It’s a long way to Mt. Everest and we have to stay overnight at several places, including one stop in Hou Er.

We arrived around 3:00pm, when the sun was shining very harshly. I found this old woman in front of the dormitory.

After checking into the dormitory, I immediately grabbed my camera and was thinking to photograph her.

But I couldn’t find any trace of her outside the dormitory.

A local said that her home was behind the dormitory and that she lived there with her granddaughter.

So I followed the directions given to me, and found the old woman.

While photographing, she kept mumbling something that seemed to be chanting. But no one could understand what she was saying.

She kept shaking her head. I had a feeling she might be suffering from “essential tremor”.

After photographing for a while, I couldn’t get the desired results.

Just when I was considering whether to give up, she stopped mumbling and she raised her head, and in that moment, I saw another side of her.

She is so noble, so confident, her eyes flowing sacrosanct glow.

She looked away and seemed to see the glory of yesteryear.

But in that brief moment, I also saw her vicissitudes, her helplessness.

It is a complicated process to move from one expression to a new comprehension.

Even though I was able to capture the moment, but I had mix feelings, I felt heavy hearted.