Thimpu

---

What can we say about Bhutan?<span><span> Simply amazing, and we are both so excited to be here!

We stayed at the airport Novatel in Bangers last night before rising at 4.15am to catch our Drukair flight to Paro, via Dhaka, this morning.

The flight in was beautiful – the snow capped peaks of the Himalayas appear above the roof of clouds in to blue skies- an amazing sight to see if you’re sitting on the left hand side of the bloody plane.<span> Some of those peaks are over 7300 metres! Those of us on the right and over a wing missed most of this!<span> The landscape from the air was spectacular<span> nonetheless, and we did see a few caps so didn’t miss out completely.

<span><span><span>


The plane itself flies into the narrow Paro valley, twisting quickly this way and that, and the pilot gets a resounding round of applause once we touchdown.<span> Everyone seems to be grateful we made it! Sorry, should I not have taken that for granted???

<span><span><span>




Our guide Paldin, and driver Tsering are great blokes with a keen sense of humour<span> and we have driven straight from Paro to the capital, Thimpu.<span> The obligatory museum for the day, done, we’ve had a wander about the fruit and craft market.<span> The bridge is adorned with colourful prayer flags.<span> Men and women wander about in traditional dress and the construction of new buildings provide much work for the hundreds of people who have given up their farms to make their fortunes in this city of 70,000 plus.

What it is missing?<span> The hustle and bustle, the smell of rotting fruit and veg and the constant annoyance of shopkeepers and stall holders pestering us to buy, buy,buy!<span> Instead, the locals go about their day in no real rush, the markets and streets are spotless and the people let you browse in peace, only speaking to wish a warm hello, <span> accompanied with their big, beautiful smiles.



A decent buffet dinner tonight that included <span> the local dish, Ema Datshi a delicious scalloped potato style dish laced with whole chilli that set our lips on fire.<span> I have been dying to taste this and I am not disappointed!

<span><span><span>




Our room is really spacious and almost entirely constructed of wood.<span> The wooden corridors are dark and mysterious with plush carpet runners down the centre.<span> If this is 3 start Bhutan, I am already impressed.



Shane says:<span> A funny thing occurred today after Sharls bought some travel sickness tablets from the Pharmacy. She put the change into her pocket and forgot about it for the time being. We walked over a beautiful bridge with a beggar sitting/lying in a very unusual position with his hand out.

<span><span><span>


We ventured past to visit to browse the local market. On the journey back Sharls reached into her pocket thinking she had a few cents change and proceeded to give the aforementioned beggar the entire contents of her pocket.<span> Well to his surprise, and mine, he jumped up and tried to shake Sharls hand.<span> Sharls having no idea what she had done, walked away quickly. I turned around to see what he was up too. Well, old mate has shut up shop and left for the day. Good wages earned today, time to head home. Lol.

Spending for the day: $4.00 on beer for me. Sharls $20 = Seven weeks worth of begging for the beggar in one day. Lol .

Sharls says:<span> Ah, mine was a donation – it cannot be counted as a spend!!

---