Day 2
Tuesday October 7, 2008
Paro, Bhutan: Temperature Glorious
Gangtey Palace Hotel
The day started VERY early where we had to get up at 1am to get ready for our 2am taxi ride to BKK to catch or 435am Druk Air Flight 121 to Paro Bhutan via Calcutta. I did not realize the plane was making a stop at Calcutta until the last minute. I was very impressed with Druk Air. I flew business class as the fare was just 200$ more than economy and had a window seat. Since the airline was my first introduction to Bhutan I was looking forward to the plane ride. First thing one notices is how clean the plane is and how beautiful the flight attendants are. The flight attendants wore an exquisite kira (their national costume) . One of the pilots came out to greet us and he was very handsome. I have heard that Bhutanese are one of the most beautiful people in the world and so far I have to agree.
The service on the plane was excellent. We had a full breakfast with three choices – Western, Thai and Indian (vegetarian) with a wide variety of choices of tea, juices or brewed coffee (they highlighted that the coffee was brewed). After breakfast I fell asleep until we were close to landing to Calcutta. It was very obvious upon landing that the area has been hit hard by the monsoon season as I saw many neighborhoods still under water.
Daybreak at Calcutta Airport
After a 40 minute layover, it was time for the 50 minute flight to Paro Bhutan. I was surprised that they served a snack and drinks during the flight. We flew over northern India into Bangladesh and then the highlight of the flight – over the Himalayas. It was cloudy and I was not sure I was on the right side of the plane to see the mountains but fortunately for me I was and I saw the mighty peaks of the Himalayas show itself over the clouds. The flight attendant pointed out Everest to me and I almost started crying because it was magnificent. I can’t imagine climbing it though as it does invoke fear.
Mount Everest
The plane then descended rapidly into a lush valley, made a scary turn and landed in Paro!
My first impression of Paro was how peaceful and quiet the area is. Here I am standing on the tarmac of the airport and its quiet and am surrounded with rice paddies. Second impression is a confirmation of my first impression and that the people of Bhutan are beautiful. I told Margot the men are an Asian version of the “Marlboro Man” and she whole-heartedly agreed. I also noticed how everyone was wearing very fancy shoes. I’m definitely going to be under dressed for the festival we are going to in a few days as I only brought my sneakers.
Paro Airport
After going through customs our guide KunZang our guide, met us. He greeted us with the traditional white scarves and introduced us to our driver Chencho who has the tough job as he has to drive us through the mountains. The drive to the hotel was bumpy but beautiful. KunZang explained to us that rice cultivation is the main business in Paro. The rice fields were gorgeous and it seemed ready for harvest time. After about a 10 minute ride, we entered the Gangtey Palace Hotel which took our breath away.
The Gangtey Palace is a truly heritage hotel with a lot of charm. It used to be the mansion of the governor of Paro and still keeps its architectural features. The views from the compound are magnificent. Because our rooms were not ready, we were treated to tea and biscuits in the garden overlooking the view while listening to the crickets sing. We also saw our first chorten which is a receptacle for offerings and in the Himalayan world it symbolizes Buddha’s mind, body and soul and is sacred. Chortens are built in memory of great religious figures, to obtain merit for a deceased person, or to subjugate demons. A chorten should always be walked around in a clockwise direction.
After tea, we walked around the grounds and visited the gift shop where we met a cute lady who is the shopkeeper who patiently explained what everything was and even demonstrated how a kira is worn. She demonstrated it using a kira she made herself that was made of silk and cotton.
Grounds of our hotel in Paro
View of the Paro Dzong from our hotel
Our First Chorten
By around 1030am our room was ready, so we decided to head back and try and get a nap before we meet up with Kunzang again for lunch. We were quite tired since we have been up since 1am so was ready for a nap.
We met up with Kunzang at 1230pm to go to the bank to get money exchanged and then have lunch and do some sightseeing. The bank was called Bank of Bhutan and the town made me feel like I was in the Asian version of a town from the old TV show “ The Wild Wild West”. There was only one computer in the bank but everyone was nice and all the signs were in English. I converted 50000 Japanese yen which was very very easy to do. At my time of visit, 1 dollar was about 45 NG – the Bhutannese local currency.
After the bank we went to a local restaurant where we were greeted like queens. It was a very quaint restaurant. We ordered 3 beers as they had local beers. Our hostess looked at us in disbelief but we confirmed that we wanted 3 beers. I am not a beer drinker but since I was in Bhutan, I thought I had to at least try the local beer. While waiting for our food and drinks to arrive, we noticed how empty downtown Paro was. Margot noticed a guy across the street from the restaurant facing us doing stretching exercises. It was very funny because every time he stretched with his hands over his head, his shirt will lift just enough so we could see how well endowed he was. It seemed like he was doing it to show off to us!
When the beers arrived, we realized why our hostess looked at us in disbelief. It was 3 large bottles of beer and called Druk Beer. It was a lager beer and I actually could drink it because it was very light. We knew however, we could not finish all three especially since we ‘ve been up since 1am in the morning!
Our lunch was delicious. We had Bhutanese pink rice with curried local vegetables, carrots in cheese, a dried beef dish, eggplant and local green pepper like veggie again in a cheese sauce and our first chile cheese (hema datse!). All was delicious except the beef was very chewy. Margot and I realized that beef is a luxury in Bhutan and so did not want to insult our hostess so ate reasonable portions.
Our first Bhutanese meal
After we were stuffed, we met up with Kunzang and then headed to our first tour – the National Museum. It’s housed in the Watch Tower that was part of the Paro Dzong (fortress). It was the most ornate museum I’ve been too and it is Bhutan’s first attempt to preserve many of its history and religious artifacts. We walked in a clockwise direction through the museum and I found it fascinating to see the rocks and relics of caves where many of the important religious men of Bhutan prayed. I enjoyed the museum very much. The highlights were the old and very beautiful thangkas which were painted with natural ingredients so the color did not fade, the beautiful Bhutanese stamps including the 3D stamps and stamps that talk – they were recorded records and finally the religious display of the gods of Buddhism. The views from the museum were also magnificent – after all, it was the watchtower!
Aferwards we went to the Para Dzong which means the “fortress of the heaping jewels”. It started as a little building by Gyelchok who is a descendant of the Drukpa Kagyupa school in Bhutan. His descendants became known as the Lords of Humrel named after the guardian diety of Paro – Humrel Gompo. In the mid 1600s the lords gave the building to Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal the founder of Bhutan who build a more commanding fortress. Today it is used as an administrative building and a monastery. Pictures do not to the Dzong justice as it was the most beautiful administrative building I’ve ever been too.
The National Museum in Paro – it used to be a Watchtower for the Paro Dzong (fortress)
The courtyard of the Paro Dzong
Afterwards, we crossed the bridge of the Dzong and went into town to do some window shopping in the town of Paro.
I did my homework before going to Bhutan and knew I wanted to get a Thangka of the deity Tara. While at the museum I decided I wanted a white Tara version of the Thangka. She performs 21 different activities to protect people and enable them to enlightenment. The White Tara is seated in Lotus position and has seven eyes. I found the most beautiful painting of Tara in silver and gold and Kunzang worked with me and took me to a tailor who agreed to make me an authentic Bhutanese Thangka using the painting I bought.
The town of Paro was bustling as kids were out of school and people were out of work. We also saw ladies demonstrate the silk weaving Bhutan is known for. I now know why an elaborately designed silk Kira will cost over 1000 dollars!
Since we were all exhausted we had an early dinner at the hotel of veggies and pink rice and called it a day at 8pm!
Two Dogs Taking a Walk in Paro: We saw lots of happy dogs. It was hard to tell which were stray and which weren't as the Bhutanese as devout Buddhists take very good care of all living creatures.
The Paro Bridge
A Shopkeeper in Front of Her Store
Himalayan Mountain Kingdom – Bhutan is a great place for visitor.