This week started off with an exciting day because it was moving day and we were headed to Sandy’s number one destination – the Kingdom of Bhutan. Our taxi arrived at 10am and we arrived at the airport around 10:30 – about three hours before our flight. It was a long line to enter the airport, but we got through that checkpoint and had no problem checking in for our flight and dropping our bags. Even though they are probably small enough to carry on, we’ve been checking them out of convenience. We then went through passport control and relaxed in one of the airport lounges and ate brunch before going through security. We are really enjoying the benefit of the lounges that come with our credit card. Our flight was slightly delayed – we departed on Bhutan Airlines a little after 2pm and our route took us just south of the Himalayas. Knowing that would be our route, we requested seats on the port side of the airplane and we were treated to gorgeous views of the mountains, including Mount Everest. Breathtaking.
We landed in Paro around 3:15pm. This is one of the most difficult airports at which to land in the world. There are no instrument approaches and it is only open in the daylight because of the surrounding mountains. We read that there are only around 20 pilots certified to land at this airport. As soon as we landed, we felt a difference – it is absolutely beautiful and it just has a very tranquil feeling about it. I believe Bhutan is the only officially Buddhist country in the world – it is written into their constitution, although other religions are welcome – and that Buddhist influence has to be a driver behind the tranquility.
After clearing passport control in Paro, our taxi driver arranged by the hotel in Thimphu was waiting for us. It was a beautiful hour long drive to The Willows hotel in the capital of Thimpu and the staff gave us a warm greeting. We settled into our room and then walked to a restaurant called Zombala 2. We had several local dishes that we knew we needed to try: ema datse (chili peppers in cheesy sauce), phaksa paa (pork with radish and spinach), potato momos, suja (buttertea with salt), and tsheringma tea. Everything was good, but we are going to have to quickly adjust to the spice level. They love their chili peppers here and it is evident in the level of spice in the food. We walked around our area for a few minutes after dinner and then called it a day.
On Tuesday, we went down for breakfast at 9:30am. The hotel provided a buffet that was a mix of western options and Bhutanese (or maybe even Indian) options. We can already tell that the staff here at The Willows is first class. Very helpful and attentive. We made a list of things we wanted to make sure we saw and did while in Thimphu and then went out for a walk around town, leaving at 11:30am. Thimphu is a city of around 110,000 people. It has no traffic lights (actually there are no traffic lights in Bhutan). There is one intersection in Thimphu that has a police officer posted to help guide traffic around the roundabout. There is very little horn blowing. It’s very quiet given the size of the town. We’ve only been outside for a few hours and we can already tell how much we love this place.
Our first stop was the National Memorial Chorten, which was built to honor the third king of Bhutan. Unlike most stupas or chortens, it does not contain relics – only a photo of the third king inside.
Bhutan’s first king was selected by the people of Bhutan in 1907. The fifth king (they are all a part of the Wangchuck dynasty) is currently serving and is held in very high regard by the people. Just in our first week here, it is easy to understand why. He has done and continues to do great things for the country as it deals with the fast progress of the world against its cherished traditions.
Our walk continued with a stop in the newly built Chang Yul Park – a beautiful riverside park. We stopped for a snack of popcorn and water in the park and then walked around. We then continued on to the Centenary Park, which is the older riverside park in Thimphu and doesn’t seem to get as much care as the new one. Further stops on our walk included the soccer stadium, the post office, and the clock tower in Thimphu’s main square. It was lunch time and we found Shambhala on the second floor overlooking the square. We had mixed vegetables, chicken with vegetables, rice, fried chicken, and peach iced tea. Sandy had an ice cream cone as we made our way over to the bookstore. I am looking for a book to read about Bhutan – I found a good one at the book store but it’s too big to travel with. I think I may be able to find one through our online library.
We stopped by the hotel to drop some of our stuff off and then took a short taxi ride up to a viewpoint over Thimphu. It was an ok view – overlooking the Tashichho Dzong (which is the central government building) and also the Royal Palace. We walked back toward the town and accidentally walked into the grounds of the Dzong – we didn’t realize we needed a ticket and a guide, but the officer was very friendly and sent us on the right path. The route back into town took us past what had to be at least 100 local craft shops all grouped together in a long line. Beautiful crafts (bags, clothing, souvenir types of things) but all very similar from shop to shop.
Back in town, we ate at The Zone, where I had a beef burger and fries and Sandy had thukpa (a noodle and vegetable soup from Tibet). The Zone was very soccer-centric, but not enough Arsenal representation. 😊 Good food, good vibe – we enjoyed our time there. Back in our room, we started to really spend more time watching what was happening with Hurricane Milton as it looked like it may be headed in Sarasota’s direction.
Wednesday was another day of lots of walking and this time, quite a bit uphill. After breakfast, we walked about an hour up to Royal Takin Preserve. This was about a 1,000 foot elevation gain. The preserve has been developed to protect the national animal. Takins appear to have the head of a goat and the body of a cow. Legend says that a divine madman produced the takin to demonstrate a miracle when people did not believe his powers – he ate one of each animal and then took the skull of the goat, placed it on the body of the cow skeleton and brought the animal back to life as the takin. The preserve is beautiful and they have done a nice job with the elevated walkways throughout to enjoy the takins, several types of deer, and birds.
After a snack at the preserve of a brownie, cookie, and lemonade, we walked a little further uphill to the TV tower and Sangaygang Point for a very nice view over Thimphu.
On our walk back down to town, we went to the National Institute of Traditional Medicine. There is a hospital in Thimphu solely devoted to natural healing of ailments and we learned during a tour of the museum here that they have a strong cross-reference program with the modern hospital. When one hospital is not making improvements for a patient, they will refer the patient to the other hospital to help (unless the patient objects). The tour of the museum was somewhat unique because the curator was not in town. They opened the museum for us and one of the fourth-year students gave us the tour and explained their beliefs, how various natural ingredients are used and the tools they use. The shift was ending at the hospital, which worked perfect for us. One of the doctors we talked to before we could get in the museum had a colleague who was driving in the same direction we were headed and he gave us a ride. Our dinner plan was to go to Urban Dumra and try their beers and have a pizza. It was great because they had beer flights so we were able to try all five of the beers they had on tap. Great finish to our sightseeing today.
It’s interesting here in Bhutan. We are very much in the minority when it comes to traveling without a tour guide. Until recently, a guide was compulsory. Given our preferences, we knew we wanted to do most of our things on our own, but the locals are always so surprised to hear that we do not have a guide. They are also very surprised by how much we walk. When we tell them we are walking somewhere that is an hour away, especially if it is uphill, they are also very surprised. We mix in taxi here and there, but it’s not easy to stick to a diet when traveling like this and we know we need to stay active to compensate for some of the food we are eating. We both feel like we are eating more meat than we usually do and also more carbs and sugars. It’s not always easy to find places to run easily and so we figure the steps we are getting with our sightseeing (especially the uphill parts) have to be helping some. More monitoring of Hurricane Milton when we got back and checking to see how my mom was dealing with her preparations.
Thursday was a day trip outside Thimphu combined with checking in on people at home. Milton came ashore overnight at Siesta Key (our hometown beach) and while it could have been a lot worse, it left enough damage and tons of work for our friends and family at home. Thankfully, everyone is safe. The hotel staff arranged for a taxi to take us to our destination today and even arranged for the driver to walk with us. We were so fortunate that they found Deo to be our driver (and guide basically) for the day. Deo is awesome. Great driver but having him guide us to the two monasteries today was perfect.
There are two monasteries a little north of Thimphu that sit high up in the mountains. I think each one requires about a 1000-foot climb – about the same as we had going up to the Takin Preserve. But this time we were doing it twice – once for each monastery. The two monasteries were built in the 1600s and are active centers of learning and meditation. The hikes up the hills were not easy but the views from above were great and the monasteries are beautiful. It’s always impressive to see the buildings that are inspired by religious devotion regardless of the religion. We don’t have pictures from the monasteries because they are oftentimes not allowed. One is called the Tango Monastery and the other is the Cheri Monastery.
On our way back to town, we stopped at the Ludrong Memorial Garden. This is a small garden not too far from the Royal Palace that was given as a gift by the Queen to the people of Bhutan. It has nice walkways and beautiful flowers.
We were hungry and asked Deo to take us to a local kind of place for Bhutanese food. He took us to a café called Anup’s and we had all kinds of local foods – excellent food and so friendly. Perfect for what we were looking for. Back at the hotel, Sandy did a little laundry, I had the chance to talk to a former work teammate (Lisa), and then we went down for a late dinner in the hotel – spaghetti and Greek salad.
After all of the walking on Thursday, we didn’t think we’d do much on Friday but we woke up feeling good enough to tackle more. We went up to see Buddha Point, which was another hour-long walk uphill. Buddha Point is a park that is dominated by a huge statue of the Golden Buddha and offers a great view over the Thimphu valley.
We had plans that afternoon, so we hurried back to the hotel, stopping at Himalaya Café for a quick snack and pick up a couple of pastries for our hosts that afternoon. Those weren’t so great, unfortunately. Sandy has been reading a book called Buttertea at Sunrise by an author who lived in Bhutan for a year and while we were looking in the bookstore for a book for me earlier this week, Sandy discovered another couple of books she’d like to read. She did some research on the author (Linda Leaming – see lindaleaming.com) and found that she is currently living in Thimphu. She made contact with Linda and we were very fortunate that she had availability to meet with us on Friday afternoon. She picked us up at our hotel and we made the short drive to the stunning home that she and her husband (Namgay) have that overlooks the valley. We had the best visit. Linda shared many of her experiences with us and talked about making her way to Bhutan from her hometown of Nashville. Namgay meanwhile, cooked us a delicious Bhutanese meal and some of the best tea we have ever had. Namgay is a well-known master traditional thangka painter and also paints contemporary – he showed us some of his work and his studio. Namgay sits on the floor to do his paintings and they are absolutely beautiful. The intricate nature of the traditional paintings demonstrates the skill and reverence for the tradition and meanings. For some of the work, Namgay uses a brush with a single cat hair (phurbanamgay.com). It was just great to be able to meet Linda and Namgay and get to know them. We hope our paths cross again and Sandy is now on to reading one of Linda’s two books – A Field Guide to Happiness: What I Learned in Bhutan About Living, Loving, and, Waking Up.
Namgay then took us back down the hill and dropped us off at the soccer stadium. We learned earlier in the week that a match would be taking place and we made plans to attend. The top soccer level in Bhutan is made up of ten teams in the Bhutan Premier League. It was a cool night with a breeze and we watched Transport United beat BFF Academy by a score of 3-0. The fans were into the match and the most fun was when a group of 13-year olds (who play for Transport’s youth academy) sat next to us and chatted with us.
That brings us to today – Saturday – and moving day. Today, we moved from Thimphu to Paro – the next valley over but because you have to drive around the mountains, it takes a little over an hour. We had arranged for Deo to take us so it was nice to see him again. The hotel staff told us of a festival taking place roughly on the way to Paro and Deo was nice enough to adjust his schedule to take the extra time to stop by the festival. After breakfast, we walked to the weekend market in Thimphu – a beautiful display of fruits and vegetables. There were some meat vendors also.
Deo picked us up at Noon. It was sad to say goodbye to the people at The Willows – they were fantastic. Along the way to the festival, we picked up a monk who was headed there as well. In Bhutan, each province or state has one main tsechu annually and monasteries do as well. These are religious festivals that last for a few days and include various Cham dances – typically with masks, but some don’t have masks. These dances depict various incidents in the life of historically significant figures in Bhutan’s history. The tsechus are also significant social bonding events for the community as the locals all come out in their traditional dress and sit around the performances enjoying conversations and food with each other. This was something we were really hoping to experience and we felt fortunate that one was taking place that we could attend.
After about an hour there, we continued on to Paro and bid farewell to Deo. We settled into our new home at Green Valley Boutique, which has a beautiful view over the rice fields and valley floor.
After unpacking, we walked over to Park 76. We each had hoagie salads that were really spicy. I had chicken wings and a burger, Sandy had popcorn and fish n chips, and we had Bhutanese beer called Druk Lager and also Druk 11000. The 11000 was heavier and had more taste. We liked that one best. Green Valley has a small fitness center so we went down and made use of the weights and machines before wrapping up our day.