The weather going back to the west was so much brighter that we were able to see snow-capped mountains, forested slopes and beautiful valleys, which had all been covered in mist.
We reached Paro before dark and checked into our cute hotel, which was originally the palace of the Governor of Paro, and which has commanding views of the valley and the Paro Dzong. It also has at least intermittent wireless Internet service.
On our way out of Bumthang, we noticed people lined up along the roadside and learned that the chief monk of the private monastery we visited yesterday was coming to our hotel to have a hot stone bath like we did. He will bless the people as he goes along. Several hundred schoolchildren had lined up, and cheered us as we went past.
We also saw a group of British motor cyclers traveling on Indian made Royal Enfield 500cc motorcycles, and several more groups of bicyclists.
We drove up to the pass at over 3,300 meters, down to Trongsa, stopped at a riverside restaurant for lunch, then proceeded down to Phobjikha Valley at 2,900 meters, the highest place we will sleep in Bhutan. We are staying in a guest house owned by the 15th Century monastery next to it called Gangte Goemba, and we have an excellent view down to the valley. The monks were practicing their dance ceremony as we visited, and we were allowed to photograph without any problems.
The valley is an important winter home and protected sanctuary for the endangered Black-Necked Crane, but when we went down to the crane information center to locate the one old crane that had stayed here for the summer, we were told that he had passed away a couple of months ago. We did see their video on these fascinating birds, which breed and summer in Tibet, and winter in a this valley and a few others in Bhutan.
The guest house does not have wireless Internet, so we can not use our IPad, but one of the monks let us use his laptop with cellphone data card to let people know we made it here OK. Tomorrow we will be in a hotel in the metropolis of Paro, which will probably have wireless so we will be able to send out our blog. We learned that our apartment area in Chiang Mai was flooded. Emails from the expat group and also the American consulate where advising of closures and other details. Guess we are missing the adventure there. Hopefully it will be all over before we get back on October 1st.
Our first stop was the Jampey Lhakhang which was built in 659 by the Tibetan King. The inner kora path around the chapel is lined with old murals that are covered with a cloth to protect them. This was the most active temple that we have seen thus far in Bhutan with numbers of pilgrims circumambulating and spinning the prayer wheels.
The Kurjey Lhakhang is a large and active complex of three temples, the oldest one being built in 1652. The first King of Bhutan built the second temple in 1900 and in 1984 the Queen mother built the third temple.
We then crossed over the river to the east side of the valley and went up to the Kharchung Monestery which is also from the yellow hat sect of Buddhism. It was interesting to go into their main assembly hall and see all the Tibetan brighter colors again. While we were there the monks were returning to the monastery after having been gone to a meditation area for the rainy season. With a band playing above the gate way to welcome the long line of monks back to the Monastery, we had quite a spectacle to watch. We were the only tourists there and we just happened to be there at the right time.
On our way to a typical Bhutanese farm house for a picnic lunch, we stopped at Tamshing Goemba built in 1501. Here there is a chain-mail armour weighing 25 kilos and it is an auspicious act to carry it on you shoulders like a mantle around the temple three times. Young orphaned children have been taken in by the monks so they are on the grounds playing, and doing chores such as laundry.
We ate lunch in the kitchen area of a farm house in the middle of an apple orchard. After lunch we were served a local alcoholic spirit, arak, in which some cordyceps ( a wormlike fungus) were fermenting in the jug. A parasitic fungus that's just eaten a caterpillar is thought to boost energy, clear phlegm and help sexual dysfunction. I did not finish my small cup full but David polished off his. After lunch we went for a short hike to see a painting on a cliff and then stopped at the Wangdichholing which was the first King's palace. It was interesting to see the use of brighter colors than are used now.
On returning to our hotel we had a hot stone herbal bath. Basically a big fire is made and the water in wood tubs are heated by adding hot stones that have been heated in the fire. The stones are at one end of the tub and there is some wood separating the stones from you. It was an interesting experience and quiet relaxing.
We drove up to a pass 3425 meters high, passed a group of bicyclers on our way down, and arrived at the fairly broad Bumthang Valley, which contains several towns and villages, by about 4PM. It is still raining about half the time, so we are missing much of the spectacular scenery. Hope we are luckier in the next few days.
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Starting at around 8am this morning a group of young men out on the field behind the Bhutan Suites where we are staying setting up for a Khuru game. Khuru, a traditional dart game is also a festive game. Unlike the darts we use, Bhutanese darts are bigger, they are made of wood with a five-inch nail hammered at the bottom and bird feathers pinned at the top. This is an outdoor game where the darts are thrown at targets placed between a distances of about 40 meters. The players are wearing the traditional clothes, gho, and then additional sashes of bright colors as they make personal hits on the target. Both sides seem to do a little chant and dance if someone hits their respective sandbag target. It is now 5:30pm and the game is still going on and it went on all day even in the rain. We had our binoculars out to learn the fine points of the game and at the end of the day walked over to the field to take a video clip and get some pictures. Today David is still not well so he did not come out touring in the morning but did some bird watching and also enjoyed the dart game.
Leslie went to the Chang Gangkha Lhakhang temple just behind the hotel and had the sacred water offering as well as a wood tap on the head. The temple was busy with people bringing their children for special blessings. There was a lovely view from the outer terrace over the valley. We then drove to a nunnery stopping for pictures of the Trashi Chhoe Dzong, and also drove to a highpoint where a new large gold Buddha statue is being constructed. We stopped back at the hotel to pick up David for lunch at the Bhutan Kitchen and had a nice buffet lunch. We walked the main street and saw the only police roundabout with the policeman directing traffic. It continued to rain so we went back to the hotel and managed to commandeer a DVD player. In Katmandu we had purchased a couple of movies with Bhutan and Tibetan themes. We watched Bhutanese movie "travelers and magicians" and will watch the Hollywood "7 years in Tibet" after dinner.
The architecture of the houses and other monastic buildings here in Bhutan has its main roots in Tibet. The hierarchy of floors in a typical Bhutanese houses start with the simple lower ground floor as shelter for livestock, with upper levels used for living and religious purposes. The foundation is laid with stones placed in a trench and built up to a height of 50 cm above the ground. Walls are usually made of stone in central and eastern Bhutan, and of compacted mud offering a strong and curable structure in the west. Traditionally, the windows on the lower floor are smaller than those on the upper floors. A cutout of curved trefoil motif called a horzhing is characteristic of all windows we have seen thus far in Bhutan. I have looked on the internet but have only seen slight discussion of these being of Persian influence but when we saw them it immediately made us think of Moorish architecture. Below the high-shingled roofs, there are large open spaces used for drying and above doors and windows they place elaborately painted timber cornices. Houses can have a festive appearance when painted with floral, animal and religious motifs. Some of the most common patterns represent the lotus, the eight auspicious symbols, mythical animals and large red phalluses. The phallus is supposed to ward away evil, and many houses are decorated with carved wooden phalluses hung at the four corners or over the door. A prayer flag can be seen on the centre of the roof of all Buddhist homes. What is strikingly different from the Tibetan homes is the colors used in the decoration. In Tibet the colors were the strong primarily Buddhist colors of red, blue, green, white, yellow, and black. Here in Bhutan the color pallet is much more earth toned, grey, ochre, clay, navy, and cream. This color pallet is also used in the furniture and clothing.
There is a royal wedding happening here in Bhutan on October 13th and I will need to try and watch it on the Internet.
The road was very wet and muddy, with our jeep crossing streams of water that coursed across the track from the steep mountains above. After several potty stops, we finally arrived in crowded Kathmandu in the late afternoon and negotiated for a wonderful air conditioned suite with TV and wireless Internet at the old Shanker Hotel, which had been converted some time ago from a palace. We figured it was well worth the $150 per night and would give us a chance to rest up and get healthy again.
That night we were getting ready to bathe and retire and Leslie was on the phone with T-Mobile complaining about not receiving emails when we felt an earthquake shake the building for a minute or so. By the time I convinced Leslie to get off the phone and got partially dressed and out the door and down a floor or two, the shocks had stopped, and we returned to our room before we actually made it outside. There was no information at first, but within a half hour Internet sources indicated it was a quake 6.8 on the Richter Scale but centered in Sikkim, about half way between our present location in Kathmandu and our next location, Bhutan. News reports here said it was the worst quake in 50 years, 5 people died in Kathmandu and about 50 were injured, with higher casualties in the Sikkim area. several deaths resulted when an outer wall of the British Embassy collapsed outward onto the road. We were told our old building was much stronger than the new ones, which is probably true. after contacting our travel agent in Bhutan, we learned there has been some damage to roads and bridges there, but hopefully it will not affect our visit too much.
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We decided that there was no reason to stay in Old Tingri at roughly 14,000 feet when we could reach the border town of of Zangmu at about 8,000 feet elevation with a much more comfortable hotel in only about three hours of pavement driving. Crossing two more major high passes en route, the road then descended down steep mountain valleys with lush green vegetation and hundreds of cascading waterfalls, with occasional military checkpoints.
Zangmu is a bustling border town dominated by trucks bringing stuff from China up to the border, transiting to a Nepali vehicle which will take the goods to India, and similar traffic going the other way, with thousands of vehicles involved. We found a decent hotel with a quiet room on the ground floor, important since Leslie was not in condition yet for climbing stairs. One problem we noted was the absence of electricity, but they said it would come on at 7:30PM, which it did. Leslie started feeling better after getting a second dose of the Dexamethasone, and we also started her on anti diarrhea medicine, and went to bed early.
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