Originally nomads from the Tibetan Plateau, the Nashi people settled in the fertile Himalayan foothills of Yunnan over 2,000 years ago.  From the ancient Tibetan religion of Bön, they developed a unique religion of nature-worship called Dongba.  The progenitors of humanity and nature were two half-brothers, two mothers with the same father.  Nature is controlled by a human-snake chimera called Shv – a statue of whom you see here.

The Nashi are a peaceful gentle people whose ideal is living in accordance with nature.  They dress very colorfully, women have equal respect with men, they write with the world’s only still-functioning pictographic script, and are proud of preserving their culture for millennia.  It is an enchanting experience to be among them.  (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #163 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Reading Joel’s beautiful Keeping Your Sanity with a Sense of Awe today (10/04), with its mention of the sun reflecting off the kelp beds of Monterey Bay, I couldn’t help thinking of a similar experience I had.

I learned how to scuba dive off the California coast, particularly in the waters off Catalina Island.  Kelp plants grow to spread their leaves on the ocean surface, but it’s underwater you experience their true beauty.  They rise from the bottom rocks of the shallow ocean floor near the coast as a forest, and when the sun’s rays shine through them, it is a magical sight to see them turn the color of gold.

The first time I saw this on a dive off Catalina I was transfixed in a true moment of absolute awe, in a transport of appreciation of the Creation in which we are privileged to exist.

The photo you see is not mine as I did not have an underwater camera, I could only take a picture with my mind’s eye which I have never forgotten.  So the photo is an approximation of what I saw, yet it brings back that memorable moment of awe I had almost sixty years ago.  Thanks, Joel. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #162)

Rangdum Gompa, Zanskar, August 1993.  Ever ridden a yak?  Brandon did when was 10 at the Rangdum Tibetan Monastery or Gompa atop a small hill at 13,225 feet high in an extremely remote region of the Himalayas in India called Zanskar.  It was part of our Indian Tibet expedition which will be repeating next summer (2022) – and this time Brandon will be leading the expedition.  I’ll just be along for the ride.  (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #161 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Ha Long Bay near Haiphong, Vietman – meaning Descending Dragon – is a World Heritage Site as one of our planet’s great scenic wonders, with thousands of limestone karst rock pinnacles, towers, and islets.  The most beautiful time is dawn, peaceful and serene, with small fishing boats of local villagers out for the morning catch.  A few days aboard a comfortable junk cruising Ha Long will do wonders for you. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #160 ©photo Jack Wheeler)

This is one of the magical places we experience on our Himalaya Helicopter Expeditions. An independent kingdom for 650 years in the remote Mustang region of Nepal, it is one of the last places of traditional Tibetan culture on earth, unchanged for centuries. There are sky-caves here – apartment complexes carved out of vertical cliffs 2,000 years ago – Drok-pa nomads in the high pastures, spectacular sacred ceremonies, all in a mysteriously beautiful setting where the Himalayas meet the Tibetan Plateau. We’ll be here again next April. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #86 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

The leatherneck sea turtle is the world’s largest turtle, weighing up to 1500 pounds. This female was about half that. They have an enormous range, all the way from the North Sea to South Africa in the Atlantic, spending their lives at sea eating jellyfish – except when a female comes ashore to her hatching beach and bury her clutch of eggs in the sand above high tide.

Dropping several dozen glistening white golfball-size eggs into a depression scooped out with her flippers, she covers them up with sand, and heads back to sea, never to see them again. More than two months later, the born hatchlings dig out of the sand and wiggle their way into the sea, where the lucky ones survive.

I was able to watch this mommy’s entire egg-birthing process at dawn on a remote beach in the West African country of Gabon. It was such a privilege to witness an act of elemental nature by such an extraordinary creature. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #127 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)