Author: odohertyelaine

So I love a good massage or spa treatment and try to have something done whenever I visit new countries.. here’s what I had done on the Southeast Asia trip.

Deep tissue Massage in Nepal:

The hotel recommended a local massage place so I went along one afternoon to check it out. A young girl with surprisingly strong hands beat the crap out of me for an hour and I felt great after it. She started by climbing onto the table as I lay on my belly and cracking my back – she was like a ninja! It was a full body massage and when I was lying on my back and she’d done my arms and front of legs she asked “would you like me to do your belly and breasts?”… eh no thank you!!

Banana Facial in Bhutan:

Ah lads this was one of the nicest facials I’ve ever had. The banana products were amazing and felt great and she spent over an hour massaging my face. It was heavenly. When she put the mask on (on me not her performing a ritual in costume!!) she gave me the option to have my feet or head massaged.. I went for feet. It was just fantastic and cost me all of about 8 euros!

Dewa Ekkazatti Hot Compression Herbal Leaves Massage in Bhutan:

This started out as a normal massage and then the therapist pounded me with what I could only describe as a large sponge on the end of a mallot!! In reality it was a bundle of herbal leaves and flowers steamed in local oils! She laid it on certain parts of the body – feet, shoulder, calf and then hit me with it until it got cooler and then she swapped it for another one. I’d never had this kind of a treatment before so it was really interesting and very enjoyable. My skin felt very smooth and I smelt gorgeous after it!

Papaya Facial in Bhutan:

After the success of the banana facial I went back for more .. this time I chose papaya it was as lovely a face massage but I didn’t like the papaya products as much as the banana.. still fabulous and still only 8 euros though!

Thai Massage in Cambodia:

This was amazing… this tiny little woman stretched and bent me to within an inch of my life. They gave me pyjamas which I kept on – no oil on the skin. She was on the bed with me through 90% of the massage – it was amazing. It was very funny, she had very little English and when she needed to ask me something (like can you turn over) she tipped me and said “It’s just me mam, can you turn over” and “it’s just me mam, is this ok”.. who else could it have been!!! At one point she was kneeling on my thighs (I was lying face down) and her whole body weight was on my back.. that was a first! She also stretched me out like crazy and used her feet to dig into my inner thighs – I know you’re thinking how’d she do that well it was like doing see-saw – she was holding my hands and more or less kicking me!! She had a lot of moves I’d never seen before!

Pedicure in Vietnam:

I badly needed this after nearly 6 weeks traveling. It was as expected with a nice scrub and extra massage – great foot massage!

Traditional Vietnamese Massage in Vietnam:

Similar to the massage in Cambodia I was given pyjama type clothes to put on but this time short shorts and a robe. The bed was huge but she was only on it to do my back, robe off, shorts on! It was more of a traditional massage with oil on skin and it was more gentle than the Thai massage but it was really good. She pressed certain pressure points and used a lot of elbow and knuckles!! Bliss!

We arrived in Hoi An late at night but already the temperature was significantly higher than Halong Bay and Hanoi.. hopefully our few days at the beach would be sunny! Next morning it was warm but overcast.. we checked out the resort (Hoi An Boutique Resort) which is really nice and spent the morning at the beach.

In the afternoon we decided to explore Hoi An old town. The old town is 5km away and the hotel had a free shuttle so it was easy peasy! We walked around the streets which are full of brightly coloured lanterns hanging everywhere. There are lots of shops, spas, bars and restaurants but the pace is easy going and relaxed. We did some nice shopping and had friendly chats with the shopkeepers, even when we were bargaining! I really like the people here, they seem very genuine and maybe they were a bit bored but they were loving to have a little chat.

There are also lots of tourists going around, usually in a convoy, on these:

Hoi An is the place to have clothes tailored so I decided I could do with another couple of dresses!! It was a whole new experience to chose fabric and then work with someone to finalise a design. I got measured and told there’d be 2 more fittings all within 24 hours.. very exciting stuff.

We had a great meal at a really cool restaurant recommended to us called Ms Vys Marketplace. It was this huge open space with benches and lots of different stalls around the edge cooking different types of food. The menu was a large touchscreen tablet in a wooden casing. We tried a number of small plates so we could taste different things. I got my pork bun which I’d been craving and we had some very nice cocktails!

We toyed with the idea of doing another tour as there’s a temple an hour away (My Son) that would have been a good visit but then decided we’d just relax and have some nice downtime. So day two was spent by the pool and the beach in the morning and exploring the old town in the afternoon.

There are lots of historical buildings to see around the old town. The Assembly Hall:

Japanese Bridge

But the best thing to do is just walk around the town and see the lanterns:

The lanterns look amazing at night but the photo doesn’t quite capture the colours. We had the final fitting and collected my dress (ok dresses!) and had another great meal in a restaurant called Home Hoi An.

Oh I nearly forgot earlier in the day I had the best banh mi sandwich.. for 20,000 VND ($1). The momma collects the money and there’s no messing (a bit like Seinfelds soup nazi).. it was quite an experience…

The town has so many shops with stuff that I just wanted to buy.. I bought way more than I should have and just hope I can fit it all in to get home!!

On our last day (well half day as we had a pickup for the airport at 2:30) it was lashing rain and very windy. So much for my idea of lazing by the pool for the morning instead I decided to hit the gym which I hadn’t bothered doing for the whole time I’d been away (37 days!) and then go to the spa for a massage and pedicure. The rest of the time I’d need to pack so maybe it was just as well it rained.

Next stop Saigon….

An easy one and a half hour flight from Siem Reap and we were in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. This feels like the biggest city we’ve been in so far – huge motorway with 4 lanes going in each direction. As we got closer to the city the scooters and motorbikes appeared – there are a lot! There was also a lot of road works as apparently they are building a metro.

We arrived at our hotel around 8pm – The Hilton no less – our fanciest hotel of the trip. It was in a really central location beside the opera house and was nicely decorated for Christmas which we hadn’t seem a huge amount of. We took a walk around the neighbourhood and found a cosy little spot for a drink and a nibble and made a plan for the next day to see the sites of Hanoi.

Breakfast was amazing – I went full Asian – dim sum and mini banh mi sandwiches – delighted with life as we jumped in a cab, in the rain to get to the Ho Chin Minh mausoleum. The weather was unseasonably cool for Hanoi – it was approx 10 degrees colder than Cambodia (16-18c) so it was a nice respite from the heat – the rain we could have done without it was only light showers and considering they had recently had a typhoon we considered ourselves very lucky.

Things get serious at Ho Chi Minhs’ mausoleum! You need to follow the instructions of the guards and abide by the rules. As the recorded announcement repeats “if you have bad manners towards the rules you will not be allowed in”. There are long queues but they move fast and are very orderly!! No chewing gum, no cameras, no water, no hats, no sunglasses, no talking. You’re motioned in, walk around the body laid out in a glass case, no stopping just keep moving and the visit is all over in about two minutes. I have to say he looked very well – possibly better than he did toward the end of his life. He didn’t look so skinny and still has the beard! The regular maintenance is obviously working – it seems he goes for touch ups quite regularly so we were lucky to get to see him. It was exactly the same as seeing Lenin in Moscow which I thought was a one-off but apparently this is how the communist leaders are revered. Now I’m gonna have to see Mau!

Once we were inside the grounds we could then visit the museum, palace and house where he lived. The yellow palace is where he received foreign dignitaries:

The cars used to drive him around:

House 54 where he did a lot of his work:

The Stilt house where he actually lived:

The museum was interesting. There is a huge statue at the top of the staircase as you enter. Most of the exhibits feature photos of Hi Chi Minh visiting parts of Vietnam and meeting with all the different people in the country or receiving them in Hanoi. There are lots of photos and even some video footage of him meeting leaders and members of communist parties from all different countries. I was looking out for some evidence of the relationship with Cambodia (their neighbors) but couldn’t see anything.

There were lots and lots of letters and quotes from him and again more photos of him writing poetry or speaking at a rally or meeting more people but I didn’t see anything that told me what he did in the 20 odd years after the country become a republic. We did have to leave as the museum was closing at 12 so maybe I missed a section… There was a really interesting exhibit on how the Bolshevik revolution inspired the Vietnamese.

Next we headed toward the old quarter and Hoan Kiem lake. There’s a very pretty red bridge which we walked across to visit the temple and the famous turtle on there:

We spent quite a bit of time walking around the old quarter. It’s an interesting place – chaotic small streets and alleys packed with people working, selling fruit or clothes, making food, washing dishes in basins on the footpath… there are people eating in tiny little cafes (if you could even call them that – some are actually just someone’s little space where they’ve set up a fryer and are serving something on a stick) and drinking tea and coffee sitting on tiny low chairs. There are a huge amount of tea shops – not coffee, tea… so you can imagine how excited I was that I could get a good cup of tea but no.. I tried about 6 of them and they had the weirdest tea concoctions I’d ever come across – cheesy tea (yes tea with cheese!!), banana tea, grapefruit tea and when I asked for just black tea they said “oh no, no black tea”!!!!

Every second place is a spa so you are never far away from a massage and there’s the odd temple here and there. We visited the oldest one in Hanoi. We also visited the Hanoi cathedral which was having some work done on the inside but badly needs a facelift on the outside and we had a delicious gin cocktail (mine was cinnamon and orange peel infused) at the Mad Botanist (shout out Lynny Kramm) overlooking it:

Lightly oiled with gin we headed to the water puppet show at Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre by Hoan Kiem lake. The people controlling these puppets are clearly very talented and the musical instruments and singing seemed very authentic. It was a nice way to spend just under an hour and only cost $100,000 VND (that’s about $5)

Time for another cocktail we stopped at the Metropole hotel which is a famous French colonial hotel where lots of famous people have stayed since 1901. Charlie Chaplin spent his honeymoon here and there is lots of interesting history and photos on the walls. As you’d imagine the drinks were pricy – half a million!!!!

Some local grub finished off the busy day in Hanoi and although it wouldn’t be one of my favourite places we visited it was a good day and a good intro to Vietnam.

HALONG BAY

leaving Hanoi city we drove along a road that has the biggest mural in the world. It’s 6km long and it was really cool to look at while in the crazy traffic.

On the 4 hour drive to Halong bay it is misty, overcast and raining.. not boding well for our cruise. We set off in the mist hoping to see this:

But we actually see this:

Still it was very cool and added an atmospheric feel to the place. At any moment you’d expect King Kong to jump from one of the islands!!

Our ship, Halong Jasmine was very old school with wooden corridors and old lampshades – it was really nice. Surrounded by the fog it felt like we were on an equivalent of murder on the orient express! With just 13 passengers on board we’d see who survive the night!!

After a lengthy lunch of no less than 6 courses (soup, salad. 2 appetisers a main and dessert!) we headed out on a small boat to visit the floating fishing village called Cua Van . There’s a lot less families living here now- about 200 compared to 1,000 some years back but the fishing people have been living this way for over 200 years. Seeing the tiny houses they live in made me feel very lucky to be coming home to the grandeur of Glen Ellan!

Next stop the Tien Ong cave. Fascinating to walk through and see the stalagmites and stalactites. Archeologists, in fairly recent excavations, reckon they have found human bones from 8,000 to,10,000 BC.

They kept us busy on the boat with activities.. next up a cookery demonstration! The chef showed us (with the help of a translator) how to make fried spring roles and of course we got to eat them. We later sat down to another huge meal of 5 courses and it was really delicious. We got chatting to a group of Americans on our tour and enjoyed a few drinks.

The next morning we got up with the sun and headed for tai chi class on the sun deck. There wasn’t much sun to see but the maintenance guy turned up and took us through our tai chi moves. It was mild weather with a little mist falling on us – ideal conditions for outside tai chi!

Our last excursion from the cruise was a visit to Tip Top island where we climbed 400 steps to look at the beautiful views of the bay – they were still beautiful even though we had no sunshine and most of the islands were in fog! There is also a little beach on this island so although it wasn’t quite swimming weather we did go in for a little paddle!

Breakfast and then back to the mainland for the journey back to Hanoi. Goodbye Halong Bay I will have to visit another time and pray for better weather.

On the way back to Hanoi we stopped at the temple of Mon Chau who was a famous academic who was a friend of the king hundreds of years ago. Rumour had it that his wife had an affair with the king and he was accused of murdering the king and exterminated (in the words of our guide) for the crime but later was found innocent. He looks a bit like Confuscious and is still revered today.

Our very cute little guide also pointed out a statue of a unicorn which is completely different to what we know a unicorn to be…

Back in Hanoi we had two places left on our list. Firstly we went to the temple of literature. It’s made up of four courtyards with a temple at the end. It used to be a college but now students come to look for inspiration and pray for good luck in their exams!

There are turtle monuments for each professor/doctor who qualified over the years:

Before heading back to the Hilton to pick up our bags we headed to the “Hanoi Hilton” aka Ho Loa prison where political prisoners were held in the colonial times and then more recently where US pilots where detained.

There was a very interesting exhibit about the relationship with the US and there was quite a bit of footage of John McCain who was imprisoned here for five and a half years. This was the uniform he was wearing when he was captured.

Bags collected it was off to the airport for our next flight….

• Food is amazing!
• Everyone is very pleasant and say thank you a lot.
• There are HUGE billboards on the main roads into the capital, Phnom Penh – I’m not sure I’ve seen any bigger.. or less they were in Bangkok and I’m confused… which is very possible!
• You can travel pretty much anywhere around Siem Reap on a tuk tuk for $2
• You will be demented saying “no thank you” to tuk tuk drivers.. they’ll even offer to take you to the shops for free!!!
• Don’t be surprised if your flight leaves early.. our flight from Phnom Penh left 15 minutes ahead of schedule and from Siem Reap nearly 30!! It seems once you’re on it’ll go..
• Tampons are expensive – $12.50 at the airport!!!
• In Siem Reap, be prepared to see a lot of tour buses and try to keep away from the crazy ones – you know who they are!!!
• The majority of tourists are Chinese (not linked to above bullet 😉)
• There is a widespread campaign to be a responsible traveller and in particular to treat kids appropriately. We kept seeing this poster everywhere:
• In general the Cambodian people feel hard done by by the Vietnamese – they are definitely not friendly neighbours.
• When visiting the Angkor temples expect to hear a lot of “mind head, mind step”.
• My hair is bad in this country!

A short flight and we are in Siem Reap – it is HOT!! We are staying at a really nice hotel called Tara Angkor Wat. It has a great pool (which will be needed) and is nicely decorated for Christmas:

A leisurely lunch at the hotel produces more delicious Khmer food and then it’s off to the night market and a few drinks on Pub Street!

Being chauffeured around in an air conditioned car is just what the doctor ordered in the 30c degree heat of Siem Reap. After smiling for a photo which appears on your ticket (1 day = $37), we headed for Angkor Thom. The entrance and gate is very impressive and is lined with statues:

On the other side of the entrance gate we we’re greeted by lots of monkeys.

You could also chose to get to the temple by elephant (for $20) but those elephants looked exhausted.

Onward to the Bayon temple:

This is “the one with the faces” – if you zoom in you’ll see them…

This place is magnificent and even though it’s our first temple to visit it may just end up being my favourite. I could look at it all day and keep taking photos.. amazing!

We had some free time to walk around and check out the different faces from different angles

There was also lots of interesting carvings:

From there we walked to another temple – Phimeanakus and climbed to the top:

This next one we viewed but weren’t allowed to climb:

Then it was on to the elephants terrace, where back in the day it was like a colosseum where the royals watched sport, not killings thank goodness.

Next we headed for Ta Phrom aka The Tomb Raider temple. I’ve never seen the movie with Angelina Jolie and don’t really have any interest but I might have to watch it just to see the location.

The way the trees have taken route on the temple walls is fascinating and it was really cool to see.

Most of the trees are “spueng” trees – It’s amazing to see their sprawl and how they’ve basically swallowed up the temple!

Next was the big kahuna.. Angkor Wat. Our guide, Mike (not his real name) brought us to the back entrance initially and we made our way through the temple to the front. View from the back:

This turned out to be a great idea as we were at the front for sunset. It did mean that we didn’t see the amazing full-on view until the end of our day though so the suspense was terrible!! Worth it for this though:

Walking through the temple there are amazing carvings that have survived and there is lots of restoration going on.

The climb to the very top was steep but gave more great views of the temple and a sense of how big it was – literally awesome!

It happened to be the 25th anniversary of the site becoming a UNESCO world heritage site so there was a big celebration going on outside that it was hard not to get pulled into. Kids dancing and waving and marching with a band.. it was great fun.

The money shot!

It was a long day and we were tired but we rallied for a tuk tuk ride and another great dinner.

Day 2 we were picked up again and drove about an hour outside of the city to the floating villages on the largest fresh water lake in Asia – Sap Tonle lake. First we saw houses on stilts that are in the more shallow part of the lake which crazily will be dried up in a few months.

This was where our guide was raised. He pointed out his old house and his school (photo below):

As we sailed out further into the deeper water the houses became floating houses. A lot of people live out here and there was plenty of busy life going on. As the water dries up the houses up and move to the deeper parts of the lake.

Local shop:

We had a packed lunch with us and we stopped to have it in someone’s house – it was kind of bizarre but the family were very welcoming and it was nice to see the houses they live in – this one was very fancy with tiled floors! We had a great view out to the lake too.

On the boat ride out, Suzanne and Mike were standing out front and I was happily sitting looking out the side. I noticed a kind of burning smell and was wondering how people managed to cook on their boats and in these small homes. Next thing the driver makes a run past me to the back where the engine is and I can see smoke bellowing out the back. He leans down and pulls out what looks like a pink cardigan which is in flames and he throws it into the lake behind him… holy smoke.. it could have been the end of us and I was totally oblivious enjoying the calm surroundings!!!

After the lake visit we went to see another temple. Beng Mealea is known as one of the more mysterious temples. Apparently it was built to the same floor plan as Angkor Wat and it was consumed by jungle until recently some was cleared away. It is full of piles of huge stones with no major plan to restore them to their former glory.

And again there are trees growing all over it

On our last full day we had no organised tour so we picked a couple more temples to visit and headed off by tuk tuk:

First we headed to Phnom Bakheng which sits on a steep hill with a view (somewhat limited) of Angkor Wat

Then it was on to Preah Khan which was way bigger than we were expecting. It was a huge temple and there was lots of hallways to either side branching off the main walk way. Another very impressive feat of architecture! We walked from east to west so we had a nice view of the sun shining on it and met our tuk tuk driver on the west side to take us to lunch.

After lunch and a spot of shopping we hit the pool for an hour and then I had a massage before going for our final dinner. The next day we had only half a day to say our goodbyes to Siem Reap .. we did some shopping at the local artisan shops close to the hotel – Christmas presents sorted – and had a final lunch – our best in Cambodia at Haven and that wasn’t just because they played Morrissey!

A couple of glasses of wine and a fond farewell we set off for Vietnam…

We arrived to Phnom Penh in the evening, tired after a busy half day in Bangkok. Our hotel – Villa Langka was a cute boutique hotel with an open air reception and restaurant area. We relaxed on the comfy sofa with a cocktail and a nibble and geared ourselves up for a full day of touring the next day.

Our day started with a visit to the royal palace where the king currently resides. It is colourful, sparkly and bright but much calmer and less cluttered than the royal palace in Bangkok. The current king is in his 60’s and not married. He was a ballet dancer in Paris and is very interested in the arts. It’s unlikely he’ll ever marry so they’ll have to look to a different line of the royal family when he’s gone. The locals appear to be fans but he has no power over government and doesn’t seem to do much in the way of helping or inspiring the local people.

On the grounds of the palace is the silver pagoda which inside has a floor completely made of silver (over 5,000 silver tiles), although most of it is covered in carpet. They have a jade Buddha which is an exact replica of the emerald Buddha that we saw in Bangkok and apparently the emerald Buddha was Cambodian and the Thais stole it!!! The pagoda is full of Buddha statues and other deities.

There are two main stupas one containing the ashes of the former king (current kinds father) and the other the kind before that (the current kings grandfather):

There were some very interesting trees and flowers around the grounds. This is the beautiful lotus tree:

We also got the chance to see some local musicians play traditional music:

Next we headed to the killing fields at Choeung Ek. This was a really tough place to visit and this is not going to be a fun post. I am going to post photos so be warned.. it’s upsetting – THIS IS NOT A FUN POST.

On the 13km drive from Phnom Penh to the killing fields, our tour guide gave us some history of Cambodia. It’s definitely been a nation with its troubles and you’ve got to feel sorry for the regular people trying to live a normal life and get by. After a civil war that killed approx one million people the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975 under the leadership of Pol Pot. He, along with his Khmer cadres set in motion a plan to purge the country of educated people and then families and bring the country back to a peasant based idyllic (in their eyes) society. Approximately two million people were killed during their time in power. If there was an enemy of the state to be killed (let’s say a teacher), they killed everyone connected to them including babies so as to avoid any future chance of revenge.

It’s really hard to fathom that so many people were killed like this in my lifetime. I was 3 years old when the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975. I know there have been other genocides in my lifetime and I know this kind of thing is happening today but this is the closest I came to seeing the evidence and really feeling it and it was horrific. At this specific place which became known as the killing fields, prisoners who had been tortured at a prison in Phnom Penh were brought to be murdered and thrown into mass graves. We walked around the fields and the mass graves are clearly obvious with some bone and clothes still visible as you walk by.

Our guide pointed out a tree that had been covered with blood from where babies heads were bashed and another tree where a speaker was placed with loud music to drown out the screams and roars.

Around 20,000 people were killed in this one spot… I wondered where the other million plus bodies are and the answer is all over the country. There is a small museum with some interesting photos and information on the Khmer leaders. It’s tough to read and generates so many emotions – sadness, disgust, anger…

There is a memorial stupa in the centre of the area. It contains glass shelves with layers of skulls, bones and clothes of the victims killed here. They are organised by sex and age. You can lay flowers and light incense to pay your respects and oddly enough they allow photographs to be taken. I got the sense that they want the world to see these pictures and to ask questions so that people can be educated and hopefully this doesn’t happen again (will we ever learn).

It was a quiet somber journey back to the city. This has to be tough on the guide, a young lady, who takes tourists here regularly. She told us that most of her mothers family were killed and that her Dad was nearly arrested but for some reason another guard let him go… scary stuff.

Continuing the horror we headed to Tuol Sleng prison also known as S-21. This was equally if not more horrific a place to visit. We walked through cells were prisoners were tortured and killed. There were photos taken on the day of liberation showing dead and half dead bodies as they’d been left, chained to beds, shackled to chairs with blood etc. It was truly horrific. This place had formerly been a school but the Khmer Rouge did not believe in educating children other than to brainwash them about their ideals. It closed lots of schools and made this one its most notorious prison.

On our way out we met with two survivors of this horrific place. It was such an honour to meet them and shake their hand.

In an effort to shake off the doom and gloom of the earlier part of the day we headed to the national museum for a bit of Angkor culture. A lovely old red building, it housed mostly stone statues and carvings from the Angkor temples.

Last stop on the tour was the Wot Phnom temple. Up on a hill looking over Phnom Penh it houses a statue of Madame Penh who allegedly found the city and of course some Buddha statues. Oh and did I mention I got a great takeaway tea!!

With our lovely guide – Pique – the diamond of Phnom Penh

Before we left the temple I had my fortune read by shaking some prayer sticks in front of the alter:

I was told that as long as I remained good (and you know I always try to be good) I will have happiness, good health, wealth and honour… I like the honour bit!

Back to the hotel for a drink after a very somber day and a trip to a “good cause dining” restaurant which was delicious (more of that on a separate blog post). Next morning off to Siem Reap!

En route to Cambodia we had an overnight in Bangkok. This will be the shortest entry for the trip!! We Landed around 9.30pm and by the time we got to our hotel on Sukhumvit the bar was closed … crap!!! Our plan was to have a drink, I mean you’d have to it’s Bangkok right!! The very sweet lady behind reception told us that the hotel tuk tuk driver would drop us to the main road where there were bars so without even checking our room we left our bags so we could grab one in the closest pub we could find. So guess where we ended up – of course, an Irish bar!!! The drunken leprechaun (next door to Hooters!!). A drink and a snack and we were happily satisfied.. no major craic and we were knackered so we headed back to get a few hours sleep before we launched ourselves on the town for the kings birthday the next day!!!

It’s amazing what you can see in a few hours with the right attitude and the right pair of shoes. After a lavish breakfast at Hotel U Suk we took the sky train to the national stadium and cabbed the rest of the way to the royal palace. We weren’t sure what to expect with it being the kings birthday.. I’d read various different things from “it’s free in to all the attractions ” to “everything will be closed as it’s a national holiday “.. neither were true! We had to pay in (no problem but note it’s 500 bt into the palace – that’s about 20 quid!) and the place was mobbed. There were people everywhere.. a million tour groups walking around with various different flags waving and half of the crowd didn’t even seem to be going into the palace they were circling it (pilgrimage maybe!!)..

Anyways we started with Wat Phra Kaeo and saw the massive reclining Buddha and all the other cool pagodas, statues and everything around.

I particularly liked the list of buddhas that I remember seeing back in 2004 on my first visit where I was obsessed with understanding each Buddha and the position and mudra (hand positions). As I write this I’m looking forward to looking back on the photos I took back then.

Next we made our way through the throngs of visitors and after some confusion made it into the palace grounds. The priority was the Emerald Buddha. Now this is a very famous statue of a Buddha – it’s small but it’s placed on a very impressive layer upon layer of gold. No photos allowed but the temple itself is impressive and you can take photos of that:

We spent a fair amount of time looking at the murals which cover a huge amount of wall space around the temple grounds:

The kings actual residence and soldiers:

Leaving was challenging.. some exits were “Thai only” – seriously! We made it outside, said happy birthday to the king and we were on our way. A nice lunch and off to the airport.

On the way to the airport I was fascinated by some of the buildings and the construction work..

• It is the only country in the world that measures Gross National Happiness and the people seem very proud of it.
• Both UK and US plugs work in a lot of the hotels.
• Most Bhutanese men wear the traditional dress called gho and the women kira. When going to school or church they are required to wear it.
• Older Bhutanese men and women chew a disgusting thing called beetlenut – it smells awful and makes their teeth look red and bleeding.
• As you drive past houses you can see chillis drying out on their tin roofs.
• Always have toilet paper in your pocket – there’s rarely any in the bathroom.
• There are ornate entrances at random places along the roads:
• 
• Road signs are very entertaining in particular those on the road telling you to be safe and the anti smoking and drugs ones.. oh yes and smoking is illegal.. my kinda country! Examples of some of the road signs: “Bro be Mr Late not late Mr”… “Speed is a knife that cuts lives”… “After rum driving no more fun”… “First smoking, next drugs – say no to tobacco”..
• There are police/emigration checkpoints at a number of bridges within Bhutan!
• They have a lot of vertical prayer flags as well as the regular horizontal kind – these horizontal ones seem to be unique to Bhutan.

Our last day in Bhutan was just marvellous…

I had a list of Paro stuff to cover that wasn’t on our tour and Kinlay was only too happy to accommodate us so we set off that morning after a final brekkie and some final goodbyes to some of the group who were catching earlier flights. There were just 3 things on the list for what we called the “O’Doherty memorial last day tour”.. a temple surprise surprise, another temple (7th century and privately owned) and some yak scarf shopping!

The first temple, Dumtse Lhakhang was built in 1433 and had 3 floors representing heaven, earth and hell. A caretaker came and opened it up for us and other than his prayers we had the place to ourselves. We had to climb some precarious wooden stairs (essentially ladders) with flashlights but it was worth it as they had the most amazing murals on the walls.

A final swing of some prayer wheels outside and we were done.

Next was the privately owned Puna Lhakhang which Kinlay didn’t know of. After a quick discussion with some locals at the temple they pointed us across the road to a house on some land. As we approached, a young boy waved us in and directed us around the house past some ladies brushing their teeth and washing clothes outside at a water tap! A lady appeared and Kinlay asked her if we could see inside the temple. She opened it up and had no problem allowing us in, shoes off of course!

It was a great find.. a full on temple with statues and everything we’d come to expect and it was literally in this family’s back garden. The lady explained (and Kinlay translated) that they have festivals here and the locals come to pray and give offerings. She opened up a large cabinet that went the length of one of the walls and it was packed with ancient scripts (108). There was one that we got to see up close and touch.. it was somewhat damaged, written in Bhutanese and honestly it looked like something that should be housed in a museum and turned over with a tweezers! It was amazing to be allowed in to see the place and we were all thrilled to have gone off the beaten track to find it. We thanked the lady with a small offering and were on our way.

A final stop in “downtown” Paro to buy some yak scarves (Christmas pressies!) and my Chenresig compassion Buddha and we were more or less done. We had a delicious final lunch at The Travellers Rest restaurant and a beer to bid adios. Back on the bus we presented Tenzin our bestest driver with a solar powered prayer wheel for the dash of the bus:

What an amazing trip – I loved everything about Bhutan (well maybe not all the toilets!!) and will remember this trip for a very long time.

Next country Cambodia.. well with a short stop off…….. oh and I met the Bhutan youth cricket team in the airport!!

I can’t seem to help it but each time I mention this place I call it the birds nest. My brain just doesn’t seem to allow tiger and nest to go together. Anyway on our second last day in Bhutan it was time for the big one that everyone had been waiting on and that hopefully we were now acclimatised for – The Tigers Nest officially called Taktshang Goembo. We had an early start and were on the road at 7am. It looked so far away starting off – it’s 4km straight up … I was anxious to start moving and check this place out.

You can take a horse up but all of our group decided to walk. The views as we climbed were beautiful and of course I kept taking shots of the monastery as it came more and more into view.

Halfway up there’s a stop called the cafeteria where you can have a bathroom break and some refreshments. There’s some prayer wheels to swing and It’s also a great spot for a photo of the monastery.

Continuing the climb it looked like we were nearly there but then we had to go down a load of steps only to come back up on the other side!!

In between the up and down there was a beautiful waterfall:

But we got there eventually and it was well worth it.

No photos were allowed once we got up there and we had to go through a security check and leave our bags in lockers before going inside. High tech security checkpoint!!:

We saw some really old temples and statues and after gazing out at the views below it was time to start the descent. It took half the amount of time to come back down and all of our tour group made it up and back with no problems which was a great achievement.

But our day wasn’t over yet we had another place to visit – Kyichu Lhakhang Temple. Built in 659 it is one of the oldest and is considered one of the most beautiful in Bhutan. At this temple they were having a festival and there was a huge table full of food offerings. The locals offered us some local “bread” that was made especially but it was literally like a brick!!

There were some great prayer wheels to swing here:

Back at hotel Olathang, after a little rest we watched a show by a national dance society. The costumes were amazing and some of the skits were interactive!

All round this was an amazing day!