I realize that I have not posted in the longest time. I was out and about for work like crazy ever since my last post from the trip to Bhutan. So it’s time for me to start adding a few entries to the blog, looking back at some the places I visited.

A quite fitting start of this project is a quick entry from a visit to the beautiful Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul. I took a sunny, but cold Sunday afternoon to venture from my hotel to the Palace. The Palace is located right in the city center of Seoul with easy access by the Metro network. Gwanghamun (Line 5) and Anguk (Line 3) stations are both less than 10 minutes walk away. Insadong, with it’s colourful arts and souvenir shops, tea houses as well as dozens of restaurants is virtually just over the road from the main gate of the Palace.

Probably a nice way to approach the Palace is to walk down from Gwanghamun Station on the impressive Sejong-no avenue, walking towards Gwanghamum gate. Just follow the (English) signs to Gwanghamum when exiting the train. Gwanghamun is the main gate for the palace and was only reopened in August 2010, after comprehensive rebuilding works.

The views of the gate and the mountains in the back are quite stunning. Although I must admit that I really did not like the fake soldiers ‘guarding’ the palace. These guys look plain ridiculous, with their plastic hats, wooden swords and glue on beards. This looks like Disneyland gone wrong to me and completely distorts from the amazing views on hand. Who needs plastic hats (that cannot be purchased by the way) when you have a more than 600 year old palace and marvelous views on offer in the first place? If you look closely, you can see men with flags, dressed in blue and red…. no close up’s, promise!

The next picture is a shot over the outer courtyard, back to Gwanghamun Gate.

From there, visitors will walk towards the impressive Main Hall of the Palace complex

Unfortunately, most of the original palace buildings and halls were destroyed over the years, mainly during the Japanese invasion from 1592 to 1598. In the late 1800’s the palace was restored and rebuilt, forming a complex of more than 300 buildings. This was again destroyed, this time to just 10 buildings, by the Japanese government during the years of the Japanese occupation from 1911. Although most of the buildings that are in the palace grounds today may not be the original buildings dating back 600+ years, the Palace certainly has lots of history.

The day I visited was a beautiful Sunday afternoon. There were lots of people everywhere. I would think that visiting in the morning or during the week will mean less crowds.

Even though the main grounds of the Palace were very busy, I managed to find some quieter spots in the back. There are lots of little courtyards, alley ways and buildings to explore. Luckily, even on a very busy Sunday, this area was very quiet with just a few visitors roaming around.

Before leaving the Palace I walked over to the former Royal Banquet Hall Gyeonghoeru. It is surrounded by a small lake, which was frozen over due to the long and very cold winter in Seoul. I went to see this place before and took some nice pictures of the hall, with a mirror imagine in the lake I was quite happy to see the lake frozen over this time. The ice and shadows of some trees in the foreground, with the Banquet Hall in the back also make for very nice pictures.

It was a cold day and I headed back to my hotel fairly quickly after this visit.

Seoul is fast becoming one of my favourite places to go. The sights, the energetic vibe, the friendly people and my wonderful colleagues are certainly the main reasons. Equally great is the Korean food. It’s only fair that I will look back at some of the amazing meals I had in my next one or two entries.

Hope to see you then!

Today is the last full day in Bhutan. We have a relatively easy schedule. In the morning we drive from Punakha to Thimphu, where we have the afternoon free for shopping. In the evening we will say farewell to our guides, as well as the driver and the trekking staff.

We leave the hotel quite early again to drive to Punakha. It’s supposed to be about 3 hours but we were told that it might take us longer than that, as road works are scheduled right after the top of the pass we have cross in order to reach Thimphu.

The weather this morning is glorious. Blue skies and a few clouds give us fantastic vistas as we head up towards the Dochu La pass at 3200 meters (about 10000 feet). We came this way at the beginning of the tour and had no views at all, as it was rainy and very cloudy. Nothing like that today. On the contrary, we were rewarded with some stunning views across the Bhutanese Himalaya’s.

After about two hours drive up the hill we reach the top and take our last group picture together.

On top of the pass is an impressive collection of prayer flags as well as the 108 chortens. Chortens are buddhist monuments, containing relics. It’s a beautiful, peaceful place well worth a stop. And did I mention the views of the surrounding mountains are amazing??

As we set out to continue our drive to Thimphu we get the news that the village of Jarkar, where we just spent six days was almost completely destroyed by a fire caused from faulty wires. More than 60 houses and shops were completely destroyed. One person was reported dead with lots of other people being injured. We were told that this was one of the worst fires in recent Bhutanese history. It was quite a sobering piece of news for us, considering we had just been there and enjoyed our time in the gorgeous village, attended the temple festival and wandered around the area that was totally destroyed.

On the way down from the pass, traffic gets really bad. Initially we thought this was due to the road works that we were told about earlier. It turns out that the works were canceled and large parts of the road were blocked off to allow for official motorcades to rush from Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan, to Jarkar/Bhumthang. We came across the motorcade of the interior minister and the Queen mother whilst working our way down to Thimphu.

We reach the hotel in Thimphu in time for a late lunch. After that, everyone heads off for some last minute shopping or even a last stroll around, before farewell dinner in the evening and our flight back to Bangkok from Paro in the morning.

Before dinner, the local tour operator had arranged for a short cultural program for us. A group of singers, musicians and dancers came to the hotel to perform for us. Whilst the setting in the lobby of the hotel was maybe not ideal, everyone enjoyed the performance of the group. This was a nice bonus at the end of a long tour.

Most of us go to bed fairly soon after dinner as we have yet another early morning departure to come. In the morning we are off to Paro airport, about 90 minutes drive away, for our 11 am flight to Bangkok.

This morning the group split up. Seven of the twelve of us had opted to not go on the village tour around Punakha and adding a little adrenalin to the trip by going river rafting on the Pho Chhu river.

We leave the hotel in the morning, right after breakfast. The guys that opted not to go rafting leave us in the next village for a walking tour, which they enjoyed very much. Highlights for them were a visit to a local temple, stops at local farmhouses and of course the gorgeous scenery of the Punakha valley.

The seven of us that went rafting were first of all rewarded with some great views on our drive along the river that we would raft on. It was unbelievably beautiful. We got lots of glimpses of the river as well as the rapids we had to master later, which only built up more excitement - as if we needed that :-) We were ready to go!

The drive took almost as long as the raft would take. The road was bumpy and quite muddy as it had rained a lot over the past couple of weeks. As we reached the starting point of the raft, we are greeted by the river guides. It is quite clear that these guys are very professional, with modern equipment and very high safety standards.

We quickly put on life jackets and helmets and assemble on the banks of the river for our safety briefing, following which we were finally off.

Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures from the actual raft as I left the camera in the bus. By the time I found out that the guides had waterproof bags for us, it was too late. The bus had started the journey back towards Punakha, to pick us up at the end of the raft.

It is hard to describe the rafting experience without using superlatives all the time. The scenery we went through was astonishingly beautiful. We were also extremely lucky with the weather. Bright sunshine and warm temperatures helped to make the experience very special. We were told in the beginning to expect rapids of category II to IV. I didn’t think that the rapids were really that tough, but it did not matter at all to any of us. We had a blast. For me (and most of the gang that joined) the raft was one of the absolute highlights of the trip.

We even got to swim in the river once we had passed the rapids on the way to the end point. It was cold…. very cold - so I heard….

We get driven back to the hotel for lunch and to be reunited with the rest of the group. The guys that did the village tour also had a great morning. Post lunch some headed out for a short hike to a fertility temple, devoted to Guru Rimpoche, the divine madman. I stayed back in the hotel but heard that the excursion was very nice indeed and enjoyed by all who went.

Dinner tonight was another vegetarian feast at the hotel. Everyone had yet another great day, but it is slowly but surely sinking in that our trip is coming to an end very soon. Tomorrow is our last full day in Bhutan, before heading to the airport on Wednesday.

Today is the day when our return trip back to Paro and ultimately to Bangkok begins. We going back the same road that we came a week ago. Three mountain passes and thirteen hours to conquer…. Thankfully this time the sun is out and we are at least able to admire the dramatic scenery throughout the day.

We started very early this morning. All in the group were once again very disciplined - Breakfast and luggage out at 5.30 with an on time departure at 6.00 am. The first part of the trip from Bhumthang to Punakha went quite quick. It’s only 70 kilometres but took us almost 4 hours over a mountain pass at 3.500 meters. We did a quick stop for using the amenities - read bushes :-) and of course taking some pictures of the surrounding mountain peaks and valleys beneath us.

As we descended down from the first pass we made a brief coffe/tea break in Throngsa. We stopped here on the way out a few days ago as well, but today in the sun the scenery was simply breathtaking. Most of us would have really liked to stay here for at least one night, to break up the long bus ride. We stopped at a cute resort hotel for what was probably the best coffee we managed to get in Bhutan. Hail Lavazza coffee…..

The drive continued up and down winding mountain roads. Some of the group started to get a bit restless as the day went on, but all of us were rewarded with unforgettable vistas quite literally around every curve we took on our way.

Towards the end of the day we came across herds of Yak, which was quite interesting as well. We stopped once to take a closer look.

Our last stop of the day was about an hour from Punakha just as the sun was about to set.

Tomorrow is an easier day with an added highlight. We’ll go river rafting in Punakha….. Can’t wait!

Today’s itinerary gives us free time to explore more of the festival as well as the village. We will have an easy day to relax and enjoy this gorgeous valley in the sunshine.

Some of us go up to the temple to see some more of the dances and celebrations. It is much less crowded today, with locals outnumbering the tourists, which gives us a great opportunity to soak up the atmosphere, which is a great experience for all of us.

In the afternoon Kevin, Eamonn and I venture down to the village to get internet access. Unfortunately the internet café is shut when we get there. We decide to walk down towards a bridge at the end of the village and are rewarded with some stunning views of the valley. We purchase some of the delicious honey that we have every morning for breakfast to take home with us. Once done we realize that the internet café has opened and we try our luck with the no so very fast connection they have here. I don’t get to upload anything, which was what I wanted to do. I guess this will have to wait until I get to Thimphu or even home to Bangkok.

Tomorrow we head back to Punakha. It’s going to be a long drive, fingers crossed the weather will be nice, as the views are supposedly spectacular.

A day of rain and two beautiful celebrations - Day 10

Today started off once again grey and misty. The morning programme was to visit a local weaving factory as well as the summer residence of the second King of Bhutan, both about an hour drive from Bumthang. It started to rain the moment we got on the bus to drive to the weaving factory and unfortunately did not stop until lunch. The group was in good spirits though and nobody minded the weather.

The weaving factory also had a souvenir shop attached we proved to be the much bigger attraction. We only saw a few women weaving when we stopped by. It did not seem to be much of a factory. The women that were actually weaving sat outside in an open shed as well as behind the building. We have some serious shoppers on this trip. Needless to say that rain combined with traditional handicrafts made the shop owner very happy by the time we left.

Our next stop was a remote palace, which was used as the summer residence for the second King of Bhutan. The palace can’t be visited inside, but is in a beautiful location, so a visit is well worth it.

For lunch we drove back to Bumthang and had pizza at the Himalayan Pizza restaurant. The owner of the restaurant used to live in Switzerland and brought the love for European food back to this remote village in central Bhutan. Pizzas are on the every day menu, whereas other European (mainly Swiss) dishes can be pre-ordered.

We returned back to the hotel after lunch for some rest, before setting off to celebrate the birthday of one of the group members, followed by our first visit to the annual festival, which is held in the temple of the village.

I realized the money and my brand new I-Pod touch were taken from my room whilst we were out in the morning. To an extent I have to blame myself for being careless as I did not lock my suitcase up, making it easy for things to be taken. However, central Bhutan was the last place on earth where I felt the need to lock my belongings away. The hotel manager reacted really stupid, accusing me of lying, before saying that it was not his responsibility in any case. Well to cut a long story short, the ipod and the money are gone. I won’t let this spoil my trip.

We set off to a very remote farmhouse for dinner and birthday celebrations for one of our travel companions. He had no idea that a surprise party was planned for him. We initially had some home made Ara (wine produced from either rice or buckwheat) in the family’s living room, after which we went to the altar room of the house, where we celebrated the birthday Bhutanese style. Butter lamps were lit and offerings were made, followed by some traditional prayers that the family as well as our guides read out. It was touching and very special moment for the birthday boy, which was equally enjoyed by the whole group.

After dinner we made our way to the first evening of the local festival, which was to be opened in style with a fire dance and ceremony. This evening is one of the highlights in the year for the local people. We had quite a tough time to reach the temple in which the festival was held as lots of people also went there. Once inside the temple we just made it to see the fire dance, which is performed by 6 dancers, which is thought to bring blessings to the people and ward off evil spirits.

After the dance, a procession of monks led all visitors out of the temple into a field, where a huge wooden gate was built and decorated with large pine branches. As soon as everyone had arrived, the pine branches were lit to cheers of anticipation and delight of many of the young visitors to the festival. It is custom to pass the burning gate three times in order to achieve spiritual purification and cleansing. It is difficult to say how many people were in the field, but as soon as the fire reached the top of the gate, a mad rush through the gate started. We went back into the temple to see some more of the dances that were scheduled to go on until the early hours of the morning.

Another great day, enjoyed by all. Bring on tomorrow!

A restful day and the best coffee in the world - Day 9

We take it easy this morning, awaiting the return of the guys that did the trek until the end. They reached the hotel just before lunch and got to enjoy their hot shower back in civilization. It was obvious that the trek was very enjoyable for them, regardless of how tough the second day ended up being. 

We all set off for lunch together and decided to have free and easy afternoon for everyone to do as they please. We had the opportunity to shop a bit, check the internet and enjoy the atmosphere of beautiful Jarkar village, before being picked up by the coach to go back to the hotel.

Some of the us wanted to get online and went to the one local internet cafe in Jarkar. I could not blog or even try to upload any posts to facebook as the internet was just way too slow. Thankfully we were able to check at least our emails. The nicest surprise of the day was that the internet cafe also offered coffee, cakes and snacks. We soon discovered that the coffee on offer was the best we had since reaching Bhutan. Coffee beans ground in the espresso machine and freshly steamed milk. It doesn’t get much better than that.

We return to the hotel late afternoon, before heading out for dinner later in the evening. Dinner was enjoyed in a local restaurant that we had all to ourselves, which was enjoyed by everyone.

Yest another great day came to an end all too soon, but more to come tomorrow!

Lunch in an unusual spot - Day 8

I woke up very early this morning – around 4:30 am as I needed the bathroom. Alas, no bathroom in sight, only the bushes or the toilet tent in our remote camp. It was close to freezing when I got out of the tent. The sky was clear, offering me the most amazing starry sky imaginable. I saw several shooting stars whilst admiring the sky, before heading back into the comfort of my sleeping bag.

By 6am I was woken by the trek team delivering tea and coffee to the tents. Not a bad way to start the day. I was a bit upset this morning as my knee was not feeling better, which obviously meant I was not going to be able to join today’s hike.  Another tour member decided not to continue as he was not feeling well, too. The remaining hikers set off at about 7:30, at which time we were taken back to the hotel. The ride took about 90 minutes and was beautiful. We drove through pine woods, villages and along the river that accompanied our hike the day before. It was nice to see real rural life whilst driving through the villages. Children went off to school, whilst farmers were out in the fields.

After reaching the hotel I dashed into the bathroom to have a hot shower and then join the group had stayed back on their trip to the remote farming village of Ura. It took us two hours to get to the village during which we had ample time for photo stops. The landscape was once again beautiful.

We reached the village around lunch time and first visited the temple of Ura. The village itself has a more than 300 year old history. It has a medieval feel to it with it’s cobble stoned streets and ancient farm houses. We were supposed to have lunch with a local family today. Unfortunately that was not possible as all villagers were out in the surrounding fields, trying to bring in the harvest. Instead, Chenda, our guide, managed to speak to the caretaker of the temple. The very kind man invited us into the temple to have our lunch there. He even rolled out a carpet for us, so that we could sit more comfortable.  We enjoyed our lunch very much in this beautiful old temple. We were the only visitors at the time, which made the experience even more special. We invited the caretaker to join our lunch, which he happily did. I enjoyed this peaceful moment with the group very much. We spent quite some extra time just sitting, chatting and soaking up the atmosphere. Wonderful!

It had started to rain, which cut short our visit to the village as the roads were very getting muddy. The driver wanted to start back as he was afraid the mud path back to the main road from the village would get to slippery for the bus to manage. The drive home was spent chatting with new found friends, short naps as well as some photo stops. All too soon we reached the hotel and ended another wonderful day!

Tomorrow we will be joined by the guys that did the hike all the way to the end. We will all have lunch together before doing some local sightseeing around the area. Can’t wait!

Fall foliage - Day 7

Today was the first day of our three day hike. We were going to hike for about 11 kilometers (7 miles) and gain about 300 meters (1000 feet) in height. Not all of us were joining the hike, with five guys staying back at the hotel for a more relaxed, cultural program around the area.

The seven of us that opted to hike set off from the hotel by coach at around 9.30 am. The starting point of the hike was reached after half an hour drive. All of us were very excited as this was the first day in almost a week with sunshine. Little did we know what lay ahead of us later.

The first two and a half hours were a very pleasant walk, only slightly uphill. The path followed a river, through beautiful valleys, gorges and meadows. The sun was out, which made the hike a great experience. The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful, making the trek a pleasant walk that all of us enjoyed tremendously. We were accompanied by Karma, the owner of the inbound travel agency as our guide as well as one trek assistant and the chef who carried our lunch in his gigantic back pack. The rest of the trekking crew drove ahead to the camp site for the night to set up the tents in time for our arrival.

Lunch was enjoyed in an open field with great views of the surrounding mountains. The sun was disappearing fast behind some clouds, but none of us really thought about that. Within a few minutes we heard some thunder and saw some very dark clouds approach us. Weather changes quick in the mountains and we barely managed to finish eating and getting our rain gear out before the rain started. A little drizzle quickly turned into a heavy downpour. Thankfully the strong rain lasted only for 20 minutes but it made the trek conditions much more difficult than before. We had to walk through deep mud and ankle deep water at time. I actually thought that it was quite good fun to walk in these tougher conditions. Luckily my boots were completely water proof.

The rain stopped just as quick as it started and we continued to walk towards our camp site, which we reached around 3pm. Everything was ready when we got there. The staff greeted us with hot tea and biscuits, which was a welcome surprise to all of us.

The hike only took four and half hours, through some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to continue hiking as I had little accident in the wet weather. I slipped on a stone and twisted my knee. It’s nothing major but I just can’t imagine to walk the long and tough bit of the hike tomorrow in pain. Needless to say that I am very disappointed as I enjoyed myself immensely.

After settling into the camp and getting into dry clothes, the group gathers around the bonfire that the team had started for us. Shortly after sitting down one of the guys brought a bottle of Scotch and we made ourselves comfortable before dinner. Dinner this evening was delicious, cooked fresh by the chef and the trek assistants. We returned back to the bonfire and talked for quite a few hours. A second bottle of Scotch appeared and we all felt very much at home in this remote but beautiful spot. Unfortunately it started to rain at about 9.30 pm and we all quickly retreated to our tents.

Another great day in Bhutan!

Today was our first really long bus trip. We had to go from Punakha to Jarkar/Bumthang. The distance is only 220 kilometers (140 miles) but the drive takes all day. It goes over three passes, the highest of which is about 3.600 meters (11000 feet) above sea level.

We left our hotel in Punakha just after six in the morning. Everyone settled in as comfortably as possible. The weather was once again not on our side. Soon after starting to climb up the first pass, we drove into the now familiar grey rain clouds, which limit view to about 100 meters. In nice weather this drive is supposedly stunning. We’ll see if it’s true when we drive back this route, in hopefully nicer conditions.

Just before lunch we stopped at a nice scenic spot and actually enjoyed some views as we were now under the clouds. There were also some nice paintings on the rocks, which made for some good photo opportunities. There is really not much else to write about the first half of the day, apart from our lunch stop where we had a surprisingly tasteful, nice meal. The restaurant belongs to the same owner as the place where I purchased the painting yesterday.

The day continued with more driving up and down winding hill roads. The weather hadn’t changed, so most of us chose to make up for the very early departure this morning, by trying to catch some sleep.

In the afternoon we stopped at Trongsa Dzong, which is the most important Dzong in the country as it is the ancestral home of the royal family of Bhutan. It was built in a stunning, cliff top position. During our visit we were invited into the living quarters of one of the most senior monks living in the Dzong. A rare opportunity for which we all were very grateful.

The driving just did not seem to end today. The sun had already set when we stopped for a quick toilet break. Our driver had to navigate around some fences back onto the road to continue driving on to Bumthang, when suddenly one of the tour members yelled by the top of his voice ‘Careful there is a cow back here’.  All of us started to laugh apart from the guide and driver who almost jumped out of the their seats in surprise. It was pitch black by now and we would have guaranteed hit the poor cow, if Brad in the back row hadn’t looked out the back window.

Thirteen hours after starting, we finally reach Bumthang, where we will spend almost a week hiking , sightseeing and attending a local festival. Our hotel is small but cosy. Life is good!

This morning we were leaving the beautiful valley of Thimphu to drive to Punakha, a 76 km drive over the Dochu La Pass, which took us about 3 ½ hours. We stopped on of the pass in Dochu La, hoping for some terrific views of the Bhutanese Himalaya’s which unfortunately we did not get.

The weather was not very good and soon after leaving Thimphu we drove in the low hanging rain clouds. Instead of seeing sun drenched mountain peaks and valleys we drove into a mystical and somewhat eerie environment, that had a fascination of it’s own. I would describe as Middle Earth from the Lord of rings, only in the mountains. At times clouds would break open and we would have better views into the valleys, with clouds drifting around. Listen up Peter Jackson. If they give you grief in New Zealand in preparation of filming the ring prequel ‘The Hobbit’, come to Bhutan the landscapes are stunning, mystical and of rare beauty.

On top of the pass is an interesting sight. 108 Chortens (Stuphas) were built here in remembrance of loss of life in southern Bhutan caused by the flushing out of Assamese militants in 2005. There are also thousands of prayer flags, making this an impressive sight to break the journey.

We stopped at a hotel just beneath the top of the pass for tea and coffee. As with many places like this, a souvenir shop was attached to the restaurant. I spotted a wonderful painting and could not resist to buy it. The artist who painted it is a renowned master of Bhutanese art who studied and then taught at the arts academy in Thimphu which we have visited the day before. As he is also the owner of the hotel he was there today and offered to sign the painting I bought. I have just the place in our house for this beautiful piece. We carried on driving down to Punakha valley.

The weather didn’t change but nobody seemed to mind, as we were rewarded with wonderful views once we actually drove out of the clouds. Our sightseeing stop for the day was the magnificent Punakha Dzong. It is widely regarded as the country’s most beautiful Dzong. The location of the Dzong is spectacular, nestled in between two rivers that merge right in front of the building.

We entered and wandered through the courtyards before our guide called us to come upstairs into the main temple of the Dzong. Only in Punakha are tourists allowed to visit the main temple, in other Dzongs tourist can see some of the less important prayer rooms. In the temple monks had gathered to start a prayer ceremony for a villager that had died two weeks ago. Prayers were to be spoken and offerings like food and money were to be made for the well being of the departed soul. Shortly before the ceremony started, the family of the villager arrived and was led to a small altar at the side of the temple. We were extremely lucky to be able to witness such a ceremony and private moment. There were only the monks, the family and us. I don’t really have words to describe this moment. It is my highlight of the tour so far. Listening to the chanting monks and soaking up the atmosphere in the temple was very special.

After the visit we drove to our hotel for dinner and overnight, being extremely grateful for another wonderful day in Bhutan. More to come tomorrow!

Today was designed to be a relaxing day, to make up for the strains we faced the day before at the Tiger’s  Nest Monastery. Our itinerary included sights in and around of Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan.

Thimphu has a population of about 150.000 people. It is a developing city with more and more people from the countryside coming to work there. It is also the only capital city in the world that does not have traffic lights.

Our first stop was at the Bhutan Arts and Crafts Academy, a government funded school for highly talented kids. Students start going to the school when they are abut 12 or 13. They have to choose one of the very traditional art forms that are being taught at the school and are then also provided with other non artistic classes like English and IT.

The visit to the Arts school was very interesting and highly enjoyable. Not only were we allowed to freely roam through the buildings to interact with the students but also found out very quickly that the students were more than keen to talk to us, explain their work and share their experience as well as backgrounds. It was awesome to see these talented students explaining centuries old practices to produce their very traditional art. Apart from that, this was not one of those shopping stops with a presentation of what is being produced to push tourists into buying. These students will go to on have their own studios, work for the government or maintain the art in monasteries once they graduate. Some will even become teachers at the school, which is a great honour in this country where traditions are kept alive so much.

Our next stop was at the giant Stupha in central Timphu. Many people come here regularly to make their rounds of prayers around the Stupha. This is another place where it is very obvious that religion and traditions are very important to the people of Bhutan. When we arrived a group of monks were performing a prayer ceremony which was transmitted via loudspeakers out into the open, whilst the Stupha was surrounded by clouds of smoke of incense powder which was burnt  in big urns in the grass surrounding the area. Many in the group , including me very much enjoyed this visit as it allowed as yet another glimpse into the life of the people of this magical place.

Before lunch we were off to the local Farmers market to see what produce is on offer. One thing became apparent very quickly…. Chilies are very important in Bhutanese cuisine. There were huge amounts of dried and fresh chilies on offer in this market. Some of us also went to a small arts and crafts market, which was nearby. I wondered off to explore the market some more, including the second floor, which was full of stalls selling vegetables but also rice and huge amounts of incense sticks as well as powders. One of the group members approached me and we went to see if we can get some incense sticks for some of his friends back home. We found a stall with a very friendly young man trying to help us. He explained about different aromas and what they are supposed to be used for. I asked him if I could take a picture of him, after we had finished buying some of his goods. He smiled very nicely and said that he’d prefer not to be photographed. One of the things I was told before coming here was that people are very happy to pose for pictures as long as they are asked nicely beforehand. The funny thing here was that the vendor gave us a quite cute excuse. He pointed to a woolen cap that was tucked in his back pocket and said that his hairdo was ruined because he wearing the cap. Therefore he was not comfortable being photographed. I am not sure if that was his real reason but it sure was a nice way of saying no.

After a pleasant lunch in a local restaurant some of the group opted to go on to do their own things. We agreed on time and place to meet again as a group and went on our merry way. Kevin and I went on with the sightseeing part, which brought us to a local weaving center. An interesting stop to see how some of the beautiful fabrics are being created. Once again we could walk around freely, take pictures and speak to the ladies that worked there. Obviously, they had a shop as well and I found a beautiful table runner, which will look great on our dining table.

The next and final stop of the day was the zoo of Thimphu to see the very rare and endangered Takin. The Takin is an animal indigenous to Bhutan. The Zoo as such is a bit disappointing as we only saw one enclosure that had a few deer and Takin. The Takin is categorized as a mix of Goat and Cow, giving it it’s somewhat peculiar looks.

This was once again a very enjoyable day. There were no major highlights like Tiger’s Nest Monastery, but it was very enjoyable as we got a really good glimpse into every day life of the people of Bhutan. Can we have more that, please?