Hawkman of the Himalayas. British falconer Scott Mason and friends have combined paragliding and falconry into the art of parahawking. [Via]
posted by homunculus on Jan 23, 2009 - 7 comments

Bhutan crowns a new King.
posted by homunculus on Nov 8, 2008 - 40 comments

High Peaks: aerial panoramas of 18 famous Himalayan mountains, from the Digital Himalayas Collections, which include all kinds of interesting things: old and new photographs, short films from the 1930's, maps, rare books and manuscripts, songs and stories in the languages of the locals in these remote parts of the world at high altitudes.
posted by nickyskye on Nov 1, 2008 - 32 comments

From the Land of the Gods: Art of the Kathmandu Valley. [Via Plep - NY]
posted by homunculus on Jul 17, 2008 - 3 comments

"On 5 May 1958 the three women climbed into their long-wheelbase Land-Rover in London, and drove through ten countries in six weeks, then walked for 21 days to Padam, the capital of Zanskar, in the highest inhabited region in the world."
posted by SixteenTons on Apr 21, 2008 - 25 comments

Science in the Himalayas. [Via Gristmill.]
posted by homunculus on Aug 27, 2007 - 4 comments

Paintings of Buddha dating back at least to the 12th century have been discovered in a cave in Nepal. Tipped by a local shepherd, a team of international researchers climbed to some old caves where they found a mural with 55 panels depicting the life of Buddha, reminiscent of the artwork of the Ajanta Caves in India (possibly NSFW). There are probably many other forgotten caves in the Mustang area (previously discussed here,) but they may be threatened by a planned trans-Himalayan highway.
posted by homunculus on May 13, 2007 - 22 comments

The stupa (aka the chorten or the pagoda) is Buddhism's universal piece of symbolic architecture. Borobodur in Java is probably the most famous, while Burma's Shwedagon Pagoda is the largest, and the Kyaik-htiyo Pagoda on the Golden Rock may be the most precarious. They're common across the Himalayas, and sometimes hidden in caves.
posted by homunculus on Apr 26, 2007 - 19 comments

Holy Madness! (Flash interface.) The Rubin Museum of Art in New York City has launched a website that allows you to pore over and compare Tibetan Buddhist artwork from their exhibits. Use the "Decode" feature to pick paintings apart and learn about their intricate components.

See also: their ambitious calendar of events.
posted by hermitosis on Aug 17, 2006 - 18 comments

For 60 years the skeletal remains of more than 200 people, discovered in 1942 in a remote Himalaya region, have puzzled historians, scientists and archaeologists. Now they think they know what killed them around AD 840. "The only plausible explanation for so many people sustaining such similar injuries at the same time is something that fell from the sky".
posted by stbalbach on Nov 14, 2004 - 13 comments

A restoration project has been underway since 1998 to restore the 15th-century Tibetan Buddhist monastery wall paintings of Lo Monthang, a city in the kingdom of Mustang in northwest Nepal. The results have been very impressive. Mustang is also home to some amazing cave temples.
posted by homunculus on Dec 27, 2003 - 12 comments

Blog from the top of the world A blog from Everest could prove to be the most remote location for a web diary yet.
posted by turbanhead on Apr 28, 2003 - 19 comments

The Himalayan Art Project. An online collection of Himalayan visual arts and heritage, '...containing over 8,000 records, 10,000 images and 700 thematic sets'. The exhibits page is good: here's a collection of photographs of Tibet as it was in the 1950's, and here's an essay on the history of 'visual Dharma'.
Some related links :- Mongolian stories and anecdotes about politics, religion, sport and horses (Mongolians belong to the same religion as Tibetans); a privileged witness to a sky burial (via the Tibetan Studies Virtual Library); the Tibetan game of rebirth.
posted by plep on Mar 29, 2003 - 3 comments

Coke paints the Himalayas red. Will this finally boost soft drink sales in the region?
posted by popkick on Aug 19, 2002 - 26 comments

An interview with photographer Nancy Jo Johnson about Tibet. Johnson paints a depressing picture of the state of Tibetan culture under Chinese rule. Adding insult to injury, China is building a new monument to commemorate the 1951 "liberation" of Tibet in front of the former winter home of the Dalai Lama.
posted by homunculus on Feb 6, 2002 - 6 comments