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.
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.
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| A nice example of traditional Bhutanese architecture. |
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| Birds on a fence at a temple. |
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| Temples at night from our hotel. |
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