Our original itinerary called for walks near Cheli La, a 3810 meter or 12500 foot pass into the neighboring district of Ha. Tshering suggested a local alternative, pointing out that the clouds were too low to see anything up at Cheli La. Joan and I were to learn that Tshering was resourceful, knew Bhutan very well, and could summon alternatives for any day's activity.
When we first awoke we could see the high Himalayas above the rising mists of the morning. In May this is much less common than during the winter tourist season.
The birds were active, one of the reasons why we chose a May trip. Here is a russet sparrow, a bird we would soon come to dismiss as common.
The main building of the Zhiwa Ling caught the morning light.
This morning we're hiking to the Tseto Gompa, a nearby small local monastery. I'll outline the hike for you using this photo taken from across the Paro Valley later the same day. (Click on the photo to enlarge.)
A ridge comes down from the high mountains and splits into multiple arms; some see a resemblence to the phurba, a multi-bladed knife that symbolizes cutting through ignorance and obstructions. Kaka drove us to the left green dot, where we disembarked from the van and began climbing the ridge. Tseto Gompa is just below the right green dot.
At our dropoff a new building is being finished. It will be a religious structure, but I'm not sure which type. It illustrates a trend in newer buildings here, having a flat concrete pad with a perimeter channel that will catch water from the roof's drip line. The older farmhouses and temples don't have this feature.
We immediately begin climbing. Below these prayer flags, through the trees on the right, you can make out the roof of the above building.
Most of the altitude on this hike is gained at the beginning. We were passed by a couple of young monks and then the lama of the monastery, who offered Joan his parasol.
As we climbed higher we encountered blooming rhododendron. Here Tshering stands in front of a tall one.
A closeup of the fabulous blossoms.
The next photo is of pieris formosa. Two related species are known in the United States as climbing fetterbush and mountain fetterbush.
This nearby tree, covered in ferns and lichens, also caught our eye.
The Tseto Gompa drew closer as we hiked along the ridgelines.
A closeup of the chortens on the grounds of the gompa. Each chorten contains one or more objects of religious significance, such as relics, prayers, sacred texts, or offerings. An architectural note: any building or structure with the red band around it is religious in nature, not secular.
We were received with great hospitality by the lama. The monks brought out milk tea and semi-sweet "biscuits" poking up out of a substantial bowl of crunchy puffed rice. (The biscuits are large crackers somewhat thicker than customary in the U.S.) Then apple juice was offered. I have one photo, of a corner of the "reception room." The wooden basins and the TV set illustrate the dual nature of life in Bhutan: one foot in the modern, and one foot in the traditional. Just outside the photo are some calendars. Even the auto shop calendar shows religious images.
Tshering was our interpreter, of course. At one point he asked the lama to guess my age and Joan's. The lama guessed low by twenty years, which Tshering explained was due to the "soft life" of Westerners. He elaborated that simply not working all day in the fields qualifies as a soft life.
One of Tshering's many projects is assisting the restoration of the gompa, which was damaged in the magnitude 6.9 Sikkim earthquake of September 18, 2011. This not only includes writing grand proposals, raising funds, coordinating with NGOs, and the like, but deciding what should be done with the sacred art. Given the Buddhist teachings on impermanence, the Himalayan cultures often prefer to create new paintings, tapestries, etc. as opposed to the Western ideal of carefully repairing and restoring the originals. Also the rammed earth walls of the gompa now show serious cracking. In this panoramic photo of the courtyard, you can see a major vertical crack near the center, and others at right. Click to enlarge. You also see Tshering, the lama, and one of the young monks in this picture.
Photos are not allowed in the temple portion of any monastery, nunnery, or dzong.
The views from the hillside outside the gompa were sweeping. Here, we look across to the switchback road up to the Sangchokor Buddhist Institute, which we will visit in the afternoon.
Directly across the valley is the famous Tiger's Nest, or Taktsang. Joan and I had a couldn't-be-better experience hiking there on New Year's Day, 2010, and decided not to repeat the hike this time. Viewing Taktsang from this direction, we appreciated for the first time how many other buildings are perched in its neighborhood. The complex barely right and below of center is the Tiger's Nest (click to enlarge).
There is also a long view down the Paro Valley.
A kitten followed us as we left the monastery. We attempted to discourage it during our steep descent, but it would not be thwarted.
What to do? Call the lama on his cellphone! He dispatched two of his young monks to fetch the wayward kitty.
Tshering asked for a photo pose.
We finished our descent to the farm road, where Kaka picked us up, and we returned to the Zhiwa Ling for a late lunch.
Then Kaka drove us up to Sangchokor. The road was full of switchbacks and narrow, but Joan and I knew that if you are squeamish about such roads, you will miss most of what Bhutan has to offer. We were reassured by Kaka's clear skill at driving.
The chorten next to the parking area at the Institute was built on a chunk of land that was not excavated when the area was graded into flatness. It was a Sunday, so not much was going on.
This is the main building of the Institute.
It was here that we learned about the gonkhang, a room adjacent to the inner temple that is the inner sanctum of protective deities. The door is usually painted black, with fierce figures and visages, and locked. One of the very few restrictions on women in Bhutan is that they cannot enter the gonkhang, not even the Queen or Queen Mother.
This picture from the Institute includes downtown Paro, the Paro Dzong, the Paro Chhu (river) before the summer rains fill it, and the airport.
Some fresh produce is available in May, and these first two days in Paro began our food adventures. We enjoyed fiddle head ferns, which taste similar to asparagus. Fruits, especially bananas, are of varieties and freshness unseen in the U.S., and the difference is stunning. The potatoes are better, and even the small young okra, called ladyfingers, are tasty and usually without the sliminess associated with that veggie. Food prep is straightforward in execution but the results are excellent.
Tomorrow will be a driving day as we move on to Punakha.
The Drukair Airbus 319 stopped in Bagdogra, India, before proceeding on to Paro, where Bhutan's only international airport sits at an altitude of 2300 meters (7500 feet). Paro frequently appears in lists of the ten most difficult airports for takeoff and landing, and this photo, taken the next day, will give you some idea why only a handful of pilots have been certified to fly here.
We landed safely, and after stepping off the plane I took some photos. A couple of Thai monks were on board -- in Thailand the Buddhist monks wear orange, while in Bhutan they wear burgundy. They belong to different schools of Buddhist thought (Theravada vs. Vajrayana) but that doesn't inhibit visiting back and forth.
The airport terminals are built in the Bhutanese style, with plenty of ornately carved and painted wood. Carving wood and painting are two of the thirteen traditional arts and crafts of Bhutan, the zorig chusum.
The large outdoor banner is in honor of the 5th King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk, and the queen, Jetsun Pema. They married on October 13, 2011.
On exiting the airport we were met by our guide, Tshering Dorji, and driver, Kaka. We had arranged our trip through Geographic Expeditions (GeoEx) and the tour operator that they employ in Bhutan is Yangphel Adventure Travel. This was a private trip -- just Joan, myself, Tshering, and Kaka -- and the first such for us. Our 2005 visit included seventeen guests, and our 2009 visit five.
The first order of business was to check into our hotel, the Zhiwa Ling, unpack, and have lunch with Tshering. Borrowing from one of the next day's photographs, here is the layout of the Zhiwa Ling. The main building holds the restaurant, meeting rooms, gift shop, a temple, and suites.
This is the view from the front of our room in one of the satellite buildings. It's a lush opposite of what we had seen before, because our earlier visits had been in winter (November, December).
Our room was spacious. We never turned on the TV.
Here is an initial look (I have plenty) at the atrium in the Zhiwa Ling. All the woodwork is hand-carved and hand-painted. This image captures primarily artificial light on the ground floor, more daylight on the next, and daylight so intense at the top that the murals are washed out. I find it breathtaking to stand in the center and attempt to take it all in.
Looking down into the atrium from the second floor.
After lunch Tshering took us for walk. We had requested some day hikes be in our itinerary, and of course he had to see what our capabilities were. Kaka drove us down to the Kyichu Lhakhang, a temple originally built in the 7th Century. Joan and I had seen this temple in 2009, so today it was just the starting point for an easy walk along the paths lining farm fields, and then a farm road.
This image taken from the farm road shows an old, abandoned building next to a new one. Buildings may be abandoned after some unlucky or devastating event, but effort is not expended to tear them down. The walls, usually of rammed earth, slowly erode.
Looking further up the valley, we can see that the winter wheat has sprouted but the rice seedlings have not yet been set out (this is May 3rd).
Near the end of the walk this combination of wall and flags caught my eye.
The walk was successful; my legs and Joan's were up to the task. We breathed heavily on the uphill parts, but Tshering understood our need to adapt to the altitude. At dinner he said that we'd take a more ambitious hike to a gompa, or monastery, the next morning, which sounded great to us.
Still feeling our jet lag, we were ready for an early night.
April 30th, 2014. Joan and I arrive at the Columbus, Ohio airport early in the morning, embarking on our third trip to Bhutan. We have a tight connection in Philadelphia with our Qatar Airways flight to Doha, connecting to Bangkok, and our flight out of Columbus is delayed because of the weather. It's hard not to feel anxious. Fortunately 1) our US Airways flight lands at the international terminal because it's going on to Halifax, so we're much closer than expected to the Qatar gate, and 2) the Qatar staff is on top of things. Are we from Columbus, they ask. Yes? We've already printed your boarding passes. We'll be boarding soon.
Almost a full day later we arrive at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok. Miracle of miracles, so do our bags! Joan and I sigh with relief.
We take the shuttle bus and a few minutes later are checking in at the Novotel Suvarnabhumi. It now has the novel feature of 24-hour checkout; it doesn't matter when you check in, you get your room for 24 hours. This makes sense for an airport hotel that sees guests arrive and depart at all hours. It's in the evening, local time, and after dinner we collapse into bed.
The next day, to combat jet lag -- Bangkok is eleven hours ahead of Eastern Time, so day is night and vice-versa -- we return to the airport via the underground walkway to prowl around, to take a look-see, not dashing to departures or hurrying out of arrivals. First, we wanted to find which aisle the Drukair (Royal Bhutan Airlines) counter sat in. It's at the far end, aisle W. That's door #10, but the shuttle drivers already know that.
Suvarnabhumi opened for business in 2006, and has some civilizing touches within a very busy airport. The exterior doors are functional, and more.
In the center is a Buddhist reliquary with flowers.
Towards the back, after check-in and before passport control, there are more than four guardian warriors. Demons beware.
I'll just show you these two.
Most people never see the pavilions that fill out the airport, being anxious to get somewhere, but they look inviting, if you can enjoy the heat and humidity of Bangkok.
There is also an interior garden display.
Some of the escalators are smooth, rather than stepped, which is more friendly for rolling luggage.
There are premium passport and security lanes, available to higher-fare passengers, diplomats, air crew ... and monks.
A monk-only waiting room (before passport control) is also available in Suvarnabhumi, as well as a Muslim prayer room.
The next morning we arose early for our 6:50 Drukair flight. No longer did a local Geographic Expeditions (GeoEx) representative need to meet us at the airport with our Bhutan visas; these had been e-mailed to us and printed out before we left, one more small change.
