Y.T. Hotel Wangduephodrang

... These<br>festival which honours the memory of Guru Rinpoche who brought Buddhism<br>to Bhutan in the 7th century. They are held in every district (often in<br>the Dzongs) annually on the tenth day of the particular month in the<br>Bhutanese calendar. As it has happened for centuries, people continue<br>to converge at festivals both to pursue their spiritual practice, and<br>to participate in the community event. The Tshechu is a place to see<br>and be seen.<br>Tshechus are ...

... The evening highlight included an adventure trip out of the resort and into the streets of Wangdue, to find som elocal food. We walked along the dirt roadside in complete darkness (no streetlights here), peering into the wooden shaks that lined the roadway. This is how shops appear here, with theor owners waiting patiently for a customer or some other distraction. We eventually settled on a nicely stocked shop and made our ...

... and after taking a much needed break at the hotel, headed out for dinner and drinks at a happening little place called Zone. A must-visit for a Yak burger and fries! We hit a local sweets shop on the way back to the hotel, and having picked up some strange sesame ball candies (somewhat like sesame snaps we would find at home - yum!), it was again lights. out. A busy day of sights and sounds.....and more than enough to tire one out!!

... wobbly video. I've never been this close to royalty !!! National Memorial Chorten A small Stupa built in honour of the third King who died at the age of 44. You are meant to be able to go inside, but it was locked up, so we joined the locals doing laps, whilst chanting the first prayer. Om, blah, blah, blah !!! Changangkha Lhakhang Another monastery on top of a hill. It was pretty old, and there were oldies doing laps of ...

... to me sing OM !!! But the guide had so he came over and laughed, which kind of helped, because I pulled myself out, and onto the temple we went. I didn't get the name of this one, but it was old looking so we did the right thing and left a donation. I kind of felt a little sorry for the monks here as twenty of them sleep in the one room, and they did tell me it gets cold, maybe this was why I did what I did !!! We left there and had a ...

... my own business here !!! The town however is tiny. All little shops built upon a ridge, and in two minutes, you've seen it all !!! But it has a certain charm, which will be lost as the country is building a new Wangdue, which is sad, but then again, that's progress !!! And Finally Day three had been good. The sites were impressive, the weather great and was so much better than yesterday. We are glad we took the decision to move on, and things did indeed get better.

... breakfast was worth waiting for! We drive on several more hours until we reach Wangdi. There we have lunch at a riverside hotel with views of the Wangdi Dzong. I inspect both the breakfast and lunch hotels as possible places for my future groups to stay. During the long drive our guide fills us in on some of the more interesting aspects of life in Bhutan, such as how people determine where on their property to build ...

... good fortune for the next two years but, hypnotic as h** movements w**e, my attention was drawn to the fascinating expressions on the faces around me: the children wide-eyed in their absorption, the women evidently engrossed in the ritual, and the men... well, some of them w**e paying attention, but more of them w**e just being men, lurking in the background, swigging from bottles of cloudy and evidently potent brew ...

... daher soll sie abgerissen werden und weiter hinten ins Tal verlegt werden. Dabei ist sie eigentlich sehr schoen, und in Europa waere sie unter Denkmalschutz. Am naechsten Morgen war Markttag. Wie man sieht, gibt es Gemuese wie in Deutschland auch, Karotten, Kartoffeln, Blumenkohl, Bohnen, .... Daher sind meine Mahlzeiten auch recht westlich, es gibt immer Reis, aber auch Kartoffeln und Gemuesevariationen. Ausserdem gibt es Fleisch, Buddhisten ...