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.
.
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.
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.
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| The old monastery up in the hills. |
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| It's a really big Buddha. |
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| 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.
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