The retreat house was indeed very quiet. Despite that, I woke up very early in the morning to have breakfast. I saw the German lady I met last night and had a chat with her while the other retreatants extremely quietly ate their breakfast. I was actually quite impressed. It wasn’t just because they could … Continue reading Mission Impossible Prague 2012
Vienna, Austria. First thing first, dinner with a friend I met in Bhutan 😊. He took me to a popular restaurant in Vienna. The schnitzel was soooo good. I had never had such delicious and succulent schnitzel before. The sauce that came with it was perfect. I think it was a mixture of some berries. … Continue reading Vienna, Salzburg, Austria 2012
Xinjiang has been in the news for months in 2021 for whatever reason. I don’t want to mention it in my blog. The ‘issue’ will soon become history and we will know the truth in the future. Just a couple of weeks before I wrote this blog, I found this photo on LinkedIn: This is … Continue reading Xinjiang, Xinjiang 2011
We left the Esfahan city and headed to Kashan which was the garden city in Iran. It was (still is) famous for its gardens. Before that, we stopped at a unique red village in Iran, Abyaneh. It was indeed very different from other parts of Iran. The name of this place, Abyaneh, was derived from … Continue reading Abyaneh, The Unique Red Village; Kashan, The Garden City In Iran
After our visit to the majestic Persepolis yesterday, we headed to Esfahan today. I didn’t expect much again as I am not a city person but when I got there, I was impressed and it became my favourite city in Iran. When you don’t have any expectations, you get surprises. Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque in Naqsh-e … Continue reading My Favourite City In Iran, Esfahan
‘Whatever is produced in haste goes easily to waste’ was actually written by a very famous Iranian poet from the medieval period, Sadi. He was born in 1184 and died at the age of 94. He wasn’t just famous for his writing style but also for the depth of his social thoughts. His poems were … Continue reading Whatever Is Produced In Haste Goes Easily To Waste
Just as I thought I could achieve anything after my trip to Tibet last year, I received an email from an unfamiliar source. It was from a stranger. I didn’t recall myself subscribing to that but most importantly, it contained information about a trip to Iran. The email said someone was looking for travel companions … Continue reading A Strange Email, A Trip To Iran
It was my last day in Tibet. I would leave tomorrow. A lama that I met on my second day in Tibet asked me to visit his monastery so I came. Drepung Monastery wasn’t as grand as Potala Palace but it had that ‘monastic’ taste - very simple, but it was huge. There were many … Continue reading My Last Day In Tibet. Drepung Monastery
At around 7:30am, the sun rose. We got up to take photos of the sunrise around the beautiful Lake Namutsuo. It was a peaceful night for most of us last night except for the couple who had only stayed in Tibet for one day and didn’t give themselves enough time to acclimatize. The wife woke … Continue reading Sunrise in Lake Namutsuo. Was It Really A Peaceful Night?
We all gathered in a hostel at 9am and started our journey to Lake Namutsuo, the second highest salt lake in the world (some sources said it's the highest). After our dinner last night, we had closer ties with each other. We put all our money in a ‘central fund’ and we elected a treasurer … Continue reading A Night In Lake Namutsuo, The Second Highest Salt Lake In The World
