Bhutan - Random Shots

Dancers at the Thimpu Festival in Thimpu Dzong

Children playing at Paro town

Weaver at work

Weaving thread

Watching the dance at the Thimpu Dzong

The current King and Queen.  He is 33, she is 23.  They met when he was 17 and she was 7, and he had already confessed his fondness for her at that age.  They are obviously very much in love, holding hands and hugging in official portraits, shown here.  The Asian equals to Kate & Will, in my humble opinion.  

Door handle at Punakha Dzong

Glorious intricate details on window at Punakha Dzong

Pensive monk at Khamsum Yuley Namgay Chorten

Wild Szechuan peppers along a hiking trail

Thimpu Dzong

Young monk engrossed in his studies at Chimmi Lhakhang

Paddy fields in Punakha

Chorten above the clouds, somewhere up in the Himalayan mountains

Monks discussing their studies

Modern monk - YL discarded a number of photos because the monks were on their mobile phones or wearing conspicuous watches

Elderly caretaker at Khamsum Yuley Namgay Chorten

Bhutan - Day 2 of Tiger's Nest Monastery Hike

This is what we woke up to on Day 2.

Above the clouds at 4,500m

Breakfast above the clouds at 4,500m

After a quick washing up with hot water provided by the crew, we were on our way

Today is downhill day.  I had recovered completely from yesterday's ordeal, but downhill is not my forte so it was still a slow day for me.  

So slow that he had time to muck around.  This climbing shrub is known as the "old man's beard" and found hanging around the trees and bushes all along the trail.

You know you are near when you see prayer flags converging like this

They come in five colours - red, green, yellow, white and blue - representing the five elements - air, fire, water, earth and space - and on which are inscribed Buddhist mantras and sutras.  It is believed that blessings will be dispersed to all beings when the flags flutter in the wind

We made it!  First view of the Tiger's Nest Monastery, built on a edge of a cliff, 3000 metres above sea level

OK, so I omitted the details of how we climbed down and around several mountains, emerging into grand, humbling vistas, passing several secluded basic meditation huts and etc.  As we drew closer, we could catch the faint hum of prayers while the smell of incense wafts close to our noses.  After a 3-4 hour hike, our trail converged with the regular path that day visitors use, and the only way to reach the Tiger's Nest Monastery.  Well, that, and by flying on the back of a flying tigress.    

The Tiger's Nest Monastery was built in the 17th century, although there has always been a sacred meditation spot.  Legend says that the consort of Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) transformed herself to a flying tigress (hence the name) and flew him to this spot, where they meditated for three years, three months, three weeks, and three days in the 8th century.  Other Buddhist teachers and monks have followed suit since then.  

Today it is an active monastery with some tens of monks running the place.  We visited it before they closed for lunch.  It is a labyrinth of small temples, rooms and altars inside, with prayers going on in different parts of the complex, which is lively with visitors, albeit in a pleasantly manageable number, unlike some hot spots in other countries.  

I am still amazed how they tied these prayer flags across two mountains

The Tiger's Nest Monastery is a popular place of worship.  We passed many local families on our way up (or down, in our case), including little ones and the elderly, all very sure-footed and not at all panting like a tired dog like us.

These two young girls were chatting in English about friends they met at a recent tennis game.  Yeah, the incongruity of it all made my head twist a little at that time.

By the way, the normal way to approach the monastery from the car park takes about 3 hours on foot for my guide.  

This elderly lady was hiking up in slippers.  We slowed to allow her to pass, but she gestured for us to continue.  And then behind her we saw three other friends of hers, equally elderly and yes, also in slippers.  It's a girls' day out, OK?

Another view of the monastery set in the middle of the Himalayas

Et voila, that was the story of our little trek.  Bhutan boasts of many, many, many treks in and around the spine of the Himalayas, most lasting more than 3 days, including what is considered the world's toughest hike, the Snowman Trek that takes 24 days and where few have ever completed it.  

Bhutan - Day 1 of Bumdra Monastery and Tiger's Nest Monastery Hike

Day 1: This photo summed it up.

Agony

We'll come back to how I arrived at this state later.

The day started early with a delicious filling breakfast typical of this trip.  After an hour and a half's drive, we came to the Sangchen Choekhor Buddhist Institute of Higher Studies, situated up in the mountains at 2,800m.  We rendezvous-ed with our two porters who would carry our non-essential items and go ahead of us on the trail to set up our lunch spot next to a small meditation retreat at 3,500m.  But they could have gone home, cooked breakfast, taken a nap, and then hiked up to set up the lunch spot, and they would still be bored waiting for us to show up.  That was how slow we were.

Before the start of the hike: a photo with our two guides, UD and Tschering, our driver, another Tshering, and one of two porters.  

You may notice many Bhutanese have the same first name, and they do not have surnames.  To differentiate the Tsherings in his class, for instance, our driver was called Tshering A, while his other namesakes were Tschering B, Tschering C, etc.

It was graduation day at the Buddhist Institute, so relatives of the young monks were there in their finest, and the monks were running around, making sure the visitors and guests were taken care of.  We were invited to sit to have a cup of butter tea and snacks while waiting for the ceremonies to start.

Bhutanese home-made rice crackers

Home-made flour crackers

And off we go!  Blue skies await us!

The first part of the hike up until our lunch break would take about 2-3 hours, gaining 700m in altitude, from 2,800m to 3,500m.  I figured we took more than 3 hours, because I was plagued by a mild form of altitude sickness.  We did not know this before, but one of the effects of high altitude is the cumulation of gas in the bowel.  I had woken up that morning at the hotel with a slight discomfort in my stomach, which was a little disquieting, since I was perfectly fine up to then.  Of course it got worse as we climbed, and the normal breathlessness that people from sea level experienced was compounded by cold sweat, dizziness, slight nausea, mild diarrhea, and, of course, a bloated cramped stomach.

Taking a much needed break

My prince came to my rescue by carrying my bag, leaving me free to grouse without any encumbrances.  Mostly I was just shuffling along half a step by half a step each time, just plotting my next toilet stop.  YL, on the other hand, was bounding up the slopes like a rabbit - albeit a bizarre-looking one.  This is in total opposition to what happened in the Andes, where *I* was the rabbit and *he* was the suffering tortoise.

You can't tell from the brilliant smile.  That's because I was glad to have a chance to sit and catch my breath and rest my lead legs 

Along the way, we came across the odd wooden hut here and there.  Very simply built, often dilapidated, these huts are used as meditation retreats for monks or laypeople.  How they survive up there without many basic necessities is a testament to their faith and sturdy makeup.

Mushroom

Wildflower

More wildflowers

How I dragged myself up to the lunch spot, I have no idea.  I just remember I literally collapsed onto the ground once I got there.  Of course, I did it with as much graceful nonchalant flair I could muster that no one could tell that I had transformed into a bag of rubber.  

I sat there immobilized, hoping for my prince to notice that I had grown roots where I sat slumped, and my arms could barely reach beyond my folded legs to reach the food.  He noticed, eventually, and brought food to my grateful feeble hands.  Or maybe it was the guide who did that, because I vaguely remember my prince chatting and excitedly opening up all the tiffin containers and then devouring the dessert first, then the sandwiches, then the curry chicken, then the mixed vegetables while I watched him...

After lunch, we took the opportunity to set up our own set of prayer flags, specially consecrated and purchased from Paro before we started our drive that morning.  

It was supposed to bring blessings to YL especially on his birthday that day

Fluttering prayer flags

At around 2pm, we continued our hike uphill.  Fortunately, I recovered after that lunch stop (a toilet stop also helped), and could make better progress.  

Ominous clouds appeared just as we spotted the bright blue tents at our campsite (on the left in the photo above) near the Bumdra Monastery at 4,500m.  We would walk for another 20 minutes to reach it.

Here our guide started telling the story of a pilgrimage he made with his uncle and young teenage cousins several years ago to a sacred site somewhere beyond these mountains. By the way, Bhutanese do these 3-day hikes with the regularity and casualness of a weekend stroll in the mall.  They were caught in a downpour that lasted 3 days, but they continued to hike and camp throughout the ordeal.  When they arrived at the last mountain pass, it proved too dangerous to cross due to the slippery terrain, and they regretfully had to turn back, also since they were down to their last rations, and several of the young ones had taken ill with fever.  On the way back, they came within a meter of a bear, and his young cousins recovered immediately and bounded away leaving our guide - who was carrying everyone's gear - to extricate himself from the situation.  Now doesn't that beat your family outing, hands down?  

The Bumdra Monastery is built onto the cliffs several metres above the ground and houses several resident monks.  Our campsite is a public one, the bright blue dots on the right side of the photo above

We made it to camp just after 4pm.  HURRAY!!

Our "luxury" camp - two comfy mattresses on beds, supplemented by sleeping bags and fleece quilts, carpeted floor, a plastic rubbish bin, 

and shower caps!  

We were wondering if there was wifi and electrical sockets, but no.... that would be too much, wouldn't it?

View of the campsite from inside our tent.  The white one is the dining tent where our meals were served.  A small core crew of six are stationed here for 3 months each time during the tourist season.  They cook, clean and look after the welfare of the hikers who are with the Uma Como and Amankora hotels.  But the campsite is open to all.    

The toilet tent.  Actually it is just a hole on the ground with a wooden box with a toilet cover placed on top of it, and a tent built over the whole thing.  It's a luxury hole-in-the-ground, ok?

This was what the cooks at the campsite made for YL's birthday - a cake made with a pressure cooker and garnished with apple skin peelings.  The hotel also thoughtfully gave us a complimentary bottle of wine, although we took two sips each and passed it around back to the crew.  They deserve it more than us.

It started to pour 15 minutes after we made camp.  After dinner, the wind howled, the rain lashed, the cold started to seep in.  But we were nice and warm inside our tent, tucked into our sleeping bags and quilts, hugging our hot water bottles given to us by the crew, dreaming of deities and mountains and bears.