29 August – Bhutan to Nepal

Before completing the blog for Bhutan there are a number of comments I heard and answers to questions I asked which I will add to the blog as I was interested in what I found out. The comments are in no particular order.

The Royal Family is respected within Bhutan.

Smoking is banned in Bhutan except for people who have a licence to smoke from the authorities. As the sale of cigarettes is banned I questioned how people could obtain them, only to be told that there was a black market with cigarettes from India. 

Traditional costume is worn by most people as a requirement with additional decorations having to be worn if the national flag can be seen, in government offices and in local gatherings. Monks are not allowed to vote in the country's elections so as to keep church and politics separate.

Tourists are not allowed to walk around without the guide. I was not able to get a clear reason for this apart from the safety of the visitor and what they may do to the local people. A comment was made to me that as Bhutan is a fairly closed country (there is television and internet access but I do not know how extensive this may be) the authorities may not want foreigners talking to the local people and dissent is caused. 

Cars are not allowed to have any darkened windows so that the occupants can be seen at any time. 

There is no national service in Bhutan, there are only volunteers  Bhutan is known as the Land of the Thunder Dragon. Forests are government owned except where they are owned by the local community. No tree may be cut down without permission.

New buildings are built to the same comparative dimensions as the traditional buildings: the windows and doors besides the whole have to look as before. A lot of houses are still made of wood except near the Indian border where the country is flat and trees sparse. The country is self sufficient in electricity with the excess being sold to India. Education is free up to secondary school with further funding being available depending on examination results. University courses are usually sought outside the country where scholarships are available.

There is a kind of public transport within each district of the country but no transport between districts. Anyone wanting to travel any distance have to use taxis, a lot of which are 4-wheel drive due to the condition of the roads. There is very little mechanised machinery to repair the roads in the country. 

Wild animals found in the country are the takin, snow leopard, brown bear, wild cat, wolf, jackal, goat, chicken and boar. Fishing is illegal as fish may have been re-incarnated. 

Christmas is celebrated in Bhutan. Items are taken and given using two hands, not one. Missionaries are not allowed in the country but non-government organisations have been there for many years, especially a Swiss registered one which has trained people in a number of businesses.


The last morning in Bhutan I was picked up early and taken to the airport in Paro. When booking in I asked if I could have a seat so as to be able to see the mountains on the way back to Kathmandu as I did not see them properly on the way to Bhutan. 

The photos following are of the Himalayas that morning.

25 to 28 August – Wangdue to Paro (Bhutan)

Most of the 25th was spent in travelling to Wangdue, stopping at the Yangdhel Restaurant in Norbal Chazan for lunch, the best lunch I have had this trip. The lunch consisted of french fries, rice, chicken. egg and tomato omelette, mushrooms and vegetables. They were cooked in a different way to that offered in the other lunch places and the lunch was exceptional.

Views of the Gangtey Goemba Monastery

The monastery village

Entrance

Main Hall

Carving of a Garuda 

Monks quarters

In the afternoon I visited the Gangtey Goemba Monastery, built in 1613, in the Phobjikha Valley (altitude 2900 metres), which is the place of the winter home of the Tibetan Black Necked Crane. The birds are the reason for a huge influx of tourists when they are in the valley and the building of a hotel (not the one I stayed in) costing US$1500 a night. Because of the birds there are no overhead power or phone lines in the area, they have all been put underground. The monastery itself has beautiful carvings and painting of the structure, in the Tibetan style, but unlike any Tibetan monastery I saw. It was beautiful really. While being driven round the area I noticed that when the school children saw the car they would stop and bow to the car. I questioned this and was told that as they would recognise the car as a tourist car and as most tourists are older they are taught to respect the elderly and show respect by bowing  towards the people in the car. This only happens in urban areas as although all children are taught to respect their foreign elders only those in the urban areas actually appear to do so.

The Dewachen Hotel

My room with the wood fired stove

Old cow shed

Old shed

The view down the valley

The view across the valley

Old man's beard moss

Farm houses in the valley

Monkeys at the side of the road

The following morning, in the rain again, I travelled to Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan, staying at the Peaceful Resort. By now I was fed up with the hotel meals as they were cooked for the Thai tour groups, mostly women, that were touring the country as they had been given half-priced tours due to the special relationship between the two countries. I like Thai food but that being provided was nothing like it, mainly it was the cheapest, greasiest food that could be cooked in bulk for a group. perhaps that was why the women had bags of food with them! The following day I did get a meal cooked specially for me, fish and chips, and I really enjoyed the change in diet. Thimphu has an altitude that varies between 2,248 metres (7,375 feet) and 2,648 metres (8,688 feet).

A Takin

Hello

 I started the following day with a visit to the Thimphu Zoo, though it only has a few musk deer, and more important, the national animal of Bhutan, the Takin. The animal is a cross between an antelope and a goat and is quite rare. The animals were set free as the King decided that a Buddhist nation could not keep animals in captivity, but the animals stayed in the area, became a hazard to traffic, and so were penned up, but in a large compound in the hills above Thimphu. They were also prey to bears, snow leopards and wolves, natural predators in Bhutan and parts of China and Myanmar where they are also found (not forgetting humans).

Buddha

Then to the top of the mountain to see the largest sitting Buddha in the world which is still being constructed. The statue was made in sections in China and has been assembled here. It is studded with semi-precious stones with the third eye being a diamond. It has a temple inside and when completed will have 100,000 gold gilded copper Buddha 200mm high and 25,000 of the same but 300mm high placed inside the 51 metre (169 feet) Buddha. The whole scheme is being paid for by Buddhists living in South-East Asia.

Thimphu from the mountain top

The next stop was at a weaving workshop for both wool and silk. The finished products were beautiful  and it was interesting to see a different type of loom being used. An art gallery and paper were also visited but I bought nothing and actually found the items to be expensive. A walk up the craft market area was interesting but most items were the same though I did  buy a new tie at what I thought was a good price. I forgot to mention that plastic bags are not used in the Bhutan if something else is available such as paper or a cloth type bag. I must admit that the country is clean and I did not see any plastic bags in the streets or lying anywhere. Good for them! I knew about this before travelling to Bhutan so made sure that I did not have any plastic bags in my luggage.

Views of the National Memorial Chorten (Stupa

People praying

Old man with his prayer wheel

Elderly ladies gossiping and praying

Walking round the stupa

In the evening I went to the Tashichho Dzhong (Thimphu Fort), the evening as the building is used by the King and Government during the day for everyday affairs of the country. The ‘Pope’, leader of the Buddhists in Bhutan, also lives in the fort for part of the year. The original building is said to have been built in 1216, expanded in 1641 then rebuilt in 1960. I have not been able to find out if any part of the original fort still exists.

The National Memorial Chorten (Stupa) was next visited. This is a memorial to the 3rd King of Bhutan erected by his family and the Government as a memorial to the ‘father of modern Bhutan’.

Views of the Tashichho Dzhong (Thimphu Fort)

                                        Views of Thimphu

The only one in the country

A painted house

Market craft stalls

Bent bamboo scaffolding 

The Royal Palace

Before leaving Thimphu I was taken to the 13th century Changangkha Temple which is one of the oldest temples in the Thimphu valley. It houses a statue of Avalokitesvara in a manifested form of eleven heads and a thousand arms. The shrine also has very large prayer wheels and unusually large size sacred scriptures. The Buddha of Compassion is the main statue in the temple and it is to this that mothers bring their children to pray and ask for them to be safe and well. There was a notice in the temple from the ‘Pope’ requesting people to maintain the customs of the country and continue to wear traditional costume to the temple and not dress in a foreign style. There were a number of mothers and children in the temple which was good to see while the old building was more than interesting to look around

Views of Changangkha Temple

I like the old door

 From Thimphu I went to Paro which was an hour away and where the only international airport in Bhutan can be found. Before going to the hotel I was taken to an old house which was open to the public and offered home made buckwheat wine/spirit as part of the visit. Again I enjoyed looking at an old house, this time being 300 years old, and the wine was warming to say the least. It was owned by rich landowners still and what surprised me was that the owner was the lady of the house because this area of the country has a matriarchal society.

Views of  the 400 year old house

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Wine making items

Resting

The house chapel

400 year old frescos

Views of Paro Town

Stupas

Houses near the river

Shops in the High Street

Drying fish in the High Street

Shop in the High Street