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Spain > Granada ALHAMBRA, Granada, 23 May 2009 We have an early start from our Cordoba night stop because we need to reach the Alhambra at 8.00am in order to grab the much sought-after entrance tickets … and Granada is still 160km away! The drizzle along the A-316 is not helping either. As we approach [...]
read more» 0 CommentsKorea > Seoul >War Memorial December 2010 This is truly a pleasant surprise. On a fine bitterly cold morning last week, we took a walk (yeah, crazy idea at -5C) from our hotel in Yongsan towards Itaewon, and there next to the road, sat a B-52 in the compound of the War Memorial of Korea. [...]
read more» 0 CommentsKorea > Seoul > DMZ 16 December, 2010 It’s about -10C as we make our way out of metro Seoul. Traffic is bad as more people drive to work today to escape the extreme cold when using public transportation … and this is a rare sight – two European cars side-by-side in Seoul. Mr Han [...]
read more» 5 CommentsChina > Tibet Monday, 4th October 2010 After three days of high altitude acclimatisation in Lhasa (3,700m or 12,000ft), today we embark on our first leg to Everest Base Camp, some 700km away. This part of the journey is a 300km road-trip, with 2 mountain passes close to 5,000m high to cross near Nagarze and [...]
read more» 10 CommentsChina > Tibet > Everest Base Camp Wednesday, 06 October 2010 Daybreak, and somebody wakes me up, “The Everest is out there!”. Excitedly I hurry out of the tent and yes, that’s Everest alright, just 25km away as the crow flies, but the top is missing, to everybody’s dismay. Regardless, it’s indeed an awesome sight. [...]
read more» 21 CommentsChina > Tibet Tuesday, 05 October 2010 Some 300km west of Lhasa, Shigatse (also spelt Xigaze) is Tibet’s 2nd largest city, with only 80,000 people living at an altitude of 3,800m (12,500ft). It hosts the official residence of the Panchen Lama (the #2 holiest person in Tibetan Buddhism, behind the Dalai Lama) which looks resplendent [...]
read more» 0 CommentsLeaving Lhasa for Shigatse en route to Everest Territory now. No internet till I return to Lhasa 07 Oct 2010. Thanks! Share on Facebook
read more» Comments OffChina > Tibet > Lhasa 03 October 2010 ___ Tibet is synonymous with Potala Palace, and people come to Lhasa for a pilgrimage at Potala. It’s the highest ancient palace in the world at 3,800m. It’s also a highly politically-charged object, so I’ll just say this: it used to be the residence and seat of [...]
read more» 4 CommentsChina > Tibet > Lhasa 02 October 2010 ___ After a hearty biryani lunch (yes, they make decent biryanis, thanks to influence from the Nepal side), I head for another monastery of the ‘Yellow Hat’ sect – Sera Monastery – just north of Lhasa. Oh no, not another mountainside monastery! Well, phew! Not the one [...]
read more» 0 CommentsChina > Tibet > Lhasa 02 October 2010 Tibetan Buddhism comprises 5 sects, denoted by the colours of their ‘hats’: yellow, red, black, white, ‘no-colour’. The largest is the yellow sect, which is headed by none other than the exiled Dalai. Today we did two major monasteries of the yellow order, in the [...]
read more» 8 CommentsChina > Tibet > Lhasa 01 October 2010 ___ Early morning at departure area, Chengdu Airport CTU today, after stringent security and document checks for Lhasa travellers. Look at all the fiery red chops: Tibet permit, boarding pass, passport. I’m good for Tibet! Flight on schedule on a cold, misty, miserable Chengdu day. Boarding at [...]
read more» 7 CommentsChina > Hainan > Haikou August 2010 Prologue China’s southernmost province, Hainan, is so close to the Malay Peninsula that many Hainanese migrated to this region in the mid-19th to early-20th centuries to seek a better life. They normally ended up in Singapore, but worked their way northward with major concentrations in Selangor and Melaka. [...]
read more» 14 Comments[ originally published at http://mny.nuraina.com/index.php?itemid=7 ] Tuesday, 6th November 2008 RETRO: Hiroshima and Enola Gay Last week Brig Gen Paul W Tibbets, Jr, died at 92 years of age. Source: Salt Lake Tribune Which brings me back memories of my own pilgrimage to Hiroshima. It was Aug, 2004, during a trip to Japan … I [...]
read more» 3 Comments[ originally published at http://ny6.blogspot.com ] FIRST ~ Japan 070804: Bullet Trains at Tokyo Station These sleek shinkansen machines can go all the way up to 300km/h. On one stretch between Hiroshima and Osaka, my GPS registered 286 km/h! No shaking, no rattling, just a hum. It covers the very busy 520km Tokyo-Kyoto route in [...]
read more» 0 CommentsBelgium > Antwerp May 2009 Prologue Last year in May, we did a leisure trip to Europe, and found overselves in the ancient Belgian city of Antwerp for a look-around. It’s an uneventful ride on a fast Belgian train from Rotterdam to Antwerp, as the flatland of south Holland whizzes past. Soon we are at [...]
read more» 2 CommentsCLIP #1 CLIP #2 CLIP #3 CLIP #4 – Theme from ‘TITANIC’ Pleasant viewing! === Share on Facebook
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