Search Results for: india

The terraced fields of the Kathmandu Valley were bright green and yellow with blooming mustard plants the last time I visited (see: People of the Rice Bowl).  I couldn’t help but wonder what it was all being used for! I’ve always thought of mustard as a condiment, designed to add piquancy to an Austrian/Slovenian Kransky […]

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It was an unseasonably cold, wet spring this year in Nanaimo on Canada’s Vancouver Island. I was experiencing cabin-fever after being trapped too long in a too-small-space by the inclement weather. It was time to ignore the forecast and get out for a walk! According to GoogleMaps and AllTrails, a park I was looking at […]

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The historical inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley in Central Nepal are the Newar (Newari) people. The region sits at the crossroads of Indian and Tibetan culture, and while the people speak a Tibeto-Burman language, their culture has been strongly influenced by Indian religious and social institutions. Most Newari people – over 80% – identify as […]

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Colombo, the commercial capital of Sri Lanka, is a multi-religious, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural city of 5.6 million. Thanks to its large natural harbour and its strategic position along the East–West sea trade routes, the city has a long and colourful history, some of which is still evidenced in the historic colonial buildings dotted between temples and […]

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The Eastern Sierra region of California is well known for its magnificent scenery, encompassing unique desert valleys, rugged alpine peaks, vestigial salty inland seas, and lakes of crystal glacial origins.  With millions of acres reserved within national parks, national monuments, state forests, and local reserves, much of it is considered ‘backcountry’, obtainable only by means of […]

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