Somewhere along the Friendship Highway

This gonna be a short one or mainly spammed with photos taken from scenary along the Friendship Highway, the road that connects Tibet to Nepal via Zhangmu.

The scenary is astounding, beautiful and almost look as fake as a photoshopped photo or painting. Most of these were taken after we descend from the Everest Base Camp, the journey from Tingri to Zhangmu.

We even bumped into a group of cyclist which I can't remember from where and they were cycling along the highway.

Stunning scenary along the highway

Freaking freezing cold!

Riding along the Friendship Highway

I think these are paddy fields

The Tibetan lady who monitors our guide using her water to wash his Land Rover

Tower Bridge, London

As I am still in the dramaland mood, just want to share some shots I took long ago on the Tower Bridge, London which also debuted in the first episode in Triumph of Skies 2 where Fala Chen first appear. And I guess many would have mistaken this as the famous London bridge as in the bridge in the "London bridge is falling down" song.

To get to the Tower bridge, you can get down at Tower hill tube station but I would always choose to get down at London Bridge station and walk along the Thames river to get to the Tower bridge. There is also a good view to photograph the bridge from the city hall side. Unfortunately, I have yet to photograph the night view of the brige and perhaps one day I shall return and fulfill this dream.

The Return of the Triangel

So..the reason I have been absent from blogging is because I am currently hooked on the newest TVB drama, Triumph in the Skies 2. I was and still a die hard fan of the first drama and not forgetting the theme song sung by Eason Chan. Being me, who had little knowledge of the chinese words, I can actually memorize and sing the whole song. The theme song has changed to an older sound in the part 2 but nonetheless I still enjoy the drama  or maybe more like enjoy watching Chilam in it, haha! Every time he appears, I would be like 'He is so good looking' and repeated the phrase throughout the whole hour.

So ..I am waiting whether the famous Triangel doll will reappear in the series as I had one of the doll from my Italy trip last time.

Sera Monastery, Tibet

Continuation from the debate of the monks...

Before we went to see the debate, we get to walk around the monastery to get a glimpse of the monks life. Since this was considered the first monastery we visited in Tibet, we were pretty excited plus we joined with another group from UK whereby we tried to matchmake their lady tour guide with our tour guide, Jamba. Since Jamba needs to settle our permit for the Everest base camp, we were left with the lady tour guide. And since her English is not as good as our guide, we spend most of the time hiding under the tree from the Tibetan heat and taking photos not knowing the building history. All I can remember from the visit is Sera monastery is one of the few monastery where you can find monks living inside.

Oh, have I not mentioned million times that I love the colour of the sky here. It's so blue...

the courtyard where the debate of the monks took place

one of the halls for prayers

somehow this photo looks like some water colour painting especially the sky

seriously the heat can be really bad

The Debate of the Monks

One of the highlights of my Tibet trip is the debate between the monks in Sera Monastery after the climb up the Potala Palace. We went to the monastery after lunch to catch the debate which starts around 2pm. However we walked around the monastery first before going into the open courtyard for the debate.

Although I don't understand a single word of the debate but it was an eye opening to see so many monks debating at the courtyard in the monastery. Their debates consist of a person standing stamping his foot and shouting to another person who is seated on the ground, who in turn needs to answer the question posed by the person standing, at least that's what being told by my guide. The topics are mostly involved Buddhism. I don't mean to disrespect but I find it rather amusing to see monks jumping, clapping and shouting than to sit and chant all day long.

Convento Santa Catalina, Arequipa, Peru

Santa Catalina monastery

 I remember the first place we visited after the Nazca Lines is Arequipa, which is also the beginning of the ascending. Some of the travel mates have suffered from the severe altitude sickness while me and Adri, since we practically slept most of the time in the bus, we had not much of the symptoms. We were even given the nickname of sleeping queen. We snapped photos when the bus stopped and slept when the bus moved.


I don't recall much of the names in the city and places except for this beautiful convent in the middle of the town. We had 2 days to spend in this city to acclimatise to the altitude. A quick google made me recalled the name of the convent. It is called the Santa Cantalina. If I am not mistaken, families in Peru send their youngest daughter to the monastery to become a nun and it's something that they were proud of. And only upper class familes can afford to send their daughters to the monastery and they need to pay in order to get in.  A look at the interior of the monastery, I can see why only the rich can afford to send their daughter. The place is unlike other monastery whereby abundance colours can be seen inside. There is even a fountain located inside.

I felt like I was in Spain while walking around the monastery as the lanes are named after the places in Spain.

The highlight of the walk must be at the top of the roof where one can see the El Misti volcano covered in snow.

 

view of snow capped El Misti volcano from the rooftop

Colourful courtyard

I love how the buildings are coloured here

Streets in the monastery are named after ciities in Spain

Another tribute to Spain

I would love to hang out in this courtyard

Caught a couple in the background

The interior of a nun's room

The blue on the building is as blue as the sky

Project of the Year

Ok. I am sounding a bit cliche here. Yes, I am currently doing some projects for my brother's wedding this coming September. Will be in charge of the decorations of the venue.

Some of the work in progress...

All photos are taken using my SIII, hence the lack of quality. I think I must start playing my 7D again!