April 29 - The Tiger's Nest!

April 29 Day 73
We got up early to get ready for our hike to Tiger's Nest Monastery.  This is the most photogenic place in Bhutan and was intentionally the last big visit of our trip.  It was about a 20 minute drive to the crowded parking lot and a 2 hour hike each way.  We went really slowly because of the altitude.  The path was wide but very crowded with hikers.  We occasionally had to move off to the side as people taking horses came by and riderless horses came down.
At the bottom of the hill it was too misty to catch a glimpse of the monastery but as we headed up the hill we could see it from time to time.  There was a teahouse halfway up that gave us the first really good view but we didn't pause for long (about as long as the line to the women's washroom).  Meg made a bunch of friends on the way up, particularly amongst those who were going slowly but steadily, her chosen pace as well.
As we got close to the top we could see buildings above us and at the second viewpoint the lookout was crowded with selfie takers.  We needn't have worried, for at this point we were almost directly across from the monastery and so great viewpoints became abundent and Richen showed his usual ability to pick great spots to take out picture from.
The whole thing burned down about 10 years ago from a butter lamp accident and only one statue remained.  They rebuilt the whole thing and improved the steps, as before they were so dangerous only a few people could actually visit the monastery.  The place still has an ancient feel to it, with lots of ups and downs and spectacular views of the countryside over every railing.
We saw several temple areas, one in which monks were performing a ceremony but the sheer number of people rendered the small rooms very claustrophobic. From the outside, the place was fascinating as mountain outcrops were integrated into the temple and nooks and crannies were everywhere with bits of the temple sticking out above you where ever you looked.
We lit a butter lamp for good luck (ours didn't burn anything down) and I had trouble finding a shoe.  Meg and Rinchen had started this brother/sister thing of trying to fool each other.  It got to the point where both of them had to raise their hand when they were telling a joke.  Rinchen had taken one of my shoes and it was lost until a passing monks took my missing one and a pair of someone else's and slid them down a rock.  At least I didn't have to go down the mountain in my socks.
On the way back Meg and our Bhutanese friends decided to pick up garbage on our way down, leading to some perilous hanging over safety railings to get a stray juice box.  The mist had lifted and we often paused to look back at what has to be one of eh world's most beautiful temples.
We had lunch at the teahouse with the sort of bland vegetarian dishes that vindicate carnivores.   Fortunately, Bhutanese hot sauce can make even the most tasteless food catch your attention.
On the way down Meg decided to get way ahead of the rest of us and met a Vietnamese woman who had studied in Toronto for a month.  There were no horses (they stop selling tickets up at 1 pm) but the path was smooth and dusty in areas so we had to be a bit careful not to twist an ankle.
On the drive back we went through our list of errands and Rinchen said he would try to change our Thai money and get stamps for posting our postcards.  That gave us some time off in our room to prepare for leaving the next day.
We only could get one night in our palace hotel and our new one had less character but was more modern, with the best wifi we had all week.  The staff was a little disorganized, though, as our welcome tea never did show up.
Rinchen met us at 6 to take us to our farmhouse experience and had a surprise.  Bhutan allows you to put your own pictures onto stamps and had made a page of them from a picture he took of us.  He had e-mailed the picture to his wife in Thimpu, she had printed out the page and he had been waiting at the taxi stand for them to be delivered.  Very cool.  Anyone who got a Bhutanese postcard from us, check it out.
Our Thai money had been changed but there was a miscount so we would get he balance of teh rupees the next day.  This wasn't a problem, as we had enough to cover our farmhouse trip.
The whole farmhouse experience seems to be a going concern in Paro.  On our way to the monastery I noticed many roadside signs advertising farmhouse homestays with genuine food.  The one we went to was building a new wing and had a busload of tourists just leaving.
We had a quick look around the outside of the farmhouse before getting ready for our hot stone bath.  This is where river stones are heated in a fire of aromatic wood and herbs, quickly cleaned off and then used to create hot baths for people to soak in.  The guy with the stones walks us and down the central core of the structure with bathing rooms on either side.  He knocks and asks if you want stones to heat up the water (or cold water to cool it down) and if you say yes he outs the stones in a slot from the central core that connects to the wooden tubs in the bathing rooms.
We had a room with two tubs with herbs floating in the water.  I took the hotter one after Meg complained about it and soaked for half an hour, with my bad knees submerged in the water to take full advantage of its healing power.  I was fine the whole time with water hot enough to make the non-submerged part of me sweat like I was in a sauna.  Meg asked for a new rock and had to evacuate early as the water can get uncomfortable quite quickly.
We dried off and felt completely relaxed as we toured the main farmhouse.  The ground floor was used for animal shelter, the main floor had storage and bedrooms.  The third story was an open area under the roof used for basement-type storage (and had a great view) but the second story is where we settled.
We met our host  who had excellent English.  We chatted for awhile and then Rinchen and Meg brought out their magic puzzles for the group to try figuring out.   Dinner was excellent and we finally got to try chili cheese, the Bhutanese national dish.  It's essentially dried chili peppers cooked in cheese.  They're a bit much to gobble down straight but if you cut them up and use them as a condiment for other dishes, yum!
After dinner we toured the rest of the farmhouse and saw a house temple that was worthy of  public one, with large Buddha figures and a painted wall.  Richen explained that this family was quite wealthy and most families and smaller shrines.  I guess that the farmhouse thing is doing well.
On the way back we found a tourist shop willing to give us money for a Visa charge an so got some cash before heading to bed.  Rinchen gave us both gifts, both of us getting yaks' wool scarves and Meg with earrings and me with a brass figurine.  A very nice ending to an excellent day.
 I credit the hot stone bath for barely being able to keep my eyes open after getting into bed and having a solid sleep.

Tiger's Nest Monastery from down the hill...

...and after two hours of hiking

The hot stone bath setup.  Rocks are on the other side of the wall, just knock for fresh ones!

April 28 - Back to Paro

April 28 Day 72
We had a long drive today so Meg took a gravol and off we went.  Driving in Bhutan is fairly hair-raising, with narrow, curving roads and passing in often a game of chicken between the two cars facing each other.  Most avoided accidents at the last minute but risks are constantly taken that would be considered dangerous back in Canada.
We stopped at the high pass that we visited on the way there but the mist was even thicker so we couldn't spot any mountains.  Back in Thimpu we visited a very old dzong and had tea in a little gazebo with a prayer wheel.
We motored on to Paro and went up to see the national museum.  it was closed due to earthquake damage but we were able to see displays which had been moved to a smaller building behind it.
We started with a skipping video of various traditional dances in a room full of performance masks.  Two Indian men started asking Rincheng questions and he was polite but soon turned his attention back to us.  Most of the other rooms were about natural life, with a nice screen that showed local birds while plating their cry.
A really interesting feature was about a medicinal mushroom that is quite expensive and unique to Bhutan, I think.  Spores basically get onto a caterpillar's body and infect it.  When it goes underground to hibernate, the spores grow and effect its brain so that it crawls almost to the surface.  The mushroom then feeds off the caterpillar and sprouts.
There was a woman selling some outside of the museum and they looked like dried caterpillars with twigs growing out of their heads.  We figured that hey'd be tricky to get across borders and so didn't pick any up.
After the museum we saw one more temple, this one the oldest in Bhutan.  The oldest part was one small room that we looked at but didn't enter because of the large crowds there.  There were also some monks present chanting but once again they would be staring at tourists legs and butts more than Buddha with all of the crowds there.
We looked at the gardens, which were well tended as always, and then headed to out hotel.  This was a former palace and our room was huge and royal looking.  We hung out in luxury and enjoyed the view from the grounds of the city.
The dining room had the best view and the buffet was the best that we'd had.  Meg guessed that we had an Indian chef because the chicken was butchered properly and she was right.  Rinchen joined us for dinner and planned for tomorrow.  We retired for bed and had to put the heater on for the first time in I don't know how long.

A nice example of traditional Bhutanese architecture.

Birds on a fence at a temple.

Temples at night from our hotel.

April 27 - White water and memorable monasteries

April 27 Day 71
The pigeons living in our ceiling started cooing at about 5:30 but they were gentle and we slept all right.
We drove out of town by the picturesque dzong where two rivers (male and female) meet to a rocky beach where people were setting up rafts.  We walked by the rafts,across a bridge and for about an hour ascended a hill while getting nicer and nicer views of the paddy fields surrounding it.
At the top of the hill was a tall temple with the sound of ritual music coming out of it.  We climbed through the three active floors, each one with a different group of monks performing.  The view from the top was amazing and we worked our way down to the third floor.  We took in the ritual and were blessed by the head monk while the music and chanting continued.  They were on break on the other floors when we went down and we met our New Zealand friend form the hotel, who was on his way up.  Rinchen told us that the temple was recently built by the queen and they ceremony was towards the king's father in law, who was ill.  The beautiful hike, views and being present for a ceremony made it one of the most memorable temples.
We came down, changed and got into a raft for some river rafting.  We had two guides and our driver, Tswong with us.  We went through three sets of rapids and bounced off a rock to show how durable the boat was.  Meg through all was lost several times but the crew knew exactly what it was doing.  We got soaked and went in for a quick swim but the water was glacier fed and so we wanted out pretty quickly.  We spotted some birds and had great scenery the whole time.  The crew were fun and it was a good call to take the rip.
After getting out of the river and changed, we had lunch outside by the river with a view of the dzong.  The waitress unstacked a series of portable containers, each with a different dish in them.  We had requested momos and there they were, we were happy.  The chicken was good, but we found in Bhutan that the bits and very bony, similar to goat.
A few dogs were waiting on the ground and got excited when our waitress banged the containers to put away after we were done.  She threw some of her leftovers behind her and they knew right where to be and had their own lunch.
After lunch we freshened up at the resort before heading back to the dzong (a former fort now being used as a monastery - the all kind of look like the Potala Palace) which opened at 3. 
There were lots of people there and it was really crowded.  We walked through three huge courtyards and in the third one waited for a the monks to finish in the main temple.  Once we got inside there were multiple huge figures at the front, glass cases with figures stacked three high along the walls and elaborate decoration of all sorts everywhere you looked.  This was the temple where the king was married and where coronation ceremonies took place, so it was very important.  It was also crowded with multiple tour groups but was large enough that it wasn't completely stifling.
We walked back out along an upper floor and had good views of the large courtyards where annual ceremonies are held.  Back at the bridge that led to the dzong you could see jacaranda trees in bloom and the layout was very pleasing for the eye.
On the way back we took a walk in downtown Ponakha.  There was a lot of construction, all in the traditional style with concrete painted to look like wood and bamboo scaffolding.  The shops had more Indian things than we had seen in Thailand but were set up in a similar way.  They had a special plastic shopping bag that was tougher looking than anything we owned but an open sewer drain going along the main street gave us something to watch out for.
Back at the resort, Rincheng gave a us a bottle of local whiskey to try.  I'm no spirits drinker but Meg and I had a little bit and it was quite smooth.  We went for a walk up the street before dinner and saw a house under construction and talked to some local kids who had surprisingly good English.
Rincheng joined us again for dinner and then we tried to watch a stupid movie (no HBO here) but gave up and went to sleep.

Ready to brave the wild rapids.

Paddy fields looking down from the temple.

The temple at the top of the mountain.

April 26 - The Penis Temple Experience

April 26 Day 70
Got up to another nice breakfast.  We packed our bags, left our room and took a short ride downtown.
We toured the city market, which was nicely set up with separate areas for different things.  Raw meat and fish are sold in stores downtown so the smells aren't pungent there.  We started in the grain area and saw the local red rice, toasted rice and bags of cereal.  Vegetables were next and we saw piles of precious chilis amongst mainly familiar veggies with a few we had to ask about.  Dried fish and fruit were also on this level and we had to ask about the local peaches, which grow plum sized.
Upstairs we found a place that sold dried cow skin (they boil it and eat it) and a few sausages and eggs.  There were also strings with cubes strung along them which were how cheese was displayed.  There was also a daycare there for the vendors, a huge area for incense and some betelnut booths.  We asked lots of questions about cooking and seasonal availability, I won't put everything down here.
Then we had a long, winding road to Punakha.  We stopped at the highest point of the pass to see where the queen had built 108 stupas to protect her husband during a battle.  108 is a sacred number because some early Buddhist built 108 temples in a day over the Himalayas to pin down all parts of a giant demon's body.  Keep in mind, these things aren't ancient as the royal family started up in the early 20th century and they are only on their 5th king.  We walked through a nice park full of meditation huts.  From the parking lot on a clear day you can apparently see many of the country's highest mountains but it wasn't clear enough.  It was quite cool there because of the altitude and walking was slow.
Now the twisty roads headed downward to the lowest and warmest area of our trip.  We saw rice paddies spread out beneath us as we  headed into a river valley.  We stopped in town, got a buffet lunch and then headed to the temple of the divine madman.
We walked through some paddy fields and by many prayer flags until we hit the village before the temple.  Almost every building had squirting penises painted on them with hairy balls.  The shops sold penis souvenir, some painted like they were strange characters and others were unadorned.  They were everywhere.
The walk up to the temple was long and the grounds looked like most other temples.  There was a black stupa outside it that we were told to remember.  Inside, the figures looked like most setups except the divine madman was represented and there was a large wooden penis with a bow around it beside the shrine.  The black shrine was where the divine madman buried the body of the master's dog after he realized that it wasn't a dog but a bunch of disguised demons so he smote it.  The name for the temple is also the "No dog temple", in spite of the many strays who hang out there.  The madman apparently loved beautiful women and drinking and went from house to house demanding one or both.  The shrine is considered a place to pray for fertility and there's a photo album there full of pictures and letters from people all over the world saying that they were able to conceive after visiting the temple.  The locals also put first harvest and other offerings there to guarantee fertile fields, which the region is known for.  Putting penises on your house apparently calls to the Divine Madman to protect you if you get something nice and others send demons of jealousy at you.  I'll bet there's a lot more to it than that but that's what we were told.
We were blessed by a 10 year old monk who bumped our heads with a wooden penis and a bow and arrow.  This was all done very seriously and had to be one of the oddest moments of our trip.
The road out of there was tiny and crowded so it took awhile to get on our way.  We drove up to our resort and checked into our room.  The place was nice, with a large room and nice gardens.  The only problem was that some pigeons had taken residence in our roof and were noisy during the day.
Rinchen wanted us to try the local wine so he brought out a bottle before dinner.  We were braced for the worst but it was quite nice.  According to the label, the grapes came from South Africa and the blending and aging was done in Bhutan.  Whatever, it was tasty and they let us bring it in for our dinner (note: okra is called ladyfingers in Bhutan).
We ate well with Rinchen joining us this time and then headed back to the room to read and sleep.  Another group from India called WOW (Women of wandering) were yelling and screaming like 12 year olds but gave it up by 10 o'clock.

From our visit to the market, this is all cheese.

Self- explanatory.

Choose your weapon!

April 25 - Dressing Like a Local

April 25 Day 69
After a solid sleep we had a good breakfast and Meg's Vegemite jar attracted the attention of a bunch of New Zealanders.  We then Skyped our banks and got our cards okayed.  Meg tried to get her cash advance limit lowered from $9000 but the connection died out before we could finish what we were doing.
We headed out of town following twisting roads along the river.  We were to head to a monastery a one hour hike each way.  The trail was through the woods and a gradual but relentless ascent which we took slowly as the altitude still wasn't our friend.  On the way up we chatted with a Filipino family from New Jersey.  The eldest woman had done a lot of travelling and was leading the pack.  Many of the others stopped at a rest point and never bothered to make it to the monastery.
The view once we arrived was impressive and we saw many people helping to build a new building close to the entrance.  Our guide talked to a monk who unlocked the main temple and let us come in.  It was a smallish space full of figures and pictures but quite dark.  he blessed us with holy water and Rinchen explained many of the figures, including a guru who took relics from Tibet and brought them to Bhutan.  Apparently the Tibetans don't like him but his likeness is in many Bhutanese temples and his father's ashes were buried in a stupa in a special room we could see through a window.
On the hike down we looked for some birds and said hi to the Filipinos who weer still waiting for their relatives to return.  We bumped into the New Zealanders on their way up and wondered how many familiar faces we would see as tourists completed their similar circuits.
At the bottom of the hill we took a short drive to a nice spot by the river where we had a picnic lunch.  Rinchen ad prepared a hot lunch in a stack of metal containers that were insulated in a giant thermos.  We ate good food and snacks in the little park and were grateful that he took our request for a smaller lunch to heart. 
On the way back, Rinchen was trying to fulfill our request for a culture show.  We were surprised to find out it would cost $200 (though he said he could discount it to $100) until he told us it would be a private show for just the two of us.  We then asked if he could get us something where we could be part of an audience.  He eventually found a fancy hotel that had a nightly show that we could sit in on, so we said yes to that.
Back in town, we tried to get money out again but the machines still weren't co-operating and told us our cards were blocked.  We tried a few different ones and went into a bank branch but got no further.  This was frustrating as we only had a small amount of currency to cash and few places took Visa.
          We watched a police officer direct traffic.  Apparently they tried to put the first traffic light in Bhutan in Thimpu but people didn't like it.  He was using an odd hand code but the drivers seemed to understand what he was doing.
To distract ourselves, we watched some of the national sport, archery.  The archers used composite bows and shot at small targets from 150 metres away.  Considering that about one in five arrows hit the target and most others were very close, these people knew their archery.
Meg decided to nap at this point so we went to the giant Buddha without her.  This was supposed to be the largest in the world (not according to the internet) and was still being finished.  It was in a park space and had a great view of the city.  Inside were rows of little Buddhas commemorating donors, $25,000 got you a small and $100,000 got you a larger size.  It seemed a strange thing to be hearing about from what is seen as a non-materialistic religion.
There was a huge square in front of the Buddha, perfect for large gatherings and ceremonies.  The view was excellent and you could see that halfway down the stairs the building had halted and they were much rougher.

The old monastery up in the hills.

It's a really big Buddha.

Dressed to kill at a fancy hotel.

.
On the way back into town Rinchen had arranged for me to meet with people at a bank.  We walked through 5 or so offices before sitting down with a pair of clerks in charge of card transactions.  The one with better English told us of others who have had this problem and that the bank is working on it but probably wouldn't fix it during our stay there.  He did say that the chip technology was causing the problem and the magnetic strip should work well.  He tried it in a card reader and it worked fine, it wasn't blocked.  Rinchen said his brother had one and we could charge on it and get cash.  Hopefully, problem solved.
Back at the hotel, Meg got woken up and we went down to the lobby to try on traditional Bhutanese outfits.  Mine took awhile to get on, as it had to be hinched over a very tight belt and the cuffs took some time to install.  I kept my pants on as my short socks would not really look Bhutanese, their socks were up to their knees.  We actually looked smart when we were finished, the outfits were of flattering colours.
We kept them on as we went to the posh Taj hotel to see the show.  Rinchen knew someone there and so as long as we ordered tea (posh at $13) we could sit and watch the show with the guests.  We were early and so walked around the ostentatious ground and lobbies before settling down to our tea.
We heard some singing from the dining room and so hurried down to take our spot for the show.  It was a small group of four men and four women with a dulcimer player, percussionist and a woman who introduced each number.  The singing and costumes were very good but the dancing was usually about the same but with different masks.  Turning and moving hands for the women, high stepping and spinning for the men.  For the final number they invited the audience up so we went and attempted to follow their moves as they did a traditional farewell dance.
We wore our outfits back to the hotel and got several comments from our dining room friends as we ate (very carefully as we'd feel terrible if we stained the clothes).  We took them off and returned them to the hotel desk and then headed up to our room to watch HBO and then go to sleep.

April 24 - Arrival in Bhutan

April 24 Day 68
We actually slept okay and the taxi was early.  At the hostel, the overnight desk person was a ladyboy who was very helpful and sweet to us.  There were no problems at the airport and passport control and security were both very fast.   We found a food court and had coffee and croissants, breakfast number 1.
The plane boarded all together and we found out we were stopping in Kolkata first and had a big breakfast number 2.  We held there for about 45 minutes before taking off again and having breakfast number 3.  As were got close to Paro the pilot told us to look out the left side of the plane (our side!) as Everest and a bunch of other Himalayan heavyweights were visible above the clouds.  The camera was stowed above so no pictures but it was an impressive view.
The landing was the most beautiful we have ever had.  The airport is at the bottom of a valley so the plane seemed about to land but we were close to forest, mountains and the occasional house or temple for awhile going by us as we continued to descend.
The airport itself was wonderfully laid out and painted, unlike anywhere else we've been.  Apparently the twisty approach and short runway means there are only about 20 pilots permitted to land there.  Only two airlines service Bhutan and if you try to book through commercial sites you draw a blank.
There was a model of a Dzong on the luggage carousel and as we waited for our bags we spoke with a bunch of Australian academics who were touring and meeting to prepare a group of Perth university students who would be going there for two weeks a part of an upcoming course.
We got our bags and Rincheng, our guide, and Tsewong, our driver were there to meet us and help with our bags.  In Bhutan you pay a high per person personal amount just to go there, but it covers guide, transport, lodging, meals and entrance fees.  We would have our own guide and driver the whole time, making us feel sometimes uncomfortably as royalty.
We had a long drive to Thimpu from Paro through twisty roads, which are basically all of the roads in Bhutan.   Rincheng kept giving us information and answering our questions as we headed along and Meg slept to avoid carsickness.
After more than an hour we arrived in Thimpu and checked into our room at the Riverview hotel.  Porter took our bags up, which was probably good as our room was on the third floor and we could feel the altitude.  It was a three star place with great views of the city and felt palatial to us. 
We had a bit of time to get oriented and then went out for a huge lunch with 6 bowls of food served to us in what was obviously a tourist restaurant, as all of the the other customers were foreigners.  The guides ate in a back room and occasionally checked on us while we stuffed ourselves.  We had heard that Bhutanese food was bland and insanely hot but this stuff was tasty, often Indian and Tibetan influenced and quite palatable.  We actually asked for some hot pickle to spice it all up.
We then headed to a craft school where students spent years studying woodcarving, metalwork, embroidery and painting.  Toursits were constantly going through the classes where the students were doing their assignments which required hours of painstaking work while being bumped and photographed by foreigners.  The level of work was quite high and the classroom walls had charts with the students' names and happy or sad faces rating their performance.
We next went to the third king's memorial stupa which was sort of the central square of the city.  It was full of people spinning prayer wheels and walking around the stupa, always in a clockwise direction.  Rencheng told us that many retired people spent the whole day here and it was a very social place for older people.
Inside was  a picture of the king who died fairly young because he was a chain smoker.  Now you cannot legally buy cigarettes in Bhutan and can only smoke in certain designated areas.  There were many offerings there, including multiple cartons of milk.
After this we went to a weaving centre where we saw women working on looms creating amazingly elaborate silk pieces one thread at a time.  They were friendly and skilled and we admired the fine work upstairs.  The cost (one pieces took a full year to make) and utility kept us from purchasing anything but the quality was obvious. 
In Bhutan, everyone working must wear the traditional costume, which for men is wraparound fabric with  a belt, long white cuffs, shoes and high socks.  Women wear a long wrapped skirt and elaborate top with their cuffs being any colour they'd like.  People all over the place wear them and it really adds to the experience of visitors.
After the weaving centre we tried to use an ATM but they only could do Visa cash advances and told us that both of our cards were locked.  This was frustrating but we said we'd call our banks and try again tomorrow.
Dinner at the hotel was a tasty buffet and when we ordered our lemon soda we had a choice of salty or sweet, we went sweet.  We had been up since 3 am ad so were tired and commiserated with two other women who were feeling the same way.  When we ordered masala chai as our tea of choice the staff complied but were surprised that Canadians had heard of the stuff.  It went very well with the gulab jamon.
Back in the room we were awestruck by our tv which had BBC World and HBO HD.  We watched Victoria and Abdul and the first half of The Dark Knight before passing out.

Woodworkers at the craft school.

Meg and I at the memorial stupa.

Our guide, Rinchen, showing hand-woven fabrics.

April 23 - Return to Bangkok

April 23 Day 67
We got up and were glad to see that a guy from across the street was able to enter our guesthouse's office and get our key deposit back.  It was still hot and humid to walk to the train station with all of our gear but at least there was little traffic.

One Night in Bangkok...

We made it and were waiting for our train when I decided to look at the arrivals board and saw that our train was 53 minutes late.  It eventually came but wasn't the second class we had last time.  We had the designated seats that reclined but no AC or automatic food service.  Vendors came by so we had coffee and coconut cake but the car was very hot and no one ever checked our tickets.  We had to switch seats as the man beside Meg was doing a manspread but he soon left and we were able to sit together.  At least the scenery was much greener and nicer from the train.
We ended up at the train station but were frustrated by the taxi drivers who refused to use their meter and quoted ridiculous prices to us.  One drove us for a bit before giving his inflated price so I got out the camera and took pictures of him and his license, which he didn't like at all.
We ended up walking and saying' "taxi bad!" to anyone who offered us a ride.  My map was sketchy but got us to the hostel as at least this part of Bangkok was clearly signed.
Our hostel was nice and cool and we had what used to be an 8 bed dorm to ourselves as a double so we could really spread out.  We had showers and were able to order from the woman next door to have lunch sent over to eat it in the cool lobby.  We were also able to order a taxi for the airport in advance so it was all good.  We washed and gobbled up half a kilo of rambutans (way cooler looking than lychees but not quite as tasty) and so felt pretty good.
One strange thing we noticed while in Bangkok was women with visible cream on their faces, sometimes smeared on in shapes and patterns.  It turns out that it's not sunscreen that hasn't soaked in, it's skin whitening cream that has to stay on for awhile for the bleach to do its magic.  Here's hoping that the trend doesn't spread too far but the Asian obsession with skin whiteners is apparently continuing.
We went to the post office for post cards and then wandered down a commercial strip before coming back to our hostel.  The best restaurant close to us was a Chinese (the owner called it "fusion") place in an old style building.  They were able to make us a Penang curry even though it wasn't on the menu and we had a solid meal.  We went to sleep early after repacking as our 6:30 flight meant a 3 am wake up.

April 22 - Beach Day

April 22 Day 66
We woke up and had a  not great breakfast by our pool (lots of hot dogs).  We headed out to hit the beach with our bags full of everything we'd need.  We walked for a fair amount of time before we found a spot we could agree on.  At the beginning of the beach there were lots of rocks and people were out in groups scraping mussels off of them.  There were loungers with umbrellas but the touts were charging too much.  Once we got away from the rocks and the tout prices got lower, we settled down for an afternoon of leisure.
We went for a swim and the water was bathtub warm with lots of waves to splash around in.  The white beach went on for a few kilometres with many sandbars covered in tiny, perfectly round holes inhabited by little crabs.  A real attraction were the kite surfers who were dominating the skyline by the end of the afternoon.  Most of them were obviously experienced as it was very windy.  They were doing flips and long hang time jumps all over the place.  One guy would continuously float above the water with just his dagger board skimming the water.  Between them and our books we were well entertained.
We had a simple lunch at the restaurant behind our loungers (which was surprisingly reasonably priced) and Meg decided that she loved Penang curry.  The rest of the time was spent swimming, reading, lounging and watching kite surfers.  Some vendors came by but they weren't annoying or overly persistent.  It was the sort of relaxing, decadent afternoon we wished that we had in Tahiti.
We came back, showered and got ready for the evening.  We asked the tuktuk drivers if any were around at 5:30 am but they said no, but it was only a 20 minute walk to the train station.  We timed our walk there which led us through the night market.
Hue Hin closes down two blocks of their main street for a night market.  It's crowded and busy with food stalls, real restaurants, massage places, clothing stalls, souvenir vendors and a million other things.  It as tricky to walk through because of the crowd and distractions but we made it and found the train station, 15 minutes walk.  We had to buy tickets to an earlier train (there were 11 trains to Bangkok but 9 of them were before 6:30 am) as the 6:29 was expensive because they only sold berths, whether you wanted them or not.  We got our tickets for the 6:05 and headed back for dinner.
I lobbied for real street food so we had mussel omelette stir fry things and ate at a little table between two street stalls.  We were able to watch someone manipulate roti dough while we ate, very entertaining.  We then grabbed a delicious dessert where they take half a coconut and scrape the meat loose, put a few scoops of coconut ice cream in it and pour condensed milk over the whole thing yum!  Next we went for a street massage.  In Chaing Mai they had lazyboys lining the street but we had to settle for plastic stools in Hue Hin.  Meg got a young guy to do her feet and I got an older woman to do my back but they had strong hands and it was 30 minutes well spent and our sore muscles felt better. 
Back at the room we got packed up and ready for our early morning trip.

The white sand beach at Hue Hin.

April 21 - Ayutthaya to Hue Hin

April 21 Day 65
We got up, had breakfast at the hostel with weird Thai orange juice that tasted like Tang but had pulp of some sort in it.  We got our bikes and headed off to check out the rest of our temples.
The first one wasn't covered by our ticket and took us by an active temple, where a monk seemed to be lecturing a pair of locals, before entering the ruin site.  This was an active ruin, with several modern Buddhas, benches and chairs in one area and lots of offering vendors.
We were just heading towards a shrine covered in more plastic chickens when a large group showed up.  Their leader explained to us that it was a class of students studying English who had come up with questions to ask tourists.  The first one asked a few questions and the rest had to be almost forced to speak to us before asking what we liked best about Thailand.  It was over fairly quickly and we had some nice pictures taken with them before heading off to look at the chickens.
All of the other sites were a short bike ride away.  The first was a fully restored temple with groups of monks walking through the grounds.  It had a big Buddha and lots of worshipers.  It seemed quite modern until you got to a photo show at the back which showed the temple in its pre-restored state with a large Buddha lying amongst the ruined temple.  The current state was much more useful to the local worshipers but the ruined version would have been more atmospheric to tourists.  Another thing we noticed was the clicking of bundles of sticks, shaken until one came out to give an answer to a question.  I thought it was a process unique to Taoism but apparently not.
Right next to this functional temple was the most famous of the ruined sites with the three iconic stupas that are a symbol of the city.  The towers were impressive and in relatively good condition.  As we walked around we found a headless Buddha on a pedestal and a nice row of trees.  The next temple we went to had another nice stupa and few other visitors, but we had seen enough temples and needed to move on.
Our last stop in town was at the historical museum, which was made up of three buildings.  The first was the main one, with a big hall full of Buddha statues and finely carved doors.  Far more attractive was the gold room, which was heavily air conditioned.  We found out that a gru was a secret hiding place for treasure in certain stupas.  In the ac room at the other end of the hall was a set of relics found in a gru including gold work that for some reason displayed under blurry plastic and an actual relic of the Buddha which wasn't visible but was said to be about half the size of a grain of rice.
on the second floor the AC room was full of students but we couldn't tell whether they were the same ones who had interviewed us. 
  We headed to the other two museum buildings.  The first was an impressive recreation of a Thai house on stilts full of dull documents.  The third building had pottery and almost no information in English.
We biked back to the hostel, showered again and packed up for our departure.  We took a tuktuk to the minivan and learned we had 40 minutes before departure.  We rushed to find a close place to eat and settled on a posh place where we were the only customers.  We had to get most of the stuff to go and the woman who ran the place gave us some lychees as a going away present.
The minibus took us to the southern bus terminal in Bangkok and we crossed the road in our backpacks to get to the other terminal.  We quickly found the bus to Hue Hin and unfortunately found that Meg's salad had leaked over all of our other food and we had to toss the lot.  On both buses we had to pay for an extra seat because of the space our backpacks took up. 
We got to Hue Hin after three hours on the second minibus, quicker but with less space and a poorer view than the train.  The second minibus didn't have curtains so the AC couldn't overcome the direct sunlight and we were pretty sweaty.  At one of the stops we had another lemon soda that was salted but not so much this time so we were able to finish them. 
We didn't have a map so we got a tuktuk to our guesthouse and got checked in.  We dropped off our laundry and then had a soak in the pool before heading out to dinner.  The waterfront street was alive with touts and so we headed to an Italian place recommended by the woman at our guesthouse desk.  We cut by a Chinese Temple to the beach and had to cut through an insanely opulent Hilton to find the restaurant.
One thing no one told us about Hue Hin was it seemed to be the number one place for lonely older guys to pick up younger Thai women.  We hadn't seen this in any other Thai cities this trip at all, but here it was everywhere.  Not underaged women, but definitely women much more attractive than the men and several decades younger.  During dinner (which was tasty) Meg counted 10 couples in 20 minutes not counting free agents of either gender.
Once back at our guesthouse ,which was huge and spread over at least two sites, we didn't say hi to the single guys staying there as the though of what they might be up to creeped us out.  Is that our own bias?

The class that interviewed us amongst the ruins.

Okay, what's up with the chickens?  Is this dude their leader?

Me and the iconic stupas.

April 20 - Ayutthaya's ruins and ruinous heat

April 20 Day 64
We got up and said goodbye to our host, who for some reason we had trouble friending on Facebook.  We were told that if we referred anyone to her she would give us two nights for free.  She mentioned a Slovenian guy who referred 4 people and got 8 nights free.  We didn't mention that we wondered what he did in town for 8 nights and headed off to the train station.
We got our tickets but our train only had third class this time with our btickets costing less than $1 each.  There was no cafe in the station but we grabbed iced coffees and Meg got some nice street food with noodles and eggs for our ride.
Third class had open windows and fans and rush seating. Everyone was able to sit, but we weren't together and although it was warmer it wasn't a bad ride.
An hour later we were at Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of what is now Thailand.  We grabbed a tuktuk to our hostel and were immediately welcomed by our host, Willie.  After storing our bags he gave us a half hour briefing on the layout of the city.  He circled the order we should view the temples, how the passes work, how to get around and any detail you could think of.  the thing was, once he started his spiel you couldn't interrupt him and break his flow, so even if the information didn't apply to you, you got it anyway.  We heard all about a woman who biked to a far temple to see the sunset and got her bag stolen on the way back even though we had no intention of doing this.
We rented bikes and booked a boat tour, and then headed off in the 40 degree heat to see if we remembered how to ride bikes.  It was intimidating as the driving we had seen in Thailand up until now had been appalling.
We made it to our first temple quite intact and went inside.  It was a large site with many crumbling towers but the big photo spot was a Buddha head that had a tree grown into surrounding it.  We walked around the rest of what used to be an important temple and it was nice that even with a fairly large number of tourists about we had tons of space and could go off and look at stuff on our own.
Coming out, we saw a portable store for fruit and veg.  It was a scooter with about 30 plastic bags hanging off of it, each with about a half kilo of produce in it, ready for purchase.  We were hot and thirsty and so drank the milk from a chilled and chopped coconut, which so really hit the spot.
The next temple was a short ride away and covered another large surface, this time with a large Angor Wat-style stupa dominating the site.  We climbed up and saw the blocked stairs leading to the crypt.  There was also a dark chamber off of the main one with an information board, but the wall above it was covered in bats so, not wanting to deal with their guano, we missed the information and just enjoyed the views out of the tower.
After walking down, we noticed some statues in the tower's alcoves but they seemed to be in too good shape to be original.  As always, any fine work found at the site had been taken to the museum, leaving mainly visible brick ruins, but on an impressive scale.
It was now lunch time so we crossed the street.  We avoided the tourist-filled place advertising vegan, non-spicy food and settled down at a local place next to a moto garage.  After a leisurely meal, we got back on our bikes and headed across town to the giant reclining Buddha.  This was a longer trip and we were pretty worm by the time we got there.  It was a big Buddha outside with lots of people seeking money for good luck offerings that you could give.  Apparently it was larger than the one we saw in Bangkok, but lacking a temple or other impressive surroundings, it was just big.
Our tourist map let us down as we searched for the tourist centre and it took a few stops and far too long in the heat to find it.  Once we did, we got some info from the staff and they took pity on us when we looked distraught at the news that the closest water vendor was far away that they filled our bottle from their employee cooler.
The centre itself was completely deserted and deliciously air conditioned.  The displays on history and local culture were quite good, but none of the interactive screens worked until the final and largest one sprang to life and we learned of the top 20 things to do in Ayutthaya.  It was quite a good centre and a perfect place to cool off between temples (once you found it), it deserved to get more use.
We biked back to our place so that we could shower before our pick up to the boat ride.  Our room was really nice but we just cleaned up, changed into something dry and headed out to wait for our tuktuk.
We shared it with a Spanish couple and waited in a shed with four French tourists.  I didn't realize it until later, but in the shed some biting ants were crawling onto my arm and gave me some nasty nips before I noticed them at our first temple.
We crossed the river and got into our boat for our evening ride around the perimeter of the island city.  he boat was very low to the water and propelled by a motor with a long pipe eding in a single rotor that you place din the water like a hand mixer.  it worked, though.
The water was full of lush, floating leafy weeds that were picturesque to slide through.  Our first stop was a temple with a huge golden Buddha that was more impressive than the reclining one due to its setting.  There was also a wall of the temple with little alcoves for votive Buddhas.  In front of the temple was the largest Buddhist shop I've seen with every offering you could imagine available.  The only thing they didn't have were cold drinks, the only vendor we could find was a woman selling fish food to dump in the river.
We puttered along to the next temple and were given no information.  We immediately headed to the cold drink vendors and got a disappointingly salty lemon slushy.  We saw clusters of big plastic chickens whose purpose escaped us.  We walked around a new, ornate building that was not opened yet and finally found the temple.  It had little free waters to drink, which helped get the salty taste from our mouths.  It also had metre-long incense sticks burning on a lawn and its towers were an interesting mix of the new, the restored and the ruined.
Back on the boat we now headed to the real highlight, which had many Angor Wat-like towers on a large and nicely laid out location.  We walked to the back of it where the setting sunlight really showed it off.  we wandered around little alcoves with Buddhas in the corners and admired the many people who were wandering around the site in traditional dress, one of the 20 things you were supposed to do.
Back on the boat we got some nice sunset shots and then settled in for the rest of our trip.  We talked with a honeymooning Chinese couple who still lived in separate cities while the rest of the city went by.  Other than our motor clogging with weeds at the end, it was a smooth and enjoyable ride.
We headed right out for dinner after getting back to our hostel and tried to find the many supposed places with riverside restaurants serving freshwater prawns.  We found one and enjoyed the nice view while battling some kind of fly that kept circling around us but not seeming to bite.   The prawns were expensive but tasty, like getting 5 little lobsters that didn't quite taste like lobsters with strange but not too spicy Thai sauce.  Yummy and worth it.  I also took the opportunity to have durian for the first time which was nice enough but filling on its own.  I think it's better in a shake or other drink and the durian burps afterwards were nasty.  the view was pretty great and for some reason we got about 3 minutes of fireworks.  The chef was an Italian guy who came over to talk with us several times and Meg asked for wine and got the most sickly sweet wine cooler ever.
We walked home in the dark without too much incident and settled into our room.  The AC was on all night as the country refused to ever properly cool down.

One of  the ancient temple sites.

It's a very big Buddha.

The temple at sunset.

April 19 - Monkey Mayhem!

Trip to Triund May 25
Triund is in the mountains above Mcleod Ganj.  You can go up and come back in a day or opt to overnight.  Longer treks are based out of there but we only have 2 day weekends with our teaching schedule, so the overnight option was our choice.
We tried to do it with our friends John and Nataya but I got sick just before we were supposed to leave and so it didn't happen.  We had already booked our tent, which was only a $10 per person loss.  We had heard that the rental sleeping bags were dirty and so the head of LHA, Dorji, who lives in our building, offered us some sleeping bags that she had in storage for a group coming over the summer.
We held onto these and went the next weekend, after our American friends had departed for France.  We booked a cab to take us as far as the road could go and had to take our tall backpacks in order to accommodate the sleeping bags.
The morning was sunny and the 30 minute cab ride got us up to the trailhead.  This was along a very narrow road that kept getting rougher and rougher, more suited to a fully loaded Jeep than the little Suzuki cab.  We jostled over bumps, skidded our tires a few times and shut our eyes as the narrow, guard-rail-less road skirted the edge of steep drops.
We got there and headed onto the trail, which continued as a rough road and then became a well-blazed path with many stone steps and fortifications.  This was even busier that the W trek in Patagonia as many families from Delhi and the Punjab come up for the weekend.  People were coming and going both ways, but the annoying thing were the groups of young hikers carting Bluetooth speakers.  We didn't go hiking to hear music varying from hiphop to Hindi Bollywood classics to Roy Orbison.  We tried to let them pass so that they could fade off into the distance but they invariably stopped for a tea break and then passed us again.
The trek was lined with shops and tea houses which were usually lean-tos with tarps overhead selling a surprising variety of drinks and snacks.  Every once in awhile we have to step off the path as a mule train came along, the only source of supplies for the many establishments along the trail.  We stopped at the Magic View teahouse at the halfway point of the trail, which lived up to its name, actually had a partial stone structure and did a proper masala chai, although after watching them wash up we were glad that the tea was served boiling hot.
The hike itself was a little over 3 hours of constant elevating, with the trail getting rougher and rockier as we went along it.  Of course, as the we got higher the views back into town and up to the mountains kept getting better and better.
We arrived at Triund around 1 pm, which is on a plateau which usually has a great view of the surrounding mountains.  Unfortunately, we had been hiking through a slight mist for most of the last two hours and it was thick at the top.  Sometimes visibility was down to almost nothing and certainly the mountains, which we knew were there, were not making an appearance.
We found our tent, dropped off our bags and looked for lunch as the rain started.  Our campground had an unattractive kitchen where we could have dahl or boiled noodles so we went elsewhere.  We found the largest place, Suneil's Teahouse which had a varied menu.  Once we ordered we were invited to the back where there were two blanket covered bunks to recline on.  The place was made of woven blankets covered in tarps but was quite cosy.  We had tea and stuffed parathas, which were tasty.  We ordered an extra roti as we heard heavy rain and hail bounce off the tarp above us.  The couple across from us were a French/Spanish mix and the employees let us lounge there and wait out the storm.
We came out into sunshine and finally saw the mountains, which were very impressive.  Meg preened the inside of the tent and had a nap while I read my book and enjoyed the scenery.  The campground was starting to fill up and groups of young men spent the entire afternoon posing and taking picture sof each other.
After Meg got up we decided to try making it to the snowline before it got dark.  This trail got a little rougher and had many narrow spots with steep drops off to one side.  We leaned into the mountains and saw mist coming up from the river below.  Soon we had no view and it was getting much darker so we turned back early, as there would be nothing to see at snowline anyway.  We planned to try again in the morning.
Back at camp it was a little clearer and we could see that the mist we had been experiencing was really clouds which we were high enough to be inside of.  We went back to Suneil's to get some of the delicious bean curry we had smelled at lunch and met a fellow Canadian from Vancouver, Eunice.  We talked and made plans to hit snowline the next morning.
Once the sun set we went into our tent and tried to sleep, but the weekenders would have nothing of it.  The group around us had selected a bonfire site close to our tent and were yelling, shouting and playing Bluetooth tunes all evening.  At 11, when everyone else had retired to their tents and quieted down a bit, a group of young boys came back from where they had been either drinking or doing drugs and started screaming, giggling and tripping over tent poles.   We had heard groups howling in the distance but now the boys had returned.  They kept this up until 1 in the morning or so and sleep was impossible.
During the night, Meg heard strange grunting and crunching noises and ended up having a close encounter with  a grazing horse.  Cattle were all over the campsite and a large herd of goats went back and forth several times, so the ground was actively fertilized.  There was no washroom for campers, so human stuff was on the ground as well.  There were little holes in the ground full of soggy toilet paper and you didn't want to look in any cracks in the rocks.  Some tents clusters had toilet tents, but these were a minority.  It was kind of gross.

• Litter was less of a problem here than in McLeod Ganj.  There were anti-littering signs all along the trail and some was visible, but not like other places we have been.  The noisy people next to us left some cups and bottles on the ground but the site was less littery than we were expecting.

Meg at the top once the mist lifted.

The campsite, many more tents would be added before nightfall.

The Magic View Teahouse about 20 minutes before we arrived there.

April 18 - Bangkok highlights

April 18 day 62
We got up to a simple breakfast that included weird green bread and got set for a day on the go.  Just being outside our room for a little while covered us in sweat and we decided to stop for cold drinks on a regular basis. 
On the walk there we met a woman who started talking to us and told us that the palace was closed until 11, warning sign one.  She was at a corner but didn't seem interested in crossing.  She talked about a floating market which was a great way to see the city but how overpriced some companies are.  When we feigned interest a tuktuk appeared and for 20 baht (another warning sign, far too cheap) took us to a dock.  This wasn't a busy dock, as there was one tout there who gave us a high price and then lowered it quickly once we didn't show interest.  Obviously an elaborate scam.
We figured out where we were and walked back to the palace, going almost all of the way around it (and it's huge) before finding the entrance.  We followed some people wearing baggy local pants that we've seen.  One would think baggy pants would be loose and comfortable but we knew the exact form of the buttocks of the people in front of us and wished that we didn't have this knowledge.  They couldn't have been comfortable to wear them like that.  The entrance was like heading into a big concert, we had to walk around a large maze of barriers and large tour groups kept showing up and crowding the way. 
Once we got inside it was the busiest place I'd been in since the forbidden city.  Groups were everywhere, pushing, screaming, jabbing people with their sun umbrellas.  We were already missing yesterday's much calmer temple. 
We got an audio guide and tried to listen to the information but whenever we found a spot by ourselves a tour group would come beside us and start screaming to keep stragglers together.  We got the jist of most things, it was an impressive array of sparkling ornate buildings, including a scale version of Angor Wat and extensive murals depicting sagas of the heroes.
The big attraction was the temple of the emerald Buddha, which had traveled to many places depending who was winning the wars in Southeast Asia.  It was relatively small and on top of an ornate shrine so it hard to appreciate it from a distance.  The temple itself was amazing, with decoration covering every bit of space.
We rejoined the scrum outside and got tired of our audioguide telling us exactly how many images of Buddha were in places or describing thrones we could not see.  We exited into the royal palace grounds, where usually most buildings are closed but today everything was closed because they were still practicing for the King's ceremony in May.  The buildings were large and nicely decorated but the wildly trimmed trees impressed us more.
We nipped in to a display on the king mainly because it was shown in an air conditioned room.  The descriptions were so over the top (it is against the law to criticize the king) that they were laughable, but we were able to fight the heat for awhile.
We had one more stop, in the emerald Buddha museum.  This had some nice models and work donated to the shrine.  People donated whole sets of Victorian diningware to the monasteries so that they could put them in a glass case.  Kind of weird, but no stranger than what goes on in other religions. 
As we headed out we saw a dance performance advertised that we could see for free with our ticket.  The people telling us about it were so aggressive in getting us into our free transportation that we wondered if it was a scam.  We got into a big bus that took us on a short trip close to where we were staying.  We were 30 minutes early for the show so we went to the attached cafe and had an overpriced but quick lunch.
The performance itself was really good.  They demonstrated several types of dance and then did an extended story through traditional dance.  The dancers were real, not clumsy summer students (we have seen this) and the costumes and sets were top notch, with whole sets dropping on wires and video backdrops with animated features.  It was only 30 minutes but would have been worth it even if we paid for it.
We walked back to our room and Meg napped while I looked at Thai train timetables.  We then walked up to  a mall mentioned in the guidebook so that she could get some shopping done.  The mall turned out to be a street full of vendors just north of us.  This was a backpacker circus, with hostels, restaurants and bars trying to guide us in, stands containing clothing and vendors walking around selling ice cream and scorpions on a stick.
We had a juice and then Meg shopped while I had a beer and read my book.  Backpackers were constantly going by and usually getting roped in somewhere.  The place I was at gt annoying when they set up speakers and started playing dance music while not turningheff teh tv which continued to loudly show awful videos for Thai pop songs.  Fortunately, Meg finished her shopping (but couldn't find zip off pants) and so we headed back.
Both of the restaurants recommended in the guidebook were closed so we went along a sidestreet until we found somewhere that had people in it.  It was nearly full and had some karaoke going on but only two people were singing: an offkey guy who got worse as he worked his way through of his bottle of whiskey and the woman leading the whole thing, who had a nice voice and seemed to be pleading for anyone to take over from her.   The food was fine but the waitstaff wandered around with dishes trying to figure who would get what, which didn't seem too efficient. 
We walked back the short distance to our room and talked to the owner, who was a woman in her 30s working  in insurance and very nice to deal with.  Then to the welcome air conditioning and bed.

One of many ornate buildings.

The well-guarded exit from the temple complex.

The free show!