Wat Velouvanaram, Chamigny France

When I was in France last month, I spend majority of my time at Wat Velouvanaram in Chamigny.  Like most of the Lao Temples across the U.S., Canada, and France, the temples are usually old farm houses or residential homes.  Wat Velouvanaram is no different, it was once a old farm house sit on top of the hill over look the valley.  Which makes it very difficult to park all the cars on the property.  The head monk told me that they are in process of building a new temple which locate closer to the city.

One probably ask why I would spend so much time at the temple?  As some of you might know that houses in France are very small.  It would be almost impossible to host any type of religious ceremony at anyone home.

sign at the entrance gate to the temple..

another sign at the entrance gate..

the head monk of this temple just arrived.... soon will be time to pray.. notices all the cars are so small in France

friends and families are arriving..

looking up at the temple..

the main residential for all the monks..

to the left of residential is the ceremony hall.. everything pretty much takes place there

the procession for 6 novice monks.. this ceremony took forever

the ceremony just finished... these folks are waiting for lunch to be serve but they have to wait til the monks finished with their lunches first.

my cousin kids are enjoying themselves at the temple... she is so lovely.. too bad i can't speaks any french cause she tries to talk to me so many times.

Yosemite National Park

I finally made it to Yosemite National Park this past weekend after few cancellations this summer.  It is been few years since the last time I visited the Yosemite National Park.  In the past years, I normally visited the park at least once or twice a year.  I had camp there so many times and did hiked many trails in this park.  My all time favorite hike is the Half Dome hike.  It was an experience that I’ll never forget til the day I die.

September 25, 2010 was National Public Lands Day and the entrance fee was waived, which normally cost you $20 per car.  So, I decided to take full advantage of it.  I got up pretty early and made the 2.5 hours drive from my place.

the yosemite valley... on the background is the half dome, it is kind of hard to see from here... the sun was shinning bright at me, made it difficult to take good pictures.

you can see half dome much better on this picture... the 18-200 len came in handy today.. i like this photo a lot

Few years ago I hiked to the top of Half Dome with two of my buddies.  It was one of the toughest thing I’ve ever done.  We hiked it during the summer month where the temperature was in triple digits.  It was about 8.2 miles hike from the valley to the top of Half Dome which is about 8836 feet in elevation.

the half dome is on the upper left corner of this picture. the trail to the top start from the bottom of this picture, past 2 water falls and wrap around the back..

up close picture of half dome... you can't see the trail from this view.. on the back, there is a steel cable that you have to pull yourself up to the top of this giant rock..

what a beautiful morning... this picture is taken from Glacier Point looking east to the Half Dome.. the Glacier Point elevation is about 7214 feet

follow the trail... what a view..

the shear face of El Capitan.. this is one of the famous rock climbing site..

It was a nice to spend a day at the park.  There are so many people flocking around this giant park.  Perhaps the weather is still summer like and people are taking advantage of it.  I am planning to go back in November, the fall is so beautiful and I’ll try to capture the winter landscape.  Also, the next trip I will take my mountain bike with me so I can take pictures from many locations.  Due to the vehicle restrictions to certain parts of the park.

Happy 1st Anniversary :-)

Wow!! Time sure flew by quick.. It is been a year since I started this blog and never thought I last this long.  I just want to “Thank You” Nye for her kind words of encouragement when I first started blogging.

Thank you all for stopping by and read some of my rants…

Typical Small Town In France

La Ferte-sous-Jouarre is a typical small town situated in the valley surrounded by river and hills.  Early on Sunday morning, my uncle and I decide to stroll down to town for some coffee and croissant.  If you ask any Lao/French about the bread/croissant and coffee, they all said it is the best in the world.  Of course, I had croissants from many different countries and I do have my all time favorite.

As we approach the town, the first thing came to mind was…  This town looks pretty dead, hardly anyone are out walking.  Perhaps, it is still some what early on Sunday morning.  As my uncle leading me through small streets, people are staring at us and wondering if we are lost.  Maybe they haven’t seen too many Asian people roaming through town and one carrying big camera shooting it away.

My uncle and I took a break at this tiny cafe to try some fresh croissant and cappuccino.  I didn’t find the croissant to be anything extraordinary like all the Lao/French folk claims.

a typical street of La Ferte-sous-Jouarre.. weather is not an ideal for taking photo

roads are small... so does all the cars too

town center.. farmer's market day

most shops are closed... august is like a vacation month for the french..

the whole time we walked around this town.. i saw about 3 cars on the road

the other side of the bridge.. so quite

people came out to buy some bread.. there are two bakeries in town, only this one is open that month..

taking a break... about to enjoy my cappuccino with fresh croissant

those windows and shutters on this building reminds me of Luangprabang, Laos.

I need to learn some french before going back visiting my cousins.  Stay tune for more blogs about my trip to France.

My Quick Tour of Paris

As some of you already knew that I was in France about a month ago.  It was my first trip to France for me and it is an unfortunate circumstance led to visit the country.  I was there to attend one of my favorite uncle funeral.  It wasn’t the way I had envisioned my first visit to France.

I was pretty busy for most of my 8 days in France, except one day that nothing was schedule.  At first, I wasn’t planning to go out to see the city at all.  The main purpose of the trip was to attend my uncle funeral and spend times with all my cousins.  I have friends that lives in Paris, whom I met earlier this year in Laos came to pick me up and drove me around the City of Paris for a quick tour. I am thankful for them to give up their day to give me a tour of this beautiful city.  They open their home to me and cooked some awesome meals that night.  Without them, I probably will not get to see the City of Paris at all.

Here are some of the pictures.

a quick snap shot of notre dame.. so many people are waiting in lines to go inside.

"Point Zero".. This monument is locate right in front of Notre Dame. Everything is being measures from this point. Laos also have a similar way of measuring distances. Oh by the way, that's my foot just below the word "ZERO". 🙂

I'm not sure about the name of this square or park. It is at the end of Champs-Elysees Avenue. Eiffel Tower is on the background.

we about to approach the famous.. "round about"

the famous "LV Store".. notices that mostly asian are waiting on line to purchase some of expensive purses/bags.

what a beautiful day it was..

another view of Eiffel Tower from "Le Palais de Chaillot"

The famous bridge tunnel that took a life of Princess Diana