Travel and Leisure: How Travel Healed Me After My Divorce

Bhutan’s Seasons of Change

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I arrived in the painful, bitter cold of winter. It was far below freezing! It was the first day of snowfall of the year and school was cancelled. I walked my little Bhutanese students’ home as we shielded our wind-burned cheeks against the stinging frost. However, my layers upon layers of clothes couldn’t stop the … Continued

Bhutan: Nuns Secrets to Life

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“Om Mani Padme Hum, Om Mani Padme Hum . . . (Hail to the lotus one!).” For several months, every morning I blissfully woke up to the repeating hums passing outside my window; the beloved morning routine of a vibrant seventy-seven year old Buddhist nun circumambulating the nunnery with a prayer bead in her left … Continued

Myanmar: Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival (video)

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WATCH: 38 Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival in Nyuang Shwe, near Inle Lake, Myanmar (Burma) All week the people have been preparing for the Golden Buddhas to arrive for the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival in Nyuang Shwe. On October 21, they finished building everything. From 5am on October 22, there was music. At 8am, people … Continued

Myanmar: Monywa Standing Buddha (video)

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WATCH: 22 Monywa Standing Buddha, Myanmar (Burma) During our drive we could begin to see the 420ft tall Buddha and the lying Buddha which is also enormous. It is the largest Standing Buddha in Asia but perhaps in the world. Prior to arriving at the complex with the enormous Buddhas, we saw a garden of Buddhas … Continued

Myanmar: Monywa Disneyland of Buddhas (video)

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WATCH: 21 Thanboddhay Pagoda, Monywa the Disneyland of Buddhas, Myanmar (Burma) About 20km South-east of Monywa in Myanmar is Thanboddhay Pagoda has over 500,000 Buddha images. It was built built from 1939 to 1952. Between the colors and the style it looks like a cross between Pastel Disneyland and a giant birthday cake. It was near the Standing Buddha … Continued

Visiting Botataung Pagoda, Yangon, Myanmar (video)

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WATCH: Botataung Pagoda Yangon, Myanmar (Burma) By taxi, we arrived at “Buddha’s First Sacred Relic Pagoda, Botataung, Yangon” This site was the original home of Buddah’s first sacred hair relic. The Buddha gave eight strands of his sacred hair to two brothers Tapussa and Bhalika who brought them to Okkla later called Dagon and now … Continued

In PRINT at The Myanmar Times

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My article on the Phaung Daw Oo Festival at Inle Lake was featured in print in The Myanmar Times, the English Language Paper of Myanmar (Burma). It begins: When I arrived in Myanmar on September 28, 2012, I planned our 27 days of travel so that we could see the famous leg rowers and Phaung … Continued

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