Walking and Waking

Yesterday we took a trip up a nearby valley to view yet another monastry and get some last minute altitude acclimatisation. On the way we encountered this bit of buddist graffiti. They had even chipped it out of the rock.

We also got our first views of some snowy peaks, no idea which ones … on our way down it decided to snow on us anyway and all the hills around the capital where dusted.

To finish the 5 days of Paro festival they hold a pre-dawn ceremony involving a “Thangka”. This is a giant appliqued tapestry the height of the temple. Hopefully you can see how big it is in the piccy. We had to get up at 2am this morning to drive an hour to the temple just so we could get these photos for you. Luckily simply being in the presence of the Thangka absolves all of our sins and guarantees myself and Keren will forgive the early morning start. All the high ranking monks from the area arrive in force and have to contend with hundreds of pilgrims pushing forward to be blessed.

  

We start our 7 days of trekking on Sunday and probably won’t be able to blog until we get back. Lots of snowy mountain shots to come in a weeks time.

Takin and Archery

Today we did another short walk and discovered the local dumping point for prayer flags. The number of flags you can see in the picture is about 1% of the flags on this ridge. They litter the ground everywhere too as the wind has destroyed many of them.

We also visited a local reserve for “Takin” the Bhutanese national animal/cow. The story of how these creatures were created is attached in a photo .. hope it is readable.

 

Finally I had a go at the local archery. I wasn’t quite ready for the local standard range to be 145m!!! So I will be going back ready for the heavy bows and with binoculars to see the other end. The locals wander infront of the target to put each other off. But the locals are mad. The white spec in the photo is the target face which is about 20cm across.

After the archery, which was a long way up a very rocky road and not quite the right terrain for a little Suzuki Alto, we headed to Richard and Caroles favorite local restaurant. The five of us ordered 7 mains, a mix of Bhutanese, Indian and Japanese style dishes with roti and rice plus a few beers. The food was delicious and all for the bank breaking amount of $30!

Tsechu and Taktshang

We just spent 2 days in Paro town so that we could go to the Paro festival (Tsechu) and the Tigers Nest monastry (Taktshang). Spending 2 days in Paro turned out to be a fairly luxurious affair. Carole had booked us into Gangtey Palace, which literally was a palace until 1907. It was an amazing old style building with the loft for drying your straw and chillies and a bar/restaurant with great views over the city. You can make a guess which we spent the most time in. Attached is a photo of part of our room, which was hand painted beautifully. I’m not quite sure what the Bhudda painted above the bed was intended to … improve … but I would hope they might warn guests if it is meant to grant triplets to all who sleep under him. I have no idea what his intentions for the deer and geese are either.

The Tsechu is a religious festival consisting of 5 days of ritual dancing and the unveiling of a huge likeness of Bhudda. It is also an excuse for people to meet from all over the country and catch up. We went along in traditional Bhutan dress, which is compulsary for all Bhutanese nationals attending. We got a very friendly reception much more than the other foreigners. Unfortunately the male standard dress is a “Gho”. It is kind of like a giant woolen dressing gown/ bath robe. It is also damned difficult to get it tied correctly. Even with the parents help we struggled and luckily the hotel staff came to the rescue. It took 3 locals to get it right! Keren wore the Kira (much easier to fit). About 60% of people wear these clothes as their standard around town clothes and all school uniforms are Gho and Kira. Of course I still didn’t get the special scarf that matches the Gho correct and since I obviously looked hopeless, more people came to my aid . see piccies.

  

We braved the crush inside and outside the Rinpung Dzong (read monastic fortress) in Paro.

 

We watched the long crazy dances, and wondered why they seemed to cage all the young monks. See piccy of dancing skeletons with monks gazing on. I think we were the youngest tourists there.

 

Afterwards we decided to climb up a steep valley 700m vertical to visit the most famous Bhutan building. The monastry called Taktshang – Tigers nest. This monastry is built over a cave about 200m up a cliff. Supposedly the Guru who brought Bhuddism to Bhutan decided that climbing a cliff and hiding (sorry meditating) in a small hole the size of an office cubicle would aid his enlightenment. Then some further enlightened monks decided building a large monastry, out of large trees and stone, over the cave on a tiny ledge, way up a cliff, would be a fine way to spend 6 years. So they did! Piccies attached. It is one of the most crazy pieces of engineering I have ever seen and the natural rock makes up many of the floors and walls.

 

In the land of the thunder dragon

Well it was 28 hours of airports and airplanes with no real sleep, including 6 hours wandering Bangkok’s new airport and trying to sleep on the cold marble floors at 2am. But, finally, we are in Bhutan at Keren’s parents place just outside the capital Thimphu. Immigration required our address, which we have discovered is Jungshina, turn right just over the bridge, opposite the cowshed! Photo of cow shed attached below . The lady feeding the cow is one of the landlord’s wives. They are fairly wealthy as far as Bhutanese are concerned but that doesn’t get you off mucking out the cows! The smaller cow is called Santa, a common Bhutanese name but named by Keren’s Mum as it was born on Christmas eve. We’ll post a link to the story she wrote the event and had published.

I have only got 30k connections that are not reliable at our base so photos may or may not be with each posting. Will try to find faster links, I’m told they do exist!

First impressions are of really friendly people who seem mostly to speak some english (at least in the city), dry mountainous scenery covered with cedar forest and bhuddist “chortens”, amazing looking houses with great decorations, huge temples “dhzong”,  CRAZY driving and dogs everywhere.

We had an awesome flight down a deep valley in a 737 which made me wonder when we would hit the ground. Keren, being far less of a wuss, found this less nerve racking. We arrived at the building (airport) in the header bar picture and found it covered in scaffolding which was being deconstructed in a manner OSH would shut them down for. See piccy.  

Tomorrow we are walking to Taktsang monastry (the tigers nest) 2 hours up a mountain edge and the Paro festival is on and we will get some great shots of local dance and crazy costumes.

24 Hours of travelling

Today is 24 hours of airports and flying. Wellington to Sydney, Sydney to Bangkok, Bangkok to Kolkata, Kolkata to Bhutan. Actually it think it is more than 24 hours.

We did an 18 km day on the third day in Wanaka and survived pretty well, during that day we made a half hearted attempt on Roy’s peak which overlooks Wanaka township but we had left it too late in the day and were running short of water by that time. Some photos will be attached as soon as i can get to a link that is more than 56k, but the really ones that count are coming up tomorrow, Bhutan.

The start!

Well we are in our third day at Wanaka, first day we simply wandered the local area after getting off the plane at Queenstown. It was about an hour over the crown range to Wanaka. We quickly found the best local recommended walks and headed to the Rob Roy glacier the second day. For 3-4 hours of effort this has to be one of the most spectacular walks available in NZ. Driving an hour from Wanaka towards MT Aspiring in stunning alpine countryside then a steady uphill walk through beach forest and arriving surrounded by glacier covered peaks in a small alpine meadow. A couple of piccies attached.

Today we went wandering into the local rock climbing zone for an hour or 2. This gave us some great shots of lake Wanaka. I will be needing another trip soon to try the cliffs.

Of course we had to unwind after such difficult days, and Keren was roaming dangerously with a camera.

Trip to Bhutan and Thailand

Hi there, this is where in one weeks time, myself and Keren will start posting about our trip.

We are heading to Wanaka for a few days tramping the hills of New Zealand then straight to Bhutan for just over 3 weeks visiting Keren’s parents who are volunteering there for a year. Bhutan’s hills are higher than NZ’s and could pose some interesting challenges when we wander around them. Bhutan is also primarily Buddist and so remote that Internet and TV only arrived in the last decade. Google maps seems to think there is only one town and one road in the whole country, should be a real eye opener for my pampered westernised bum.

<>Oh, and if we survive 25 days in the Himilayas we are going rock climbing in Thailand on the way home.