Well hellllloooo: I'm back! Yes, after an impromptu vacation and relocation, I'm back! However, more on that next week as I still have Bhutan to talk about! Enjoy!
*A quick explanation: although this is just one blog post, it is written over several sessions over several days*
I used to think that Kathmandu was a remote and distant place. It is but Bhutan manages to one up it, in this category at least. Welcome to the Kingdom of the Thunder Dragon: your adventure starts with the flight! Yup, the excitement begins before you even arrive in the country, as you fly over the Himalayan Range, and fly past Everest. That’s right: you get a birds-eye view of the largest mountain in the world (as well as all other mountains) without having to pay for a mountain flight. If you’re able to, make sure to sit on the left (coming from Kathmandu at least), hope you get a window seat and that it’s a clear day. The view was jaw-dropping. I don’t often stare out of airplane windows but this view caught my attention.
Talking about flying, did you know that there are only 8 pilots qualified to fly to Paro Airport? It’s true and during your flight, you discover why. The plane basically has to navigate though the mountain range and you fly unbelievably close to the mountainside, as the picture below shows. The truly scary part? This picture doesn’t even show the closest moment, as I had put my camera away. At the closest, I would estimate that the wing tip was less than 200m away from the mountain (I might even argue less than 100m but I’m not great at estimating ranges). Pretty enlightening moment as you listen to the gasps and nervous laughter of other people nearby.
So, having landed safely and managing to drop the entire content of my wallet on the floor as I waited for my visa (at least I made the official giggle), I was met by my driver for the weekend, Pema and was driven the hour or so to Thimphu. During the drive, and (sadly) due to a mutual lack of language, I spent most of the drive in silence, examining the countryside and small villages that popped up. You truly feel like you’re in the middle of the mountains as you’re constantly dwarfed by hills and mountain ranges either side of you or are driving on the edge of a ravine with a lazy river at the bottom. Despite the rugged wilderness, we also passed hundreds of small hamlets and houses built in a traditional Bhutanese style, reminding you that people do actually live here, whilst long and fluttering flags mounted on spears added some more colour to the scene. After a while, we approached Thimphu (the capital city) which reminded me of a large town in reality.
After being dropped off at the hotel, and arranging to be picked up again in an hour for some sightseeing, I wandered round the city for a while and grabbed some lunch. The first thing you notice when you get to walk around is how quiet and peaceful it is. There isn’t much noise at all and no-one is rushing anywhere. The next thing is how few cars there are, especially for a capital city. Then, after walking around for a while, you realise how uneven the place is. Steps are everywhere and if you’re not careful, you’ll walk off a 1m drop.
Once you’re done looking at your feet, you then check out the architecture. Like so many Asian cities, there was a mix of old and new, shown in the architecture that was dotted around the city. People shopped and socialised just as any other city but so many people were dressed in traditional clothing, whilst monks wandered around as well. It certainly made it more interesting to people-watch! I really enjoyed wandering around Thimphu. It’s just the image of this traditional down dwarfed by majestic mountains really adds to the experience. You feel like you’re in a fantasy book or in history, and it’s just amazing. It really is a different world.
Then it was time for some whirlwind sightseeing as I had the afternoon free! Although I had researched it a little bit, I decided to leave it to Pema to decide where to take me and he didn’t disappoint! The first stop was a famous stupa which had a constant stream of devout Buddhists (and a smattering of tourists such as myself) encircling it, whilst bells hung on ropes tinkled in the breeze. As I wandered round myself, I noticed that on the steps of the stupa and on the grass, there were people prostrating themselves in traditional dress so I was able to watch this for a while as well.
Next stop was a place called Buddha Point: essentially a 70ft giant, golden statue of Buddha in the lotus position overlooking the valley that Thimphu is nestled in. Whilst the statue is impressive enough (it’s no giant rubber duck though - Ed), I would argue that the star of the show is getting to look down onto the city of Thimphu and actually seeing it completely dwarfed by the surrounding mountains. Sadly, I could only walk around the statue, as there seemed to be some maintenance going on.
Once we had had enough of the biting wind, we headed to the other side of the valley to pay homage to Bhutan’s national animal, the Takin at the Takin preserve! Whilst not the greatest site in the world (you just walk around the natural enclosure), it’s always nice to see an animal so close, whilst still being protected in a well maintained and natural environment. Plus, one of the handsome Takin’s came over to say hello! What did catch my eye was the sign stating ‘don’t tease the animals’ which was a shame as I spent a considerable amount of time on my flight writing material to tease them with.
Just as we were finishing the preserve, Bhaktu received a call which turned out to be an invitation for me to an official dinner in the evening, so we decided on just one more stop: a small overlook that gave a good view of the palace and one of the many Dzongkhas (CHECK NAME/SPELLING) in the area. Dzongkhas are essentially Bhutanese fortresses that still have very traditional architecture dating back hundreds of years. After the short viewing, I was dropped off at the hotel earlier than planned so I killed some time wandering the streets of Bhutan again, just enjoying the local atmosphere! Now then, if you excuse me, I need to get ready for a dinner.
Now then, where was I? Ah yes, getting ready for dinner. It’s now the next night and here I am, sipping on a Druk 11000 super-strong beer whilst trying to piece together what happened in the last 24 hours. Just kidding (though I am sipping a Druk 11000)! The dinner was a fairly pleasant evening where I met some fellow admissions people, had some traditional Bhutanese food and watched some cultural dancing. The food itself was really good and I got to try some traditional dishes that I wanted e.g.:
Next morning was the first day of the education fair and I won’t bore you with it (though I did get to try some more traditional foods including some Khuli, which was a buckwheat pancake) but I do want to mention the Royal Thimphu College (RTC). As part of my job out here, I was actually presenting a proposal to the RTC and had arranged a meeting to see them (sigh and my heart was stolen by one of the lovely managers I met - Ed). As such, I got to visit the campus and it left me speechless. It was just so serene and calm: the perfect place to study if you ask me. I even found out that they can also rent out rooms to tourists as well. Perfect if I ever come back! Sorry, I did have some photographs but they appear to have vanished, so I will try to find them!
After I left education nirvana, I headed of for dinner and went off to find somewhere for dinner. Eventually, I decided to go to the Bhutan Kitchen, a restaurant I almost accidently went to the previous night (Pema got the wrong restaurant) and that was recommended online. Here you get served from the fixed menu and you don’t get a choice but that’s ok the food is delicious and plentiful. And I mean plentiful. It would have been a semi-decent meal for 3 people, let alone just for myself. For 310 RU (about £3 - £4), you get presented with bowls of traditional Bhutanese food, including:
After my beer, the night magically turned into my third day in Bhutan and the day when I learned that I can trade pens for chairs. Basically, I had a whole bunch of education fair staff asking for pens. Being the pen peddler that I am, I gave them out and as a result, I was told I could get extra chairs. Go figure. However, this wasn’t the most interesting part of my day (thankfully). Nope, this was watching some traditional Bhutanese archery (albeit with modern compound bows). One thing I had wanted to see during my trip was some archery which is supposed to be held most weekends but I couldn’t find much online. However, I can be quite lucky sometimes. In this case, I found an archery field by almost walking across the live range whilst taking a shortcut. Thankfully, someone saw this happy-go-lucky idiot before he wandered in front of an arrow and stopped him. As I said, lucky.
So, after a lazy breakfast, I meandered down to the street above the field and watched the competition for a while but as I didn’t have a great view so I left. Again, my luck kicked in and it turned out that the archery field was next door to the education fair and, as it turns out, I was early. So, I took my spare ten minutes and watched the competition from right next to the archers: a perfect view. I even got some pictures! Having watched for a while, I discovered that there were two teams and a small wooden target at either end of the archery range and whenever the target was struck, the non-shooting team would dance and sing in front of the target. I guess they were celebrating the victory with the archer.
After the archery, my day was a blur of talking to potential students and agents, which soon turned to a closing dinner for the education fair (though the fair was open for another day oddly). Nothing too exciting here but it was fun chatting to my new friend Michael whom worked in India and watching some more Bhutanese dancing and singing, with the added bonus that I was actually prepared! See below for some pictures.
And so, I then bid goodbye yo day 3 in Bhutan and toast day 4 with a Red Panda beer in my hotel room. Word of advice: drink Bhutanese beer but not their wine…you’ll thank me! In the morning of my final day in Bhutan, I lazily showered and broke my fast before taking a wander through the town again, this time down some new alleyways and streets. There is something to be said about a nice brisk walk on a chilled but sunny day. It really prepares you for the rest of the day and puts a spring in your step (or it does for me). Nothing much changed during my walk but I just enjoyed wandering through the ornate streets, particularly enjoying the quiet that had engulfed the city. Sure, there was the odd car noise but this barely dented the calm. Birds were singing, no-one was shouting and yelling and I didn’t hear a single car horn. Serenity: the perfect prelude to spending seven hours on my own at an education fair.
At the end of the fair, I admit that not much happened and my final evening passed with little incident. All I did was finish my present shopping for my family before having a highly recommended pizza for dinner. Yes, that’s right, a pizza! Whilst I ummed and aahed at this, I decided that I had traditional Bhutanese food seven times during my shorts trip and the pizza restaurant was one of the best rated in Thimphu, so I opted for a change (and it was worth it). So there we go, one more trip under my belt and what a place to visit! If you like peace and quiet, mixed with nature and culture then look no further than Bhutan for your next holiday. That said, you can’t look much further than Bhutan in general. It truly is a spectacular place to visit and is well worth the difficulty getting here.
Pick of the Week
Morphy Richards Accents Coffee Machine - I finally picked up a coffee machine (see previous blog entry for backstory) and what a purchase! You know what it does? It makes good coffee and that's it! No fancy gadgets, no frothy milk and no hefty price tag either! It simply makes some good coffee and keeps it warm for a couple of hours as well! Plus, you can set it to turn on at a certain time: perfect for that bleary Monday morning! If you want a good coffee machine, check this out. Thanks to Derek for the recommendation and for letting me test run it with many, many cups of coffee!
Music of the Week
Time for a bit of nostalgia this week with Trapt - Headstrong. Enjoy!
Well, that's it for this week then. I'll be back later in the week for a surprise and then, on Sunday, I'll address my new life a little! See you then.
*A quick explanation: although this is just one blog post, it is written over several sessions over several days*
I used to think that Kathmandu was a remote and distant place. It is but Bhutan manages to one up it, in this category at least. Welcome to the Kingdom of the Thunder Dragon: your adventure starts with the flight! Yup, the excitement begins before you even arrive in the country, as you fly over the Himalayan Range, and fly past Everest. That’s right: you get a birds-eye view of the largest mountain in the world (as well as all other mountains) without having to pay for a mountain flight. If you’re able to, make sure to sit on the left (coming from Kathmandu at least), hope you get a window seat and that it’s a clear day. The view was jaw-dropping. I don’t often stare out of airplane windows but this view caught my attention.
Talking about flying, did you know that there are only 8 pilots qualified to fly to Paro Airport? It’s true and during your flight, you discover why. The plane basically has to navigate though the mountain range and you fly unbelievably close to the mountainside, as the picture below shows. The truly scary part? This picture doesn’t even show the closest moment, as I had put my camera away. At the closest, I would estimate that the wing tip was less than 200m away from the mountain (I might even argue less than 100m but I’m not great at estimating ranges). Pretty enlightening moment as you listen to the gasps and nervous laughter of other people nearby.
So, having landed safely and managing to drop the entire content of my wallet on the floor as I waited for my visa (at least I made the official giggle), I was met by my driver for the weekend, Pema and was driven the hour or so to Thimphu. During the drive, and (sadly) due to a mutual lack of language, I spent most of the drive in silence, examining the countryside and small villages that popped up. You truly feel like you’re in the middle of the mountains as you’re constantly dwarfed by hills and mountain ranges either side of you or are driving on the edge of a ravine with a lazy river at the bottom. Despite the rugged wilderness, we also passed hundreds of small hamlets and houses built in a traditional Bhutanese style, reminding you that people do actually live here, whilst long and fluttering flags mounted on spears added some more colour to the scene. After a while, we approached Thimphu (the capital city) which reminded me of a large town in reality.
After being dropped off at the hotel, and arranging to be picked up again in an hour for some sightseeing, I wandered round the city for a while and grabbed some lunch. The first thing you notice when you get to walk around is how quiet and peaceful it is. There isn’t much noise at all and no-one is rushing anywhere. The next thing is how few cars there are, especially for a capital city. Then, after walking around for a while, you realise how uneven the place is. Steps are everywhere and if you’re not careful, you’ll walk off a 1m drop.
Once you’re done looking at your feet, you then check out the architecture. Like so many Asian cities, there was a mix of old and new, shown in the architecture that was dotted around the city. People shopped and socialised just as any other city but so many people were dressed in traditional clothing, whilst monks wandered around as well. It certainly made it more interesting to people-watch! I really enjoyed wandering around Thimphu. It’s just the image of this traditional down dwarfed by majestic mountains really adds to the experience. You feel like you’re in a fantasy book or in history, and it’s just amazing. It really is a different world.
Then it was time for some whirlwind sightseeing as I had the afternoon free! Although I had researched it a little bit, I decided to leave it to Pema to decide where to take me and he didn’t disappoint! The first stop was a famous stupa which had a constant stream of devout Buddhists (and a smattering of tourists such as myself) encircling it, whilst bells hung on ropes tinkled in the breeze. As I wandered round myself, I noticed that on the steps of the stupa and on the grass, there were people prostrating themselves in traditional dress so I was able to watch this for a while as well.
Next stop was a place called Buddha Point: essentially a 70ft giant, golden statue of Buddha in the lotus position overlooking the valley that Thimphu is nestled in. Whilst the statue is impressive enough (it’s no giant rubber duck though - Ed), I would argue that the star of the show is getting to look down onto the city of Thimphu and actually seeing it completely dwarfed by the surrounding mountains. Sadly, I could only walk around the statue, as there seemed to be some maintenance going on.
Once we had had enough of the biting wind, we headed to the other side of the valley to pay homage to Bhutan’s national animal, the Takin at the Takin preserve! Whilst not the greatest site in the world (you just walk around the natural enclosure), it’s always nice to see an animal so close, whilst still being protected in a well maintained and natural environment. Plus, one of the handsome Takin’s came over to say hello! What did catch my eye was the sign stating ‘don’t tease the animals’ which was a shame as I spent a considerable amount of time on my flight writing material to tease them with.
Just as we were finishing the preserve, Bhaktu received a call which turned out to be an invitation for me to an official dinner in the evening, so we decided on just one more stop: a small overlook that gave a good view of the palace and one of the many Dzongkhas (CHECK NAME/SPELLING) in the area. Dzongkhas are essentially Bhutanese fortresses that still have very traditional architecture dating back hundreds of years. After the short viewing, I was dropped off at the hotel earlier than planned so I killed some time wandering the streets of Bhutan again, just enjoying the local atmosphere! Now then, if you excuse me, I need to get ready for a dinner.
Now then, where was I? Ah yes, getting ready for dinner. It’s now the next night and here I am, sipping on a Druk 11000 super-strong beer whilst trying to piece together what happened in the last 24 hours. Just kidding (though I am sipping a Druk 11000)! The dinner was a fairly pleasant evening where I met some fellow admissions people, had some traditional Bhutanese food and watched some cultural dancing. The food itself was really good and I got to try some traditional dishes that I wanted e.g.:
- Shamu-datsi (cottage cheese, mushroom and chilli)
- Puta (buckwheat noodles)
- Red rice
- Paksha Paa (pork with chilli)
Next morning was the first day of the education fair and I won’t bore you with it (though I did get to try some more traditional foods including some Khuli, which was a buckwheat pancake) but I do want to mention the Royal Thimphu College (RTC). As part of my job out here, I was actually presenting a proposal to the RTC and had arranged a meeting to see them (sigh and my heart was stolen by one of the lovely managers I met - Ed). As such, I got to visit the campus and it left me speechless. It was just so serene and calm: the perfect place to study if you ask me. I even found out that they can also rent out rooms to tourists as well. Perfect if I ever come back! Sorry, I did have some photographs but they appear to have vanished, so I will try to find them!
After I left education nirvana, I headed of for dinner and went off to find somewhere for dinner. Eventually, I decided to go to the Bhutan Kitchen, a restaurant I almost accidently went to the previous night (Pema got the wrong restaurant) and that was recommended online. Here you get served from the fixed menu and you don’t get a choice but that’s ok the food is delicious and plentiful. And I mean plentiful. It would have been a semi-decent meal for 3 people, let alone just for myself. For 310 RU (about £3 - £4), you get presented with bowls of traditional Bhutanese food, including:
- Red rice
- Steamed rice
- Chicken curry
- Cabbage
- Egg and cottage cheese (surprisingly delicious)
- Egg, cheese and chilli
- Chill paste
- Potato
After my beer, the night magically turned into my third day in Bhutan and the day when I learned that I can trade pens for chairs. Basically, I had a whole bunch of education fair staff asking for pens. Being the pen peddler that I am, I gave them out and as a result, I was told I could get extra chairs. Go figure. However, this wasn’t the most interesting part of my day (thankfully). Nope, this was watching some traditional Bhutanese archery (albeit with modern compound bows). One thing I had wanted to see during my trip was some archery which is supposed to be held most weekends but I couldn’t find much online. However, I can be quite lucky sometimes. In this case, I found an archery field by almost walking across the live range whilst taking a shortcut. Thankfully, someone saw this happy-go-lucky idiot before he wandered in front of an arrow and stopped him. As I said, lucky.
So, after a lazy breakfast, I meandered down to the street above the field and watched the competition for a while but as I didn’t have a great view so I left. Again, my luck kicked in and it turned out that the archery field was next door to the education fair and, as it turns out, I was early. So, I took my spare ten minutes and watched the competition from right next to the archers: a perfect view. I even got some pictures! Having watched for a while, I discovered that there were two teams and a small wooden target at either end of the archery range and whenever the target was struck, the non-shooting team would dance and sing in front of the target. I guess they were celebrating the victory with the archer.
After the archery, my day was a blur of talking to potential students and agents, which soon turned to a closing dinner for the education fair (though the fair was open for another day oddly). Nothing too exciting here but it was fun chatting to my new friend Michael whom worked in India and watching some more Bhutanese dancing and singing, with the added bonus that I was actually prepared! See below for some pictures.
And so, I then bid goodbye yo day 3 in Bhutan and toast day 4 with a Red Panda beer in my hotel room. Word of advice: drink Bhutanese beer but not their wine…you’ll thank me! In the morning of my final day in Bhutan, I lazily showered and broke my fast before taking a wander through the town again, this time down some new alleyways and streets. There is something to be said about a nice brisk walk on a chilled but sunny day. It really prepares you for the rest of the day and puts a spring in your step (or it does for me). Nothing much changed during my walk but I just enjoyed wandering through the ornate streets, particularly enjoying the quiet that had engulfed the city. Sure, there was the odd car noise but this barely dented the calm. Birds were singing, no-one was shouting and yelling and I didn’t hear a single car horn. Serenity: the perfect prelude to spending seven hours on my own at an education fair.
At the end of the fair, I admit that not much happened and my final evening passed with little incident. All I did was finish my present shopping for my family before having a highly recommended pizza for dinner. Yes, that’s right, a pizza! Whilst I ummed and aahed at this, I decided that I had traditional Bhutanese food seven times during my shorts trip and the pizza restaurant was one of the best rated in Thimphu, so I opted for a change (and it was worth it). So there we go, one more trip under my belt and what a place to visit! If you like peace and quiet, mixed with nature and culture then look no further than Bhutan for your next holiday. That said, you can’t look much further than Bhutan in general. It truly is a spectacular place to visit and is well worth the difficulty getting here.
Pick of the Week
Morphy Richards Accents Coffee Machine - I finally picked up a coffee machine (see previous blog entry for backstory) and what a purchase! You know what it does? It makes good coffee and that's it! No fancy gadgets, no frothy milk and no hefty price tag either! It simply makes some good coffee and keeps it warm for a couple of hours as well! Plus, you can set it to turn on at a certain time: perfect for that bleary Monday morning! If you want a good coffee machine, check this out. Thanks to Derek for the recommendation and for letting me test run it with many, many cups of coffee!
Music of the Week
Time for a bit of nostalgia this week with Trapt - Headstrong. Enjoy!
Well, that's it for this week then. I'll be back later in the week for a surprise and then, on Sunday, I'll address my new life a little! See you then.
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