Park City, Utah. There are 3 separate ski resorts in close vicinity to each other - Park City Mountainside, Deer Valley and the Canyons. All operate autonomously to each other and have their own characteristics. The Canyons is said to be the largest, Deer Valley is deem more elitist (no snowboarders allowed) and Park City Mountainside is known for its excellent snow and runs.
Sorry if this is brief and abrupt. Been hectic (!) - what am I saying - days are filled with watching films and skiing and attending dinners, but more on that in my next post on Sundance festival. This post is really to document the 2 days of skiing in Park City before our stint with the Sundance team.
Park City mountainside is skiing / snowboarding paradise, due to the dryness of the snow on the mountain. First observation is that skiers here tend to ski with the skis closer together than that in Whistler. Someone told me once that powder in Utah is really dry and so it is imperative in deep powder to keep the skis together so that it forms a single flat platform. Anyway, all this info is way over my head. Many positives of Park City - many varied runs, no queues as everyone is busy watching films, and the best thing is that the trees are such that if you so wish, one could ski between them. Woo Hoo! Of course, best to get some lessons in because - 1) They will make you ski more in control, and 2) You get to see runs you otherwise would not know of.
Ski instructor took us to this magnificent run through the trees. It is so beautiful that I need to document this for future reference - it is a run called Tenth Mountain.
Great stuff indeed.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Los Angeles
City of angels. Landed at rain soaked LA, which is rare. Apparently, LA had never had a 6 consecutive rain days. Good thing we arrived at the tail end - some would say we brought along the sun.
My first time in LA. All the scenes I see in movies and TV shows is exactly the same as seeing for real. Duh! But amazing to be there. Stayed at Santa Monica. Was jet lagged, which turned out to be a blessing as I got to see the sun rise on Santa Monica beach. "..the sun comes out on the Santa Monica boulevard.." the tune came on to me all that morning.
Santa Monica is beautiful. The beach front is so beautiful and deep. All sorts of activities are on the beach, and there are beautiful people everywhere. Exercise with attitude! That's how it's done. Pictures - Santa Monica beach, the ferris wheel as seen in Hannah Montana movie, the Hollywood sign, and the Zoltar machine (remember the film, "Big"?).
OK. Got to go. In Park City for the Sundance festival. Already caught sight of Elijah Wood and Joan Rivers. Sorry, no pictures. Must pick up courage to go up and ask for a picture or very least, say hello.
My first time in LA. All the scenes I see in movies and TV shows is exactly the same as seeing for real. Duh! But amazing to be there. Stayed at Santa Monica. Was jet lagged, which turned out to be a blessing as I got to see the sun rise on Santa Monica beach. "..the sun comes out on the Santa Monica boulevard.." the tune came on to me all that morning.
Santa Monica is beautiful. The beach front is so beautiful and deep. All sorts of activities are on the beach, and there are beautiful people everywhere. Exercise with attitude! That's how it's done. Pictures - Santa Monica beach, the ferris wheel as seen in Hannah Montana movie, the Hollywood sign, and the Zoltar machine (remember the film, "Big"?).
OK. Got to go. In Park City for the Sundance festival. Already caught sight of Elijah Wood and Joan Rivers. Sorry, no pictures. Must pick up courage to go up and ask for a picture or very least, say hello.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Sundance Film Festival
http://festival.sundance.org/2010/
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Got an invite to the above film festival. Well, actually, my wife got the invite and I'm just tagging along. Still, I get to go! Going to the movies is a close one to football. I was a hard core movie junkie, the type who would go alone and sit right at the front, even though the theatre is empty. That was, of course, during my school days. Now, I would have plenty to answer to if ever I go to a movie alone.
The other great thing about going to Sundance Festival is that it is held in Park City, Utah. Apparently, the skiing is great there. It's like killing 2 birds with one stone. If only I could find a Mysore class there, it would be near perfect!
Practice has been great. Slowly, I'm getting back the stamina and focus before the December break. Of course, going off to this festival is going to set my practice back. But, hey, this is one in a lifetime opportunity. I'll be walking with my cameras at the ready in case I see anyone famous. Next posting will be from America!
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Got an invite to the above film festival. Well, actually, my wife got the invite and I'm just tagging along. Still, I get to go! Going to the movies is a close one to football. I was a hard core movie junkie, the type who would go alone and sit right at the front, even though the theatre is empty. That was, of course, during my school days. Now, I would have plenty to answer to if ever I go to a movie alone.
The other great thing about going to Sundance Festival is that it is held in Park City, Utah. Apparently, the skiing is great there. It's like killing 2 birds with one stone. If only I could find a Mysore class there, it would be near perfect!
Practice has been great. Slowly, I'm getting back the stamina and focus before the December break. Of course, going off to this festival is going to set my practice back. But, hey, this is one in a lifetime opportunity. I'll be walking with my cameras at the ready in case I see anyone famous. Next posting will be from America!
Friday, January 8, 2010
Happy New Year
OK. So I'm a little late with the new year greetings. Better late than never, right? Except, being late probably does not give a good impression for this very new year. But, many good reasons for my absence and tardiness in blogging.
One of them is having a fantastic holiday in Whistler, Canada. Came back home to KL just before Christmas. So, it was rush, rush, rush to get ready for Christmas; busy, busy, busy from Christmas till new year; and then recovering, recovering, recovering from then on till today!
Back to the holiday - took the family skiing in Whistler. My kids go to Chinese school; and if you have been to one or have children in Chinese school, then you will be aware of the modus operandi of the teachers - rule by FEAR! Well, not quite so extreme, but the teachers are known to raise their voices and the odd use of a ruler as punishment is not uncommon.
Hence the choice of Whistler. Whistler Kids have a fantastic kids program. I can go on forever on how good they are; but, long report short, the ski instructors are, first and foremost, great with kids and will always ensure a fun time for the kids.
The Peak to Peak Gondola is now up and running. It links Whistler mountain to Blackcomb mountain. It is an absolute engineering marvel. As a result, both mountains are now so accessible - it's only an 11 minute ride. I normally stick to skiing on Whistler mountain; but because of this, I explored Blackcomb and had the best run ever. It was on a day after a snow dump the night before and we went on a run called Cloud 9. It was like floating on Cloud 9 (pun absolutely intended) - snow was so great. Good run to keep in mind if you are going there.
Apart from the skiing, Whistler Village is so well designed and run. Hats off, Intrawest! There is great food all around, it is easy to walk around and so many shops to browse through - Lululemon (!), Gap and the supermarket - wow! So many choices - very hard to be vegetarian - Canadian bacon is so yummy, the ham is delicious, the spinach leafs are so fresh, they stay crunchy even after 5 days!
Oh, and Whistler is hosting the Winter Olympics this year. Be sure to watch it. The mascots are so cute, even I can recite their names - Quatchi, Miga, Sumi and Muk Muk.
Ok, enough gushing. I'll end this post with this picture :
One of them is having a fantastic holiday in Whistler, Canada. Came back home to KL just before Christmas. So, it was rush, rush, rush to get ready for Christmas; busy, busy, busy from Christmas till new year; and then recovering, recovering, recovering from then on till today!
Back to the holiday - took the family skiing in Whistler. My kids go to Chinese school; and if you have been to one or have children in Chinese school, then you will be aware of the modus operandi of the teachers - rule by FEAR! Well, not quite so extreme, but the teachers are known to raise their voices and the odd use of a ruler as punishment is not uncommon.
Hence the choice of Whistler. Whistler Kids have a fantastic kids program. I can go on forever on how good they are; but, long report short, the ski instructors are, first and foremost, great with kids and will always ensure a fun time for the kids.
The Peak to Peak Gondola is now up and running. It links Whistler mountain to Blackcomb mountain. It is an absolute engineering marvel. As a result, both mountains are now so accessible - it's only an 11 minute ride. I normally stick to skiing on Whistler mountain; but because of this, I explored Blackcomb and had the best run ever. It was on a day after a snow dump the night before and we went on a run called Cloud 9. It was like floating on Cloud 9 (pun absolutely intended) - snow was so great. Good run to keep in mind if you are going there.
Apart from the skiing, Whistler Village is so well designed and run. Hats off, Intrawest! There is great food all around, it is easy to walk around and so many shops to browse through - Lululemon (!), Gap and the supermarket - wow! So many choices - very hard to be vegetarian - Canadian bacon is so yummy, the ham is delicious, the spinach leafs are so fresh, they stay crunchy even after 5 days!Oh, and Whistler is hosting the Winter Olympics this year. Be sure to watch it. The mascots are so cute, even I can recite their names - Quatchi, Miga, Sumi and Muk Muk.
Ok, enough gushing. I'll end this post with this picture :
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