odohertyelaine

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:
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• 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!

Arriving back to Paro :

we headed straight for the Paro dzong, also called Rinpung dzong.:

From the dzong we got a view of the Ugyen Pelri Thang which is the queen mothers palace. The dzong also looks out on the airport so we watched a plane land. There were lots of interesting pictures on the walls. (Hilary O’Dwyer- Surprised Tiger shout out!)

I love the story of the four friends which appeared multiple times on the walls : The “Four Harmonious Friends” is one of the most universal and beloved tales in Bhutan. The image of a bird, rabbit, and monkey standing on each other’s shoulders on the back of a patient elephant portrays social and environmental harmony. Paintings of the “Four Harmonious Friends” appear in Bhutanese homes and other public buildings.

As the story goes, the bird finds a seed and plants it. Then, the rabbit waters it, and the monkey fertilizes it. Once the seed sprouts and begins to grow, the elephant protects it. After some time, the small plant grows into a big, beautiful tree full of healthy fruit. By working together and using their individual talents, the four friends are able to reach and enjoy the fruit.

Another night at our favourite Hotel Olathang- this time in a different type of cabin:

Our accommodation in the Haa valley was the Risum Resort run by the Haa ladies! Haa is quite remote so we were really out in the wilderness! The rooms were individual cabins and they were huge… if you fancied an ole shuffle in the bathroom this was the place! (Miriam O’Toole – Italy flashback!)

We started our Haa adventure at the white temple also called Lhakhang Karpo.

We had to wait for a monk to open the place up for us!

I spotted a photograph to the side of the main statue of a young child in full Lama gear sitting on a high throne.. he looked like little Buddha so I asked Kinlay who it was. He told us that this child was found to be the reincarnation of Tenzin Rabgay (founder of the Tigers Nest monastery) and that he’s now 25! Another thing for me to google and find out more info on!

Haa is small but it’s very picturesque so we had some time to check out the small village along with the cows roaming the main street.

The local kids were happy to say hello and smile for their photo!

A house on the Main Street:

More yak spotting from the bus:

Next we made our way upwards to over 3,800 metres to the Cheli La pass. It was a beautiful day so we got a great view of the Himalayas

The prayer flags all along was really amazing to see

Onward to the main attraction in this neck of the woods – The Kila Nunnery. The bus could only get us so far and then we got to hike a good portion up the mountain

The obligatory prayer wheels:

There were incredible views of the mountains and surrounding valley

Thimphu is the capital of Bhutan with just over 100,000 people of Bhutans 800,000 total population. Back on the crazy roads there was some excellent animal spotting : langur monkeys

More yak:

Then some other kind of monkeys:

When we arrived in Thimphu we headed for the memorial chorten which was busy with tourists, a bit of a first for us in Bhutan.

There were some great prayer wheels here and some great local characters

Next something the whole group were really looking forward to – Bhutans national animal – takin! The Royal Takin Preserve was the place to see them:

We also saw various different types of deer:

With Thimphu being the capital and takin on my mind, I hoped this might be an opportunity to find me a yak burger!! Sure enough after a bit of shopping around town and directions from our trusted guide we found the spot and I happily munched a yak burger with fries and local beer. I was in my element and it meant I could skip the buffet dinner that night and have a bit of quiet time at the really nice hotel we were staying in. I needed my strength for the next day.

The next morning bright eyed after a great sleep (which is rare for me) we set off in the bus up and up and up the mountain to Buddha point to view the fairly new giant Buddha :

After a spot of art and local handicrafts shopping we stopped by the local archery grounds and got to see a game in progress. It was very amusing to watch. The board the players are aiming for is miles away.. well 150 metres but that’s so far to shoot an arrow. It was so funny to watch them as the opposing team does a dance at the board before and after each shot

Next stop was the centenary farmers market which had all sorts of local produce

The national library was next. I do love a good library but it was a bit on the small side – seeing the Bhutanese scriptures in local language was interesting and the building was nice but it was no Trinity college!

The drive from Punakha to the Gangtey valley was a memorable one. The roads ran high over the valley and were very twisty. Our driver did a brilliant job though and he stopped for all sorts of photo opportunities – this was one of my favourite: yak, yak, yak

Our first stop was the Black necked crane visitor centre where we spotted some of these beautiful birds through telescopes but we would have a chance to see more on our nature valley walk tomorrow. We headed for our hotel called Dewachen (de wachen you and de wachen me!!) which was a really beautiful set of buildings built into the side of the mountain.

The next morning we did our Gangtey nature trail walk across the Phobjikha valley. It was an easy hike across some beautiful countryside and we saw lots of the black necked cranes.

Further on we came to a monastery and school for young monks. As we approached we could see that they were sitting in their robes on the grass outside praying.

There was a small shop where they sold incense which they made there at the monastery.

From there we climbed uphill and had the chance for a group photo among some amazing vertical prayer flags:

A couple more kilometres through some nice trees smelling the clear fresh air and we reached the Gangtey Goempa monastery.

It’s a large monastery with monks quarters around the edges. The main building is surrounded by prayer wheels which were dutifully swung.

That night we had a home stay dinner which involved a lesson in making momo’s. Our hosts were very welcoming and after some rice wine, beer and the most potent dessert I think I’ve ever had, we had a bit of a sing song.

Our guide and driver taught us a Bhutanese song and then we turned that into our very own hit called Guru Rinpoche! Now I haven’t mentioned him much so far and that’s probably because I haven’t gone into much detail about the inside of the monasteries we visited, mainly because you’re not allowed to take photos and it’s hard to remember all the details. That said, Guru Rinpoche is responsible for finding a lot of the monasteries visited across Bhutan and Tibet. He became somewhat of a hero of mine and we sang our Guru Rinpoche song multiple times throughout the trip.

After a hearty breakfast we had a meeting with a monk! This is apparently an exclusive offered by this tour and it was a great experience. Kenpo Phuntsho Tashi was just lovely. He was praying as we entered one by one and handed him a white scarf that he then placed around our necks. We sat in seats around him and he started by teaching us some basic meditation. He explained that there are seven postures to follow which include how to place your feet, hands and tongue. From there you concentrate on your breathing where you breath out for longer each time. He told us that as beginners you should only meditate for one minute a day but try do it 10 times a day and build it up gradually. He said there are so many distractions that if you tried to meditate for a long period of time you’d get bored or just fall asleep!! He was very lighthearted about the whole thing but talked about how important meditation is not only for yourself as an individual but also to help bring peace to the world around us. While meditating you should repeat “I am a lotus flower blossoming for the world” – I thought that was lovely.

He talked a bit about his background which was really interesting- he was sent to the monastery at only 8 years old and really didn’t find happiness himself til he was about 28. He studied hard and has written a lot about Buddhism and many of his books have been translated across the world. He also mentioned that he’s great friends with Richard Gere!!

After the photo shoot with Kenpo we loaded up the bus and were off to Punakha with a stop on the way to visit the Thimphu dzong.

It was at this dzong that I had the opportunity to use the monks toilet… I’m not sure who was more surprised when I walked out of the stall to see a couple of male monks in front of me – we each gave a little shriek and ran!!!

En route we stopped at the Dochula pass which is at 3,100metres. It was really cold up so high but there were beautiful views even though most of the time the mountains are covered in mist:

There are 108 memorial chortens or stupas that were built by the queen mother and we walked around them all:

We arrived to our hotel – Hotel Lobesa which was set in a stunning location.. again looking out on a valley.

The room was new and modern and the view amazing. We were delighted to have two nights here. View from the toilet:

That night we had a taste of the local night life as our guide took a few of us to Karaoke in a bar in the little town. It was hysterical and a great insight into the “party scene”!!! We had a few bottles of beer and yes of course I sang.. yes a few times.. mostly dueting with my fellow tour buddies and performing from our seats.. (no need to get up on stage here!). It was great fun and we gave the locals a giggle. There were English, Bollywood and local Bhutanese songs. For our grand finale we did the macarena which seemed like a good idea until we realised none of us knew how to sing all the words except “hey macarena”.. I moved swiftly away from the microphone and left our tour guide and one of the Canadian lads to sing while myself and another lad danced the moves (eh tried!!) on either side.. it was a total train wreck but very funny. We ended the night on stage dancing with some locals and even got a photo with them.

Next morning we headed off to explore Punakha. After stopping for a photo opportunity of the Punakha dzong which we’d come back and visit later:

We hiked across rice fields where local people were working and upward to the Khamsum Yueley Namgyal chorten (or stupa).

This stupa is full of statues of protectors and there were three different levels to climb up. The top was an open air level with great views of the valley:

I also got to to meet this cutie:

We met some cute kids on the way up who I shared a kit Kat with and there were beautiful poinsettia everywhere (first thought of Christmas)

After the hike we crossed a very long suspension bridge with lots of prayer flags. It’s apparently the longest in the country and was fairly shaky especially when a load of school kids were purposely rocking it:

When we’d driven through the town earlier we’d noticed a large prayer festival on in the local temple. One of the guys on the trip asked our guide Kinlay if it was possible to visit and sure enough without much hesitation it was added to our itinerary. The grounds were packed and there were hundreds of people including regular folks and monks praying and chanting. Kinlay told us that it was a 3 day festival to pray for world peace and they were going on all over the country. We were ushered in like VIPs and given seats in a tent right at the front of the action. After watching the monks praying there was a dance ceremony were boys wore the traditional masks and performed a ceremonial dance. It was fascinating to watch.

After we had been fascinated and entertained enough at the prayer festival we headed to the Punakha dzong. Considered the most beautiful in the country it is the second oldest dzong in Bhutan and used to be the seat of the government. It was beautifully decorated and there were lots of young monks praying.

You could have a prayer/blessing from the monks by giving a donation and telling them what year you were born in (I found out I’m the year of the rat) and they then gave you a small red string for around your neck. Later they ran out of the room they prayed in to throw something in a fire and then ran back in to pray some more. I had no idea what was going on but it was very interesting to watch!

The next morning before leaving the area we made a short hike through more rice fields and a small village with lots of shops to the Chime Lhakhang. This is the temple dedicated to Lama Drukpa Kunley or The Divine Madman!!!! The phalluses on sale in the shops and drawn on lots of houses gave us some clue as to what this guy was all about!!

According to the story, Lama Drukpa was a bit of a ladies man and ran riot with women wherever he went. He allegedly subdued a demoness with his “magic thunderbolt of wisdom” and remained infamous ever since. The phallus is supposed to ward off demons and so it’s very common to see it drawn on people’s houses and penis statues everywhere!!!

As arrivals go, arriving in Bhutan’s Paro airport is memorable. Did I mention we saw Everest AGAIN leaving Kathmandu…. anyway back to Paro – The plane gets very close to the hills as it’s coming in to land and you can hear sighs from the first timers like me! When you disembark you are greeted by one of the nicest looking airport buildings I’ve ever seen.

We flew Royal Bhutan Airlines also known as Druk Air and it was very nice.. even including a meal and glass of wine on the hour flight!! Immigration was easy and the officers were really pleasant – it was a sign of what to expect from the Bhutanese people. Check out this for a baggage reclaim:

Paro is located in a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains. The air appeared clean and fresh and it felt like we were somewhere very remote. Our hotel was on the opposite side of the valley so we had to drive through town and upward to get to our hotel which overlooked the valley below. We got a good sense of the landscape from this first short journey.. no large billboards, advertising is strictly controlled; no skyscrapers or tower blocks, 5 stories is the limit allowed, all the buildings have to conform to the traditional architecture and absolutely no chains.. it was really refreshing to be somewhere so different to home and most cities across the world.

our hotel was fab – Hotel Olathang was built in 1974 for visitors coming to the coronation of the king. There is a replica of it in the national museum! It’s a dzong (fort/monastery) like building with chalet type guest rooms around the property. Our room was very cozy and wooden cabin like!

We didn’t have much time to explore on our first day as it gets dark early- by 5pm it’s already dark enough that you wouldn’t chance a walk down the hill – so we decided to explore the bar at the hotel instead! Nice bar, decent wifi to say hello to everyone at home, and a mouse running past every few minutes!! It was certainly authentic!

The following day, armed with my notes from comparing the “must see in Paro” to what was covered in our tour we set off to visit the national museum. The driver who picked us up from the airport (who we came to know as Tenzen – btw best driver ever!!) took us where we needed to go and also organised for us to have lunch in town when we were done.. all included in our tour – so nice. We had two others from our tour group join us so we were a nice small group.

The museum was small but housed in a very cool building with really interesting exhibits. It had a huge array of masks that are worn in various different festivals and for different dances and each one has a different meaning. It also had Buddha statues and artwork and then a whole section on the flora and fauna of Bhutan and the wild animals they have. It was a great introduction to the country.

Next we headed to the “town temple”. There was a prayer festival going on so lots of people making offerings to the Buddha statue and sitting praying together. We spotted a wooden staircase and were wondering if we could go up there when five or so young ladies (students) headed in that direction so we followed them. The stairs led to a room, fairly sparse with a monk in full robes sitting on the floor cross legged. The girls sat around him and then he motioned to us to join them and actually asked us all where we were from and shook our hands. In hindsight I think he thought we were part of that group (who had clearly organised this session) so we just went along with it and joined in. It turned out to be a wonderful hour listening to this very learned monk tell us about some of the key wisdoms of Buddhist teaching. There was an opportunity to ask questions and each of the girls prefaced their questions with “in my research”… hmmm clearly they were learning about Buddhism. When the lady on our tour with us asked a question he asked her “and what is your research” to which she replied “oh I have no research” … he didn’t mind at all but it was funny to us as we’d clearly sneaked into a private meeting!! We had a giggle about it later and talked to the girls who were mostly American and were happy that we’d joined in. It was quite a memorable first morning in Bhutan!

I also swung my first Bhutan prayer wheel at this local temple : Druk Choeding

Our welcome meeting was held later in the evening where we got to meet our tour group – 13 of us in total including Canadian (French speaking and the regular kind!!), American and of course one Irish! With a bit of free time on our hands I decided to check out the spa and had the most wonderful banana facial!!!

Dinner and a few drinks at our little bar, a quick goodbye to our yak and we ready for take-off the next day..