April 19, 2012 - Bangkok and Bhutan
I carefully arranged my luggage tag so that the WomanTours logo was obvious as I sat waiting near the Druk Air counter at the Bangkok Airport. I'd arrived at 2:30 am, half an hour earlier than I was supposed to be there, so I was the first to show up. I didn't figure there was much chance I was going to miss seeing a group of 16 women, but I wasn't taking any chances. Soon, a day pack sporting a familiar water bottle came my way. "WomanTours?" I called out. With excited nods and introductions, our group began to coalesce in anticipation of flying to Bhutan.
I had many reasons for being excited to meet my new friends, only one of which was that it meant I was finally headed to Bhutan. It also meant that I'd have someone to talk to! I'd been surprisingly lonely the last few days in Bangkok. I don't mind spending time alone, but when in a crowd it's nice to be able to communicate with someone. I found myself looking at the people around me thinking, "Oh, there's some Americans! Nope, they're German" or French or...anything but English speakers. I quickly learned to change my interpretation of what I was seeing: just because people were white and dressed in blue jeans didn't mean they were American. I was so anxious to hear English in Bangkok that I actually submitted myself to watching a Stephen Segal movie on TV one evening - horrors!
Visas and passports verified, we boarded the plane and took our seats along with a group of Chinese businessmen and wives who were traveling to Bhutan as part of a life coaching course. I was sitting next to the woman who was leading/teaching them. She said her coaching was intended to help them balance their working lives with their family lives in order to be happier. She felt that Bhutan, a country that officially measures its Gross National Happiness, was a good place for her clients to find examples to follow.
As we flew, I am confident I was not the only one keeping one eye focused out the window. There it was - that small vanilla ice cream cone poking up above the clouds in the distance was Mount Everest! The pilot identified the closer mountains as the next highest in the world. We'd arrived in the Himalayas!
The plane's path to Paro, home of Druk Air and Bhutan's international airport, wound it's way through the foothills of the Himalaya's, rounded brown "hills" 12 - 14,000 feet high (I'm guessing a bit on these elevations based on known elevations of towns and mountain passes). I was a bit disappointed that we weren't in the midst of the high snowy peaks I picture when I think of the Himalaya's, but these pine-covered mounts were fairly impressive nonetheless. Those on the plane who weren't used to airport approaches that came so close to mountains were agape as we began our long descent into Paro.
Here's a map I stole from Wikipedia so you can see the general layout of Bhutan.
It was still early spring in western Bhutan. The rainy season hadn't started yet (thank goodness), so the mountains were quite brown and sere looking. The pale green of the terraced fields and the white houses stood out clearly as we soared past them. Expanses of pine forest clearly covered much of the ground.
Our group was met at the Paro airport by Yeshey Wangchuck, our cultural guide, Sonam, our bus driver, and Rinzin Norbu, our biking guide. After causing the airport's currency exchange office to run out of money (my $200 US translated into a stack of Ngultrum - Nu - well over an inch thick at an exchange rate of 50 Nu to $1), we boarded our bus for the hour or so drive to Thimphu, Bhutan's capitol city. Despite the fact that we'd all already been up for several hours, today's schedule was packed with sightseeing.
The drive to Thimphu (pronounced Timpu) gave us a hint about our bike riding over the coming week. The road was narrow, very hilly, and wound tightly through the mountains. We stopped briefly for our first photo op at a bridge where, if I have the direction of river flow correct, the Thimphu Chhu and Paro Chhu come together to form the Wang Chhu (chhu simply means 'water,' but it's also used as the word for 'river'). River confluences are considered auspicious locations and so usually have prayer flags and chortens located at them. Chortens are structures which house religious relics and bless an area and the people who honor them (as I understand the concept). They are usually built in honor of someone or some event.
These three chortens (one is just peeking through the bushes) by Wang Chhu show the three architectural styles in which they are usually built.
Often, entrances to roads or driveways would have elaborate arches like this. I don't know if they have any particular meaning, but they sure make you feel like you're entering someplace special.
The government of Bhutan has been working very hard to maintain its unique cultural traditions while also bringing its people into the 21st century. Our first stop reflected this work. The National Institute of Zorigchusum is dedicated to preserving the 13 traditional arts and crafts by ensuring they continue to be taught to the next generations. We were able to observe students practicing painting, wood carving, embroidery, etc. and see the results of these and other classes. Of course, I wanted to jump right in and take classes in everything!
The main building of the National Institute of Zorigchusum
Beginning woodcarving
Embroidery
I want my sewing room to be this colorful!
Advanced woodcarvers hang their masks
Backstrap looms await weavers
Painting Buddha
After spending more than a little Nu at the gift shop and gallery associate with the institute, we drove further into Thimphu to visit the local temple, the first of many. Yeshey told us that it in common for young people to drop their elders off at the temple to hang out for the day. They pray, chant, visit with friends - basically try to increase their good karma while socializing.
Thimphu Temple
While I was taking photos of the general area, the three women sitting in the next photo waved me over to them. They wanted me to show them the pictures I was taking. Then they insisted I take a picture of each of them and show it to them. They were so sweet. A far cry from the two women whom I wanted to video using hand-held prayer wheels. They waved me off and then made the universal sign for "pay me for the picture." I chose not to. I actually find the whole idea of randomly photographing people a little repellant, and would never have taken such close-ups of the first three ladies if they hadn't asked me to.
I'll have lots of photos of temples, prayer wheels, etc. to show you - they were everywhere - so I won't inundate you now. Let's move on instead to Bhutan's unusual national animal, the takhin. One of my riding mates, Vicky, desperately wanted to see one, but they're fairly rare in the wild. Luckily, Thimphu has a zoo (more of a large fenced farm-like area) that has red deer and takhin. Bhutanese legend says that the takhin was created by the guru known as the Divine Madman by putting the skull of a goat on the skeleton of a cow and then bringing it to life. I don't quite see that animal combination, but you can judge for yourself. I would guess the back of this animal is about waist high on me.
At the takhin compound were a couple of women weaving cotton, silk, and raw silk scarves on backstrap looms. With 16 of us coming through, they had a very good sales day! Yes, I bought one, too, in vibrant yellow and green (it reminds me of lemons and limes).
This young lady said her mother had taught her to weave. They use commercially prepared yarns.
I love all the bright colors!
There was one final stop on our agenda for the day, the Thimphu Dzong. A dzong is essentially a fortress that was the seat of the local government before the 24 feudal areas of Bhutan were combined into one Kingdom. Those areas are now similar to counties in America, and the dzongs may still house government offices, as well as temples and monk bodies (the group of monks in the area). The Thimphu Dzong serves all of these purposes. In fact, we had to wait until after all of the government workers had left their offices before we could tour the site.
Thimphu Dzong
I can probably get in trouble for having this photo; that's the current (fifth) king's palace in the foreground with the gold-topped cupula. Apparently you're not supposed to photograph the king or his home without permission. There will be more about the king in a later post.
Finally, finally, this long day was drawing to a close and we were taken to our fabulous rooms for the night at the Wangchuck Resort overlooking Thimphu. I thought I had a photo of the resort, but if I do I can't find it among the hundreds of photos I took. Suffice it to say, it was not a third-world style place. More on housing and food later as my adventures in Bhutan continue.
