Bhutan: Thimphu

Thimphu was our destination, and it meant climbing back up to Dochu La (10,000 feet). We stopped at the same place for lunch as we had heading out, just a short walk (one bend of the road) from the pass, and the clouds felt magnanimous, granting us peeks at the high ranges. Here is the wide-angled view from my camera.

Here is a zoom-in.

Then it was back down the mountain, to check in at the Taj Tashi hotel and freshen up before heading out again. The Taj is an international-class hotel that was just a construction site in 2005. As we pulled in dancers and singers were there to greet us.

The lobby, and all the rest of the hotel, was breathtaking. The display in the lobby included a gingerbread house, stacks of gaily wrapped boxes, and a creche.

There were only a few guests in evidence, probably because it was off-season, and during the holidays, and because of a big drop in tourist bookings due to the economy, particularly high-end ones.

Our first destination was the national Textile Museum. No photos here, but a stunning collection. One gallery is devoted to the various ethnic costumes from around Bhutan, displayed on mannequins. Large and larger religious hangings adorn one high wall. Adjacent to the gift shop, you can watch women weaving on traditional hand looms. The resulting fabrics dazzle with their colors and intricate patterns; some of the weaving for the royal family takes place here, and some of the items on display are on loan from the royal family.

After leaving the Textile Museum we went to the traditional paper-making factory. Here the paper is made from the bark of the daphne plant, which results in a durable and insect-resistant paper. Such a paper can be used for religious texts, envelopes, paper lanterns, and inventive artwork, such as the bookmarks with embedded flowers that I bought. In checking YouTube, I found a video (not mine) that just has to be from this factory.

Then it was time to change into our dinner clothes. Geographic Expeditions/Yangphel Adventure Travel had arranged a dinner with five Bhutanese to complement our five trekkers. These were, in the order printed on our list,

• Mr. Tenzin Dorji, Chief Research Officer, Royal Privy Council
• Ms. Sonam Choke, IT Graduate, North Bangalore University
• Mr. Wangay Dorji, Head, Bhutan Infocom & Media Authority
• Mr. Ugyen Yoeser, profession cyclist
• Mr. Kharma Lotey, Bhutan director, Geographic Expeditions/Yangphel Adventure Travel.

Ugyen had originally been scheduled to be our trip leader, but had a conflict (big archery tournament) and we were lucky enough to get Tsewang Rinchen.

As the seating worked out, I spent much of my time with Tenzin and Wangay. These gents work hard to represent and develop Bhutan; as middle-aged professionals they represent, I feel, the progressive edge of Bhutanese administration, which is sometimes sluggish (imported from the Indian interpretation of the British bureaucracy). Tenzin, as a member of the Royal Privy Council, basically works on whatever project the royal family throws at them. Wangay's duties also seem far ranging -- overseeing media censorship, checking cellphone tower coverage -- just about anything to do with media or telecom. He had the whole table laughing at his experiences traveling abroad and encountering officials who thought his Bhutanese passport was obviously something made up. The South Koreans detained him, thinking him a likely infiltrator from the North, until the Korean Information Minister rescued him. Sad to say, yours truly was too tired have the forethought to take a picture of our hosts. My bad!

Tenzin and Wangay also made it clear that persons with skills useful to Bhutan were more than welcome to volunteer. IT and medical professionals (both represented in our trekkers) would be among those at the top of their list. Typically you might receive a visa to consult for, say, three months and then tour for three months. At least, that's what I think I heard!

Back to the Taj Tashi and our beds. We awoke the next morning to find that yesterday's sunshine had disappeared. It was snowing.

Through our window we saw a canine friend standing lookout.

It turns out that if snow reaches the valley floor at Thimphu it is a big deal, an unofficial holiday. Tsewang delayed our departure for half an hour while he called to see what places/attractions would be open, and which would be closed. The manager of the Handicraft Emporium sleepily suggested that it might open at noon. (It didn't.) As we left the hotel, a musician was playing.

First we tried the National Institute of Traditional Medicine, but that was closed. Then Tsewang took us to the National Library. That too was closed, but Tsewang took off in search of someone to let us in. The snow had stopped after a couple of inches had fallen, and all over Thimphu snowmen were being made and snowball fights conducted. We were no exception. (Tshering has quite an arm.)

Our ever-resourceful Tsewang found a staff member who found a caretaker with a key, so we were able to briefly visit the ground floor of the old National Library, adjacent to the new. The focus of this visit was the largest book in the world, a visual study of Bhutan spearheaded by Michael Hawley of the MIT Media Lab. 5 feet tall and 7 feet wide, weighing over 130 pounds, it's certified by Guinness:

Jillian posed to give the book some scale.

You can purchase a coffee-table version of this book from Amazon. Joan and I have a copy, and it's a treasure. You can also purchase a full-size copy from Amazon, but the price seems to have jumped from $15,000 to $30,000 at some point.

Next we visited one of favorite animals, the takin, at the Motithang Takin Preserve. Here, in a photo from 2005, is the origin story of the takin. It involves the Divine Madman. (Click the picture to enlarge.)

Right away we found one of our friends.

The snow was a grand attraction, though. At the entrance there was a father-daughter team watching another family's snowball fight.

Namgay felt we hadn't had quite enough frozen sport yet.

Around the bend -- the preserve is high on a hillside, the top of which sprouts telecom towers -- was a grand view of the Thimphu valley.

Driving back down, we stopped at another viewpoint and got a good look at the Thimphu dzong, the seat of government and religious administration. The parliament building is just out of the frame, and a nine-hole golf course just in front.

As our bus continued down the hill, who did we see but Toh, our camp manager from the trek! Warm greetings were exchanged and plans for lunch were laid.

Our final morning stop was the Memorial Chorten, dedicated to the third king of Bhutan. The three-story structure is one of the central points of the city, visited by tourists, pilgrims, and people wishing to socialize. Here is a figure just inside the gate, carrying a vessel for blessing water.

The three stories of the chorten can be climbed, and shrines visited, if you have the time. (The stone floors were extremely cold in November 2005.) We circumambulated the chorten but did not go in.

A side building holds several large prayer wheels. Some of the older Bhutanese settle in here for a session of visitation while the wheels rarely stop spinning.

On departure I zoomed in on some of the artwork of the gate.

We, including Toh, had lunch at the best pizza shop in Bhutan. The royal family orders out from there, we're told. It was good. I had a plain multi-cheese pizza, but the Bhutanese fellows had beef and chili (of course, chili) pizza. Nobody ordered the day's special, yak meat with blue cheese and greens on top. (It might have been the greens.)

The first part of the afternoon was dedicated to independent shopping. Joan and I visited handicraft stores, art stores, and even a couple of bookstores. We encountered our fellow trekkers once or twice, and gathered together at the bus with our loot in mid-afternoon. It was time to bid adieu to Thimphu and drive back to Paro, our final stop. On the way out of town, I took a through-the-bus-window photograph of the largest Buddha statue in the world, under construction. It is more than a statue; it will be a complete complex.

And then we were pack in Paro, where we began this auspicious trip. One more day, and one more hike.