Increasing populations + rapidly decreasing access to water = Very. Bad. Stuff. (Photo below by AP)

The people that will be most directly affected by this aspect of climate change get it:

Everest hosts Nepal cabinet meeting

Kathmandu, Nepal (CNN) — Nepal’s cabinet met at the base of Everest on Friday to highlight the impact of climate change on the Himalayas and adopted a 10-point Everest Declaration.

“The Himalayas are important not only for the people of Nepal but for 1.3 billion people who depend on waters from the mountains for their livelihoods,” said Nepal’s Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal at the cabinet meeting broadcast live by state-owned Nepal Television.

The melting of the glaciers in the mountains due to global warming would bring about a scarcity of water in the river systems in South Asia, affecting more than a billion people in Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and China, according to various experts.

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Aurangabad is a fairly large city in central India. It is best known for being home to the relics of an impressive Buddhist culture, Ellora & Ajanta, both of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Join me for a brief tour of these two surreal ruins as well as a peek at a lovely town that is too often overlooked by visitors to India.

All photos by Cheyney

Also posted @ Daily Kos

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Varanasi & Bodhgaya are not that well-known in the western world, but many would consider them two of world’s holiest cities. Located in northeastern India, these ancient sites hold a powerful allure words seldom do justice.

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Varanasi is the place Hindus hope to die to expedite their karmic journey to Nirvana.
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Bodhgaya is where a young Siddhartha sat under the Bodhi tree until reaching enlightenment. It goes without saying that this is the holiest of all Buddhist sites.

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Join me below the jump for more info and photos from 2 powerfully spiritual meccas in northeast India.

(Cross-posted @ Daily Kos)

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Waiting patiently.

Like a good fisherman waits.

How high can we fly?

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

No amount of typing can prepare the visitor for their 1st trip to India. However, if you can keep your expectations EXTREMELY LOW, you will surely be pleasantly surprised.

The following entries are rather random entries from my journeys up, down, left and right over a 5 month span in 2004-2005 until I get motivated enought to organize them further. You will find extensive exposition about the region around Dharamsala where I spent the majority of my time in India, but also vignettes from Varanasi, Bodhgaya, Rishikesh, Amritsar, Hampi, Goa, Kerala, Kashmir, Ladakh, Agra and more. (more…)