Bhutan 1: A four AM flight to the Kingdom of Happiness

   We left around midnight for the airport.  Our flight was set to depart just after 4:00 am.  Delhi airport has more security checkpoints than any airport I have ever been to.  You have to wait on a lengthy line and have security check your ticket to even enter the airport.  Then immigration.  Then, a very long security line to get your bags scanned.  They wanted every single cord, power bank, camera, and electronic device out.  I couldn't remove all of my camera gear, so I put that through anyway and then they made a minor exception for that.  

  We had business class seats, so we had access to a fancy lounge.  I had never been in one before.  It had a massive buffet.  I ate a whole bunch.  Jeremy ate nothing.  Near the end, a loud alarm went off, and workers scrambled to reassure everyone that things were ok.  When we walked to the gate, we passed some gates that needed an additional security check, which we would eventually have to go through for our flight back to the U.S.  Once on the airplane, we were told not to panic when we would see mountains very close by on our sides as we descend.  The Bhutan airport is surrounded by mountains on three sides.   I went to sleep right away.  Jeremy stayed up and ate the luxury airplane meal.

  We arrived just past 6:00 AM, to an airport with beautiful architecture.  Once we gathered our bags, we encountered two desks, for two sim card companies.  They had the exact same rates.  Jeremy chose the one on the right, with two gigabytes of data.  I chose the one on the left, with unlimited data.  We figured that splitting them up would have us covered more in case one didn't work, but I imagine they both share the same network.

  Our guide and driver were waiting just outside the airport.  Outside of the two "major" cities in Bhutan, you are not allowed to move around without a guide and driver.  Our guide told us to call him "Rye" and our driver could be called "ST."  We made one short stop on the way to our hotel, at a spot where two rivers turned into a third, near the Chhuzom Bridge.  He explained a little bit about how tall flags were put in windy places, to guide spirits of the recently dead.

  When we arrived at the hotel in Thimpu, we were given herbal tea, which didn't taste like any tea I had ever had before.  It was actually pleasant.  We went to our room for an hour, and then were summoned down for breakfast.

I feel like this picture was at the airport.  The monkey, rabbit, and bird are common Buddhist symbols in Bhutan, about working together to achieve a goal for all.

  Later, when the guide picked us up, we walked from our hotel in search of an atm.  It took three tries to find an ATM that worked.  BOB, which stands for Bank of Bhutan, would be the only ATM type that worked for either of us on the trip.  There are no traffic lights in the entire country of Bhutan.  We passed the only intersection that required additional assistance, in the way of a man that very gracefully directed traffic.

  After lunch, we remained seated and were joined by two young women from our tour company.  They asked us if everything was to our satisfaction to that point and asked if we had any questions.  I asked them a bit about Bhutanese culture and the life of women in the big cities compared to the countryside.

  After a short drive, we visited the National Memorial Chhorten, the first of many Buddhist stupas that we would visit.  Rye explained how elderly relatives would sometimes be dropped off for the day and would attempt to walk clockwise around the structure one hundred and eight times, in the Buddhist tradition.

  We went to the Traditional School of Arts and Crafts, which allowed us to peak in on active classrooms.  I didn't enjoy this at all, as I found it invasive, so I said that I was fine with not looking.  Nearby was a large gift shop, from the school, but almost everything in each category of craft, seemed to be from a small set of templates.  Around the corner was the Folk Heritage Museum.  We climbed up a multi leveled building, which had extremely steep steps.  The architecture was cool.  A few teens were doing archery.  They finished and then the three of us walked over and I tried my hand at it.

We went up the side of the mountain to the Dechen Phodrang Monastery and walked around for a bit.  The Tashichho Dzong fortress, up next, does not open to the public until 5PM each night.  The fort is used as an administration and temple space until then.  While waiting, we walked through a local farmer's market.

This food is often given as a welcoming of friendship.

  After a short ceremony that brought down the flag flying just outside the fortress, our guide walked us to the back, where we had a large area all to ourselves.

  Retracing our steps, we entered the fortress.  We had send our cameras through an x-ray machine.

  That night I walked to a convenience store called C Mart, just a few blocks away, get stock up on some unusual snacks for the upcoming road trip.

  The next morning we drove up the mountain to see the Buddha Dordenma Statue that was being constructed, sponsored by a Singaporean businessman.  It wasn't really my kind of thing, so I sat near the view of the valley.