Hotel Uma Paro

... were shut - by National decree as this was one of two auspicious months of the year when meat could not be sold - but restaurants usually have enough to keep feeding customers - and is certainly still in our dishes. There was a letter to the editor in Kuensel newspaper about this meat ban raising a firm response from a senior priest who extolled the virtues of restraint. Buddhists have to tread the tight rope of ...

[Editorial note - Long time no write, as internet time has been secondary to enjoying the trip - now writing from Delhi from my hand written diary but wont be able to do all of it and photos to be added later - here is a taste] PARO BHUTAN In the foyer where I sit at the Janka Hotel, Paro, Bhutan is a round wall mural in bright greens pinks bliues and grey. A tall tree with lovely fruit is out of reach to elephant monkey rabbit and rooster. But monkey sits on ...

... kids (OK, I admit I am taking a lot of photos of kids and puppies - but what can I say? They're cute!!). And what were they doing? They were FISHING in a stream! Of TWO INCH WATER! Baiting their fishing lines with little PEBBLES! AWWWWWW! Common...That is SO CUTE! What else... The zipper flies on both of my pairs of convertable pants have officially busted. On the upside, this has made it slightly more convenient going to the bathroom in squat ...

... my husband in Kathmandu) ;) In contrast to India, there is no pollution here and there clearly is a reasonably high standard of living. Old people get a stipend from the govt when they can't afford to work. The streets are clean and you're not allowed to burn trash. There are some free roaming cows I've been told, but I haven't seen any and there isn't any cow poop on the ground. So to give you some background, Paro (where the airport is) has about 6,000 people ...

... everyone took it in stride. Sadly for us, having waited for hours in the crowd, we were not to see the king this day. We stuck it out with the crowd for a bit, soaking in the atmosphere, and finally we opted to beat a retreat to the hotel. On the way back to the car, someone pointed out that a little ways up a hill on our left, there was a vantage point into the palace courtyard - through an iron fence. From there, we had a good chance of ...

... my favourite place to visit, where circumambulation of the stupa by monks, locals and tourists occurs (in a clockwise direction, of course), with spinning of prayer-wheels. We also visited the Emporium to do some shopping - it seems all stops have been removed as we visit our final country before home; we better stop soon or we won't be able to carry it all!! Tomorrow we visit Paro and hike to Tiger's Nest, so it's time to get some sleep. Home soon.

... Buddhist and floral details given the remote hillsides where these structures are perched. There have been countless culture shocks including learning about sky burials, tantric festivals, wild marijuana, Tibetan smugglers, the Buddhist Drukpa Kuenley "The Diving Madman", the dominance of woman/matriarchs from western Bhutan and of course the striking beauty of the Bhutanese people. It is an amazing place that challenges your views of the modern wold ...

I spent a LONG day of travel from Mabul via KL to Bangkok to position for Bhutan. The car service for the hour route to the airport broke down on its way to get me and there were no taxis in the village where I was dropped off. What the hell was I going to do? Public bus of course. I boarded a small van (think transportation for a high school tennis team) and it was filled to the gills with locals. Here we go. Well, there ...

... worn my the men! It looks like the Tibetan tunique worn with one sleeve off. It's a long tunique that ties on the side and his worn with a belt at the waist so that the back is blousing and they make a pleat at the back of the skirt that goes down to the knees. So they have to wear knee high socks, cute and sexy! Think I want to move to Bhutan! The women wear a kira, a wrap skirt made of hand woven fabric and a short square jacket made of Chinese ...

... enjoyed by all. I wandered around the grounds where the festival took place and met up with several smiling faces that were more than willing to smile for my camera. Everyone was so pleasant. Many of the younger people could speak English so I was able to communicate with them, however the elderly just simply smiled and enjoyed the conversations that were taking place around them. During our 2-week stay we saw so many sites and enjoyed ...