Lee Kuan Yew State Funeral Dress Code

As the Lying In State of the late Lee Kuan Yew drew the longest queue that Singapore has ever seen to the Parliament House, netizens debate over wearing black or white on March 29, 2015, the last of the seven-day mourning declared for the late founding prime minister of Singapore.

Traditionally, as a sign of mourning and respect, the Chinese in Singapore do not wear colors like red or orange to funerals.

In reality, one is never ever ready to say goodbye.  In the priority queue that I was volunteering at, some appears so intent on paying their respects on his last physical journey here that they have forgotten to eat, and an occasional visitor forgets the color code.

With the regular queue spanning up to 10 hours long at times, often under a punishing hot sun, you have to admire the grit and determination of these people. 

It's what's in the heart that counts.

Below:
HM Khesar and Queen Jetsun arrives at the Cultural Centre, National University of Singapore, almost immediately after their official tour of southern Bhutan.

ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images

Water and Health

Clean water is essential for detox. Whenever we are in Bhutan, we try to make sure that water for making beverages/soups/rice and even general cooking, is filtered.

This isn't always possible - when eating out, or when invited for meals, we make do with what is given.

But when we are cooking for ourselves, or for our guests, Puro is a readily accessible brand that we could obtain at any local hardware shop there.  So why not avail ourselves of clean water?

Tap water goes into the top-half of the container, and after running through the filtration candle, the filtered water seeps down to the bottom half, which is then ready for boiling for drinking water.

Invariably, the white filtration candle becomes stained and coated with impurities.

Seeing that, we often boiled and re-boiled the water!

Public Libraries Singapore release findings that re-boiling or over-boiling will cause the water to lose dissolved oxygen, which may cause your drink to taste "stale" or "flat".

Stanford Alumni magazine suggested that warning against re-boiling water probably goes back to the days when water sources were more suspect.

While boiling water kills potentially-dangerous microbes, it also concentrates inorganic poisons.

The magazine also stated: "If you're using clean water, you can re-boil it as many times a you want - it won't affect your health."

Suffering the ill-effects of water-borne disease, especially on a trip around Bhutan, can really set one back. So whenever possible, we try to ensure drinking or cooking water is filtered before being served as tea or coffee, soup or gravy, which mask water which is sometimes yellowish.  Generally, boiling should get rid of micro-organisms, but we've seen folks whose digestive system gets worked up more than others.

For plain drinking water, we simply buy the bottled brands sold on the local market.

Before The Fire..

Before the fire of 1998..

the simple tranquility of the Taktsang Monastery..

Bhutanese Red Rice

Unexpectedly, a supply of Bhutanese red rice was gifted to us in Singapore.  We naturally appreciate the gift as rice grains in sacks weigh a lot, and the traveller would have to transport it across cities.

Usually, instead of enjoying the rice for ourselves, we were ironically at the receiving end of requests to bring Bhutanese red rice - along with Bhutanese red chillies - from Bhutan to the Bhutanese studying in Singapore.  All these years, we never even get to meet the Bhutanese whom the rice and chillies went to as it was all handed to a Singaporean who loves getting to know anybody and anything Bhutanese.

So it is especially nice to be at the receiving end where we get to enjoy the rice at last.

Rather than red, it looks pink after being cooked.  It goes down well with most Chinese dishes as well.

Wedding of HRH Dasho Jigme Dorji Wangchuk

Thousands of well-wishers gathered at the Domkhar Tashichoeling Palace in Bumthang on October 17, to witness the wedding of HRH Dasho Jigme Dorji Wangchuk to Yeatso Lhamo.

HRH Dasho Jigme Dorji Wangchuk, 27, is the younger brother of HM Druk Gyalpo Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk.

Yeatso Lhamo is the eldest sister of Gyaltsuen Jetsun Pema, the 23-year-old Queen of Bhutan.

Unlike the white weddings of the world outside Bhutan, weddings in Bhutan - particularly royal weddings - are filled with ceremonial rites:

~ The royal bride arrived at the palace in a chipdrel procession..
~ Sungtrul Rinpoche performed the Throe-Soel ceremony..
~ A marching ceremony by the Bumthang Dzongda follows..
~ Tashi-ngasoel ceremony presided over by His Holiness the Je Khenpo..
~ Chanting of the Ngoe-drup-langwan for the accumulation of spiritual and worldly virtues..
~ Offering of Tashi-Zegye and Tashi Ta Gye followed by Zhug-drel phuensum tshogpa..
~ Offering of alcohol and milk by a person born in the year of the Dog
~ Concluding with Tashi Moenlam..
~ Granting of Tashi-Lek Dhar by their Majesties, His Holiness, and the Prime Minister. 

Pomp and pageantry ~ we've lost all that (in Singapore)! ..

Cultural programmes, performed by students and locals, celebrates the special occasion.

Photo Credits: BBS

This photo brings back such nostalgia.  Isn't that Ashi Pema Lhaden?  Always cheerful, always graceful.  Really miss Ashi.  Missing Ashi Dechen too.  HRH Prince Namgyal, benefactor of my work permit when I used to work in Bhutan, never seems to age.  I thought I spied Dhendup Gyaltshen on the right?  Haven't seen him since his Druk Air days.  And of course, HP's favourite Crown Prince, current Druk Gyalpo.  And HM Jigme Singye, whom we are forever indebted to, for the grant of the Royal Kidu for my kids' citizenship.

Wishing the royal couple much wedded bliss.

Bhutan Elections 2013

Bhutan Elections vis-à-vis Singapore Elections

Parliament
Bhutan
King (Constitutional Head of State)
Bicameral Parliament

• National Council (NC)
• National Assembly (NA)

Singapore
Unicameral Parliament


Election Level
Bhutan
1.  Local Government

2.  National Council

• Term: 5 years
• 25 seats (20 elected by majority vote, 5 by the monarch)

3. National Assembly

• Primary Round Elections & General Elections
• Term: 5 years
• 47 seats [ref. 2008-2012 term]
• Elected MPs

             - Single Member Constituencies (SMCs) only
             - No formation of Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs)

Singapore
1. Parliamentary

• General elections and By-elections (in case a Constituency is vacated)
• Term: 5 years
• 87 seats in parliament
• 3 types of MPs (Members of Parliament)

                  (1) Elected Member of Parliament (MPs)
                        - from SMCs (Single Member Constituencies),
                        - or GRCs (Group Representation Constituencies)
                  (2) Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP)
                        Appointed from the best performing opposition
                        political party members who lost in the general
                        election
                  (3) Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP)
                        Appointed by the President.
                        Not affiliated to any political party.
                        Do not represent any constituency.

2.  Presidential

• Term: 5 years

Political Party System
Bhutan
2-party system
Involving 2-phase constitutional process of Primary Round Elections and General Election:-

• 2013's Parties (NA), during Primary Round of Elections of May 28, 2013

          - Bhutan Kuen-Nyam Party (BKP), subsquently disqualified
          - Druk Chirwang Tshogpa (DCT)
          - Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT)
          - Druk Phunsum Tshogpa (DPT)
          - People's Democratic Party (PDP)     

• 2013's Parties (NA), after Primary Round of Elections, for General Election of July 13, 2013

          - Druk Phunsum Tshogpa (DPT)
          - People's Democratic Party (PDP)

Singapore
Multi-party systems

As of 2013:

• MP (Member of Parliament):

          - People's Action Party (PAP) <80 MPs>
          - Workers' Party (WP) <7 MPs>

• NCMP (Non-constituency Member of Parliament):

          - Singapore People's Party (SPP) <1 NCMP>
          - Workers' Party (WP) <2 NCMPs>

• NMP (Nominated Member of Parliament):

          - No political party / no constituency <9 NMPs>


Constituencies
Bhutan
20 dzongkhags (administrative and judicial districts of Bhutan), with 47 constituencies

Singapore
27 constituencies


Voting Department
Bhutan
Election Commission of Bhutan

Singapore
Elections Department of Singapore


Who Can Vote?
Bhutan

• Citizen of Bhutan
• Except civilian members registered to religious organizations (monks, nuns, religious figures)
• Name must be registered in the constituency for at least one year
• At least 18 years old
• Driglam namzha (official behaviour and dress code) requirement to wear gho and kira
• Not disqualified from voting under the Election Act or other law in force

Singapore

• Citizen of Singapore
• Name must be on latest register of electors for the address in the constituency
• At least 21 years old
• No dress code
• Not disqualified from voting under the Election Act or other law in force

Election Date
Bhutan

• Parliamentary 3rd Round - July 13, 2013

Singapore

• Parliamentary 16th Round - May 07, 2011
• By-election for Punggol East SMC - January 26, 2013 

Cooling-off Day
Bhutan
48 Hours to Polling Day

Singapore
24 Hours to Polling Day


Maximum Terms
Bhutan
Retirement is mandated for most civil servants upon reaching age 65.

The Prime Minister cannot serve for more than 2 terms.
[Article 17, The Making of the Constitution, Bhutan]

Singapore
No mandatory cap.

July 10, 2013 · by Huang, Angie

© 2013 Bhutan Club. All rights reserved.

Real Yoga Retreat, Bhutan, March 2013 (Part 10)

Taktsang, the Tiger's Nest.

The canes that I mentioned in past posts.  Buy it.

Some tourists buy their own walking equipment.

It offers support and makes for a safer hike.

There's that extraordinary category, though, who's
befuddled by the need for canes --
and they can carry >100kg on their back to boot! ?!!????!

"Canes?  I need donkies on top of that!"

Another vote for ponies!

They walk at the absolute edge of the cliffs though..

1 cane good.  2 canes better.

Lisa in her 'I-survive-&-make-it-up-Taktsang-&-so-can-U' pose.
She still has to make it down, kekeke wheeee!

 

 

New shoes up..

Seasoned shoes down..

Taktsang's Tiger Nest has always been one of the most mystic areas of the world.
A fitting finale for a yoga retreat.


Update:

Friends who accompanied me on hikes or treks were often tickled at how I struggled with rough terrains, and one of them once even laid hands on my butt to propel my body upwards (those steps carved crudely up that west-central Bhutan mountainous hill, or hilly mountain in my POV, was almost perpendicular, trust me, and much worse than Taksang's angles!)

I'm almost convinced that there are 2 categories of homo sapiens on earth:
Category 1 - those who can climb Taksang with no exhaustion whatsoever
Category 2 - those who needs aids like walking sticks, donkies and other support.

I must be Category 3, then.. the sort who needs propelling.
It's no wonder I'm a fan of the WuXia genre.
Oh, just let them have their laughs on me.
What's a world without laughter. 
Better safe than sorry. 

But in all seriousness, the May 19, 2013 incident where a Swedish doctor slipped and fell about 25m below Bumdra, located above Taktsang monastery, shows how tricky trails can turn out to be.

As narrated in a previous post
http://bhutanclub.blogspot.sg/2012/12/the-taktsang-monastery-hike.html
even for a popular trail like Taktsang, I've identified at least 3 spots where I have had to 'change gear' to avoid becoming a human trajectory.  And this was during good weather.

Go for it, but keep safe folks.