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Published: October 16th 2007
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Paro
Paro airport...
A golden one, that is... Because you can forget about traveling Bhutan on the cheap... If you want a visa for Bhutan you need to book a tour with one of the many Bhutanese travel agencies for a minimum of 200 dollars a day... That is including all your accommodation, food, transport, guide and driver... Whether you think this is worth it, is up to you of course... I thought so and went ahead and booked a 5 day trip and I don't regret it... Of course my money is easily earned, with the whole prostituting my body and what not...
Bhutan is truly one of the most beautiful countries I have been too and it is all so tranquil... Such a change from India... All roads seem like country roads to me and there is hardly any traffic or people for that matter... Paro, once the summer capital of the country and I believe the second biggest city in the country is more like a small village... Thimpu the capital has about 70000 souls living in it... It all reminded me a bit of Switzerland, only better and cleaner... And instead of churches they have Buddhist monasteries and temples
Paro
Paro Dzong
and the Dzongs, which are kind of fortress monasteries... They house both the government offices in the district as the religious headquarters... They are very impressive buildings...
As I only had a short time in Bhutan my itinerary was limited to the west of the country... I flew into Paro, stayed there for 2 days, than went to Thimpu for one day and then to Punakha for a day... Then back to Thimpu before leaving Bhutan via Phuentsholling in the south...
The most impressive sight in Paro was 'Tigers Nest' a monastery clinging to sheer rock face... Legend has it that the founder flew in on a tiger... That was in the day that when the subspecies Flying Tiger was still roaming, or should I say flying, around... They must have died out long ago, leaving no trace of their existence... Since there were no more flying tigers to be had, I had to walk up to see the monastery... Together with all the other tourists... Because, if you think that 200 dollars a day, keeps the tourists away, think again... The place was packed...
So after two days of Paro and seeing the sights, being spoilt
Paro
Paro valley
in what was for me the most lavish hotel I have been in, in a while it was time to move on to Thimpu or so my itinerary said... And who am I to debate that... So of we went...
Thimpu is booming I would say, with loads of new buildings being erected, all in the typical Bhutanese style I might add... It has a few museums, an impressive Dzong, housing both the Royal offices, government offices and the offices of the top most religious officials... An important place and only open for one hour in the evening to tourists... There was also an archery competition going on so I went and watched that for a while... Archery is the most popular sport in Bhutan and it is very amusing to watch... The competitors have to show up in traditional attire and than the shooting starts... The targets are about 140 meters away and there are mostly around 3 teams... When somebody hits the target, the winning team makes a little victory dance... Every time before a competitor shoots, his team mates stand around the target, gesturing towards the center, shouting what I presume were directions and possibly asking
Paro
Main street in Paro
for some blessings than they move of to safer distances and hope for the best... As I said amusing to watch... And the sport is played in almost every village...
Than Punakha, which has the most beautiful Dzong that I saw and is also the winter headquarters of the Buddhist clergy... They all move down to Punakha when it gets to cold for them in Thimpu... It's set at the confluence of two rivers and was washed away a while back, but has been completely restored since then... The hotel was comfortable as usual with the peace only being disturbed by a rather loud group of Americans... A few more monasteries and than it was time to head back to Thimpu for the trip back to India...
All in all I had a great time; my guide was very friendly, as was my driver... The country refreshingly clean, the culture vibrant, the nature pure, the roads uncongested and a good story laying in wait behind every temple/monastery/dzong...
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Jenny
non-member comment
halo...
So is Bhutan safe? I am going to Sri Lanka in April after Thai nye, so maybe i will go there instead? or in addition would you feel safe if you were a little blonde girl and a little brunette girl walking around??