Malaysia - My homeland. Happy 50th Birthday!
Singapore - i earn a living here.
Cambodia - More than Angkor Wat to offer.
Vietnam - Tough people and a tough nation.
Thailand - Elephants, beaches, trekking ...
India - "What is your name?", "Which country?", "Are you married?", "No toilet!", "Toilet is every where!", grrr.... puik!, "Rickshaw, rickshaw. You want rickshaw?", "Come to see my shop, seeing free. Give you special good price!"
Nepal - Living Goddess Kathmandu, Kumari
Some people i talked to has very strong feeling to Toronto: "i hate Toronto". i think it is bizzarre to use such a strong word on Toronto. It is a big big city, like any other metropolitan. It might not as cultural as New York or as vibrant as Montreal, but there is nothing hateful about Toronto that i can feel. May be i just haven't stay there long enough to know the place.
The famous Toronto CN tower.
Toronto have a very big Chinese community. Like any other part of the world, the Chinatown is always in the city centre.
The stadium used to be called "sky dome". The roof can be opened and it should be interesting to watch a baseball game here. (The Olympic Stadium in Montreal only managed to open its roof for once. :P)
i knew Viet Ha when i was travelling in Vietnam. She was backed to Hanoi for her internship from British Columbia University in Vancouver at that time. She is now working in Toronto. It was really nice to see her again and i think i remember very much that, she said when she first came to Canada, it surprised her that, tap water is safe to drink directly. She said "it is such a luxury". While her friend, Nice from France said, he doesn't know that tap water might not be safe to drink directly until he first went to Dominican Republic. In New York, i remember i saw quite many advertisements from the authority to encourage people to drink tap water instead of to buy bottle water. While in Montreal, some people i met do not drink tap water because "the water is clean but the water pipe is dirty". The tap water in Singapore is safe to drink directly but not many people i know would do so. Most of us still prefer to boil the water, likely to out from our old habit. So it actually strikes me a little bit to "understand" that, we got a luxury that we never really appreciate or we are taking for granted.
The old town hall is a very beautiful historical building. It is now the court.
Like a friend said when she was in Singapore, there are so many construction and digging going on. So as for Toronto.
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada: 2-3 September 2008
i never imagine Niagara Falls will be a place look like Las Vega or playground. In my mind, it should be a place like Taman Negara or National Park. To our surprise, around the Falls, the town is just look like a big playground, with things like: hunted house, different theme of wax musuems, casiono ...
At night time, spot lights are "shot" on the falls. (The greenish thing at the left side of picture.) One of the building at the right is a Casino while the other one is some kind of viewing tower.
The fall at the left is called American Fall (at the American side) while the one at the right is called Horse Shoe Falls. Horse Shoe Fall forms the misty clouds at its "curve" and it is the famous "Maid of the Mist". In fact, i was a bit dissapointed because the falls are not as huge as i imagined.
Across the Rainbow Bridge is the American side.
In the boat heading to the "Maid of the Mist". A close encounter with the American Falls. Most of the people wore the blue raincoat which came with the boat ticket, but we prefered to get the showers from the falls. This is where is got my engagement ring as well, right on the boat, in front of the falls.
The American Falls.
The boat drove right to the middle of "Maid of the Mist" and everyone took a real shower from the falls.
Horseshoe Fall, which forms the Maid of the Mist. Beside from boat for you to get near to the fall, there are trips to walk behind of this fall as well.
Seeing the speeding water "falls" down. The sound and the height and the speed of water gave a very powerful imprint in my memory.
The nearby small town, Niagara-on-the-lake (it is beside of one of the America 5 big lakes, Ontario Lake). In contrast with the Las Vega liked Niagara Falls, this small town is touristic yet peaceful. We feel almost like in Europe.
Niagara-on-the-lake is famous with its ice wine, thanks to its weather and soil. There are many fruits farms and vineyard along the way to the town. But the grapes to make wine don't taste good to just eat like that.
i do not remember what river is that, but the opposite side of the river belongs to the America. At this point, i think i realised that, Canada and America do share a very long border! There are many rivers or lakes or parks which are shared by both. i haven't really get the "feel" of this in Montreal.
Rockpoint Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada: 3-5 September 2008
Erie Lake, one of the big 5 America Lakes. We had 2 days camping at Rockpoint Provincial Park. We arrived from Niagara Falls to there at 9pm. Basically we just drove around the wood in the darkness, trying to find our campsite.
One of the interesting of Rockpoint Provincial Park is the fossil by the lake. The lake is so big that one would think it is the sea.
Kingston. Ontario, Canada: 7 September 2008
The beautiful and historical town hall. Kingston is a small town by the lake (or river, couldn't really remember now), between the big city, Toronto and Montreal. Many of the old buildings are made from limestone.
The Sunday market. There are some street performance as well.
There is a large prison in Kingstone (i suspect that is due to the limestone produced by Kingston, the material to build the prison.) So, there is an interesting small prison museum. Things display in the museum, including the weapons and equipment created by the inmates using very basic material, such as tooth brush, fork ... , for the purpose of escape or "self protection".
Some Montrealers that i have met said, Ottawa is boring. Yeah, maybe in compare to the colorful and cultural Montreal, Ottawa is just a boring government city. In fact, i don't see more than 30 of Malaysian flags at downtown Kuala Lumpur or Singaporean flags near Singapore downtown as well, but it is just bizzarre or drive you crazy to see so many maple left flags around because all the major government offices are just near to the parliment hills, downtown. With all the flags, you can't forget that you are at the place of federal government! i guess, Ottawa "need" to be boring so that it looks exactly like a government place. :) Well... i like here though. It is slow and kind of quiet as a city.
Byward Market is a colorful, bustling area where activity peaks on Saturday. Outdoor vendors, mostly farmers from West Quebec and the Ottawa Valley sell Vegetables, fruit and flowers. You can find craft, meat, seafood, baked goods and cheese around too.
This old market building from the 1840s lends its name to the adjacent neighborhood.
National War Memorial. Reminded me of the "unmoved" soldiers we saw at Taiwanese Jiang Jie Shi's memorial. It seems like a pair of "not moving" solider is a kind of international "respect" to the deceased military personnel.
Rideau Canal.
The supreme court of Canada. Completed in 1946 and is partially open to the public for visit.
Parliament Hill. The Peace Tower at the Centre Block and the eternal flames right in front of the courtyard. There are free guided tour to the internal building.
Downtown Ottawa from the Peace Tower.
The memorial inside of the Peace Tower. A big books with people's name is inside of the coffin-liked structure.
Rideau Hall, where the Governor stays.
National Gallery, one of the finest in Canada. i like the big spider.
The Canadian Civilization Museum at Gatineau. It is right opposite to the parliment hill.
Fritzroy Provincial Park. It is just an hour drive from Ottawa. We went for a day of camping.
My grandfather passed away when i was in this course. May he gained a good rebirth and always be guided with dhamma in his coming lives. May all my merits of participating this retreat be dedicated to him. May all beings be well and happy.
Ten Days Vippassana Meditation Retreat
Day 0: Taking of 8 precepts for old students. i joined the same course last year in India, so i am an old student now. i get my own cabin for this reason, instead of sharing with others in the dorm or double room. The cabin was right in the middle of maple trees forest, so it was always cooling and calm. There are only 5 cabins. The disadvantage of living in the cabin was: No toilet. So i made sure that, i drank a lot of water 3 hours before sleep and after that, drank only a mouthful or so during each resting periods. With this tactic, i never had to go to the toilet in the main building in the middle of night. It was like 5 minutes walk uphill.
In my memory, i do not remember Goenka ji speak English in an Indian accent. (i paid so much attention to 'accent' now because sometimes, people do not understand my English due to my accent.) When i heard his chanting, i felt moist in my eyes. A kind of feelings that, i am backed to a "place" that i used to go. Noble silence started after the precepts taking. For the coming 9 days, we are not allowed to speak or to communicate with others. For old students, we had our last light dinners before the precepts taking ceremony and we could only drink liquid: lemon water, for the coming 9 days.
Day 1: Observe the in-out of air through your nose. Day 2- Day 3: Observe the sensation at the triangle areas between your upper lip and your nose. Day 4: Vippassana Day. Observe the sensation of your whole body, from head to toes. After this, 3 times a day, the participants are supposed to sit still without moving at all for one whole hour. Day 5 - Day 10: Observe the sensation from head to toes and toes to head.
Let me save the details of each day, in fact, i couldn't remember that much details after more than a month. But the peace from the meditation has imprinted in my brain. i think, this is what made me go for another retreat after the first one. There are a few "interesting" realisations though:
i always thought i am quite a simple and 'kind' person. But from this retreat, i was surprised to find out that, i have so much anger within myself. i always try to be nice and be a good buddhist, but sometimes, i force myself to do things that i am not that much willing to do or i am just supressed my needs so that others can be happy (at least i think they will). There are times that, i am just act out of fear. i am scared that, by saying "no", people will not like me anymore. i guess i accumulated stocks of angers within myself. Pile and pile of anger appeared in the form of 'heated' vibration. (During "good" meditation, in simple words, when one do not have that much of the wondering minds, the sensation of the body is very very clear that you can even fell the tiny tingling or pickling of your skin.) Ajahn Brahm said, compassion to ourselves is equally important. May be i have just missed this points for all this while.
From that little bit of peace and calm and joy that i felt from the retreat, for first time in my life, i understand what does it really mean when the sangha said, it is out of compassion that the Buddha had taught dhamma to others. He could just stay in the cave and enjoy the fruits of his serene and happiness without sharing with others. (If you had enjoyed the "zest" from the meditation, then i think you know what i mean.)
One bizzarre thing: One of the girls that i met last year in India was in this meditation as well! It is kind of difficult to believe it when we saw each other again during the registration! She was the dhamma server in India and even at Sutton, while i was the participant for both retreats.
* No pictures are taken from the retreat centre. :) i was not there for pictures taking. :)
Regional Park of the waterfalls: Monte-a-Peine-et-des-Dalles, Quebec. Almost 3 hours from Montreal.
The smelly :) 18 years old dog, Princess, at the veranda. It got very thick and long fur that, summer is too hot for him and it couldn't dry its thick fur fast enough during winter. So it hasn't been taking shower for a while, even though it misses to swim in the river. It is so old that, it goes with slow motion in its movement. :)
Humming bird feeding at the nectar 'tank' in front of the veranda.
The garden and Tish's house.
We saw a few deers some where at the grassland in the evening time.
In the village, each house is rather far apart. Like many little small places, they recognized each other as, this is who's mom or this is who's daughter. They give direction in the way that: Turn left a john's house.
Hairy cows. I thought they were wild because one herd of them were just walking freely near to the wood and they just ran away when i got too near. But unfortunately, they are been feed to be slaughter for meat. The good thing is, at least they are not factory confined cows.
The shallow and very clear, clean river.
The horse at some neighbour's courtyard.
How many house is blessed with a small waterfall in front of the house? How many of us has the sound of river or waterfall to accompany your sleep? Tish and family got them all.
This is a very nice house number plate.
Thanks to Tish, i visited to the school where she is teaching, Oxbow High School, and witnesses their interesting and fun informal small graduation of the high school (not the real graduation ceremony). The senior (the graduating students) marched into the hall with their funny costumes and later on, the junior gave them flowers.
The grassland beside of one of the neighbour's house.
My friend, Tish. i enjoyed the stay at her house with her sister, Cathy and nephew, Philips, and niece, Alicia.
The beautiful sunset. When was the last time that you enjoy a sunset? You see a fireflies? You see a stary night? You enjoy watchings a lightning?
i would love to visit here again, but it is a far too crowded and kind of noisy place for me to stay for long term. Many visitors to New York City like me, don't stray off Manhattan, but in fact: New York City = Manhattan + Brooklyn + Queens + Staten Island + Bronx
Brooklyn Bridge was the world's largest suspension bridge for 2o years. i took this picture from the nearby Manhattan Bridge.
Central Park. It is at Uptown Manhattan and it east side is called Upper East Side and West is upper West Side. People come to this giant garden to jog, to play, to walk the dog ... or anything, just to escape from the busy midtown.
Museum of Modern Art or MoMA.
i personally found the things which i were enjoying was the colorful floor, the courtyard and Picasso's drawings. It is an interesting place to visit, but if you have budget constraint (admission USD 20) and time constraint and you are not a very art person, you might want to just visit its shop instead of the museum.
May be, no trip to New York is considered as complete without a visit to The Statue of Liberty at the Liberty Island. The security thing is kind of annoying but bearable. I spent around 4 hours (!) in this island itself, joining 2 guided tour from park rangers (for outer and inner of the statue). i am glad that i joined the tour as they are very informative. i have never know that, this statue is built in reconition of fraternity between then French and American. The statue is made from copper (thickness only 2 dimes, it take 30 years for the copper to turn into the current green color) in France and shipped to America. The same French designer of Eiffel Tower, shaped the face of the statue using his mother's face! Also, the statue was actually in a walking position and not standing. Her right feet is actually breaking a shackle and she is holding a key stone at her left hand. The statue is facing to the direction of Europe and the 7 'spikes' at the crown depicts 7 seas.
This is the inner part or the museum inside of the statue. i join the free guided tour of the National Park Ranger and he gave me a free admission ticket to the observatory inside of the statue (One should pay separately for admission to the observatory when you buy the boat ticket at Manhattan). There is an old or original torch of the statue inside her. Time ago, they tried to make the statue into a lighthouse too (at the torch portion). Unfortunately, when the boat see the light, they would see Manhattan as well, so this wasnt working. In turn, the changes made the statue started to rust at the torch, obviously this is very very bad. In the end, they replaced the whole torch area. So what we see at the statue now (the torch), is not longer the original. The 'new' torch is plated with 24K gold (the flame).
Near to the Liberty Island is the Ellis Island Immigration Musuem. It is an interesting place to find out about the immigration history of so many 'now' american.
The American can find the 'origin' of their ancestor over here or have the name of their ancestor to put on the "Wall of Honor" at a fees.
Little Itally. i am surprised to fine out that, Italian, like Chinese, is very much a 'immigration' force. There are almost "Little Itally" at every big city as like for Chinatown. :)
The biggest Chinatown in the world. :) Cheap sourvenirs, cheaper Chinese food ... This is a very self-sustained community with the lowest crime rate in NYC. They even have their own community police.
The American Musuem of Natural History. This replica of the dinosaur from the filming of Jurassic Park, at the main entrance hall, reminded me with the movie "Night in the Museum" (or name like this).
i like this museum very much, there are so many interesting things to see, from the Dinasaur Hall, the Hall of Biodiversity to the Hall or African People to .... just too many to mentioned. i spent like 4 hours here (due to time constraint) and i think one can easily spend a whole day here.
The Hall of Ocean Life, this is a replica of the blue whale. It is huge ye ...
The former World trade centre ground. What they left now is merely a construction side of "Ground Zero".
View of New York City from the Empire State Building. Now the tallest building in NYC. The golden top spike building is the Chrysler Building.
The Metroplitan Museum of Art, another of my favorite. Well ... you can spend a few days here!
I like this painting by Piccasso, The dreamer.
This is the Chinese art area. There are American Wings, Egyptian rooms, Asian Art galleries, 19 century galleries, European paintings ....
Wall street. Behind is the historical neo-gothic Trinity Church.
Time Square. There are many shops selling cheap touristic stuff, such as, souvenir T shirt at 7 pcs at USD 10.99 (Indian price!). There are always many people at all time!
Upper West Side (the musical West Side story supposingly to be happened here.) i stayed here, but i think it is better to stay downtown as more tourist sites and places like Chinatown and little Italy are all there. If you want a cheap accommodation, it is better to book online, as it is cheaper than walk in. Some backpacker lodging don't take walk in as well.
i found these car plate thing interesting. Different state with different color and slogan. Eg: New York is "The Empire State".
42th Street or Time Square Metro (underground train). This is kind of interchange. The metro line looks complicated in the map, but in fact, it is very easy. Any place go North is considered as going uptown and go South as going downtown. From East of West or so, it is better to take bus. Every entrance is USD 2 no matter how far or near it is, so for a visitor, it is better to take a week pass (USD 21). It can be used for both bus and metro and this saves you the cost of been double charged if you get out from the wrong station and need to get in again.
NYC City Pass
There is this thing called city pass which gave you the access of 6 sights at USD 74. One of the 'advantage' of this pass is, you can cut the queue to go to a 'special' counter for admission (well ... eventhough the normal counter looks long, but normally the queue clears fast.)
My 'thoughts' as a budget user.
1.) Empire State Building - Admission USD 18, it is good to get an audio guide (better than the map thing USD 8) at USD 6 = USD 24 The audio guide is covered by city pass.
2.) Ellis Island and Liberty Statue - Admission USD 12 (you gained admission to the observatory free of charged if you join the very good free 45 min ranger tour, which unfortunately, most people don't) Otherwise, the admission to observatory is another USD 6 and not covered by city pass.
3.) The Museum of the Modern Art (MoMa) - Nothing much to see unless you are a real modern art person. Free admission on Friday after 4pm. (Admission at USD 20)
4.) Guggenheim Museum - Many are interested to see the building. The building is impressive consider it is build in year 1959, but, in compare with the building nowsaday, it is just another modern creative building. Modern art exhibition, so nothing much to see for me. Admission is pay as you wish on Friday after 5pm. (Admission USD 18)
5.) Metropolitan Museum of Art and Natural History Musuem. i think admission is at USD 18 each and this is a must!
If you have a student card, you get student price for the musuems. Check the website for admission fees, may be my memories failed me.
Strictly speaking, i don't grow up by the sea. My home is located at the 'inner part' of the town , well, a less than 10 minutes walking distance to the sea. There is a river within 3 minutes of walking time from my house too.
So, all my life, I almost live close to the water. Seafood used to be one of my favorite food. But, I like the marine creatures too much to eat them. I am a happy vegetarian since Year 2005.
