Paro Dzong

Arriving in Paro from Kathmandu is like stepping back in time. Suddenly the pace of the place slows, everyone around is in national dress, and you can wander down the road from the airport to watch an archery competition in full swing.

Paro is the meeting point for my Intrepid tour (organised prepaid tours being pretty much your only …

After a six week epic in India Town, (thanks India Town you were very pleasant) our tour of this corner of the world was set to continue in the tiny kingdom of Bhutan.

As my Canadian friends would ask "What's it all a-bhut then?"

I'll tell you... With a population of roughly seven hundred thousand, this small, Buddhist, Himalayan …

... . A destination all of its own, Paro is home to a number of sites including one of the oldest and most celebrated dzongs in Bhutan, the Rinpung dzong which means the “Fortress of the Heap of Jewels“. We did cruise the town- it was a great way ...

... Now some say that Nepal is for backpackers, whilst Bhutan is for flashpackers !!! As I'm a tourist, I was wondering how Bhutan would take me?   Paro   The flight was great, the skies so clear. We could even see Everest. Coming into land, it ...

... personally, I didn't think it was high value that we were getting.   And basically, our trip was over.   And Finally   Bhutan had been fun, the small bit that we saw. Some call it the last shangri-la, whilst I just think of it as a ...

... took me to the Himalayan kingdom. Nice views of Mount Everest and the rest of the Himalayas on the way. Approaching Paro, Bhutan's only airport, the pilot warned that it is "normal procedure" that the wings of the plane almost seem to ...

... .  This structure was magnificent, it was built in 1637 and where the first king was enthroned in 1907.  For Bhutan this Dzong has a great deal of significance, like other Dzongs it houses both the civil and monastic bodies.  It was ...

... take 4 years to complete and we could see no signs as yet of the new work.  This Dzong boasts some of the oldest architecture in Bhutan, which was interesting to see.  We walked through the main courtyard, always the government section of the ...

... outside the National Memorial Chorten. Mendola in Dupthop Lhakhang, a nunnery. Made of colored sand All the towns here have a dzong, or fort, that was built around the 16th century for defense against Tibet. Now they are used half for government ...

... nbsp; As most people who know me know, I am terrified of flying and had read and heard many stories about the flight into Paro Bhutan.  It is one of the most dramatic flights in the world and apparently has the most difficult landing of any runway ...

... mein letzter Blog Eintrag fuer 9 Tage, da ich keinen Laptop und Satellitentelefon auf dem Trekking Trip dabei habe. (btw, die Handyversorgung hier in Bhutan ist inzwischen gut und die Abdeckung auch so ziemlich 100% in den Doerfern entlang des ...

... . After dinner, the guide took us to a bar to have a drink, quite a peculiar sensation, especially for me. It seems that bars in Bhutan are mainly enjoyed by men. We enter to a dark place, where we can see a stage with some women dancing and some long ...