July Photo-a-day

The most exciting thing that happened to me today is that without any fanfare, explanation or reason, our broadband internet started working again. For six or more weeks we've been out a connection except for about three random days in that time, and I can't tell you how frustrating it is!

We have tried every avenue to fix the problem including buying a new Bhutanese modem (to replace our flash Australian wifi modem), numerous visits from Bhutan Telecom to our house, and numerous visits from Bob to the Bhutan Telecom office in Chamkar. In the end an assumption was made by all that it was our computer that was the problem, and Bob has spent hours over the past few days using the computer at the post office to research buying a new computer to be shipped here from overseas.

And then, on a whim, I plugged in the modem this morning and it worked. I have no idea why! No one here can give any explanation, and in fact when I questioned my colleagues today they said "Oh yes, my internet hasn't been working for a while either", but no one seems too disturbed about it!

So I am very happy to post my photos today, quite a few of which I wasn't able to upload onto the facebook page through the month. Is it really going to be August tomorrow?

1 - Happiness
Happiness is good friends, good food, beautiful scenery.

 

2 - Shoes
Shoes at Semtokha Dzong

3 - Cold
When we reached the ridge above Tharpa Ling, the wind was cold!

4 - Red, White and Blue
Om Mani Padme Hum painted on the rock wall at a temple above Tharpa Ling

5 - Love
We stopped at Lobesa en route to Thimphu to buy sweets and icecreams as an afternoon pick-me-up - 8 hours of driving down, 3 to go!

6. Fave Smell
Waking up in Matt and Lucy's place in Chemgang to the smell of fresh pancakes and my favourite Earl Grey Tea!

7 - Where you are
Pedestrian Day in Thimphu, the streets are closed so people can walk and play in the streets of the capital every month!

8. Path
We stayed at Gangtey Palace in Paro with enchanted gardens and lovely cobblestone paths.

9 - Three Things
Three water-powered prayer wheels on the walk up to Tiger's Nest.

10 - Smooth
The slide at the children's playground in Thimphu.

11- I wore this
Bob bought me a new double dorji amulet at Paro Dzong to add to my growing collection of blessing strings.

12 - A Bad Habit
This lady is preparing 'doma' - betel nut - to sell. It has a mild intoxicating effect to those (most Bhutanese) who chew it through the day.

13 - 4 O'Clock
What a lovely moment to capture forever! Enjoying tea and biscuits on the grass in the afternoon sunshine with Senge at Phobjika.

14 - Edible
This freshly slaughtered meat is being put out to dry in the sun. This is edible for Bhutanese, but as it was swarming with flies I'm glad to be vegetarian!

15 - Outside the Window
Looking through the windscreen of our hired car as we go over the Lowa-La pass.

16 - Bottle
We came back from Thimphu with a couple of boxes of luxury imported foods to last the final 5  months. Will two bottles of olives get us through?

17 - Inspiration
School began with two days of gardening - here the students are planting hazelnut seedlings which is the new cash crop Bhutan hopes to make money with in the future.

18 - Number
The Dzongkha number chart on my classroom wall.

19 - Building
This photo is not from the day, but I couldn't resist showing one of the worlds most impressive, unusual and fascinating buildings - Tiger's Nest Monastery.

20 - Hot
I have become addicted to chilli and even make chilli fried rice for breakfast most mornings!

21 - Fave food
It's not my favourite food in the world (could be a tight competition between Japanese and Indian), but these are my favourite Bhutanese foods - momos, kewadatsi and puris.

22 - Grey
Crossing the grey bridge in grey weather to the grey stone house where one of our teachers was hosting a baby shower after school.

23 - I Drew This
Inspirational signs I made for the library door.

24 - D is for...
Door - the High School Library Door is beautifully decorated.

25 - Ground
Students cutting the grass by hand with sickles - with all the monsoon rain the grass is growing quicker than they can cut it so they are out every morning doing this before school.

26 - Everyday
Everyday in Bhutanese homes, schools, temples etc water bowls are offered to the Buddha. Each bowl represents a different precious thing to offer the Buddha such as beautiful fragrance.

27 - Black and White
I had wanting to photograph this wooden ladder that leads up to one of our neighbour's homes.

28 - This is new
These potatoes were freshly harvested by one of my student's families from their field over the road and she brought us these at the end of the day.

29 - Perspective
This sunflower appears to be towering over the Himalayas in the background.

30 - Friendship

The children here all walk to and from home together in small friendship groups. I remember doing this when I was little.

 

31 - Workspace

So happy that our home workspace is in action again - for how long is anyone's guess!

 

Here's to staying online for at least a few days so we can catch up with everyone!

Feeling Like a Princess in Paro

After a couple of days in Thimphu, we were ready to join our friend Heather in Paro, so together with Arwen, another Aussie teacher, we drove our little van the hour distance to Paro. This is where Bhutan’s international airport is, and was the first glimpse we had of Bhutan when we arrived in January.

Heather met us at the bridge that crosses the river to Paro Dzong, so we walked up the long and winding cobblestone path to see this majestic administrative centre and monastery high on the hill overlooking the entire Paro valley. Inside we visited the temple and some monks were selling blessing strings and amulets. Bob chose a ‘phurba’ – dagger and I chose a ‘dorji jaram’ – double thunderbolt – both blessed with all sorts of good luck to overcome obstacles and live a long healthy life.

 

 

 

Arwen, Heather and Bob admiring the view from the Dzong.

 

 

After the Dzong, we went into Paro town and found a cafe for tea and cake which had al fresco seating overlooking the playground – pretty cool. We sat in the afternoon sunshine while the kids enjoyed a play.

Xavier made us laugh by misreading the sign 'Take-away Bacteria'.

 

Alphabet pictures surrounded the playground.

Hanging out at Paro playground.

 

Heather had stayed the previous night at Gangtey Palace Hotel and she and Arwen decided to stay there again for a special treat. We were undecided so took the girls there and once we saw this beautiful place it only took a moment to decide we would splash out a bit too on the opportunity to stay at this restored Bhutanese home, tastefully decorated with potted plants, statues, artwork and historical artefacts.  

Paro Dzong features on the 10 ngultrum note.

 

 

 

Gardens alive with colourful flowers surrounding a large chorten overlooked the Paro valley and across to the Paro Dzong which caught the last of the day’s sunshine. A sense of peace and calm surrounded me as I sat on a bench looking over the valley while the boys played hide and seek among the gardens. A precious moment to catch my breath and relax.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We arranged to have dinner at 7pm and were served a meal that included typical Bhutanese fare, bland and toned down for tourist tastes, so I ordered some ezay (chilli salsa) to liven it up a bit. This is what happens after living here for six months!

The boys loved the idea of 'topping and tailing' on this cute improvised bed!

 

If you look closely you can see the Dzong through the window - a room with an awesome view.

 

The experience of staying in Gangtey Palace made our Paro stay so much richer – seeing that magical view across to the Dzong as the sun set, I felt like a princess, and could imagine that if you had limited time in Bhutan as most tourists do, just a day spent here would fulfil your dreams of the mystical land of Bhutan.

Tiger's Nest

Paro is the gateway for Bhutan and where we first arrived in January. That day we ate lunch in town and then swiftly travelled to Thimphu an hour away, and were left with only a fleeting glimpse of the city.

 

This time we chose to stay in Paro for two nights mainly so that we could tackle Bhutan’s most famous tourist destination – Taktsang or Tiger’s Nest, so named because Guru Rinpoche flew here on the back of a tigress to subdue a local demon. Afterwards he meditated for three months in a small cave in the rock face. It felt to me that a year in Bhutan would not have been complete without reaching the monastery perched high on a sheer mountain side in deep forest, but perhaps I didn’t clearly think through how we would get there with two little kids.

When we arrived at the base of the climb we looked up and were amazed at the sight of the monastery high above us, clouds blowing past.

We're going to climb up there?!?!?!

Luckily our friend Heather joined us and she had already done the walk twice this year, so it was like having a guide. Having said that, she steered us up a very steep path, away from the obvious route to the top, and for a while I was wondering if we were really going in the right direction. We could see nothing but thick forest and occasional paintings on rocks, no view above us to show us where we were headed.

Where are you taking us Heather???

The boys break into spontaneous 'Om Mani Padme Hums' when they see the prayer written on rocks!

Beautiful wildflowers were all along the way.

 

 

Eventually after a hard two-hour uphill walk, we reached the Tiger’s Nest Cafeteria which Heather told us was 2/3 of the way to the top.

Butterlamp near the cafeteria.

We pushed on, still not seeing the million-dollar view of Taktsang which was hidden behind clouds. Light rain added to the slushy mud trail, and Xavier got quite grumpy, but ultimately he managed to keep on walking all the way to the top. It was too far for Remy, even though we plied him with treats, so Bob found a way to carry him on his back inside his backpack so he was hands-free.

 

Lichen hanging eerily from trees.

 

 

 

Finally as we were drawing closer and closer to the Monastery, the clouds cleared momentarily and we could see how far we had climbed and how close we were to the monastery, but we didn’t realise that the last part of the walk is arguably the hardest.

Family snap as we catch our first glimpse of Taktsang. Xavier was in a bad mood after the hard climb and wouldn't smile!

Seven hundred steps descend the rocky mountainside, and fortunately metal railings keep walkers safe as long as you stay on the path. We heard of a sad story of a tourist falling to her death this year from somewhere on this hike and with this in mind we were extra careful, but it seems that if you stay on the path and have favourable weather conditions you would be fine, even with children.

Steep stairs and a beautiful view far down to Paro.

Just before you reach the monastery there is a dramatic waterfall flowing down the vertical mountain and spraying water vapour all around as you cross a little bridge and then walk up to the monastery complex.

Lucky for us, it was a special occasion and the monks had just finished a puja (ceremony) where an enormous amount of tsog (offerings) had been blessed and were now being given out to visitors. The kids were encouraged to take handfuls of chocolates, chips, biscuits and lollies and of course they were more than willing – Xavier thought it was better than heaven!

 

 

We had only half an hour to see the various temples before they close up at 1pm for a lunch break. This was enough time though to see the temples, which were beautiful and inspiring. It was fascinating to walk from one to the other up steep concrete and stone stairs as clouds circled us. As the monks closed up for lunch we sat at the entrance to the monastery and broke open our picnic supplies, savouring for us at least, the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be in this amazing place that few ever get the chance to see. Heather on the other hand has now visited three times and plans to come two more times with visitors later in the year.

Leaving the monastery means ascending those seven hundred steps before meeting the slushy mud path all the way back down the mountain. Remy was tired and it was my turn to carry him up – good exercise!

 

We had clear views of Taktsang all the way down and were amazed where we had just been.

With regular stops and lots of encouragement we made it down to the cafeteria where we waited out a rain shower inside with tea and biscuits. It took us about three hours of slow walking and plenty of rest stops to reach the top and the same to return. I didn’t feel like the walk was particularly hard, but we did take it at an easy pace. I would think that anyone with moderate fitness would be able to make the climb, and a child of 5 or more with lots of breaks and encouragement.

Nearly all the way down - Taktsang is high on the hill and you can see the Cafeteria in among the trees.

 

As we came to the clearing at the bottom of the climb where we began in the morning, we looked up and felt a real sense of achievement. We were so proud of Xavier for being able to walk up and down by himself – it shows how much he has grown up in the past six months. He felt strong and proud of himself too – an enormous achievement in his life, and an opportunity to learn that although there were moments when he’d had enough and wasn’t enjoying himself, the reward of completing the hike was worth it all.

 

 

What an achievement for a five year old kid!

 

We returned tired, but exhilarated, to our hotel Pegyel, which had a swimming pool. We had decided to stay there thinking how good it would be to have a swim after the trek. By the time we arrived, although it had been a warm afternoon, the sun had set and the water was too cool for me. Bob and Heather were both brave enough for a quick dip though with some hardy locals who don’t mind swimming in conditions that I consider wintery!

 



View from the car as we left Taktsang - if you look closely far up on the hill was where we were!

 

 



Beautiful view from our hotel room window.

 

The boys fell asleep on the drive home, so we tucked them in for an early night and while they slept in our room we enjoyed a simple room-service Indian meal with Heather and planned our trip back to Thimphu the next day.

While we were walking, Xavier had reminded us that Taktsang is in the book we have at home in Australia called ‘1000 Places To See Before You Die’, so at the end of this day we were feeling pretty happy to have crossed at least one off!