Tuesday 18 June 2019

Bhutan Bliss - Thimphu

Land of Happiness

That was all I needed to know about Bhutan to decide I wanted to visit. That, and the fact that it is #12 in F's travel bucket list that I swore to fulfill (as much as I can) on his behalf. 

One must know though that visiting the country that's measured in Gross National Happiness certainly doesn't come cheap. At USD250 per day, the country maintains a leveled amount of tourism - which I believe is for the good. Each visitor is treated as a guest and properly attended to with a local guide, and there's no overflow of tourists which I honestly think tends to taint a beautiful place. However, when Adventures Unlimited - a travel company in Singapore that I am patron of, opened a trip to Bhutan I knew I had to go. Regardless that it made my pocket cringe a tiny bit.

I don't know much about Bhutan other than it's a kingdom in the Himalayas and that they have a very respected monarchy. When I got the travel itinerary from Sucan, there were two very things that stood out as potential barriers to success: the winding mountain roads and the altitude sickness. I made a note to arm myself with ibuprofen, paracetamol, anti-motion sickness pills, charcoal tabs and Rennie. Other than that, I was quite excited! A lot of other things happened in the months prior to the trip that I had not had a chance to relax and read up much about Bhutan's history, its major attractions and practical info. So you can say I was pleasantly surprised at what we stumbled upon.

I got a window seat, and even though I'm typically an aisle person I didn't complain because somebody asked that if anybody gets a glimpse of the Himalayas from the window seat to take photos and post in our group chat. However, my anticipation of seeing the great range was dimmed by motion sickness and I didn't enjoy every minute of that plane ride. I snapped some photos but only as we were about to land, so the mountains are definitely not the Himalayas. Still, what a sight to behold.





As we descended from the plane, the cold breeze greeted us and I sighed in relief that my nightmare is over - knowing that a different one was to start: the roller coaster drive up the mountains. But I forgot about it as soon as we met our guides Kezang, Karma and Kencho and our drivers. They were all dressed in their national outfit called gho, and men dressed up in skirts have never looked so good haha (move over, Scots). They welcomed us with sweet smiles and a white sash.


druk means 'dragon'

... like this dragon


#TeamBhutan

Expectedly the ride to Thimphu has made my stomach churn, luckily we made a little pitstop on the way so I got a few moments of calm. The scenery was amazing. Mountains everywhere, flowing river and we start to see amazing Bhutanese architecture in form of prayer wheels and welcome gates.





billboard of the gorgeous king and queen

first prayer wheel of the day

We checked in to Hotel Bhutan in Thimphu. After a quick break, we all went to check out the farmers' market. Immediately we championed the sport that Singaporeans excel in: shopping! A few purchased fruits to snack on, while others already got some souvenir items like lemongrass spray and dried vegetables. Kezang took us to a stall that had cubed things on a string. Apparently those were hardened cheese - so hard you'd have to soak them in water before chewing them like gobstoppers. Very interesting. A few brave ones bought some, but I didn't. I'm yet to find out what it tastes like.





garland cheese

Back at the hotel, it was finally time for free and easy. After a bit of rest my roommate Mavis and I decided to explore the town to find out where the post office is (it was closed for the day but we wanted to know anyway) and to scout for beautiful earrings, which I was convinced was something imperative to buy in Bhutan. She was also quite curious to see the traffic police guy. Do you know that Bhutan is the only country in the world that has no traffic sign in its capital? 





We kept walking on and found the town plaza. It was very quiet on a Sunday afternoon, contrary to what I've observed in other places in Asia where people usually hang out at this time of the day. 



We noticed something that looked like a mini temple with a number of prayer wheels. Mavis said that one is supposed to turn them clockwise and make a wish! I think my wish was granted immediately, because just behind this was a row of stores and I found a pair of beautiful earrings. The search was over.





Back in the hotel we found a few ladies trying out Druk 11000. I was pretty tired that day, but as you might know by now I couldn't resist a combination of a good drink and good company, so I had a little bit. Just enough for a good night's sleep. But knowing now that Bhutan produces good beer - and even some wines - I have some nights to look forward to.




The next day, we're up for a back-to-back hike. We started off by stopping by a rock painted with the face of Guru Rinpoche. Next to it was a constantly-turning prayer wheel powered by the constant stream of water flowing to its turbine. On its window, there are small concrete objects that look like tiny stupas or temples - they are called tsa tsa. Molded by monks, these are bought as memorials for loved ones to liberate their souls and are typically placed in sacred places like temple or in somewhat sheltered places like caves. I also noticed colorful flags hung around the area. These are prayer flags. Buddhists believe that the prayers and mantras in these flags will be blown by the wind and those touched will feel happy and blessed.








We then drove to the entrance of Tango monastery for our first hike. We saw a golden prayer wheel in the safety of a beautifully crafted shelter and everybody took turns having their selfie. I asked for one with the KKK - our guides Kezang, Karma and Kencho. 


golden prayer wheel


say chili cheese!

With a cold breeze accompanying us, the hike was quite bearable despite the sun. "Tango" meant horse-head in Bhutanese. The monastery took its name from the horse-headed deity Hayagriva. Our guides told us that we were quite lucky to have visited this month as the monastery was to be closed in the next couple of weeks, for five years, due to renovation. 





Before reaching the foot of the monastery, we caught the package arriving via cable transport bearing the monks' supplies and offerings. 



The renovation has made the area quite dusty and smell of strong glue. Luckily most of us had buffs to cover up. I wonder if the monks just get used to it - they never covered up their face but they're not coughing either. 






Kezang said that as a rule of thumb, whenever we have to take off our shoes, we also should not be taking photos. So none of us had photos of the altar inside the monastery. But the guides would always explain which deity is there and what they signify. In this monastery, we saw the past, present and future Buddha. 

We took a different path on the way down, and people have started to warm up and had more fun. Lots of photos were taken. Penny would scream "hello, hello!" and we'd look up and she'd take photos of us making our way down, in different layers. 


penny caught snapping away

karma and tsewang

tango means horse head

words of wisdom in trash bins




Post lunch, we started our hike through Khoensel Phodrang National park. Our end goal was to reach the large sitting Buddha overlooking the valley. It was a nice hike through lush greens and the birds were serenading us. Someone got a good photo of the songstress.




"it's a plane!" "no.. it's a bird!"


bird


Halfway through the hike we had a glimpse of the Thimphu valley, and a bit further up, we saw our final destination: the Buddha Dordenma Statue, the largest sitting Buddha statue in the world. 






I went for bio break and when I came back they were all gone. Apparently it was possible to go inside and see the deities. After loitering for a bit, Kencho finally saw me and motioned for me to hurry up and get in. He did a quick brief of the statues inside. When we all left and waited for instructions to get back to our van, someone had a clever idea of doing yoga poses.










After an exhausting day of hike, we were treated to a Bhutanese dinner at the Folk Heritage Museum restaurant. We were introduced to two exciting local beverage: butter tea, served with roasted rice as a garnish, and ara - a local liquor made of wheat. I tried just a tiny bit of butter tea at first, not wanting to upset my stomach, but it was so good I had a second and third cup. Ara was like sake, but since it was wheat wine and not rice wine there was a particular aftertaste to it. It wasn't bad, but not an immediate favorite at first sip. It got better after a while. Acquired taste, I'd say. I didn't dare drink much though, I knew I'd regret it the next day and made do with just a cup, like a good girl. 







And with that, we wrapped up the Thimphu leg of our trip. Next destinations: Punakha and Paro!

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*some photos are from myself, Adventures Unlimited event host and participants, and local guides in Bhutan

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