Life as I See it~

Thursday, 24 April 2014

Denying Truth

A strong wind swallowed us up in the air
swirling high, feet above the ground
I try to reach out to you but I was numb
All I could feel was the sudden climb...

As I opened my eyes
to a blurry silhouette
staring straight at me
A dark 2 am it was
I hid under the blanket

Lights switched on
Everything about me was shiver
Sweaty palms and feet
I was afraid to close my eyes

Vivid images from words
I look beside me for comfort
everything was still and unmoved
Tears swell, heart was pacing
I breathe for air

"It's all in the mind, there is no one, easy"
He said to me as if he knew it
I couldn't close my eyes
So waited for minutes to pass by
For dawn would break eventually
And then everything would be okay...

There is a truth to it:
"When we sleep we let lose our souls to wander"
We are incapable of this very control
over our minds and our body
lifeless we remain
to the truth beyond us...

Tuesday, 15 April 2014

The Universe and Me

This feeling...
The emptiness of a whole solitude
Heart falling in a matter of seconds
Suddenly trapped in a powerful wave
Moments disappear into this disease
Slowly eating every part of the body!

Simple things complicating life
The seed of love falters away
Truth buried deep within the sands
and
Life is beautiful for my own good.

The full moon and it's gravitational pull
I let it serenade me
weaving my thoughts together
unfinished and unraveled
It all collapsed helplessly.

Love is a wildfire
It burns so quickly
making darkness an unsung melody
refusing to applaud
The voice my tragedy
Ruining everything I love,

How do I Love?...

Thursday, 3 April 2014

First Week of April 2014

Earlier in March I didn't bother much to even wake up in the morning to go for my daily jog/walk/run as it was super cold still. But with April, I thought the morning would have warmed up more but in vain the cold pierced through my ears the first day, froze my hands all the way up and back down but with the week passing by it got better. I started the day at 6:30 so the sun was kind enough to warm me up and with slight jogging and running my body got warmer. The past few days I have been going to Sangaygang and it is not so bad at all. The first lap up to the Takin is the hardest especially for beginners as it hits the calves and shin of the leg but after that the slope is rather gradual and easy. Till you reach up to you just enjoy the view and keep walking.

Here are some of my favourite pictures from this week i've captured while walking to Sangaygang from my phone (Samsung Galaxy S4).

View of Thimphu City from Sangaygang, Motithang

Bend with Snow capped Mountains of Phajoding

My first glimpse of the snowy mountains in April

Morning Dawn

Motithang and the Minister's Enclave

The Enchanting Forests

View from one of the pit stops during my morning jogs

Saturday, 22 March 2014

Cold Cold Day

Oh Misty eyes of the Mountain~ Changlimithang 22/01/14

Saturday, 15 February 2014

Shiver of Doubt

Yet again, one of those days...

Timeless and recurrent
She stood still
Without any answers to her question
One foot in and the other following close behind
She didn't seem to understand what was happening.

All he said was that she would get mad.

she didn't even know her
Nor was she ready to judge her yet
His actions had already made an impression of her in her head
Whether she liked it or not
She was already seen as marked

Is that fair in life?
Judging someone without knowing them??
I certainly don't think so
And yet the story never changes.

She gets mads knowing he is not truthful
Casting doubt upon what is not there
Make belief of what was lost
Kinda hard for anyone to believe...

She once had hope that things would start fresh between them
But he always thought of her as someone who never understands him

Where is the silver linning on this cloud today?
1 year ago exactly changed their lives
And alot has happened since then

She needs to control her temper
He needs to open up to her

Sometimes she wondered why life played games with her
When everything was falling into place.
Was it a test she had to pass?

Everything happens for a reason...
Except this time round it was not happening to people around her
but it was happening to her...

Saturday, 1 February 2014

Trip to Ubud - Bali

The whole ride from Nusa Dua To Ubud the driver spoke of what Bali had to offer. The Governor, Politics, recent Bombings, the geographical features such as the volcanoes, the flooding in Jakarta, etc. He did seem to know a lot but I guess that came with what he did for a living.

I was very surprised to find that gas (petrol) was very expensive here. For 20 liters the driver paid 13,00,000 Rupiah (divided by 20 = 65,000 divided by 12,000 which comes to 5.41 dollars per liter so that multiply by 20 =108.3 dollars for 20 liters), so that in Ngultrum comes to Nu. 6,825.00 (Yep! Pretty expensive if I got my Math right)

The first stop we made was at a Batik workshop where we saw a few ladies showcasing to tourists like us their artistic skills and explaining how the process of batik, how they are printed, weaved and just like those Jim Thompson stores, they had a huge one inside.

Woman weaving Batik Cloth

Batik Cloth being woven

Batik Design in process

A Silver Pendant in the process of making

Still on the way to Ubuud, we stopped by a silver workshop since that area was famous and well known for gold and silver works. Apparently, most of the silver and gold are controlled by foreign investors but with Indonesian owners (clearly fronting and this is an inside scoup...haha)

A Woman at one of the Silvershop

Then we moved towards to a temple in ubud which lies below the presidential house which looked very green and modern architecture. They had bath places where people came to either purify, for their health and the last stone bath place was meant only for the Royals. Everything seemed rather different than normal to us but the stone carvings they had looked very similar to the wood carvings we have in Bhutan. Gede told us that here in Bali 90 percent of the religion is Hindu while the other islands of Indonesia are mostly inhabited with Muslim population and apparently they are constantly at war between the two religions.

Hindu Temple

Purification Ritual

Second Bath Pool

Visiting the Temple in the most Local style

Presidential House on top of the Hill

Prayer and Posing

Feeding the Hungry fishes

As we were driving up to see the volcano in Kitimani, we passed by many coffee plantations and orange orchards. It started to rain but it was very cool never the less in the car which was very comfortable and our driver Gede never failed to entertain us. I also learnt that Gede is a common name just like Karma or Sonam but here the name Gede belongsto the lowest farmer caste in the Hindu caste system.

We drove up to Kintamani village to See the volcano as luck had it on our side we saw the glimpse of the volcano mountain before it started to fog up. Apparently the village remains very foggy throughout the day day and seldom they see sunshine. As we were there it reminded me of the place in Kodai or even Ooty.

One interesting thing to note is that as we entered the village we had to pay 25,000 for the both of us as tax to the village tax collectors and I appreciated this effort because the money goes back to the village and for their prosperity.

Volcano Mountain

One funny thing I learnt is that one day "Silent Day" in a year people do not come out of the house, stay indoors, not allowed lights, no airplane movement, no movement. It is suppose to be a silent dead day. Purpose: not too sure but I think it is darn good idea by the government to promote family time together as I am sure one or two family members are always working to earn for their livelihood. This only happens in Bali.

Driving back we stopped by a coffee plantation to taste and buy some luwak coffee which is the world's most expensive coffee. Expensive because they domesticate the civit * in a cage and feed them with coffee beans which they eat and poop it out. Before they poop it out, the coffee beans are eaten and due to their digestive enzyme it takes away the biter taste and does something miraculous inside their stomach. When they poop they collect the beans in the morning and wash them with hot water before it is dried. Then the bean is peeled and roasted. That's how luwak coffee is made :) the animal looks like a cat with long tail and hangs upside down and crawls etc but not friendly. The fur is not so thick but they were all kept in single cells and there was about 12 of them. As the taxi driver told us the other day "Luwak in jail" and he just couldn't stop laughing.

Bali Pulina : Coffee Plantation

Coffee Arabica

Luwak

Different coffee types

After this we had lunch at this cool resturant in Ubuud where Tshe Namgay had the most yummiest Pork Ribs and then drove back down to Nusa Dua to end the trip.

Price of the trip: 650,000 Rupiah...

Monday, 27 January 2014

Singapore

After long hours in the plane finally arrived in the beautiful country of Singapore where we were greeted by a family friend of Tshering Namgyal's who was a police officer as well. They booked us rooms for the entire 4 night, 5 day stay there at SIlosso Beach Resort and then at Hard Rock Cafe at Resorts World, Sentosa. It was my first trip here and I was already in love with the country as we drove from the airport to the hotel. Everything here was clean, organized and beautiful. I loved how there was still a lot of green within the country and how everything was so well planned. I don't think they had any pollution as at night I could see a few stars lighting up the sky.

Even though it was a small country and they said you can literally drive around from one end to another in 25 minuts, I didn't really think it was that small. No, I wasn't culture shocked! Haha...

The entire stay we were looked after really well by Uncle Leong and Aunty Jane who took us around the country showing us the pretty sights as well as the tourist places. Then we also met my friend Glenn who also took time from his Attorney General's work load to give us a taste to the many different foods around.

I was glad that at least I got an entire afternoon with my cousin brother who is studying there and also got a chance to meet up with my old classmate Rishan who works there for a drink since everyone is busy working earning morning till late night.

Some of the highlights from the trip are captured in pictures: