My first visit to the tiny Kingdome of Nepal in Asia was in February of 1986. I was 26 years old at the time and was still vying for a job on a fire department somewhere in southern Ontario. To cover all the complications of going to such a remote Asian country I hired a small Toronto based company called "Canadian Himalayan Expeditions" to arrange my tour for the month I was to spend there. For the first week of my visit I was free to wander the streets of the Thamel district of Kathmandu and capture video and images of the local population. When it was time for us to embark to Pokhara, west of Kathmandu, for our hike along a section of the Annapurna circuit, we took a somewhat scary bus ride through mountain valleys and passes where I captured some nice images. Throughout the entire time I was in "Shangrila" I found the people of Nepal to be kind, gentle and inviting. At no time did I ever feel threatened. In reality, I was more likely to be accosted by another tourist than one of the locals. All of the original photographs in this gallery were shot on Kodachrome slide film and have been digitally scanned and post processed to enhance the quality of the images. Regrettably, some of the originals had degraded to the point that they were difficult to salvage, and even more regrettably, some of my memories from that trip were not salvageable at all. I hope you enjoy what I managed to save.
© Steve Tambosso - "The Wandering Fireman"
