spectacle of colour, festivities and endurance for participants and visitors alike.
Over 10,000 people will cross high passes of more than 4,000 meters by foot, horse and jeep to make their way to the Nakchu Racecourse, to race, eat, drink and make merry during this annual festival. This racecourse, at 4,500 meters, is undoubtedly the highest racecourse in the world.
But
be warned – this festival is not for
the faint-hearted – oxygen levels in Nakchu are
approximately 61 percent and during the month of
August, temperatures can soar up to 40 degrees
Celsius in the shade at high noon and go right down
to minus one degree Celsius in the early morning.
There are few tourists in this area due to the high
altitude – that and camping is the only accommodation
available.
Traversing the
Lhasa-Nakchu-Golmud route along the Qinghai-Tibet
Highway features landscapes of grasslands,
snow-covered mountains and villages, with the
occasional view of the newly built railroad from
China to Lhasa. It is an amazing journey and if
you’re lucky, you just might encounter a prostrating
pilgrim or two performing their ritual along the way.
If you decide to travel to Nakchu, check with the
local authorities or organize a local guide, then
prepare yourself for extreme temperatures. Bear in
mind that you are very close to the sun, so drink
lots of water to avoid dehydration and to lower the
effects of altitude sickness. Travelers should spend
a few days in Lhasa to acclimatize to the altitude
before hitting the road – when traveling from an
altitude of 3,650 meters to Nakchu at 4,500 meters...
more on
this amazing Festival on my website soon you find it
under (publications - spreads) there you can download
the whole story as a PDF file, or better get the
latest issue of the
Asian Geographic Magazine.
The
previous Blog from the 14th of May
APERTURE 2 & the .Mac WEB GALLERY
delivered Tibet on time…
For more images on
Tibet by Gunther Deichmann visit
his
website @ www.deichmann-photo.com
or visit
his PhotoShelter
Archive
& Collection @
http://www.deichmann-photo.com/stock.html
Deadlines,
deadlines and more deadlines…the last minute changes
by editors or the production staff from magazines… an
all to familiar story...not a problem anymore
with Aperture
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