The Yak Dance - An Unique Traditional Dance

Yak Dance is often considered as the native dance of the Merak and Sakteng communities. The dancers traveled all the way from Merak, located far east of Bhutan to perform at the International Ethnobiological Congress in Bumthang. Various participants from 57 countries participated at the Congress and obviously the ceremony. This dance was one of the most prominent features at the ceremony and well it was a life time experience for me to witness it. 

Yak's expression seems to be excited  and yeah also it was worth watching. Culture is the one that has identified the unique identity of the people of Merak and Sakteng and Bhutan at large. For most of the communities in Merak and Sakteng, Yak farming is the main source of income besides agricultural trade and tourism.

How Bhutan look at Merak - Sakteng is how the world look at Bhutan!

Hands on Moths

Agrisius guttivitta

Golden Emperor Moth (Loepa)

Lemyra

Myrtata

Flowers this season at Chelela

Clematis montana

Corydalis ecristata

Meconopsis horridula

Piptanthus nepalensis

Mushrooms this season

Inonotus

Inonotus Underside View

Marasmius

Pycnoporus

Xerocomus

Xerocomus Underside View

Southern Bhutanese Pic Tour

Slow Loris, indeed this elusive primate is real slow. Its a only kind of primate probably found in Bhutan. Captured at Gelephu, soon to be released in the wild.

Obstacle does determine the oddities 

An eco-lodge near Gomphu, Zhemgang

An interesting orchid spotted at Zhemgang (Phaius flavus)

A scene near Royal Manas National Park, color transformation attributed to Monsson

Of clouds and sub-tropics, the indenpensible National Park

Even the primate does render care for the loved ones. Spotted at Zhemgang on May 2014

Great Zebra, commonly found in the south Asian region

Gelephu hotspring area

Liebster Nomination

I am really honored to be nominated for the Liebster Award; thank you so much Natasha. I am inspired by the nomination. This is the first time that my blog is awarded a blog chain award. As I am nominated I need to follow the rules of the award, so here it is:

Rules:

1. Link back and thank the blogger who nominated you in your post.
2. List 11 facts about yourself.
3. Answer the 11 questions asked by the blogger who nominated you.
4. Pick 5 - 10 new bloggers (must have less than 300 followers) to nominate.
5. Ask them 11 questions. Do not re-nominate the blogger who nominated you. 
6. Go to each blogger's site and inform them of their nomination.

11 facts about Me:

    1.      Easy going

    2.      I like listening to music

    3.      I am fascinated by the nature’s wonder

    4.      I like photography

    5.      I like to read non-fictions

    6.      I am also fascinated by the cosmos, black-holes, impermanence, etc.

    7.      I watch movies a lot

    8.      I am inspired by the natural energy system

    9.      I believe in rebirth

    10.  Fun loving

    11.  Travelling is my hobby

Answers to the questions asked by my nominator:

           1.      What is your favorite color?  Blue & Red

2. What is the meaning of your name? I am yet to find out
3. Which is your favorite television sitcom? Two and a half man & The Big bang Theory
4. Which do you like better-sea/ocean or mountains? Why? Mountains, as I am brought up in the mountains.
5. Which is your favorite post on your blog? Most of my posts are my favorites. J
6. What is your favorite time of the day? Evening
7. Which animal/bird/fish would you like keep as a pet? None
8. Name three books which touched your heart. 1. Shantaram by Gregory Davids Robert 2. Che Guevara – A Biography by Richard L. Harris 3. Old Paths White Clouds by Thich Nhat Hanh
9. Have you ever bullied anyone? If yes, who? No one
10. Who is favorite cartoon character? Naruto
11. Which is more important--family or career? Family

My nominations are:

      1.      Overcome Life

      2.      My Little Views

      3.      RikuDhan Subba’s Blog

      4.      AThousand Lives Lived

      5.      TheEnchantress

      6.      RomanceUnder Fire

I would like to request my nominees to answers the same questions I have answered. J And yeah congratulations.

Distance : Haiku

Two hearts

Distance embedded

Destination apart

Reflections on Blogging from A – Z April Challenge 2014

This year too, fortunately I was able to successfully complete the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge, 2014. Where one got to post alphabetically every day except on Sundays, so one have 26 days filled with 26 letters in the end. April does seem to fly away so soon.

Indeed, this Challenge was a challenge though, titillating in disguise. I had to manage my time and internet connectivity incongruously and most importantly think about the theme of the post relating to the Challenge. I somehow managed to squeeze through the Challenge owing to diverse approaches I tried. Retrospectively, I feel I had gone through approaches from posting photographs to raising issues and scribbling poems. And of course, my blog falls into miscellaneous category. At times, I forgot that I was participating in the Challenge but I could manage the posts somehow. Most importantly, it was a real fun!

The real interesting part was that, I met many new friends and the traffic was incredibly good. It’s always nice to meet new bloggers from different parts of the world. Thanks to internet and Blogger, it’s much easier to reach out to the people in other parts of the world. 

Now that the Challenge is over, I am happy that I participated and indeed I am pleased with my outcomes. I am grateful to the hosts and co-hosts of the Challenge for their perseverance and efforts. The way hosts handled the traffics and posts were just awesome. Appreciated!!! Thank you all the new followers for following my blog.

And yeah, thank you Challenge for the beautiful survival badge, loved it!

Zoos and its Dark Sides

I am no zoo expert; here are some of my thoughts though. I believe that the animals doesn’t belong to the zoo, they have their own wonderful home. Natural habitat is where they are supposed to be, not in the zoos. In Zoos, animals are captivated and rendered them with stress. With these stresses animals suffer mentally and physically; so many distress signs are shown by the animals.

Nor the animals are the show pieces, where people watch them every day. How would we feel if we walk in their footsteps? Will the children learn that animals do not have the right to live in the forests? Although some zoos claim to provide conservation efforts while their primary aim is to make profits. If zoos are really concerned to preserve the animal species, they should be conserving them in their natural habitats. Zoos provide visitors education on animals but they provide lessons on the captive behaviors such as boredom, stress, etc. Zoos tend to divert the conservation efforts in their natural habitats, thus depriving them of the genetic flow. There are hardly any ways to create a man-made natural habitat for the animals.

With this post I am successfully ending my post for the A to Z ChallengeApril 2014. Thank you so much the hosts of A to Z Challenge; it is indeed a great challenge.

Young Monks Folding the Unfolded

The young and energetic monks folding the newly fetched Thangkas right after a Buddhist ceremony.