I woke up the next morning hearing Santosh's voice. He'd brought over a big bowl of very warm water for me to wash my face with. Immediately I took advantage of it - my face was grateful.
Then Namgay informed me that the general consensus was that the rain would continue to fall for several days between Paro and Thimpu. After a breakfast of sausage and eggs by Kinsung and a short talk with the mule-boy, we decided that it would be too miserable to continue to Thimphu. I was slightly disheartened - but there was no time for wallowing in inevitable misfortunes of the weather.
Namgay went ahead and started the hike while the others packed up camp. We hiked to the summit right near our campsite, which was called the Jele Dzong.
It's a pretty large monastery, and marked the last stop on the path (Druk Path) from Thimpu to Paro - which was the means of travel between the two towns before the road was built.
Before I left for Bhutan, Katie gave me some prayer flags to bring with me and hang up for her. So this is my honoring her request. Somehow the flags she gave me were a lot smaller than the others that were hung.
Namgay was able to make a few calls on his cell phone from the summit to arrange for us to be picked up in Paro and taken to Thimpu. He also let me call Ellen on it! It was very curious that he could get reception there.
On our way down we heard lots of sustained chirping noises all throughout the woods. Then there was one coming from trail in front of me. I bent down to see an injured cicada flapping one broken wing. Namgay came over, picked it up, said "I'll give it a little help", and threw it in the air. It took flight immediately! Then I told Namgay that Ellen would like what he'd just done. See how the wing on the right is torn?
After more hiking the rest of the party including the mules joined up with us. Then as we neared I got to talking to Santosh and soon we realized that Namgay was nowhere around. So we stopped for a bit along the trail. There was a steep drop-off on one side and I was standing near it. Well one of the mules came up to me who had all kinds of hair covering its eyes, and the thing walked right beside me and nudged me so hard I nearly fell off the edge. I stayed away from that one the rest of the time... dumb blind mule.
We arrived at the trail head and Namgay and a packed lunch while the other two unpacked the mules. Not too long after, a taxi showed up to drive us to Thimpu. We passed the airport- here's a little better picture of the building. This is the ONLY passenger building! Tiny right? I love how it's in tune with the Bhutanese architecture though.
The valley between the two towns is SO gorgeous!
They are in the process of widening this ~35 mile leg, which is only 1 lane. It was kind of treacherous because a lot of the sections were muddy, and you'd have to wait for whole strings of oncoming traffic to pass narrow spots while you waited on the shoulder. And when you were passing other cars, the road was barely wide enough; the left 2 tires would be on the dirt shoulder and you'd feel like the right rear-view mirror was gonna be shattered from the passing cars. GAH. But Tshering was an excellent driver. This shot is of an exceptionally wide road in Paro.
Some of the pavement would be laid atop machine-ground gravel. They said this was expensive to do though. Most of the workers along the side of the road were hand-breaking rocks into gravel for the road base. I couldn't believe my eyes. It seemed so primitive. Plus there were a lot of women and children too who were working. Some mothers had babies with them that they just laid on the road shoulder under an umbrella while they worked. Namgay said that many of these workers came from India because the opportunity for employment is higher for them in Bhutan. Can you imagine leaving your home country to do work like this?
2 hours of driving later, we arrived in Thimpu at the Druk Hotel. After an attendant took my bag, Namgay found the owner, Dilu, and introduced me to him. He is also the secretary of the Bhutan Rock Climbing Club.
I was pretty stoked to meet him. Dilu also had me meet Robin - one of the club members. I climbed with him later in the week.
I got to my room, took a nap, then went out onto the square in front of the hotel.
I walked around a bit and found a small barber shop and got my hair cut, face shaved and scalp messaged - all by the same fantastically skilled Indian barber. Only cost me 60 Nu, which is about $1.50. And it was much much faster than an American haircut. I think that was the first time I'd been shaved with a straight razor. It was a bit scary. He pinched my skin taut so the blade would glide smoothly over it. It made me feel like my face was made of rubber though.
I ordered some food to my room from the restaurant in the hotel and after dinner soaked in the sauna the hotel had in the basement. OOh it was great. Then I had cold shower and watched a bit of television before going to sleep.
Then Namgay informed me that the general consensus was that the rain would continue to fall for several days between Paro and Thimpu. After a breakfast of sausage and eggs by Kinsung and a short talk with the mule-boy, we decided that it would be too miserable to continue to Thimphu. I was slightly disheartened - but there was no time for wallowing in inevitable misfortunes of the weather.
Namgay went ahead and started the hike while the others packed up camp. We hiked to the summit right near our campsite, which was called the Jele Dzong.
It's a pretty large monastery, and marked the last stop on the path (Druk Path) from Thimpu to Paro - which was the means of travel between the two towns before the road was built.
Before I left for Bhutan, Katie gave me some prayer flags to bring with me and hang up for her. So this is my honoring her request. Somehow the flags she gave me were a lot smaller than the others that were hung.
Namgay was able to make a few calls on his cell phone from the summit to arrange for us to be picked up in Paro and taken to Thimpu. He also let me call Ellen on it! It was very curious that he could get reception there.
On our way down we heard lots of sustained chirping noises all throughout the woods. Then there was one coming from trail in front of me. I bent down to see an injured cicada flapping one broken wing. Namgay came over, picked it up, said "I'll give it a little help", and threw it in the air. It took flight immediately! Then I told Namgay that Ellen would like what he'd just done. See how the wing on the right is torn?
After more hiking the rest of the party including the mules joined up with us. Then as we neared I got to talking to Santosh and soon we realized that Namgay was nowhere around. So we stopped for a bit along the trail. There was a steep drop-off on one side and I was standing near it. Well one of the mules came up to me who had all kinds of hair covering its eyes, and the thing walked right beside me and nudged me so hard I nearly fell off the edge. I stayed away from that one the rest of the time... dumb blind mule.
We arrived at the trail head and Namgay and a packed lunch while the other two unpacked the mules. Not too long after, a taxi showed up to drive us to Thimpu. We passed the airport- here's a little better picture of the building. This is the ONLY passenger building! Tiny right? I love how it's in tune with the Bhutanese architecture though.
The valley between the two towns is SO gorgeous!
They are in the process of widening this ~35 mile leg, which is only 1 lane. It was kind of treacherous because a lot of the sections were muddy, and you'd have to wait for whole strings of oncoming traffic to pass narrow spots while you waited on the shoulder. And when you were passing other cars, the road was barely wide enough; the left 2 tires would be on the dirt shoulder and you'd feel like the right rear-view mirror was gonna be shattered from the passing cars. GAH. But Tshering was an excellent driver. This shot is of an exceptionally wide road in Paro.
Some of the pavement would be laid atop machine-ground gravel. They said this was expensive to do though. Most of the workers along the side of the road were hand-breaking rocks into gravel for the road base. I couldn't believe my eyes. It seemed so primitive. Plus there were a lot of women and children too who were working. Some mothers had babies with them that they just laid on the road shoulder under an umbrella while they worked. Namgay said that many of these workers came from India because the opportunity for employment is higher for them in Bhutan. Can you imagine leaving your home country to do work like this?
2 hours of driving later, we arrived in Thimpu at the Druk Hotel. After an attendant took my bag, Namgay found the owner, Dilu, and introduced me to him. He is also the secretary of the Bhutan Rock Climbing Club.
I was pretty stoked to meet him. Dilu also had me meet Robin - one of the club members. I climbed with him later in the week.
I got to my room, took a nap, then went out onto the square in front of the hotel.
I walked around a bit and found a small barber shop and got my hair cut, face shaved and scalp messaged - all by the same fantastically skilled Indian barber. Only cost me 60 Nu, which is about $1.50. And it was much much faster than an American haircut. I think that was the first time I'd been shaved with a straight razor. It was a bit scary. He pinched my skin taut so the blade would glide smoothly over it. It made me feel like my face was made of rubber though.
I ordered some food to my room from the restaurant in the hotel and after dinner soaked in the sauna the hotel had in the basement. OOh it was great. Then I had cold shower and watched a bit of television before going to sleep.
2 comments:
Yea!! Keep posting! And I love the part about the 'dumb blind mule'. 8^)
Can you imagine leaving your home country to do work like this?
Hey, you gotta find some way to save up for the Nirvana box set!
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