For more of my photos, or to buy my book, please visit www.nickkembel.com The importance of the role of the mystical isle of Lanka in the Buddhist world cannot be under emphasized. Buddhism arrived here some 2200 years ago, and later when the religion died out in India, it survived intact for centuries in Sri Lanka before being carried on to Thailand and South East Asia, where it still exists in it’s original form to this day. This most ancient form of Buddhism is referred to as ‘Theravada’, the ‘teachings of the elders’ or the ‘ancient teachings’, and is demarcated by the classic beggar monks in their bright orange robes, enormous pagodas (referred to in Sri Lanka as Dagobas) housing relics of the Buddha’s body, and an emphasis on the individual and solitary pursuit for ... read more

For more of my photos, or to buy my book, please visit www.nickkembel.com India has attracted pilgrims and spiritual travelers all the way back to those Aryan-vedic settlers, the noble ones with sacred tongues; mystical seers who thousands of years ago implanted divine śruti (revealed knowledge) into the fertile soil of the Indus Valley. At Mohenjo Daro, Harappa, and Lothal ancient Brahmins drank hallucinogenic soma and performed ritual sacrifices while the lower classes developed devotional relationships with the ancestors of the modern world’s most complex system of divinities. While the great Sanskrit articulations of this civilization were merely a stepping stone between past oral traditions and future doctrinal philosophies, they established a system of social stratification that persists to this day, as ... read more

For more of my photos, or to buy my book, please visit www.nickkembel.com Within a sandcastle fort, a cow meditates, possibly on the trade-off she has made being born in India, “I will not be slaughtered, but I must eat trash to survive”. A passing Canadian tourist-pilgrim borrows the moment with a digital imprint, to be nostalgically revisited in times to come. A three-legged dog drags a dripping sock out of an open sewer, visibly proud of his discovery. A Green Man illuminates at a wide intersection, implying permission to cross. Simultaneously, a mass of vehicles lunge forward full throttle, nearly trampling any pedestrians who have fallen for the Green Man’s seemingly twisted prank. A seven-year-old boy poses for a photograph, at his own request, and follows it up with a curious business proposal, ... read more

For more of my photos, or to buy my book, please visit www.nickkembel.com “My father is an ibex hunter. Tonight we will eat ibex”. “But I am vegetarian. I don’t eat meat”. “It is all we have. We are preparing it for you”. “OK”. Am I really going to break ten years of vegetarianism to eat an endangered animal? But I am not going to say no to this family who has so kindly invited me into their simple mud and brick house for the night. We sit around the central wood fire in their home as mother and daughter press chapattis and spend several hours preparing the meal. The warmth is a pleasant change from the freezing 4$ hotel rooms I have been sleeping in. The women remove cups of chai for me from ... read more

For more of my blogs about Iran, please visit Tourist Iran and Fundamentalist Iran In the Islamic tradition, guests are considered a gift from God, and must be treated accordingly. This might sound like yet another religion-based principle that sounds good on paper, but in the country of Iran, belief in this regard is put into practice. In the two weeks that I spent traveling across the nation, I was faced with daily examples of warmth and generosity to a degree that I have never encountered anywhere else in the world. Iranian people are desperately hospitable; at least that is the impression that is left on the visitor, as you are practically fending off near constant invitations for tea, dinner, conversation, and even a place to sleep. W... read more