green tea

Check out this fantastic animation of the famous Bayeux Tapestry’s narrative of the Norman conquest of England in 1066.

Labels: heritage

I realize the incongruity of showing off this cupcake after my post about healthy diet and exercise. But this is the only indulgence I've had for a week!

By lunch time today, the sun was shining and the temperature had warmed up to -1˚C, perfect conditions for a walk to Miss Cora's Kitchen!

Divine red velvet cupcake from Miss Cora's Kitchen in Kensington Market, Toronto
Desk calendar from Paper Source, Boston
My favourite mug from Starbucks, Kyoto

Yes, I happened to have my camera at work for some artifact photography.

Labels: eat

I achieved my goal of exercising once per day this month. I say 'once per day' instead of everyday because there were two Fridays when I was too zonked to hit the gym, but I did work out twice on the Saturday to make up for it. Not only did I exercise much more frequently than I had been, but I really ramped up my effort. Part of this was the four week boot camp which I mentioned before. It was extremely challenging but I could feel myself improving with each session. At the first session, I was weary just from lugging my gym bag and two 5lb hand weights to the class, but by the end, I didn't even notice carrying the equipment.

Food-wise, I wasn't perfect in January but I made better choices than in the preceding months. Sure, I had a couple of indulgent restaurant dishes and I haven't completely quit the office chocolate habit. However, I ate a much smaller proportion of processed foods even though more of my free time was spent exercising and working up an appetite.

The results of my hard work so far? I have gained half a pound.

Ugh.

I don't get it. I seem to defy the laws of physics. Please don't try to tell me it's from increased muscle mass - I was already weight training regularly before January. I'm disappointed and frustrated - the problem is that disappointment and frustration makes me feel the need to console myself with something sweet and chocolately...

Instead, let's check on some other measurements: I lost 2" from my waist, 1.25" from my chest and another 2" from my hips (although I can't tell). No change in thighs, calves or arms.

The fitness tests from sessions 1 and 8 of the boot camp are more encouraging. At the start, I could do 27 full military push-ups (from the toes) in one minute. Now I can do 35. I started being able to do 53 sit-ups in a minute, now I can do 62. My numbers for bench step-ups, sprint runs and tricep dips also improved.

My plan for February is to focus more on my food intake. Maybe I won't exercise every single day next month, but I will be counting calories and tracking everything I eat, really making the math work. February has the Valentine's Day chocolate frenzy and also my birthday so I do expect to be tempted by treats. I would love to be able to zip up my glossy black riding boots by my birthday...

An observation: although I wrote at the start of January that I need to get in shape, my fitness level actually isn't that terrible. I think 35 push-ups in a minute is respectable (and these were not, ahem, "girly push-ups" from the knees). I'm asthmatic and squarely within the overweight BMI range but my strength and endurance were above the boot camp's class average despite most other members appearing to be in better shape than me. To the eye, I seem very unathletic, but I have no problem holding a steady plank pose for 60 seconds while the slender woman beside me collapses eight seconds in. That girl's yoga pants may be ten sizes smaller than mine, but she can't complete a two minute roundhouse kicking drill. I'm not bragging, I was simply reminded that thin does not always mean fit.

Labels: eat, life, sporty

Paro Valley, harvested of rice



Bumthang



Jumolhari, from the Chele La road


On the road to Thimphu


Phobjika, glacial valley

So much variation for such a small country, and this is only along the main east-west axis. I didn't even get to the Alpine north or the sub-tropical south. Just an afternoon's drive takes you from banana and guava growing areas to a region of potato and mushroom farms.

Labels: Bhutan, travel

A story about something unusual I witnessed on my trip to Australia in November 2008:

Labels: Australia, travel

An unsuspecting friend will be receiving these mittens as a surprise. They are Totoro mitts, made from this great Ravelry pattern.



It took me ten days of non-intensive knitting to finish them. I used Sublime Yarns Cashmere Merino Silk DK so they feel very nice on the hands.





I like how the pattern includes Totoro and his umbrella as well as the dust sprites and mini-Totoros.

If you don't know Totoro, I feel a little sad for you...

Labels: knit

It was just hours after my arrival in Bhutan and I was still getting used to the reality of having made my way there. My little group was walking down the path behind Paro Dzong, enjoying the warm breeze and the early fall colours. At the bottom of the hill was an enormous maple tree, with all its leaves turned golden. At the base of this tree stood a dozen or more small children, still dressed in school uniforms, each gazing attentively up into the tree. They were playing a game: catch a leaf when it falls. I believe it was the most wholesome thing I've seen in my life.









Related post from the archives: Khmer Kids

Labels: Bhutan, travel

November 17th was the day with the most driving, from Phobjika all the way back to Paro which is over 150 km. This was the only rainy day of our trip. At Wangdue, we took a detour north to Punakha. Punakha was the capital of Bhutan until 1955 - the dzong there is especially famous and this was our destination.

A little way into Wangdue, we got tangled up in a huge traffic snarl. It was 10 am on a Tuesday, there were hundreds of people milling around and we hadn't seen this many vehicles anywhere else in the previous week. What the heck was going on here?

It turns out our trip to Punakha happened to coincide with the arrival of the Chief Abbot of Bhutan and the Central Monk Body. We were backed up on the road behind buses full of monks, the Abbot's Land Cruiser (which we had seen already in Thimphu) and two modified, ornamented pick-up trucks carrying sacred relics.

Everything I had read about Bhutan mentioned that the monastic body has moved from Thimphu to the warmer climes of Punakha every winter since the 17th century. However, I didn't expect to be caught up in an actual moving day procession.


(Holy traffic jam: see it larger)

The whole way along the road, people were waiting to greet the Abbot and to receive a blessing from him. This was why the traffic was moving so slowly! Everyone was dressed up in their best outfits. Heaps of damp juniper branches were being burned to make offerings of smokey incense (I loved the scent). Eventually, once we had crept downhill into Punakha itself, our driver pulled off onto a detour. We took the back way to the dzong, bypassing the procession. We zoomed past a temple where a row of monks in headgear like I'd seen in 'Tintin in Tibet' were standing on the roof, crashing cymbals and blowing giant horns.

From the dzong, we could see the crowd of people across the river patiently waiting for the Abbot.



We didn't have much time to visit: I never figured out whether the problem was that the whole dzong would be so crowded that we couldn't move or if they would actually bar entry to tourists once the Abbot was there. Either way, we had to look around quickly. I tried to take some photos of the brightly dressed local people but I ended up having to sprint after my group so I wouldn't get separated. I wasn't the only one in a rush: monks in red were dashing in every direction, too, tending to last-minute tasks.









This dzong is apparently the most richly decorated one, and the statuary in the inner hall was stunning. No photography allowed there.



We made it in and out before the Abbot himself had completed the procession to the dzong. I was admiring these gentlemen in their embroidered boots and snapped a picture from the window as we drove by slowly. From the looks on their faces, they may not have appreciated me aiming my zoom lens in their direction... I'm sorry, but the photo was altogether irresistible.



We left Punakha by driving southwards and uphill, passing hundreds of people who were still awaiting a blessing from the Abbott:



Before we sped up and away from the crowds, we paused for just a moment to look back at the dzong:



PS On his 'National Happiness' blog, Aby Tharakan wrote about the beginning of the procession.

Labels: Bhutan, travel

Oooof, I need to get in shape. I stepped on the scale this weekend and saw a number I hadn't seen since 2002, and that was after a year of living the kuiadore life in Osaka. Ooops! Without mentioning any specific end points, I will admit that I'm up 29 pounds from when this photo was taken. Yikes. I'm not feeling too good these days and I look undeniably portly. I miss fitting into my stylish clothing. My winter coat won't zip closed so I'm bloody freezing. My favourite knee-high boots won't zip up, either. It's time to do something about the situation and a new year is a good excuse to try to alter habits.

I've been continually going to the gym as usual but I stick to my same old weight routine and some time on the treadmill at a moderate pace. Nothing very challenging. So for January, I signed up for a 4 week/8 session boot camp which should get me back into the practice of exhausting myself with interval training. I've had my first class and it was enjoyably intense - the kind of work-out that feels so good as soon as it's over. I used to exercise like that every day, but I got injured, moved and changed gyms, got lazy, etcetera. At the first session, the instructor took my measurements so I shall report back any changes at the end of the month.

I've heard it said that one's figure is determined 70% by nutrition, 20% by exercise and 10% by genetics. Once I'm into a steady routine, exercising daily is no problem for me. Genetics? I think my brother got all the good traits coming to us while I got all the bad ones. We have identical appetites but since we were small, he has always been slim while I have always been fleshy. So, I believe that 10% is a loss for me. As for nutrition, as long as I can remember, I've had a voracious, bottomless appetite and a sweet tooth that demands daily offerings (same for my brother). Recently, my biggest issue has been snacking at the office or right when I get home in the evenings. At work, I turn to chocolate when I'm stressed, when I'm chipping away at a tedious task, when my energy is low, as a treat when I finish an assignment... really for any reason at all. I have just moved desks within the building so I'm hoping that sitting in a more visible place will make me more conscious of my snacking and also that the change of setting will disrupt this stupid habit. We shall see...

Anyone else making 'get fit' resolutions? Or perhaps all of you are physically perfect already!

Labels: life, sporty

What am I doing at home in Waterloo with my brother on New Year's Eve?

1. Finishing the musk ox wool lace scarf I started knitting 20 months ago


2. Chipping away at The Globe and Mail's giant holiday crossword


3. Transferring info from my 2009 planner (purchased at kikki K. in Melbourne) to my new one (purchased at LOFT in Bangkok)


4. Sipping a few Kir Royale champagne cocktails


5. Wishing you good things and happiness for 2010!

Labels: knit, life, lists

For whatever reason, when traveling, it's often the very young or the very old who are the most memorable people to meet.

This sad little monk on the Vespa kind of broke my heart. He was sitting outside Tamshing Lhakhang with a couple of other boys. In contrast to the other temples and monasteries we visited, this one had an atmosphere of dereliction. It is a Nyingma temple, which is not the state Buddhist school of Bhutan, therefore it does not receive funding. The conditions here are austere indeed and the historical artwork is deteriorating.

Of course, I asked my guide to ask this monk's permission to take his photo. He gave it with a silent nod. Unlike almost everyone else I met, he did not smile.

According to the Friends of Tamshing site (currently being rebuilt), many of the younger monks at Tamshing are orphans. I'm still wondering what this boy's story is...

Labels: Bhutan, travel

from Andrea in Toronto

Labels: Toronto

The town of Trongsa is at the very centre of Bhutan. This town is dominated by an elongated dzong which was built clinging to the rim of a steep valley. My guide Kado liked to refer to it as 'the teasing dzong' because although it looks to be quite close, it takes another half hour drive or two hour hike to reach it from where I took this photo:



Before we went into the dzong, we had lunch of various veggies and red rice at a restaurant along the narrow main street. From the window behind the dining table, we could look out and down towards the fortress. I could tell even before going inside that it is built on many levels in a complex arrangement of compartments.



Forgive my laziness but Wikipedia explains everything clearly enough: "Chökhor Raptentse Dzong at Trongsa which was built in 1644, used to be the seat of power of the Wangchuch dynasty before it became rulers of Bhutan in 1907. Traditionally the King first becomes the governor of Trongsa before being named Crown Prince and eventually King. Built on a mountain spur high above the gorges of the Mangde Chhu, the dzong controlled east-west trade for centuries. The only road connecting eastern and western Bhutan (the precursor to the modern Lateral Road), passed through the courtyard of the dzong. At the command of the governor the massive doors could be shut, dividing the country in two."









Something about the setting of this fortress reminds me of Harlech Castle in Wales (another dragon flag country!). Because of the Harlech similarity and the connection to the conquering rulers of Bhutan, I have this image of Tronga town being the place where brave men are born. There's no real reason for me to think this: I'm just too romantic, I suppose.

As mentioned, the main road goes right through Trongsa, so on the way back to Thimphu, we stopped to visit the very new Ta Dzong museum. 'Ta' means tower: you can see the tower located to the right above the main dzong. The clouds in that photo should show just how high up this town is and indeed, I was feeling extremely dizzy inside the museum. I was sure I was going to fall down the sleek new wooden staircases. The museum opened only a year ago and it is a collaborative project created with grants from the Austrian government plus restoration training for locals by Austrian experts. You may recall that I am a museum snob (or rather, I took Museum Studies courses in grad school) and I believe this to be a very well presented display. Since Trongsa was the base of power of the unifiers of Bhutan, a major theme of the museum is the royal dynasty. Also on show are many magnificent carvings of the Four Guardian Kings, the Eight Manifestations of Guru Rinpoche and other Buddhist iconography. This kind of artwork is preserved in dzongs across the country but this is the only chance I had to see it up close and unobscured.

Our guide inside the museum was a monk who lived at Ta Dzong. I remember the pungent taste of the holy water he offered us in the tower-top sanctuary and also his very loud and unexpected taxi whistle cell phone ringtone.


(photo taken from the top of Trongsa's Ta Dzong)

Labels: Bhutan, travel

(mural at Tamshing Lhakhang)

One of the names I heard mentioned over and over again in Bhutan is Pema Lingpa. He is regarded as a national saint. Pema Lingpa was born under auspicious circumstances in 1450 in the Bumthang Valley. At a young age, he was recognized to be the reincarnation of a great teacher who was part of a lineage of incarnations linking back to Tibetan royalty (yes, this is all quite confusing to me, too). The Bhutanese royal family can count Pema Lingpa among their ancestors.


(Bumthang)

Besides excelling in his education, Pema Lingpa was also a talented carpenter and metalworker. It seems that as a young man, he began to receive visions or dreams which allowed him to recover treasures or “terma”. Terma can be either physical items or ephemeral ideas. The physical treasures had been hidden away in the landscape by Guru Rinpoche, the 8th century sage who introduced Buddhism to Bhutan. The Guru had prophezied who treasure revealers would be and the appropriate time and place for each discovery. In this way, Pema Lingpa was guided by visions to reveal 32 prophesized treasures.

Pema Lingpa's most famous treasure revelation occurred at Membartsho, "Burning Lake", which is actually a section of the Tang River. In front of a crowd of people, Pema Lingpa declared that if he was a fraud, his lamp would be extinguished. He jumped into the swirling water of the river and later resurfaced with his still-burning butter lamp in one hand and a newly-discovered sacred scroll in the other.


(Membartsho)

Labels: Bhutan, travel

Please hold on for more photos and posts about my trip! The internet connection in my apartment is not working properly. I can connect for 5 minutes, then it's off for 20 to 30 minutes. This happens every couple of months and the problem persists for 3 or 4 weeks at a time. Very tedious. Apparently, Rogers wifi just doesn't like Macs and there's nothing that can be done. This makes it tricky to upload photos, as you can imagine.

In the meantime, I'd like to share:

-Teux Deux, a very simple and attractive, free, web-based to-do list service
-This post about beautiful subway stations around the world (Toronto got a mention!)
-A little photography lesson for all the people who take flash photos at stadium concerts and on mountain tops
-A 3 part mini travel doc about visiting Bhutan made by some Bhutanese locals (I went everywhere they showed!). I think it is nicely done!

Labels: Bhutan, online

A significant proportion of most tourist visits to Bhutan will be spent on the road. The only options for getting places are driving or trekking. There are no trains, domestic flights, ferries... In fact, according to the Tourism Council of Bhutan, the construction of roads began only in the 1960s.


The highway between Paro and Thimphu, the capital, was recently widened and improved so the 65 km journey is smooth and quick. Otherwise, much of the main Lateral Road and many of the branch roads are narrow, high elevation and very twisty because they are cut into mountain sides. There's a statistic of '6 bends per kilometre of highway' floating around. The roads are comfortably wide enough for one army truck, but too constricted for two vehicles to pass each other at speed. Therefore, anytime vehicles need to pass, the drivers slow down to hug the road shoulder. There are many blind corners in the mountainous regions, so the horn is constantly being honked.



Typically, one edge of the road grazes a sheer rock face while the opposite side drops off to a cliff. Other driving obstacles include clouds, cows and yaks, slow-moving Tata trucks and road crews either widening the highway or removing debris from the most recent landslide.





Despite all of this, I was never concerned about road safety since drivers in Bhutan seem to be very patient and sensible. No racing or road rage here. Also, with so few roads in the country, a tour driver will have skirted the same mountain turns hundreds of times before. Just a splash of blessed water from a prayer wheel and he's revived, ready to continue the journey!

Labels: Bhutan, travel

Here's my dilemma: it was pretty easy to take great photos in Bhutan but I'm finding it quite tough to write about what I saw and did there. Really, even a hack untrained photographer like myself can shoot off frames without even trying and the results will be impressive because the entire country is so darn photogenic. However, when it comes to trying to describe my visit in writing, I'm stuck because a lot of it defies description. This would be why my travel journal stops right before my departure from BKK. Just showing you photos here would be lazy, though, so I will have to put some more thought into what to write about...

One of those places that looks perfect in photos without any effort from the camera-holder is Tashichoedzong. A dzong is that most Himalayan of building types: the whitewashed, steep-walled, ornately decorated, flared roof fortress. Even Bhutan's national language, Dzongkha, takes its name from this type of structure. Each district (called a dzongkhag - there's that word again!) of Bhutan has a dzong which serves as the administrative and religious centre. Tashichoedzong is in Thimphu, the capital, so this dzong holds the King's and the Chief Abbot's offices (we saw the Abbot's SUV!).

We visited the dzong on November 11th, a holiday for the 4th King's birthday. Usually you can only go inside after office hours have ended, so we were lucky to visit during the daytime. It was very, very quiet. Only a few red robed monks were wandering around, adding a dash more colour to my pictures.

Labels: Bhutan, travel

If you have wired your full payment to your licensed tour company in advance, secured a seat on a tiny airline and been granted visa clearance by the Royal Government after many weeks of uncertainly, you may find yourself here on the tarmac of Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, giddy with excitement.



The city sprawl of Bangkok and the symmetrical rice paddies of Thailand will side away below, as will the river deltas of Myanmar and the flat, open fields of India. Even though you expect to pass by Mount Everest and other Himalayan peaks, it is still a shock to actually see them.





After three hours, you'll get a clear glimpse of your destination: one runway trapped between rocky slopes. At first, it seems as though you're passing right by the airstrip, since you get a full side view. This is because the pilot is preparing for three very hard banks and a steep decent. You will begin to marvel at how it is that this is the only place in the country flat enough to land a jet plane.



And so you descend with three steep rolls around the hills and a very quick straightening up.



You're here! You're really here!



Not only that, but you discover a rare thing: an airport that might be described as attractive.



But before you're even out of view of that charming mini airport, the plane that brought you in has turned around and taken off again. You're not sad to see it go because within minutes of your arrival, you already suspect that you never want to leave.

Labels: Bhutan, travel

As an introduction, I present to you some common-place sights and how they translate in Bhutan:

movie theatre:


major urban intersection


gas station:


government office block:


traffic jam:


police station:


transport truck:


international airport:


poinsettia plant:


Not shown but... car wash = any cascading waterfall along a highway where you can pull up, grab the rag and bucket from your trunk and start scrubbing.

Could this be the best place in the world?

Labels: Bhutan, travel

This isn't the kind of trip that incorporates time for blogging. And that's the best kind of trip, I think. I have hundreds of photos and stories and bits of trivia to tell you when I'm home but for now, let me just say I'm having an amazing time. I had extremely high expectations for this holiday and they have been exceeded. If you have the time and the cash available, you really need to come check out this kingdom in the clouds.

Labels: Bhutan, travel