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- The High Passes of Everest Trek: Lukla to Namche – Days 1 – 3 2022-08-17
- The High Passes of Everest: Planning The World’s #1 Trek 2022-08-17
- Climbing Ishinca and Tocllaraju in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca 2022-08-02
- The High Passes of Everest Trek: Namche to Chhukung Days 4 – 7 2022-03-14
- A Winter’s Day Walk Along The Banks of Toronto’s Lower Don River 2022-02-21
- Robert Bell’s Lady Dufferin Lake: It’s Not Where The Map Says It Is! 2022-02-17
- Temagami’s Lady Evelyn of the Lake – Who Was She? 2022-02-14
- Home 2022-02-11
- -10ºC and Snow in Toronto – Great For Tobogganning! 2022-01-23
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A view of the Cordillera Real from Isla del Sol on Lake Titicaca in Bolivia.The gps track of a 200-km trek down the length of Bolivia’s Cordillera Real (Royal Range). We came down the west side; the classic route on the east side of the range has seen a big increase in mining activity. https://wp.me/p25mXk-7MHLate evening at Yangon’s Shwe Dagon Pagoda- the crowds are gone and it is cool and quiet on a full- moon evening. https://wp.me/p25mXk-6qYRevered monk with nuns and lay followers at Yangon’s Shwe Dagon Pagoda on an auspicious full moon evening - it was magical! https://wp.me/p25mXk-6qYMonk meditating below statue of Siddhartha Gautama in the “touching the earth” mudra - the Shwe Dagon Pagoda in Myanmar. https://wp.me/p25mXk-6qYMonk in front of candle table at the Shwe Dagon in Rangoon, Burma - that is, Yangon. Myanmar. https://wp.me/p25mXk-6qYBurmese Nuns arriving on the terrace of Yangon’s Shwe Dagon Pagoda for dusk service. https://wp.me/p25mXk-6qYMonk studying the Buddha’s teachings at the Shwe Dagon Pagoda - https://wp.me/p25mXk-6puBurmese monk outside of Rangoon’s Shwe Dagon Pagoda. See here for more- https://wp.me/p25mXk-6pu“Everybody is looking for something!” Photographer and monk at the Shwe Dagon Pagoda in Yangon ... https://wp.me/p25mXk-6puThe floor plan of Myanmar’s most sacred space, the Shwe Dagon Pagoda in Yangon (formerly Rangoon). See here for more pix - https://wp.me/p25mXk-6puApproaching our Rodolphu campsite after a tough day on the Snowman trek in the Bhutanese Himalayas.Yaks coming our way. We were going to Lunana; they were heading to Garza...Bhutanese Himalayas October 2019A lake view from the trail to Rerethang after we crossed Tempe La, our last high pass.Donkeys from Thanza approaching Chozo to carry our gear down to Sephu on the Snowman Trek.A view of the Bhutanese-Tibet border on the way down to Tarina campsite in the Bhutanese Himalayas.A load-free yak caravan crossing the 5100-meter high Rinchen Zoe La ...heading from Thanza down to Sephu. See here for more pics - https://wp.me/p25mXk-8KTThe resident monk at the Dzong in Chozo in the Bhutanese Himalayas.The remnants of an old bridge used by loggers years ago. We dragged our canoe across and continued down the headwaters of the Lady Evelyn River in Ontario’s Temagami region - day 2 of our 11-day canoe trip in September of 2020. The ultimate in physical distancing! See here for more - https://wp.me/p25mXk-9JxLooking west across Sucker Gut Lake at Maple Mountain ridge and a just discernible fire tower. We were on our way to Mowat Landing. See this site for more info and maps - https://wp.me/p25mXk-9XVramblinboy
Looking south from the dramatic vertical rock face at the north end of Wolf Lake on the Chiniguchi River system. Our tent site for the night was on the island in the center of the image. I had scampered up the rock face to check out a possible pictograph site and got a shot of my brother and the canoe as the early evening sun broke through the clouds.The Olive Hut above Catamount Glacier in the Purcell Mountain range in British Columbiaa ready supply of water below our tent site not far from North Star Peak in the Purcells in British Columbia.Our tent site near North Star Peak in the Purcells. The next night we'd have the Olive Hut all to ourselves.a view of Cerro Tronador from behind the Otto Meiling Refugio in northern Patagonia - a memorable campsite! See https://wp.me/p25mXk-6nN for the logistics and more trip pix.I saw this stele at a rest stop/gas station on a Sri Lanka Highway in 2014. I remember thinking - "What a pompous a--hole- and all with Chinese money and workers."Kathmandu street scene - walking back to Thamel from Durbar Squarethe action on Toronto's premier sliding hill off Broadview Avenue. A Leonberger chillin' while his owner chats and keeps an eye on his kids trudging back up the hill after another awesome ride.Our campsite on the upper French River. Over the five days we paddled down to Georgian Bay, following the 100-km. section of water highway used by the Canadien voyageurs. https://wp.me/p25mXk-8BqThe Broadview Hill on a summer's evening - a popular spot to catch a cooling breeze and to take in views of downtown at sunset. Down on the flats, games of soccer, frisbee, cricket, baseball, and quidditch are being played.downtown T.O. from the Leslie Street Spit. For great views of the city, the Spit's perspective ranks right up there with the view from above the Brickworks, Broadview Avenue by the Rooster Coffee House, and the Toronto Islands.one of the final bends in Toronto's Don River on a winter morning- and a beautiful spot I've returned to with my dog Viggo 100's of times. It is just off the bike trail south of the Bloor viaduct; downriver all the way to Lake Ontario, major human intervention has turned the river into what looks like a canal!our Icelandic Sheepdog Viggo on a winter's day ... ready for the morning's outing!Moshi's Parkview Inn - after seven nights in a tent a very luxurious place to chill after our Kilimanjaro climb. The next day I would head to Arusha and arrange a last-minute two-day safari to Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire National Park. Just like the hike up Kili, that too would prove to be an awesome experience!The end of the Kilimanjaro trek at Mweka Gate. Our Popote bus was waiting for us and it was a one hour ride back to Moshi and the hotel used by Popote for its guests. It is known as the Parkview Inn, a decent place in the $75. range. with a restaurant, a swimming pool, and a stored luggage room and 24-hour security and watchman at the entry gates of the inn. There are cheaper - and much more expensive - options available but I found the Parkview to be a great spot before and after our climb.It takes a village to move five mzungu (Swahili for white people) up the mountain. We took a group shot a High camp after our mid-afternoon arrival from Barafu. Three guides, 15 porters, and two cooks made sure we were taken care of and in shape to fulfil the mission! I booked my trip with a company in Moshi, the base camp town for Kilimanjaro. I did it all over the internet and by email - and I must say I found one great small and not really expensive company. See TripAdvisor for other trekkers' opinions. Maybe in 20222 when we are travelling again, you'll be able to check off Kilimanjaro from your "to do" list!We've begun our descent. I turn around and look back to Stella Point up on top of the ridge. Other members of our crew are coming down. The dust that we kick up as we descend is bad. I decide that I am going to make sure I am at the front of the line and not at the end so that I have cleaner air to breathe! In any case, the walking is very easy. 5 1/2 hrs. to get up and maybe 2 1/2 to get down!Our lead guide Dixon, a veteran of more than 150 ascents, and our crew coming down from Uhuru Peak in the background. It is about 6:45 a.m. By 9:30 I will be crawling into my tent for a brief siesta before we head down the mountain to our Day 7 campsite at High (Millenium) Camp at 3827 meters. That is a drop of over 2000 meters after having climbed about 1300 in the pre-dawn hours. Definitely the biggest energy expenditure day of the trek!The Snows of Kilimanjaro is now just the name of a book. Up on top, the glacier that once covered the entire summit and then some is all but gone. Instead of the streams I imagined would be pouring down the slopes as the ice melts, the ice just vaporizes. Poof - and it's gone!Trekkers approaching Uhuru Peak from Stella Point at dawn. We were the second group to get to the top and got to watch as other groups made their way toward us. Even as we were going down below the crater rim there were still a few trekkers and guides heading up!
Category Archives: Buddhism
Yangon’s Shwedagon Pagoda At Night
Previous Post: Yangon’s Shwedagon Pagoda – The Golden Heart of Myanmar During my one week’s stay in Yangon, I visited the Shwedagon three times, once in the late morning and twice in the late afternoon. While there is no bad … Continue reading
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The Chinese Temple Murals And Statues of Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum
The Royal Ontario Museum’s Bishop White Gallery is one I have visited often over the past forty years. It houses a world-renowned collection of Chinese temple murals and Buddhist and Taoist statuary, most of which date back to the Yuan … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Toronto
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Yangon’s Shwedagon Pagoda – The Golden Heart of Myanmar
Previous Post: Mingalaba From Myanmar – Land of the Golden Pagodas If you visit Myanmar (formerly called Burma), you will probably be starting off in its largest city, the business and cultural capital Yangon (Rangoon to the British). At the … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Easy Travelling, Myanmar
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Yangon’s Botahtaung Paya and the Buddha’s Hair Relic
Previous Post: Sule Paya – the Stupa At The Heart of Yangon An OOPS moment – this post is not quite done! I was working on it just before we set off on our 15-day canoe trip down Quebec’s Coulonge River and … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Easy Travelling, Myanmar
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The Aukana Buddha: Sri Lanka’s Colossal Standing Rock Statue
Previous Post: A Visit To The Ruins Of Polonnaruwa – Part Two The previous day I had visited the ruins of Polonnaruwa, the capital of a short-lived Sinhalese kingdom which flourished for less than two hundred years until an invading army from India … Continue reading
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