http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/smkwan/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from smkwan en-us Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:13:04 +0000 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:13:04 +0000 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 allBut 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 mark http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Bhutan/blog-451693.html 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 writeup about them. B http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Bhutan/Thimphu/blog-449208.html 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 wee http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Bhutan/Paro/blog-447785.html 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 demig http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Bhutan/Punakha/blog-447805.html Planned for a 3 days nottoodifficult 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 jus http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Bhutan/Phobjika-Valley/blog-447768.html 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 wellequipped room walkthrough wardrobe microwave oven comfy high beds an http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Seattle/blog-447584.html The last time I dived was 2005So 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 comeTo our horror we had to dive with almost 40 other ppl cos it's the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Terengganu/Pulau-Redang/blog-440770.html 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 po http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/blog-412839.html 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 NeverGetLost brought us to the wrong HI Lake Louise which we pa http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Lake-Louise/blog-412215.html 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 we http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Kelowna/blog-411532.html Yeah Our prayers have been answered. The sun is really outOur lovely day begins with a traditional English breakfast again. This time with black pudding Mmm.. acquired taste but glad I got to try it. Took Des' advice to drive to Derwent Water and then loop back to Windermere. Explore some waterfall and many windy road. A real test to my manual driving skills. At one point I almost roll b http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cumbria/Lake-Windermere/blog-411910.html Headed to Keswick after our yummy brekkie. Very excited to check out our Keswick Rickerby Grange BB esp after the little joke by the lady at the Visitors' Centre. As we entered the driveway we saw a rather burly man on a ladder tending to his garden. That must be Des Carol the mistress of the house showed us around the house Lovely She was very kind to share tips on where to explore i http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cumbria/Keswick/blog-411895.html Required to transit at Seoul newly voted as the Best International AirportTot we'll get to shop for lotsa comestic and skincare but only 2 pathetic shops were opened. One of the shops displayed a range of BB Cream. BB cream Ash the beauty consultant said that she read abt how this cream mobbed Korea and Taiwan. Well maybe tt's why those Korean gals have such porcelain flawless skin. I'll http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Vancouver/blog-411524.html SQ has a krisflyer promo We get 50 discount to claim miles for tix to Vancouver in April yehIn 2 days time Ash Mich and I booked ourselves on a flight to Vancouver Rockies Here I come This time we have 2 mths to plan for our trip. Will be super prepared as compared to our last Lake District trip http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Vancouver/blog-411515.html My first Disneyland So ExcitedWe took a train from Shinjuku and the excitement grew stronger as we see the train passing by the iconic fantasy like Disneyland ResortThe box office was packed And mostly locals... Gosh.. how come these people so free ah And these people are so cute they dressed themselves up as Disney characters. Mmm... I wanna be Snow White. After we entered we're so lost.. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-379633.html We left London armed with our confirmed train tickets 1 night confirmed accomm on 8 Aug and 1 tentative reservation for a manual transmission car. We'll work out the rest of the stuff when we arrived with dunno what exactly to expect. Upon arrival the first thing we did was to pop into the Visitors Centre. Glad that they have an accomm helpdesk. The lady kindly asked for our requirements mad http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cumbria/Grasmere/blog-313927.html Thought I'll hv to spend some time travelling alone in UK. But miraculously I found another 2 colleagues Ash Mich who happened to finish their Europe IP trip in London after my trip. Yeah Found someone to travel tog again. Somehow I've been very blessed to always have people travel tog with me. So thankfulAll of 3 of us are from different dept. In fact we don't interact much in the offic http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cumbria/Lake-District/blog-313568.html Everyday was long and tiring in London.Thu gtgt Arrived at 6am. Too early for checkin but hotel managed to provide a day room for us to wash up. Took a quick nap before heading out for a quick breakfast and meeting at London RO. Nice cosy office. Did a quick site recce before proceding to buy tickets for our musical for this evening and also collect preordered tickets for my bosses. Lotsa http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Kensington/blog-312816.html Read about a hot spring in the wilderness. Once our host at Heartstay BB Yang Baba Mama knew that we wanted to visit this hot spring they went out of the way to check around if the hot spring is accessible. The last they knew was that the place was destroyed by some tyhoon some years ago. But their friends confirmed that it's now accessible again. YohooAfter visiting the other sights at http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Hualien/blog-294477.html We were told that Taiwanese are all dressed up. And everyone is pretty handsome on Taiwanese varierty shows. We were warned not to be too sloppy when we gai gai in Taiwan.Well after hanging around Taipei for a few days someone exclaimed so where are the pretty facesMmmm... so we decided to start a competition to see who can spot the everyoneagreesgoodlookingperson on the streets. It's s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/blog-290811.html