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photographie-irie > Nabesna Road Rainbow, Wrangell-St Elias National Park, Alaska
photographie-irie > High Country, Denali Highway, Alaska      Looking north from the Denali Highway into the eastern Alaska Range.
photographie-irie > Mekong River Sunset, Luang Prabang, Laos      For the people of Laos and Luang Prabang, the Mekong River serves many purposes. It is a source of dinner, livelihood, commerce, transportation, doing the wash, recreation, and a favorite focus of local and visitor efforts to relax with a Beer Lao or fruit shake in hand, eating fine food, and enjoying the wonderful ever changing views. Restaurants dot the river banks, where outside eating has some of the finest foods and most excellent settings of anywhere I have travelled. This is an art form the Lao have developed well, and certainly worthy of further study.
photographie-irie > Water Buffalo Chillin' Near Kuangsi Falls, Luang Prabang, Laos      Weather can be hot and humid in Laos, especially for hard working beasts of burden like these water buffalo used locally for plowing rice paddies and all manner of hauling and physical labor. Locals and visitors head about 30K south of Luang Prabang to climb and swing and swim in several cascading pools at beautiful Kuangsi Falls. These water buffalo prefer one of many mudholes in route. The pink ones are girls and the blue ones boys - not.
photographie-irie > Landlocked Land of Water, Vangvieng, Laos      For a country without direct access to the sea, Laos is incredibly wet, with an economy and every day lifestyles that seem still to revolve around water. The mighty Mekong River and its tributaries carry vaste quantities of agua from the Himalayas though winding mountain valleys and canyons, making greens in Lao seem greener than anywhere else. Life seems to revolve around the river, whichever is nearby. Here a local wades across the Nam Sang River that goes through Vangvieng. From my hut on the river, one of my favorite pastimes was to sit with a Beer Lao watching 95% of local traffic cross the river in this fashion, wading or driving an incredibly odd assortment of vehicles across the riverbed rather than using the new bridge at the same spot. Simple pleasures and values can be rediscovered and studiously practiced here, and refined well beyond the capacity of any modern world prozac allternatives.
photographie-irie > River Scene, Vangvieng, Laos           Vangvieng is a small, beautiful, and restful river outpost about 150 km north of Vientiane. It's a big hit on the backpacker route, especially for adventure sports like beer tubing, rafting, kayaking, caving, hiking, climbing, hill-tribe trekking and mountain biking. Alternate, or perhaps more principal pastimes include sipping a Beer Lao and watching the world go by. Or perhaps trying one of those funny exotic milk shakes. Whatever you do, the karst scenery with rich, green backdrop everywhere is sublime, and there is absolutely no rush in anything.  A  n  y  t  h  i  n  g.  Leaving can be difficult as legs spout roots. One of the finest things to bring here is a nice hammock. The elevation and swinging motion may effectively inhibit extensive root development. Side effects may include complete distortion of the time space continuum.
photographie-irie > Bridge Beyond Muong Houm, Muong Houm, Vietnam      Heading out beyond Muong Houm you get the feeling you are really heading into the mountain wilderness. The skyline gets more rugged, mountains higher and further isloated from serious civilzation. At various points in history, rebelious factions fighting for greater autonomy hid very effectively in those rugged mountains beyond.
photographie-irie > Mountain Valley, Road to Muong Huom, Vietnam                Beautiful rugged peaks, meandering rivers, lush rice paddies, narrow bridges and quaint ethnic villages set the stage on the way to Sunday market in Muong Huom. The length of the ride from Sapa was such that it makes sense for this to be a two day affair, with a night at a home stay in Muong Houm the Saturday night before, especially so you can be at the market bright and early when things are hoppin' and the most ethnic minorities are there.
photographie-irie > Early Morning Market Dock, Hoi An, Viet Nam      The dock area of the market, where fish and other goods are unloaded from boats to make their way into restaurants, kitchens, homes and businesses. Look at all those cone hats. Sellers and buyers mingle and haggle, exchanging goods for money to start the day. The catch is brought ashore and displayed in bamboo baskets, plastic bowls, and anything that can hold things. Buyers compare quality and make selctions. As inventory is worked through, the scene slowly thins until major action is then confined to the much larger interior market hidden back under the roof behind, to keep the day's building heat at bay. There, not only food and fruits are still sold, but all manner of household items, clothing and tourist items for foreign visitors. In the midst of the bedlam as I mingled in the crowd on another day, people rush back and forth, and it's hard to stay out of their busy way. And although I get some strange looks with my white face and camera, most everyone goes on with their business, pushing and shoving a bit, and ignoring me as long as I stay mostly out of their way.
Nabesna Road Rainbow, Wrangell-St Elias National Park, Alaska
photographie-irie > Nabesna Road Rainbow, Wrangell-St Elias National Park, Alaska
Nabesna Road Rainbow, Wrangell-St Elias National Park, Alaska
See photo in original gallery.
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