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Showing posts from March, 2010

Bread Making

Recently, i have learnt to bake breads after trying many times, with my only GURU being You tube. I'm so proud of my achievement, that i took the picture of it and now would like to finally transfer it to my blog. The salad on the right is made of tomato, shrimp, carrots and lettuce. The combination proved so nice that I landed up baking more and more breads. I bake breads even today, but not often as i used to.

Going Back to Earth

It is law of Nature that, What ever is taken from, should be returned back. The picture was taken on 22nd March, 2010 in Le Matcalf, National Wildlife Refuge in South of Missoula (Base of Lolo). The wood was being decomposed and slowly turning back to minerals and nutrients. I guess the fallen log, might have also been used as the feeding ground by the squirrals as one can clearly notice pile of Ponderosa Pine cones.

Survival Instinct

Nature has always played important role in evolution of both animal and plants. The picture was taken in 2008 in Royal Botanical Garden, Serbithang in Thimphu Bhutan. I was fascinated when I saw the very close resemblance of caterpillar with its sorrounding. It was exceptionally green and was very hard to notice in the midst of leaves. Literature reports that, Caterpillars are voracious eater of leaves and also they serve as food for avain species. Thus to escape itself from the clutch of predatory birds it has developed to camouflage with its sorrounding. This picture was taken by my Cannon Powershot S5 IS. I think the camera proved its worthiness beside being cheap camera.

World's best Tent

This is a typical tent made by the people of higher altitude dwellers of Bhutan. This is probably the only tent in the world, where we can see the stars while lying inside, yet prevent rain dripping down and protect from chilly wind. It is made of pure Yak hair. Yak serves wide range of purposes to the people of Bhutan's high altitude dwellers. Yaks are the main source of transportation, it also provides Milk to the people besides providing meat. The hair of Yaks are woven into tent, cloths as well as spun into strong rope. This particular tent was of the cordyceps collectors before reaching Laya. Who says, Bhutan is dark. This is at an elevation of about 4000 meters above mean sea level and people have the luxury of having solar panel installed even on their tent. BHUTAN is really thinking about protecting her natural biodiversity by transitioning to the clean and sustained environmental source.

Male Cone, looking for a chance.

Male cone of conifer.

Missoula Trip

On 8th March, 2010, Professor Stephen F. Siebert too my wife and me in and around Missoula. We visited Bandy Ranch, which is about 45 minutes drive from University of Montana. It was bright sunny day and a beautiful drive. We were hopeful of less snows in the Ranch but we were proved wrong. Though hiking within the Ranch was difficult we tried to hike on one small hill top in the Ranch hoping to spot some Elk. Looks like we ran out of luck as we could not see even a single Elk that day. Bandy Ranch has an interesting history. It was owned by a man called Bandy. Since, there was no one living with him, he donated the Ranch to the university. Since it was difficult to hike around in the Ranch, we took the feeder road from the nearby forested area to reach Salmon and Seelay lake. It took us about half an hour to reach the lakes from Ranch. To our utter surprise, whole water body of the lake was still frozen and we could see people undertaking ice fishing. The second picture shows the froz

Chorten Standing Solid and Strong in Tsha-Ri-Ja-Thang

Tsha-Ri-Ja-Thang is in Gasa Dzongkhag and it can be reached after 6 days of hike from Drugyel in Paro at an elevation of about 3800 meters above mean sea level. I hiked from Drugyel to Damji in 2008 and had wonderful opportunity to camp near Tsha-Ri-Ja-Thang. This place is very important to the wild-lifers as it plays as an important summer habitat of the National Animal of Bhutan, Takin ( Budorcus taxicolor) . I enjoyed rare opportunity of watching Takin in their natural habitat in Tsha-Ri-Ja-Thang. The chorten is constructed overlooking the Takin habitat area and one can watch Takin and their behaviour lying by the side of the chorten. Yak herders generally roam the place with their herds of yaks and horses, but now a days they are restricted to do so during the Takin's arrival in their place. Takin are shy mammals, thus, one should refrain from wearing bright coloured garments while undertaking the task of watching them. Takin has wonderful historical and cultural importance in

Druk Air Playing Bad

The recent Kuensel discussion forum is filled with the Drukair fare hike. It is indeed dis-heartening to learn that Druk Air is fixing the rates without any solid reasons behind. For instance, Druk Air charges more when you exit in Kolkata or Bagdogra than Paro while boarding from Bangkok. The irony is, it is the same flight, which flies to Paro via. Kolkata/Bagdogra. People in the kuensel forum has been trying very hard to get Druk Air management to explain their questions/concerns, but the management of Druk Air is turning deaf ear to them. Personally, I think rates of Druk Air should be lower in Bagdogra/Kolkata than Paro while flying from Bangkok. It does not make any sense to charge those people exiting from Bagdogra/Kolkata higher than Paro, which is another hour from these two destinations. In-fact I was trying to board Druk Air and exit from Bagdogra as it is closer to Phuentsholing but, Druk Air is charging me more from Bangkok to Bagdogra (4 hours flight) than from
It was July, 2008. I have been hiking for the last four days from Drugyel in Paro, Bhutan on my way to Damji in Gasa via Lingshi and Laya. After few hours of hike, this beautiful orchid (popularly knows as Ladies Slipper- Cypripedium himalaicum ) greeted me. It was so beautiful and blooming majestically. There are records that people of Lunana harvest it as vegetable
Writing has always been tough for me and is getting tougher. I'm thus, learning to write better and powerful English through this blog.