My Finnegan

Bhutan, Land of the Thunder Dragon! Here I Come!

Today's the day we head to Bhutan! Got up, packed and met up with our driver and off to the airport we went. Got to the airport in plenty of time, but unfortunately, the airport was still locked up. Yes, their airport actually locks down at night I guess. First time in all my travels that I have come across an airport that's locked down until the first flight. Then again, it's not a big airport so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. Finally a couple of armed soldiers came out and motioned for us to go in and go through security. Really interesting here- every time you go through a check, you are thoroughly patted down. It was a tad disconcerting.

We got through and went to check in to our flight and discovered we were the only people on our flight- all 6 of us. Gotta wonder how big the plane is if there's only 6 of us on it! The flight was delayed for a bit due to heavy fog, but by 10 we were airborne in one of the smallest planes I've ever been on. It was an 18 seater prop plane. It was so small that we just had to get a photo of us in front of the plane! 2 small steps took you up inside of it and when we were prepping to take off, every time the pilot gunned the engine the entire plane shook. There was a constant drone throughout our flight from the propellers so we had to yell at each other to be heard. However, the views we had as we flew to Bhutan were spectacular. We saw the Himalayas, Mount Everest as well as the 3rd, 4th and 5th highest mountains in the world. It was so breath taking. Landing in Paro was quite an experience as we had to come down hard between 2 mountains (Paro's located in a valley)- it was like taking a nose dive straight down in to the valley. There was some bumping around as we came in but we landed alright in the end.

Quick trip through immigration- everyone there smiling and happy- they take Gross National Happiness seriously here!- then we met our guide, Wangchu, and piled in to our van for our trip around Paro. Our departure from the airport was short lived as 1 of our group had left their passport back at the airport, so we had to circle back so we could get it. thankfully, with so few tourists coming to Bhutan, it wasn't an issue finding it. In fact, some of the employees were trying to locate us so that the passport could be returned to us. Passport collected, we headed off to the Paro Museum.

A quick tour of the museum, which had everything from weaponry to stamps to animals native to Bhutan to Buddhist artefacts- it was all there to be seen. Once we'd seen our fill, we headed up to Ta Dzong- a monastery built on the side of a mountain in Paro. It was quite lovely- gorgeous views of the valley and while we stood there admiring the view, we got to see another airplane fly in for a landing- dipping back and forth, manipulating between the mountains, then dropping quickly so they could land at the airport... really, not for the feint of heart! then it was down to an old pedestrian bridge, hundreds of years old, that spanned the river connecting the 2 sides of Paro. We crossed the bridge, stopping to admire the views and watch the activities going on around the river, then piled in our van for the drive to Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan.

Oh, forgot to mention lunch- our first meal in Bhutan! We went and ate at a restaurant on the main street of Paro. Very tasty meal of red rice, fried beef and veggies, potatoes & cheese, cooked veggies and fried cauliflower. Didn't eat all of it, but what I ate was great! (no cauliflower for me please).

Drive to Thimphu lasted just over an hour- we entertained ourselves by playing "Guess that Christmas tune". It is Christmas Eve after all. We also had a Santa camel with us- a little taste of the Middle East blended in with some Christmas kitsch. When we arrived in Thimphu, we walked in to our hotel and were greeted with a cheerful looking Christmas tree in the hotel lobby, all decked out for Christmas. Quite a surprise when you consider that the official religion is Buddhism- guess they wanted us to feel at home. It was not until I saw the tree that I actually realized it was Christmas Eve. Ate an early-ish dinner, then most of us headed up to our rooms to see if we could get the space heaters going to warm up our rooms and ourselves. The cold here is unbelievable-- chilled me to the bone. Ended up putting many layers of clothes on, then hunkered down under the down comforter to try to heat up. if that doesn't work, I may have to consider putting the space heater in my bed!

Around Kathmandhu

Slept in until 830- wahoo! then headed to Pumpernickel for breakfast. I ate TONS-- eggs, toast, croissant, fresh juice and coffee- great food and so cheap, less than $10!

We headed off to Shona's a shop where you can buy all kinds of trekking/ winter gear for cheap. Bought thermal underwear, fleece, jacket, socks and gloves -- I'm so not used to the cold now! We headed over to pay the balance of our trip to Bhutan, then hopped a cab to go see Pushupatti. Pushupatti is the 3rd holiest site for Hindus and a UNESCO World Heritage site. it was definitely a different experience. I was so shocked by how dirty the site was given that it's such a holy shrine. There's a river that runs through the site than empties into the Ganges, so this is where the funeral pyres are located. Here they're called 'gatz' (not sure of the spelling) and there are a series of stone slabs onto which the pyres are built. The gatz are all along 1 side and there's a bridge across the river between the series of gatz-es. The gatz on one side of the bridge used to be reserved just for the royal family and the other side of the bridge was for the regular folk. Nowadays people can use the pyres reserved for the royal family, but it's so costly that few can afford it.

We entered the site and crossed the bridge- we could see 2 bodies on pyres in the process of burning. The smell of burning flesh is something I'll not forget- it has a definite smell- one I can't quite define or put in to words.

We walked over the bridge and sat down across from the pyres while Chips explained the process- the bodies are washed, then covered in ghee and the fire is started in the cadavre's mouth. Once the body had burned, someone sifted through the ashes and anything that wasn't completely burned was then buried in the mud of the river. The then other ashes were simply swept off the gatz into the river. Sadly, the river was a mess with garbage, garlands and pieces of cloth. There were people in the river dredging it for goods I guess- I sure wouldn't want to be in there.

Up on the bridge and around the compound were sadhus- some kind of holy man. They had painted faces and in many cases, dreadlocks. Kinf of reminded me of hippies. Must admit, they freaked me out a bit. On the site lives the "Milk Baba"- a sadhu who supposedly only lives on milk, but he wasn't around that day. We then walked over across from the "royal site" and happened on a funeral ceremony and stopped to watch what they were doing. The body was wrapped up and laid on a kind of cot/stretcher on the stone walkway in front of a pyre. The family sat in front of the body, wailing and crying while friends comforted them. In one case, an older lady (presumably the wife or mother of the deceased man) had to be lifted up and carried away from the body when they went to begin preparations for the funeral pyre. After a time, the men took the body down to the river. They uncovered the feet and placed them in the river and then proceeded to wash the body. Once that was done, they covered the body in ghee, carried it over and placed it on one of the funeral pyres, then lit the pyre. At that point we opted to walk away as the smell of burning flesh became overpowering again. It was such a strong smell and there were only 2 or 3 bodies being cremated at that time- I can't imagine how strong the smell would be if there were many being cremated at the same time.

We walked up to the top of Pashupatti, grabbed a cab and headed to Bhoda, another UNESCO World Heritage site (& another Hindu site- or was it Buddhist? Can't recall now). When you enter the gates, you must walk around the square in clockwise fashion... not sure why, but that's how it's done. We walked around, then went into the site. When I walked up top, I was struck by how many prayer flags all strung up, then I was struck by the view- a 360 view of the square, nice.

We circled around, then went to a rooftop restaurant and had coffee as we watched the crowds and the sun set over Kathmandu. When it started to get cold, we headed back to Thamel so we could go shopping for our Christmas exchange gifts- then off to dinner at the Third Eye. Kathmandu has electricity issues, so lode shedding is common. Part way through dinner, BOOM! Power out. The restaurant went on back up generator so the people in the place could finish dinner, but they pretty much shut down after that and we ended up leaving around 10 to go back to the guesthouse. Tomorrow it is off to Bhutan!

Nepal and Bhutan- December 22, 2010

A group of us decided to visit Nepal and Bhutan for the short Christmas holiday- Evelyn, Chip, Tim, Lee, Kathy and myself. We've all traveled a bit so we're a pretty laid back group :)

We arrived in Kathmandhu last night- just a 4 hour flight from Dubai. Having been sick last week, the first thing I did was konk out on the flight over. Great nap! :)

We were met by a driver at the airport and walked outside- masses of people and a cacophony of noises greeted us. We piled in a van and 4 more joined us- a total of 10 in a van built for about 6. We made small talk with a couple in the van who were also from Dubai. They'd just moved to Dubai from Eastern Europe a few months ago and they sure thought they were superior to us! The man got really rude with one of our group when they said they didn't recognize the name and location of where they worked- he began snapping at us, "Don't you know Dubai?" and became quite rude to us. Tempted to respond with, "If we don't recognize where you work it can't be that good, can it?" but bit my tongue- he seemed to be looking to pick an argument, so we just stopped talking to them.

We checked in to the Kathmandhu Guest House, plain but clean- then headed out for dinner. Walking on the road in Kathmandhu is quite an experience (no sidewalks in a lot of places, so you have to walk on the road out of necessity)- trying to avoid cars racing up behind you or towards you, motorbikes doing the same, huge bunches of electrical wires hanging so low that you have to duck to walk under them (and I'm only 5'5"!), etc. We walked down a few stores to the Roadside Cafe for a great dinner of pizza and such and so cheap, especially compared to Dubai! it was here that I learned of a common event in Kathmandhu - load shedding. There isn't enough capability for electricity there all the time, so different parts of Kathmandhu go without power at different times of the day. Wow, lucky we don't need to do that!

After dinner, we walked back to the guest house and sat in their courtyard next to a fabulous outdoor chiminea/ fireplace and drank hot chocolate and chatted until the cold drove us inside for the night.