Crossing the Darcha River, Ladakh

I have added another SoundSlides: Zangskar Sumido to Chumik Nakhpo.

Dutch photojournalist Hubert Van Es, best known for a photo of a rooftop helicopter evacuation during the fall of Saigon in 1975, died Friday morning in Hong Kong.

via PDNPulse: Hugh Van Es, Fall of Saigon Photographer, Dies at 67.

The scaffolding has finally been removed from the water tower under construction on the al Khobar Corniche.

I took a long walk around the Mall of Dhahran this evening. There are still many shops unoccupied, although all have labels on the hoardings. Maybe the economic downturn has slowed things down. I saw two young men on Segways cruising the mall, advertising one store or another. The logos on their wheels were two small to see from across the mall.

I was drooling over a 17inch MacBook Pro. Why did Apple decide to produce such a beautiful machine with a hideous reflective screen. If I wanted to see myself when I was looking at the computer, I would put a mirror on the wall.

Walking around the Rashid Mall yesterday afternoon, I was stopped by two Saudi gentlemen, who asked me to take their photograph (see above). I felt far more self-conscious than they did, obviously. I still expect security guards to run over and seize my camera when I take photographs in places like this in Saudi. The guys asked me along for coffee and we spent a very pleasant hour talking about life in Saudi.

You don’t have to worry about safety in Saudi Arabia. Muggings in al Khobar are pretty much unheard of, especially when compared to places like the UK. My shock at having my camera snatched in the Sony Shop in the Rashid Mall was therefore understandable. I held tightly on to the strap and turned quickly, only to find that it was Mary May’s boyfriend. I spat my most serious insult at him. It did make me think however. If you live somewhere as safe as this, it is easy to become complacent.

I’m getting more and more photographic work at the moment, both by word of mouth and due to the fact that I always have my camera with me. I need to do more marketing though. I could start with a redesign of my website!

I ran down the corniche this morning on the area of sand by the causeway and just south of the huge abandoned mall. It was very windy and sandy yesterday and this had obviously kept the picnickers inside, for there was almost no litter.

The government is in the process of making short films to raise public awareness of the dangers of bad driving here in Saudi. According to the Arab News this week, one person is killed every 90 minutes on Saudi’s roads.