Nepal 1987
With guides and a porter to carry his painting equipment, Anthony trekked through the mountains of Nepal, seeing more beautiful landscapes daily than he had seen in his entire life. Arriving in a little village called Mlimtsi , he was intrigued by a house he visited, the more so when his guide told him it wasn't a guest house but the home of ordinary people.. it was one of the most unique houses Anthony had ever seen, and he loved painting it. After he had completed the painting his guide asked him if he would like to see other houses before they moved on , and Anthony was absolutely amazed to discover that they all looked exactly the same!
His guide explained that this was Sherpa territory; the Sherpas, unlike the other tribes of Nepal, interest themselves, not in turquoise, amber and coral, but in pots and pans and kitchen ware. Since the variety of such wares is very limited in Nepal, naturally they all have the same things. The only chance they have of acquiring anything different from their neighbours is if they can come across something left by a passing tourist, of which there are very few in that region. In the case of the interior Anthony painted they had, (and they appear in his painting) a can of Cadbury's Drinking Chocolate and even a bottle of Dom Perignon!
His guide told him that added to this idiosyncrasy is the fact that the same family of carpenters travels around building all their shelves...and thus one finds similar things, placed in a similar order on similar shelves. Anthony's painting caused no less a sensation than had his hut in India, but this time he had his guide to show it to the excited crowd. He was surprised and touched when they arrived at the outskirts of the next village, to find a crowd of people waiting eagerly to see the picture. Some people had run ahead from Mlimtsi to tell the inhabitants of the next village of the painter and his picture. This continued for the rest of the day; at each village they passed through, scores of people greeted them, looked at the painting, recognized and enjoyed. Anthony was deeply moved.
