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Published: March 31st 2014
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Day 3 - Paro to Thimpu
After an early start, and a long wait at the airport, the flight being over an hour late, we were surprised by the size of our Druk Airways plane. The snack they handed out on the 50minute flight, was a bland cheese sandwich with mayonnaise and a sweet biscuit. We spent more of the flight looking out of the window and the clear views of the Himalayas which the First Officer did his best to identify each of the main peaks to us. The second part of his announcement was that we shouldn't get alarmed by the proximity of the descent to the surrounding mountains, and that this was quite normal, as was the slightly bumpy approach due to cross winds.
Once we had collected our baggage we headed outside to find our guide, and located him straight away. He was dressed in traditional Bhutanese national dress, called a Gho which is knee length, under which they wear knee length socks and shoes. The over garment creates a sort of pouch in which they can put their money and mobile phone. As we set off, it was nice to see the the majority
of the people still observe wearing the national dress. We were also given a white scarf as a welcoming gift.
Our guide explained we had about an hours journey to Thimpu, and along the way we would be stopping at Tamchhog Lhakhang a private temple owend by the descendants of the famous bridge builder. The iron bridge was reconstructed in 2005 using some of the original links of chain. We walked across the bridge and it reminded us of the twine bridge we had visited in Japan. At the other side is the temple and a cave. It sits at the mouth of 2 rivers, considered to be inauspicious and there are 3 Chortens there to mark that, one in each of the styles - Bhutanese, Nepalese and Tibetan.
We continued towards Thimpu and our lunch stop, which was upstairs in a shopping block just along from a hairdressers. The food was buffet, a little cold, but at least there was watermelon at the end.
From here, our driver took us round the corner and we could see the national sport of Bhutan taking place - archery. The participants were using bamboo bows and arrows, and aiming
for a target 150m away approximately the 1 1/2 lengths of a football pitch. Every time they hit the target the opposition would jump up and down singing and dancing. We could have stayed here for a hour or so, it was fascinating to watch, however we were hurried along by our guide.
We next headed towards the National Institute for Zorig Chusum, the painting school. Here we could see students at various levels in their 6 year training demonstrating embroidery, sculpture, painting and wood carving. Some of them were clearly more talented than others, as you saw the image they were aiming to recreate. In the showroom, there were a number of pieces on display for sale.
After here, it was a whistle stop tour of the National Library which holds the Guinness Book Of Record record for the worlds largest book. At over 68kg and 2m tall you wouldn't put it on your coffee table. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures, but for the more enthusiastic, you can buy a replica at a cost of $15,000 and $100 for the smaller version!
We then stopped at a handicraft shop opposite the Post Office, it
was difficult to gauge a price, as everything is in Bhutanese ngultrum, which we didn't have any of. We had US dollars, and there are about 54 Ng to the US $ - not the easiest of conversions, especially paying in dollars and getting Ng in change.
We then set off for a walk round Thimpu. The main features are, as a capital city, it's smaller than Preston, and it has no traffic lights at all, just lots of roundabouts and police directing traffic. We went to a sports shop, and Russ was able to purchase his customary football shirt of Bhutan. Our guide is quite enthusiastic about football, follows Man Utd and has watched a lot of European football on sky. In the square is a clock tower, it looks older than it really is, but was nicely decorated, and the square had just been host to a singing competition - Bhutans Got the X Factor?
Our final destination was the Palace Trashi Chhoe Dzongkha, where at 5pm each day they take down the National Flag. There was music and marching and it was no mean feat given the size of the flag and the fact that
the wind had certainly got up. Then at 5.30pm, the civil servants leave and tourists are allowed the enter - long sleeves only, and local guides must wear in addition a further sash type affair. The Dzong is a two story building whitewashed, reminding us of the Potala Palace in Tibet. Inside the assembly hall was a large statue of Sakyamuni (the historical Buddha) or Marge to his friends! There are also 1000 smaller statues in individual pigeon holes as well as painting as all around that look like Buddha wallpaper. There are thrones there, one for each of the 5 kings. The fifth king is relatively young, recently married and inherited the throne when his father abdicated in favour of a more youthful approach to ruling the country.
We headed back to the hotel, had a lie down for an hour before dinner and tried to log into the internet with varying degrees of success. Dinner was again buffet style, rice, naan, curry and an odd mushroom stew. The beer, Druk 11000, was upto 8% abv! and certainly an acquired taste, so we switched to Druk Lager which was better. We then went back to the room to
log in to the blog, later start tomorrow - 9.30.
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