posted by: Gypsygal Prime Note to self: I should really spend more time in the gym. I was thinking about this, out of guilt, or maybe out of vanity, as I munched on a spring roll (which, I have to remind all you foodies there, really goes well with a dollop of that sweet brown...
Botanical Museum. Yes, you read it correctly. No, it’s not a place for fossilized plants. What you can see instead fresh and blooming. Am I referring to the Singapore Botanic Gardens? Actually yes, I took these photos in the Singapore Botanic Garden, but I do prefer it to call it the Botanical Museum. The origin...
The bullfog…sitting idly an the entrace of the Singapore Botanical Garden. Waiting to be photographed,or maybe waiting for someone to rub it’s belly…in the meantime he can be my boyfriend!
No night bars, no cafes, no cable tv, no malls, no dating scene” how do you exactly ‘chill’ in Bagan, Myanmar? By simply taking the place for what it is, enjoying it for what it can offer, putting in your head that there’s more to traveling than looking for another sex-and-the-city adventure. But perhaps...
April 30, 2008 Myanmar It’s difficult not to be political about Myanmar. Not when the whole time I was there, I can’t access the internet nor avail of international publications (except for the Singapore Straits Times. which I’m sorry to say isn’t really my idea of in-depth reportage) because the military junta isn’t exactly...
Going to dublin from cork, it’s hard not to notice the castle atop the hill, we were wondering how to get there, it took us another trip to get the glimpse of the name:The Rock of Cashel. Standing on the limestone rock, the castle’s presence dominates the whole town .The Rock of Cashel is apparently...
First Published October 2005 at www.travelblog.org/bloggers/gypsygal It’s called “active meditation”. Our facilitator, Selena Bulan, explained that this meditation technique is different from what we usually do at the tailend of our yoga class – where we sit down, cross our legs, our eyes closed, breathing in and out, reciting a mantra. In active meditation, we...
First Published October 2005 at www.travelblog.org/bloggers/gypsygal In a workshop about Eros and the Divine, and its significance in writing, our writing guru, Jan Cornall, mentioned that the principle of Eros is about “being alive and feeling alive.” Tapping into that energy, according to this Aussie performance artist/playwright/poet/songwriter, will help us in our writing process. Meditating,...
(First Published October 2005 at www.travelblog.org/bloggers/gypsygal) I came to Bali burdened by the images of bloodied victims of the recent bombing plastered in the pages of the Malaysian dailies. I was in KL when the second bombing in Bali occurred . I called my parents, and they were very worried. My dad has specifically asked...
(First Published Oct 2005 at www.travelblog.org/bloggers/gypsygal) One of the valuable things that I learned while traveling is that there's no shortage of kindness everywhere. Journalism (and should I say, adulthood and the bitter experiences that I had to overcome) has made a cynic out of me, always suspicious of people's motivation, especially of strangers...
It just hits us. We wanted a break. We need a quick out-of-country holiday without charging VL days. Chili F, got a good idea: Cameron. Based from hearsays, it’s akin to Baguio…cool climate (which is a welcome change as we were starting to look like prunes from heat and humidity), strawberries (uhmmm yummy!) and perhaps...
The castle was built by the local lord Cormac MacCarthy, other tourists find it disappointing being relatively small compare to the other castles (He must be in tight budget perhaps). The castle itself sits on a cliff of rock, serving as an excavation site for the castle. The castle structure implied that it was built...
First published Sept 19, 2005 at www.travelblog.org/bloggers/gypsygal Nepal —Trekking is something one has to do with a group. Unless one has really mastered the trek route and/or prefers solitude (like if you want to meditate in the forest), trekking alone especially in an unfamiliar territory (like the rugged terrain of Nepal), is just plain stupid...
First published Sept 13, 2005 at www.travelblog.org/bloggers/gypsygal Nangi Village, Nepal — We arrived in Nangi village at 7 pm. It took us 12 hours to walk (and climb rocky hills) from our guesthouse in Beni to reach the hillside village of Nangi. The trek usually takes 7 hours, but I was really slow. Plus we...
First published Sept 12, 2005 at www.travelblog.org/bloggers/gypsygal Beni, Nepal — Kulu and Maita – both are Magars whose families live in Nangi Village, took me to the local bus station in Pokhara. The Magars are one of the major ethnic groups in Nepal. They’re of Tibeto-Burmese origin and live in the middle hills. The hardy...
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