Bhutanese love their food spicy! So do I :) Ema Datsi, chilli cooked with cheese sauce, is the national dish. They serve this dish for almost every meal. Was a bit apprehensive when I first tried it... does chilli go with cheese at all? But once I tasted it, I simply love the dish. It goes absolutely well with plain rice yumz... I'm gonna gind the recipe for this dish when I get home. At every market we went, every vegetable stall seems to be selling chillis. Every town we went, we could see chillis hung on the window or left [View Full Entry]

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While we were changing money currency at the bank, we noticed that one of the tellers had rather dramatic eyes with ultra thick eyeliner. Mmm.... we were pretty curious on the "standard" of beauty in Bhutan. Then in Thimphu, we saw Sonam reading a copy of Yeewong. We kaypoh lor, borrowed his copy to browse. The magazine contained pictures of Miss Bhutan 2008 contestants and write-up about them. Being the bimbo us, we screeched and bitched about how these women looked. "My god, look at their eye-liner (they outlined the entire eye with thick black ink)..... Goodness, look at their hair. [View Full Entry]

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Atypical tour. It's not about tourist attractions, shopping, souvenir shops etc... It's all about the simplicity of life, the warmth of the people, the unspoilt nature and the colourful culture. We were lucky to have a wonderful guide who included little "side programmes" to enhance our overall experience. It was like visiting friends' friends, feeling very relaxed and safe. We visited the weekend market at Thimphu. There weren't any tourists around. The locals just got on to their own business, with absolutely no touting to us. They welcomed us to take all the photos we wanted. [View Full Entry]

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Planned for a 3 days not-too-difficult trek, starting from Phobjika Valley to Wangdue. My 2 travel mates were most worried about, what to wear and how to go toilet... I was extremely shocked to hear that Mich wore her pyjamas pants beneath her Columbia pants (to keep warm)!! So hilarious... glad she finally decided to take it off before we embark on the journey. Our entourage was impressive! For just 3 trekkers, we had a guide, Sonam, 1 cook, 1 asst cook, horseman + wife together with their 6 horses! First day was pretty easy, we walked on road, some trails [View Full Entry]

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Learnt about the Wheel of Life at Punakha Dzong today. In summary, the Wheel of Life is driven by the hub of 3 poisons, snake depicting jealousy and hatred, cock depicting greed and pig depicting Ignorance. These corrupt us from within, which determines the cause and effect of lives. The 3 poisons are surrounded by the six world which sentient beings take rebirth. They comprises of god, demi-god, humans, animals, hungry ghosts and demons. The wheel reminds us that everyone is responsible for their own fate, dependant on their karma, the effect of their own deeds. I'm sure there are m [View Full Entry]

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The last time I dived was 2005! So excited that I'll get to dive again yeh... Kinda anxious... Will I rem how to dive, despite us taking our refresher course 2 weeks again? Will I puke during the boat ride? Arrived at Redang after more than 14 hrs coach + boat ride. After checking in & light lunch, underwater world... here we come! To our horror, we had to dive with almost 40 other ppl (cos it's the Singapore National Day weekend). Each boat took approx 20+ pax... somehow, the dive masters seem to be in a hurry. Gear up now! [View Full Entry]

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Vancouver to Seattle was typicall only approx 2.5hrs away. Very excited over the idea of shopping at the Chelsea Premium Outlet Malls. As it was the Easter Weekend, the immgrations at the US was rather busy. It took us approx 4 hrs to get to Seattle. Stayed in Watertown Seattle Hote. We were super impressed with the well-equipped room, walk-through wardrobe, microwave oven, comfy high beds and fluffy pillows. Upon settling in, we jumped back into our car to dash for some last min shopping in town before the shops close at 9pm. By the time we got to town, we [View Full Entry]

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Highly recommended by Col, we drove up to Columbia Icefield and Jasper town, before heading back to Banff town for the night. The drive from Lake Louise to Jasper was approx 250km. Expected to just take at most 3 hrs to get there. But the scenery was simply too breathtaking. Every corner, every bend, every angle depicts the majesty of the Rockies. Naturally, we stopped at different look out points to take photo and more photos. We were told that there will be waterfalls everywhere... we tried very hard to look for it but to no avail. Finally we realised that [View Full Entry]

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Drove for approx 5- 6 hrs from Kelowna to Lake Louise. Stopped by some unknown lakes on the way for toilet break and photo op. So strange, the lake looked like it's semi frozen. The edge is still water while the rest of the lake has a layer of frost on it. Continued on and finally arrived at Lake Louise Town at abt 5pm. Our Ms Never-Get-Lost brought us to the wrong HI Lake Louise, which we panicked a bit. The carpark lots looked packed with a huge layer of snow.. how do we drive in ah? Luckily after asking ard,we [View Full Entry]

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Spent the morning strolling leisurely down Robson St. First stopped for a brekkie at Blenz Coffee, one of the many cafes located at every other corner in Vancouver. Mmm... nice hot coffee in the cold morning. Great start for our trip :) Collected the car at abt 10am at Empire Landmark Hotel. When we were brought to the carpark, all the cars looks new and shiny, except 1 blue toyota... mmm we were all secretly praying silently that it wont be ours. To our relief, our car is the one parked next to the toyata, a big silver Chevy. First check [View Full Entry]

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