Journey deep into the Red Pyramid

Never thought I would step foot on the land of the pharaohs ..and only then have I realized how impressive the pyramids are! Yesterday, we visited the Pyramid Giza (http://journeyofmylifendestiny.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-land-of-pharaoh.html) and today, we are venturing deep into the Red Pyramid.

First off, the Red Pyramid was built by the Pharaoh Sneferu, father of Khufu. It was said that according to the ancient depictions, the pyramid took 10 years and seven months to build. --source: http://www.sacred-destinations.com

This pyramid holds a special place in my memory, and I bet it would be the same for you, since I am taking you with me to explore the inside of the pyramid --right into its chambers.

Can you see the way in? Now ...what are you waiting for? C'mon in ..

Lemme lead the way ...

View from the bottom of the pyramid

Yes... Are you still there?

Or are you still down there? Hurry up, we ain't got whole day :-)

View from down there ...

Where are you?

The Second Chamber

There are three chambers inside the Red Pyramid, the third one was believed to be the burial chamber.

Burial Chamber ...

I hope you had fun stepping into the Red Pyramid with me and now time to climb back out ...-ugh, why there are so many steps?

  

Finally, we are out now and let's plan on going to the Valley of Kings tomorrow --what do ya say? 

Until next stop,

Journey of Life

Journey to the land of Pharaohs --First Stop: Pyramid Giza

Last Friday was supposed to be the day we get to travel but I couldn't manage to carve out some time.   To make out what we have missed, this whole week, I am going to take you all to the land of pharaoh --Egypt.
And today, we are visiting the 'Pyramid Giza.' I won't bore you with history but still, a little bit of background is cool. Pyramid Giza is the oldest of the 'Seven wonders" of ancient the world that still exists and largely intact --and the last survivor!

Five thousand years ago, Giza was the burial place for the Memphis, the pharaoh's capital city. The three pyramids and the Sphinx were built by arguably the greatest civilization on earth.

How do you feel so far? One could imagine my feeling when I first caught sight at the pyramids. There was a surge of excitement, feeling of impressed and touched. And the pyramid, at the first glimpse, it looks so majestic and every corner we turn ... we are trying to capture the moment --click, click.

Around 2,550 BC the first pyramid was built by Khufu, pharaoh, with over 2 millions block and weigh around 2.5 tons. --what do ya say? --I am totally in awe!

Here what I extracted from National Geographic site describing who built the pyramid, "

It took more than manual labor, though. Architects achieved an accurate pyramid shape by running ropes from the outer corners up to the planned summit, to make sure the stones were positioned correctly. And priests-astronomers helped choose the pyramids' sites and orientations, so that they would be on the appropriate axis in relation to sacred constellations.

From stone pusher to priest, every worker would likely have recognized his or her role in continuing the life-and-death cycle of the pharaohs, and thereby in perpetuating the glory of Egypt."

The Sphinx and the second tallest pyramid was built by Khafre, Khufu's next successor. The littlest one was built by the grandson, Menkaure

Along the side of both Khufu and Khafre's pyramids were large boat-shaped pits and buried boats that were presumably meant to help both pharaoh on their journey to afterlife.--Interesting...

Hope you enjoy this little getaway and see you tomorrow on our journey to the "Adventure into the Red Pyramid." (http://journeyofmylifendestiny.blogspot.com/2012/08/journey-deep-into-red-pyramid.html)

Until next stop,
Journey of Life

Giving procrastination a second look ...

Recently I came across an article in the Wall Street Journal written by Dr. Perry, an emeritus professor of philosophy at Stanford University, is the author of "The Art of Procrastination," to be published by Workman later this month.  He mentioned that being a procrastinator is not bad at all… Why you say?

Here is what he has to say, a lot of us are feeling bad when we are ones or perhaps feeling depressed or even taking many advices such as don’t take in too many responsibilities or tasks simply because we may fail them. He advised totally different, in fact, take in as many tasks as possible because most procrastinators are ‘structured procrastinators” –we choose to be that way. We prefer doing something else than something deem more important but boring such as –doing budget or perhaps doing tax returns. So, the question is do we get it done? If the answer is, ‘YES,” then why worry about it?

In my humble opinion, when we are no longer meeting the deadlines or simply suffer consequences, perhaps it is time to look at how to improve your procrastination habit. Yes? Okay. Still not convince?

Here is his advice if you are a procrastinators:

• Avoid perfectionist – he said ‘avoid fantasizing doing things perfectly. Often procrastination is just a way of giving ourselves permission to do a less-than-perfect job on something that doesn't require a perfect job anyway.”

• Try not to be annoying to the non-procrastinators –in another words, admit it and work with them.

None of us are perfect anyway, in one way or another, we have been a procrastinator but perhaps the degree of procrastinating is the key. As long as we can accomplish what we want to accomplish and are meeting our given deadlines and are not suffering any consequences, why not! 

According to the author, it is worse if you are a ‘depressed procrastinator.”

He also mentioned a way to handle the common habit that turns us into a procrastinator in this modern world --sitting in front of our laptops and checking emails. How many of us happen to click a link and ended up reading some articles or perhaps surfing the net and at the end we haven’t gotten our most important tasks done and yet the time was gone. Now, are you a procrastinator? :-)

Well, he said that running our laptops from battery would help to break the habit --Oops! I am running out of battery, perhaps time to do real work :-)

There is one thing I find most helpful in dealing with procrastination --is to list of the tasks in hand and prioritize accordingly. It gives me a chance to see how much room do I have or perhaps how much time that I can procrastinate against certain tasks.

Hope you find this blog as interesting as I was writing it. –Um .. never thought I would give ‘procrastination’ a second look…

Until next stop,

Journey of Life

Calcium: too much or too little?

"Unless you take in enough calcium, by mouth, every day, you have to keep borrowing it from your skeleton, so over your lifetime, you need to get enough," says Dr. Siris. "If you have low bone mass, or are at risk for fractures, you want to minimize any need to take calcium from the skeleton."--cited from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304708604577502660615577758.html

Phew! That sounds so scary and couple with confusion whether we are taking in enough calcium or not. Then there is this news about some research that suggest that some of us are maybe eating too much calcium which in turn can cause more harms than good --heart attack and kidney stone.

Now you ask... what else besides milk and cheese that we need to consume to get our calcium and how do we know the exact amount of calcium that we are taking in unless we are consuming some supplement?

Okay, in general just fyi,  8 ounces of milk or 6 ounces of yogurt has 300 mg of calcium, and one cup of spinach has 270 mg.  

For more complete list, try looking up on the following links that I have found:

• http://www.healthlinkbc.ca/healthfiles/hfile68e.stm
• And for comparison:  http://www.niams.nih.gov/health_info/bone/bone_health/nutrition/

As many of you have already known that our bodies need the help of vitamin D to absorb calcium intake. In a nut shell, for most of us, consuming about 600 international units a day is sufficient It is also noted that it is quite cumbersome to get vitamin D from food source and --sun exposure is not the best choice since it is also the leading cause of skin cancer. That leaves vitamin D supplement as our ultimate choice.

Now back to the question, how much is enough? 

According to the experts, in general we should gobble up about 1000 - 1200 mg/day (maximum of 2000 mg/day) calcium from food sources which is easily accomplish (please refer to the list of food on the above links or any other source of information that you may encounter) instead of taking in calcium supplement. But, if you can't get enough from food, by all means, please consult with your doctor/nutritionist on how much supplement you should take in. 

I hope you find this stop visiting our health --whether we are taking enough calcium or not, useful. 

Until next stop,

Journey of Life

Inheritance

Years ago, I have the privileged to visit one of the oldest civilizations on earth, Chinese. Back then --life was pretty simple. Majority of the people were still following the culture that was passed down from generation to generation. One could still see the glimpse of ancient traditions in pretty much every corner you turned.

Same thing I noticed years later when I visited Greece. The Greeks were definitely one of the most amazing civilizations with many treasures left over from their ancestors. Nevertheless, they are one of the ancient civilizations that still exist in this world.

Something caught my eyes when I visited one of the oldest civilizations in the world, the Egyptian. Not until then, I have finally understood the dilemma behind --inheritance.

Occasionally now and then, we have read in the news that some tycoons or the rich and famous that would rather leave their wealth to some charities instead of leaving them behind to their descendants. I  have never understood the reasons behind --perhaps due to my ignorance or simply I am not that rich :-)

Not until my visit to the Egypt, an eye opening experience that I felt like somehow a light bulb has lighted up. It is in my humble opinion that one of the reasons behind the theory of inheritance was --identity. The tycoons want their offspring to find their own identity by struggling --perhaps with a better, and solid ground to begin with, but still able to find their own identity and strike a fortune. Only then, they can claim their own identity and put up their own flag on the mountain that they have climbed themselves instead of --being dropped off by by their parents' helicopters. Of course, there will always be an exception where some of the descendants are able to expand beyond their inheritance, but for the most part ...

The Chinese, the Greeks and the Egyptians share one thing in common --great inheritance. There is no doubt that these three ancient civilizations have been fortunate enough to inherit so much wealth and knowledge from their ancestors.And for years the Chinese were living off from their inheritance until much recent years that they finally came out from the shell and made their debut. And you all know where the Greeks are today. As for the Egyptians, they are in the midst of struggling to find their new identity and perhaps someday --will awe the world, just like their pyramids.

It has been an interesting journey, I say --visiting the inheritance from the ancient civilizations' point of view and I hope you enjoy it.

Until next stop,

Journey of Life

 

Our first stop -- Doing something we truly enjoy

I hope I find you all well and it has been sometime since our last ride. Before hand, I would like to extend my gratitude for those of you who had been visiting my blog while I was taking the break. Thank you for keeping the seats warm while the train was off. .

Now, has it been a moon away since I was gone? Nevertheless, I am so exciting to be back! BTW., have you seen the train?Does it look different?

Property of picturesforcoloring.com

Yes? You said, it looks the same? :-) --It does, huh! Wait, let me check. Aha! Its engine is well rested and in fact, it is ready to board its passengers. Have you heard its whistle? What are you waiting for? C'mon in and grab a seat and let's have a ride! And ...

guess what?! Recently, I was conversing with my younger brother who is attending an executive MBA program at one of the most prestigious Universities. He mentioned to us that some of the courses/seminars that he took were quite interesting. In fact they weren't anything to do with academic but something to do with finding who you are, what would you like to do --something that you truly enjoy and perhaps be thriving for --interesting...

A lot of us can't truly grasp this philosophy simply we are bound to do what the path has set for us or the path that we chose since day one. We are doing it day to day and somehow --the things we used to like to do have become things we must do.Somehow it has lost its meaning.. somehow it has lost its charm.

Coincidentally, the other night, we went out for a dinner and before we headed home, we stopped by at a gas station. All of the sudden my girls decided they wanted to clean our car's windows. So off the two and they did with much enthusiasm, much excitement and our car's windows were sparkling clean. One of the customers walked back to his car with his widest smile looking at my girls' excitement. He probably never seen any one that was that excited cleaning their car.

The question is, why were my girls so excited? Would they be that excited if cleaning the car windows become part of the responsibilities? --not sure ... perhaps yes... perhaps no.

But, I do know one thing, what my brother said and what my girls reminded me one simply thing in life --that, we need to enjoy what we are doing to truly be happy. If something that we do have become a drag --perhaps, it is time to ask ourselves and --perhaps, it is time to take the courage to change.

Hope you enjoy this first stop visiting "Doing something we truly enjoy!"

Until next stop,

Journey of Life

The train of our lives …

The very first time I rode on a train was with my late father where we traveled on an overnight train from our home town to where the high school that I went to. It was weird but interesting experience. We were all going to some destinations, some were the same, some were different. Some folks joined us from one of the stops and some from other stops. In fact people came and went  at some junctions at some points. Funny thing was they were all strangers from all over the place, but yet we share one thing in common –we had a destination in mind. 

Our lives are just like the train that I took, we made many stops along our lives. In some stops, we met the most meaningful people in our lives and we seemed to share the ride of the lifetime together. At different stops, we met some people that we wish we had never met, some had disappeared into the dust, some managed to stick around like flies, some left behind such huge imprints in our lives. Also in this very train of life, we manage to meet our loved ones and as we journey thru the life, we end up sharing one destination in mind.

Property of picturesforcoloring.com

That first train that I took with my father has marked the beginning of my own journey toward my own life. He was there to accompany me to my first destination in life –first stop in my journey. Ever since, I have been to many destinations around the world and have met many wonderful people in my life.

At the same time, I have taken many of you with me on my train and we have made many stops visiting some life events that I had encountered, visiting some lessons that I have learned, and visiting the places that I have been. And this train has been running pretty much non-stop. It definitely has been a meaningful ride and I hope you enjoy each ride with me.

Today, my train of life would stop for a bit as it needs its maintenance time. I would return soon once my train is ready to move again. Meanwhile, please don’t forget to stop by now and then visiting the 189 stops that this train has made so far under “Blogs since October 11th 2011.”

Of course, when this train returns, it will sound its horn and you would surely know.

See you at the next stop,

Journey of Life

Journey into Canadian Rockies and Glacier Park ...

My girls learned about the Canadian Rockies during their elementary school and my older one wanted to do a cruise. So, after doing much research, I had come across a tour company, Caravan, traveling to 'Canadian Rockies and Glacier Park."  Afterward,  we flew from Calgary to Vancouver to visit our high school friends and boarded on a cruise to Alaska. (http://journeyofmylifendestiny.blogspot.com/2012/07/voyage-of-glaciers-with-princess-cruise.html) From Alaska, we flew to Seattle, WA then drove to Oregon.

Today, I am going to take to visit the Canadian Rockies and Glacier Park! --Normally we would travel on Fridays but this Friday, I have one special blog in mind so please come back and check my blog out. For now sit back and enjoy this journey!

Once we arrived at the Calgary airport, Caravan has arranged a shuttle to take us to our hotel at Hilton Garden Inn. We took the taxi to the downtown and stroll around. It was quite a city!

Then our journey start on visiting the Waterton Lakes National Park. We were in awe, Canadian lakes are so clear, literally we were able to see their reflections on the water.

Then we crossed the border back to Montana, US territory and visited the Glacier National Park. .

 

 And yes, we rode on this world famous, 'Red Jammer!"

Originally built and designed specifically for sightseeing in the National Park System of the United States of America, these 25-foot-long vintage touring coaches were fully restored in 2000 by the Ford Motor Company and are the only remaining buses of their kind in operation today.

Then we arrive at our unforgettable site, Banff National Park ...

You are kidding me, of course we rode on the Bow River Float for sightseeing. Afterward, we went to the Moraine Lake. Is there a word beyond gorgeous?

And since were there, we wouldn't miss Jasper, a town must visit --visiting Canadian Rockies without visiting Lake Louise is like we were never there! And of course, you wouldn't want to miss the totem pole from Lake Louise :-)

Totem Pole from Lake Louse

And definitely, Maligne Lake!

Enjoy a scenic morning drive to glacier-fed Maligne Lake, 14 miles long and ringed by dramatic snow-capped peaks.

We stayed in Jasper and were excited to see this Elk, so we asked our girl to pose near this very Elk ...

Afterward, the elk was agitated and started to stomp and OMG. we ran as fast as as we could! A good lesson to learn --respect someone's space and --yes, definitely the animals'!

Just when you think you have forgotten the ancient time... I am taking you back to the Ice Age --well, not quite, just a glimpse of what the Ice Age has left behind. And who can resist the temptation of ice cold water --wait! Not just any ice cold water --perhaps the eternal water!

Ladies and Gentlemen, here is the "Columbia Icefield’s Athabasca Glacier!"

Drinking the eternal water --perhaps trying to preserve my youthfulness!

We were not skating ... trying not to fall into the cracked ice field...

And that concluded our journey for today and hope you enjoy the scenic photos.

Until next stop,

Journey of Life

The Little Things in Life ...

The other night, my girl wanted an omelet  and no one seemed to be available to cook for her. Then she got up and decided to head to kitchen and wanted to cook one for herself. I was a bit worry since she never cooks except in her cooking class, so I looked at my hubby. He said, “I wish I could, but I am really tired.” I nodded signifying that I understood how he felt, then I tried to convince my girl to wink it out and eat something practical –like cereal or something. She insisted then I went to the kitchen with her, reluctantly but said, “Okay, mommy would do it.”

I couldn’t stand looking at my girl cooking by herself, even I haven’t been cooking for 16 years, I have decided to do it. Then unexpectedly, my hubby got up and walked into the kitchen and told me that he would do it. – I was stunned and wondered, “Is that how love supposed to be?”  Regardless how I felt about cooking, I would have done it for my girl. Regardless how tired my hubby was, he did it for me simply he knows that I don’t enjoy cooking.  

courtesy of weheartit.com

Sometimes we look for big signs or big gifts to signify how love supposed to be. And sometimes we take those little gestures that our love ones do for us for granted and often overlooked. If we pause for a moment to look at and feel the sincerity of those little gestures and only then we could sense how those little things that matter. And if we take a moment to enjoy the little things in life, we would realize that they make our life truly fulfilled!

property of allfbcovers.com

 Hope you enjoy this stop visiting the little things in life!

Until next stop,

Journey of Life

The most unforgettable gift in my life …

[Disclaimer: Sandra has a blog hop for writers’ workshop that I am participating in (http://www.awriterweavesatale.com/2012/06/29/sandras-writing-workshop-hop-3) and the following is the third fictions that I have ever written so far. If you have missed my very fist one, co-authored with my girl, check that out! http://journeyofmylifendestiny.blogspot.com/2012/06/i-believe-that-if-we-meet-once-we-are.html  

I must say the following is not a fiction at all--in fact this is one of the most unforgettable moments in my life. Now sit back and enjoy!]

He looked very fragile. His eyes drooped heavily and looked like he was in great pain. But still, his smile was very vivid and soothing. He was about fifty one years old, six feet tall, with black hair, brown eyes, a tall nose and his facial was bit pale. He dressed in coffee-colored shirt with black pants.Sitting across from me, beside a dining table was my father.

For whatever reason it may be, it was just the two of us and I liked it that way. He and I, spending a special moment together. As much as I enjoyed that moment, I was lost for words. I wanted to say a lot of things to him or perhaps chat with him like I used to. My mind was struggling to find a topic to discuss or perhaps some comforting words to him, but, again, I was met with dead end.

“Are you ready and packed?” He broke the silence. 

I looked at him intensely and replied, “Yes, father.”

“I want you to know that there is nothing that I can give but an opportunity to study abroad to broaden your knowledge.” He continued with his even voice, but I could tell it was tightly controlled.

Struggling to hold in my tears and I managed, “Yeah …”

“Once you are successful, I want you to take care of your siblings. Is that okay with you?” He was on the roll.

“Um … of course!” Yet again, I coughed up a couple words before finding myself running toward the kitchen. I couldn’t control my rolling tears. They just kept rolling down and they wouldn’t even listen to me. I kept asking them to stop and go way, but still they stuck around like magnets.

After a moment that seemed like an eternity and simply a heartbeat at the same time, I finally walked back to the dining room and sat down—again, across from him. I felt like he was looking right into my heart as he went on talking like no time had lapsed between when our last words were exchanged. 

“Even though, I can’t leave you much wealth in money, knowledge in itself is a wealth. If you study well,  knowledge can help you build on your own wealth. Money would be gone in no time if we are not managing it well, but knowledge that you gain will accompany you and will open up many avenues in your life and perhaps bring you much more rewards other than money.”

I nodded in silence, again struggling to block the gush of water that was about to pour again from my eyes. He seemed not to know that I was struggling inside or perhaps he chose to ignore that and went on, “Once you have the knowledge, you could use it anyway you want. And that would be your foundation to your life that you can build upon. Knowing you, I know that you would be successful someday. I hope, you don’t forget to look back and take your siblings’ hands with you. And pass on this gift that I have given you.”

I nodded again and this time, I let out a bit of my trembling voice, “I would father. I would!”

That was it, the last dine that we shared and one of the most unforgettable moments in my life. I took his advice and absorbed as much knowledge as I could and passed it on. I did! I lent my hands to all of my siblings—younger and older. And like me, they are also doing well. This gift didn’t stop there, I am passing it on to my girls as well.

My father had passed on to another world when he turned fifty two, six months after our last encountered and I was not there to witness it. It had been years since he had disappeared from this world, but somehow he is always there in my heart, and perhaps he is watching me from there. I have treasured the gift that he had given to me. I never stop learning. Everywhere I go, be it my girls’ field trips, be it the vacation visiting museum, archeology sites, I am always there in the front, listening intensely. As one of my co-workers noted, “One of the things that I admire about you is your spirit of learning!” Today, my father’s gift has been  rooted in my family and I know it would be passed on to many more generations. 

I hope you enjoy this little stop looking into one of the most unforgettable moments in my life --the time when I received the most unforgettable gift: knowledge.

Journey of Life

Voyage of Glaciers with Princess cruise line

Voyage to Alaska was our first family cruise (second to both of us) and it was definitely one of the most fabulous cruises that we have so far. The Alaska beauty is definitely unrivaled! The glacier was so peaceful and pleasing to the eyes as we couldn't stop staring at them. We had a great time strolling along the streets in Juneau and my husband bought me a $1000 coat which made from fox tail! A fine piece, indeed!. Visiting the rain-deer, and feeding them were definitely an unforgettable experience for our family. Riding on the Iditarod race dogs was a dream came true.  Did I mention that we spotted a black bear? --The Park ranger had to chase all of us away since the black bear was approaching, and it was a lifetime experience!

Here are our port of calls:

Vancouver, British Columbia

We arrived Vancouver from Calgary to visit childhood friends of ours and they welcomed us with their open arms and let us stay at their fabulous home. Then they took us to visit the Stanley Park, and Vancouver lookout. We were fed with yummy Cambodian food (I want it now :-)) and home cooked meals which were heavenly good!

Stanley Park

Stanley Park is a 404.9 hectare urban park bordering downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was opened in 1888 by David Oppenheimer in the name of Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor-General of Canada --Wikipedia

 Vancouver Lookout

Offers 360-degree views of the harbour, mountains and downtown.

 China Town

A visit to Vancouver would not be complete without a visit to the Victoria Island.

Of course, Burtchart Garden is a must visit in Victoria Island

Vancouver was where our voyage to the Glaciers started, and time for a farewell with our beloved friends who managed to get us to the port in no time as I wrongly remembered the time. And we almost didn't make it if it wasn't for our friend's utmost help. Alaska, here we come!

Ketchikan, Alaska

I won't  be talking about the cruise experience itself, if you want to know more, please refer to my previous post on Why cruise line matter http://journeyofmylifendestiny.blogspot.com/2012/01/why-cruise-line-matter.html. Instead, I am taking you all straight to the excursion that we took :-) --Rainforest Wildlife Sanctuary Nature Walk. The main attraction is feeding the reindeer!

Juneau, Alaska

I love Juneau! Why?! My coat, of course :-)

 

We also joined the Dog-Sled Summer Camp to experience riding on a dog-sled. I must say, it was too short of a ride but definitely fun one!

Skagway, Alaska

During our stop here, we decided to hop on an excursion to visit the Yukon and the suspension bridge. 

And the bonus visit

Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska (Scenic Cruising)

 College Fjord, Alaska (Scenic Cruising)

 And here is one of my favorite photos of the day ...

Hope you enjoy this little getaway and have a nice weekend!

Until next stop,

 Journey of Life