The further east you travel along the Wakhan Corridor, the more and more it feels like the end of the earth. So much so that you get the sense that driving any further East and you'd drop off the end.
Squeezed into a cranny between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, pressed tightly up against China, the Wakhan Corridor is one of Earth's last unspoilt spots. Unspoilt by modernity that is. The ravages of wind and cold and eaking out a living from the land at several thousand feet in the sky have left their mark on the inhabitants.
This is not a paradise to live in. The semi-nomadic Krygyz who share the area with the Wakhi Pamiris have an unfathomable one in two infant mortality rate. One in every two children die before the age of 5!
And yet, in the midst of this pain and hardship, beauty shines; beauty in faces and beauty in places.
There have been numerous attempts at photographing, video recording and otherwise documenting the Wakhan corridor. And why not? It's a truly stunning area. You'd think the splendour of the area would carry even the the most mediocre of media, but rarely is a photographer able to capture the glory and grit of the Wakhan Corridor sufficiently.
Varial Cédric Houin, however, has excelled. His photos are spectacular. And, if this 2 minute trailer is anything to go by, his video - 2014 prize winner for Best First Documentary - is similarly epic.