         In the beginning of the year 2011, exactly during spring festival I was traveling to Anhui province to visit the famous village Hongcun 宏村. The village is also famous because scenes from the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon were filmed on location in Hongcun. Together with Xidi, the village became a Unesco World Heritage site in the year 2000. It was not at all a tourist site then, but nowadays it’s full of Tourists. The pictures I did with a middle format twin lens camera. Everything is manual, all on film roll. #10yearsinasia #2011 #hongcun #宏村 #anhui #china #asia #springfestival #travel #unesco #worldheritage #twinlens #middleformat #film #kodak #mesumvermaphotography
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         Once again, my visa was running out and I had to go down south to Hong Kong 香港. The slow train from Nanjing to Shenzhen (南京 - 深圳西) took 25 hours (1728km) and from there I took the metro to Hong Kong. It was my first time to visit this city, and I knew for sometimes I will come back here, at least to extend my visa, as the magazine and photography gives me no working visa. Chungking Mansions 重慶大廈 was relatively cheap to stay, and I wanted also to see the bustling scene there. Cheap hotel rooms and Indian food I found there! It was great! Staying in Kowloon 九龍, it means also go almost everywhere in Hong Kong easily. The ten thousand Buddhas monastery 萬佛寺 was the first sightseeing place I went. Of course I seen the skyline of Hong Kong, which never gets bored! #10yearsinasia #2010 #hongkong #香港 #chungkingmansion #重慶大廈 #kowloon #九龍 #tenthousandbuddhasmonastery #萬佛寺 #skyline #tourist #mesumvermaphotography
         When I was racing my first Downhill Race in Nanjing back in 2009, I meet some other foreigner with the same interest like me. Trying to ride the bike down a mountain as fast as possible. Thomas from France was working at the Specialized Bike Store in Shanghai. He was organizing a 2 day downhill race event in Zhejiang province 浙江省 at Dongbaishan 东白山. Dongbaishan is located about 150km south of Hangzhou. A lot of riders where attending the race, even riders from Beijing they came so far south. It was really nice area, riding in the tea fields. But no time to have a closer look, only if you would crash. It was a really well organized event, thanks to Thomas, and I was even at the overall podium with the 4th place! #10yearsinasia #2010 #dongbaishan #东白山 #zhejiang #china #asia #downhill #mtb #race #teafields #wellnotmypictures #somebodydiditforme #mesumvermaphotography
         I was busy to get content for the online magazine I just started with a partner in India. A mountain bike magazine for India, Nepal and Buthan. We did some „Tricknology“ stuff, which means to show how to ride a bike in pictures and words. Matt did some pictures for me. I went also to some Chinese wedding, as I was invited. This one was the most traditional one! Lot’s of eating, drinking and smoking. #10yearsinasia #2010 #nanjing #南京市 #jiangsu #china #asia #tricknology #mtb #magazine #freerider #chinese #traditional #wedding #mesumvermaphotography
         After i came back from India, I went with Matt and Nick for a small weekend journey to Huai’an 淮安市. Huai’an is north of Nanjing, in the middle of the Jiangsu Province. We took the Bus (194km) to there and I was curious what will be there, as Matt was saying, we should really visit this city. In the Ming Dynasty author Wu Cheng’en 吴承恩 which is considered by many that he wrote the Journey to the West 西遊記 novel was living in Huai’an. The Former Residence of Zhou Enlai 周恩来 was the childhood home in Huai’an, which we didn’t miss it to visit. #10yearsinasia #2010 #huaian #淮安市 #jiangsu #china #asia #weekend #journey #friends #zhouenlai #mesumvermaphotography
         In Delhi, Eric my Swiss friend was so kind to let me stay at his house in Delhi. We had a good time there, with friends we made in Leh, and with his friends in Delhi. It was Monsoon मानसून season which means a lot of rain. Not much to do then, except take some nice pictures. 6 month are over and my visa for India run out. I went back to China for more adventures, mainly as I decided to stay in Asia, but do my base in China and not India. Even my new project it was, running the first ever mountain bike magazine in India. #10yearsinasia #august2010 #delhi #दिल्ली #india #भारत #friends #monsoon #मानसून #freerider #mountainbikemagazine #mesumvermaphotography
         Our last days in Ladakh we spent in Leh, bike mostly everyday to the top of a hill near by. I met also with Eric, a friend from St. Gallen, which was traveling in India. We met actually a lot of Swiss People in Leh. I went then all the way down with the bus from Leh to Delhi. It was pretty much a non stop journey, 1023km!! On night in Keylong, but otherwise no stop over, even not in Manali, I just went straight to the Manali - Delhi bus, as I don’t wanted to stop to long with all my things, it’s tiring to travel with a huge bike box, so I just wanted to get quick down to Delhi. #10yearsinasia #2010 #leh #གླེ #ladakh #ལ་དྭགས #manali #मनाली #delhi #दिल्ली #india #भारत #mountainbike #downhill #journey #bus #experience #himalaya #mesumvermaphotography
         It was time again to change the mountain bike with a bike which has a motor. Our next journey will lead us to the Nubra Valley ལྡུམ་ར། . The Nubra Valley is has a average altitude of about 3000 meter above sea level, so it’s lower then Leh. Nubra (Ldumra) means the flower valley. The Siachen Glacier lies to the north of the valley and the Karakoram Pass lies to the northwest of the valley to connect Nubra with Xinjiang. We drove over the Khardung La Pass down to Hundur, where we had our tent. The next day we went to Panamik, which is the last village to enter for tourist, before the „line of control“ and Baltistan/ Pakistan starts. The Nubra Valley is not much different then Ladakh, but if it’s not cloudy (which we did had) you could see the Siachen Glacier and also the K2 mountain. But still, it’s a nice road trip, and has a lot lesser tourists here, so is much more remote area. But tourist also can only stay maximum 7 days. I’ve been here already in 2007. And I went in 2016 also there again, and I bet, it will be not the last time. Can’t wait to go there again. #10yearsinasia #2010 #leh #གླེ #ladakh #ལ་དྭགས #khardungla #nubravalley #ལྡུམ་ར། #diskit #hundur #panamik #siachenglacier #lineofcontrol #india #भारत #buddhism #monastery #mountainbike #downhill #journey #experience #himalaya #mesumvermaphotography
         In Leh we went to explore near by the trails with our mountain bikes. We found some cool trails, dusty and fast downhills. We again went also with the motorbike for sightseeing around Leh to see some buddhist monasteries. We went with some other tourists also up to Khardung La pass. The elevation of the pass is 5359 meter above sea level. We had a lift with a minibus to the top of the pass, and drove then the 39km down with the mountain bike to Leh. The road is really something, perfect for a good downhill on a mountain bike. We had a lot of fun, and if you have the chance, you should really do it! #10yearsinasia #2010 #leh #གླེ #ladakh #ལ་དྭགས #khardungla #india #भारत #buddhism #monastery #mountainbike #downhill #journey #experience #himalaya #mesumvermaphotography
         Once arrived in Leh, we took it easy! Leh is 3500 meter above sea level, so better take things a bit easy. We did small biking tours in the city. It’s hard to pedal in this thin air. We were renting again some motorbikes, again a Indian brand, but this time we took some Pulsar 180. Heesun a Korean girl we met on the bus from Srinagar to Leh, came also with us to see the famous lake; Pangong Tso སྤང་གོང་མཚོ . The lake got a tourist destination after the Bollywood blockbuster „3 Idiots“. It was yet not over crowded, in fact, there where no tourist at all there. The way to the Pangong lake is pretty an off road, so we had some challenges to get there. Also we had to cross the Chang La pass which is 5360 meter above sea level. The lake itself is 4250 meter above sea level. The water is crystal clear (check the picture, I did not used any filter on that picture ;-)). Coming earlier this year from China, it was quite strange to stand so close to the boarder of China. The other side of the Lake there is already Tibet. 30% of the lake is in India, 70% in Tibet. #10yearsinasia #2010 #leh #གླེ #ladakh #ལ་དྭགས #pangongtso #སྤང་གོང་མཚོ #india #भारत #crystalclear #3idiots #bollywood #motorbike #pulsar #changla #journey #experience #himalaya #mesumvermaphotography
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