Brittsy and Gary had zoomed off back to the UK late evening of 4th October 2006. Bright and early the next morning - Janet (working) and I zoomed off to Bhutan..... (East of Nepal - but no common border, China and the Tibetan Plateau to the north, India to the south).

To trap your interest, here are some things we found out about Bhutan during our stay which may give a flavour of the place.......

Thursday 5th October, 2006

Up at 05:15, plane leaves at 08:15, 1 hour to Bangkok (Janet was in Business Class, me not) - new airport, but to me it was a bit dirty and certainly chaotic - they've not finished building parts of it!! Then a 3 hour flight to Kathmandu, Nepal (Janet still in Business) - where it was a beautiful day - lovely helpful lady showed us how to transit onto the Druk Air flight to Bhutan - we weren't aware of it, but we were the last to board the plane (a nice new Airbus 190) and pushed our way through to Economy class only to find all seats taken - stewardess checked our boarding passes and it was then we realised why my ticket for this leg of the journey was so expensive (US$ 465)..... yes... the only 2 seats left - were front row - Business Class!!

Less than an hour's flight to Paro, Bhutan with wonderful views of Mt Everest and lots of other Himalayan peaks from the left side of the plane... we were on the right-side!!

Landing in Paro is reminiscent of Kai Tak, Hong Kong of yesteryear.... lots of twisting and turning and skimming over peaks and along valleys, with the final approach being below the height of houses along the valley - brilliant!!

Met by Tashi and Ken (DHL Bhutan) in a Land Cruiser who told us that we had to kill a bit of time. The road (65 Kms) from Paro to Thimphu (capital city and DHL office site) was being widened and that meant closure from time to time, so we headed in the opposite direction to go and see a couple of Paro sights that we'd probably not have time to see later in the week.

Ken, Janet and Tashi on the way UP to Victory Fort (Drugyel Dzong which was built in 1646 to commemorate Bhutan's victory over Tibetan invaders). We really noticed the altitude (7,800 feet) puffing and panting our way up..

Er.... you'll notice Tashi and Ken are dressed in National Costume....... its a national rule/requirement/law - more of that later..

That's Victory Fort behind...

Big mountains all around - but never saw the really high snow/ice covered ones except in the planes to and fro. There again - those peaks behind are probably 10,000 feet.

After an hour or so we headed back towards Thimphu - a real hairy road/drive (about 2 hours)  - lots of sheer drops and big trucks - and in the dark!! Into the Pedling Hotel where the room - turned out to be 2 - a lounge and a bedroom - fairly basic - but fine for a few days. Showered, had a couple of bowls of watery soup and into bed by 21:30 - tired - 2 hour time difference!!

One very noticeable thing about Bhutan.... is.... the dogs.... there are loads of them... and they bark and howl all through the night.... you DO get used to it!!

Friday 6th October, 2006

Up bright and early - downstairs for breakfast - then snooping and checking out the views from our rooms...

We were on the second floor and this was a house next door, that displayed clothes where the car is parked - and operated like a market. Just to the left is a main walkway - so not such a bad site.

This is panning a bit to the left (see the walkway at bottom right) - Thimphu is in a lovely valley - more of that later..

The hotel was full and busy early on - but around 09:30 one of us had to go to work..... Tashi, Ken and Kandhu (owner of DHL Bhutan) pick Janet up and drop me at the bank. I had to get local currency............. which is.............??

Yes - you've guessed it......... NGULTRUMS!!!! same value as Indian Rupees.

Our lounge/diner and bedroom.... notice the artwork between ceiling and walls...

I was well impressed with this artwork..... very Bhutan and would you believe........ ALL PAINTED BY HAND!!!!!

Here's a small example - there's lots more later on....

I haven't stitched this together, but it was time for some more general "are shots" - at left is the Hotel entrance - in the middle is The Swiss Bakery and at right is where the baking gets done. As you can see - absolutely beautiful day!! Typical mountain climate - dry, bright and warm in the sun but cool in the shade - fabulous!!

By 12:30 I was getting hungry - so into the Swiss Bakery for a couple of ham and cheese rolls - and then it was off exploring....

About 800 yards from the hotel (uphill) was this temple/stupe (Gongzhu Chorten) (came back to it later in the week) - from there - downhill to...

The local petrol station - but notice.... the orangey coloured roofing..... all handpainted!!

From there - to the main street (Norzin Lam) in town (why did I take 2 photos of this??)

Nice buildings... the windows have to be "traditional" design - otherwise there is a "fine" to pay - also buildings/houses generally have a couple of floors then the roof is flat - and covered by corrugated iron-work or something more substantial, and this space is where produce (e.g. chilli) is dried, if its not dried out in the open on the roofing iron-work..

To Clocktower Square - where, for some reason or another - I got very impressed by the buildings just going out of shot at left....

That's it at left... and between it and me is a row of Prayer Wheels - a pleasant spot - lots of seating, lovely day....

See the little boy at bottom centre..?? directly above him is a yellow sign..... DHL!!! These next piccies are more of that same corner building - but closer in...

One of those stray dogs... he's at bottom right of the rightmost piccie above

Bars (this is one), shops, restaurants etc.. all have to have a blue sign identifying their name, telephone number and address... quite a good idea..?? This one - if you're interested is Rinchen Dorji Bar, Lower Market (apparently street names have only recently been introduced, but people generally don't use them preferring to identify places by "description"), Thimphu, Tel: 325045...

The backside of Clocktower Square, with.... at left...

Prayer flags all along the National Soccer pitch....

The brown bit of earth is the soccer pitch... but what impressed me about this area was the poor quality of the pitch when compared with the lovely ?stands?/buildings (see the brown and white ones (Royal Pavillion) down at pitch level on the far side of the pitch??), where the Royal Family and guests can watch the game from.

   Lots of work/construction on this side of the pitch. See the Prayer flags at right... and further down the valley over towards the left of the furthest cricket pitch is where the National Sport.............. (what is it???)......... yes.......... Archery!!.. is played.

OK - that was enough exploring for the first day, but on my way back to the hotel - these buildings caught my eye. The lovely new one at left (see the roof hangs over and the brown "rim" just below it is wooden shuttering allowing access to the open-air. Then next door is another new building under construction and then another completed new building. See the traditional windows?? above the big reflecting ones... All the brown wooden shuttering is hand-painted...

Janet was home by 18:30 and we then went off for a lovely dinner at Kandhu's house - lots of DHL people and lovely food - and wine (local) - and a very impressive/amazing Temple/worshiping... room - full of paintings, decorations, altars etc.

Saturday 7th October, 2006

Shame, its a weekend and DHL people offer to show us around - but Tashi has a cold, Jamyung's daughter is in hospital - but Tashi is brave and off we go...

First we go far up the Thimphu Valley, lots of rice fields.. and then come back towards town past the Ministries and Government buildings...

The lovely buildings behind are Tashichhodzong (as of course you know) - Ministries and Administration buildings... lovely... amongst rice paddy fields!!

Lovely hey?? Me... not the view!!

And then we were off to The Centre for Bhutan Studies.......

where all manner of handicrafts are taught, including.... the lovely painting you see everywhere, as well as sculpture, metal-work, embroidery  etc.

And fabrics and clothes design...

All "years" are taught in the same room - these boys were about year 4 and were offering this painting for sale - a good fun, cheeky lot!!

and after this - a mile or so down the road.... The Folk Heritage Museum...

Where this Mum with her little daughter...... and son...

Looked after the souvenir shop...

Whilst dad got on with the painting/work.....

This was basically nice gardens and craftwork for sale with an original/old Bhutan Farm House which was too dark to take piccies within...

That's the farm-house behind Tashi..

That's it!! and this is a water driven mill

Nice setting for a Folk/Heritage Museum...??

Tashi drops us at the hotel around 12:30 and we go to the Arts Cafe (next door to the Swiss Bakery) for some grilled ham & cheese sandwiches. One interesting thing about menus.... just about wherever we went.. any menu that had eggs or chicken on it - when you asked for it - "sorry don't have" - the reason - Bird Flu - you could get local eggs - but very, very rarely!! The Govt. had banned all chicken and eggs from sale.

We decided to find out what this Archery was all about...... down to the Archery ground where (just about) all day, every day - there was a competition going on.....

That's half of each team down that far end. And all the grass you see is where the arrows fly... from that end.....

Along here...... (spectators on both sides)...

To that mound of earth at centre - where the other halves of both teams are. What appears to happen is..... (assuming 2 from each team are at either end)... One end shoots first... say Team A step up from the left end.... the members of Team B, at the right end will start chanting and calling to the other end and may even walk and waltz around the target (which is a white piece of paper about A4 size - but round) until the A Team bloke - fires.... then ....very casually.. Team B boys watch the incoming arrow - and sometimes very late on even move their bodily parts out of its flight - and if it misses (which it generally does) they start ridiculing and carping at the other team at the other end.... One end fires 2 arrows each and then the other end get a chance.. Apparently people (participants) have been injured/killed - but usually when an incoming arrow badly misses and ricochets off a rock or other object. I thought it was pretty dangerous for the spectators too - but maybe I'm being too...... western!!

The bows/arrows they use are "traditional" - but there is also a League using new/techno bows etc... and apparently the Traditional users tend to "pull" and let-fly very quickly - because the bow is quite fragile - and they also have to tend to "lob" at the target. Whereas the "techno" boys, can fire almost horizontal, and can "pull" and "aim" and the arrows fly so much faster - that the casual parading around the target is eliminated. (so much for techno progress!!).

Then it was "shopping"... and looking around...

Even the little kiddie-winks wear National Dress.....

New hotel under construction...

Chili's being dried......in the middle of town...

Clocktower square and Prayer Wheels..

And - above Janet's head.... that DHL sign again!!

Back at the hotel... I wanted to get piccies of the hand-painting.....

These are on landings...

Whilst this is the corridor from the landing to our room - at the end on the left. Notice - its not just the cross-members that get painted - it's the up and down stretches too!!

bar-opening-time and dinner at the hotel.

Sunday 8th October, 2006

Up late, into Swiss Bakery (not much on offer - depart), into Arts Cafe - they were still sweeping up - also not much on offer - grilled ham and cheese sandwiches again...

Jamyung will pick us up at 10:30... but its grey, raining and miserable... but never mind - we're off to Dochu La Pass....(10,000 feet)...

...... and here we are!! The main East-West road has to go through the Pass and this is the top, with lots of prayer flags and lots (108 - the magic number) of Stupa!!

Since we've arrived - the sun is breaking through - allowing some fantastic views.....

These two were just hanging about in the car park - apparently the one with the black head and feet is a goat, whilst the other is a sheep....

OK - time to head back to town - trying to get views of Queen Mother's Palace....

Its somewhere around here...

....Ah-ha... there it is... well secured and private!!

Time to swap "guides"..... Somnam and Tashi are there - and off we go - to...

The National Park to see the National Animal - The Takin (bovine, antelope) - looks a bit like a Wildebeest....

and now we're heading for the BBS Tower...

Good vantage point for views of Thimphu...

Tashi,  Somnam and lots of trees.. Then it was back into town, up to the Gongzhu Chorten temple where Tashi did her 100,000 prostrations some while ago (took 3 months!!). Tea at the Zone Cafe (lots of mosquitos), some handi-craft shopping then back to the hotel (Voddie-time), dinner (Curry) in the hotel.

9th October, 2006

A lazy day for me - Janet off to work then dinner (with a bottle of Cotes du Rhone) at Plums Restaurant (Thai) - good.

Continue on....

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