Zhiwa Ling Paro

... killing living creatures versus enjoying carnivorous meals. The irony in Bhutan and Nepal is that much of their beef is imported from Kolkota in India - a somewhat odd export in a land where cattle is so preciously guarded. Lonely Planet cites roaming noisy nocturnal dogs as one of Bhutan's chief nuisances for tourists. We certainly found many dogs splayed out asleep by day anywhere they fancied, even on the roads ...

... rabbit on monkey and rooster on top can reach the fruit for everyone. - a ubiqitous picture on walls, banners and monastery walls as we travel Bhutan and for Indiandy and Di a symbol of the group of four who travel Bhutan - Indiandy, Di, Tsheten our guide (Setten), and Seangey our driver (Sangay). We virtually live together for the 9 days and I leave Bhutan with a Four Friends picture which all have signed. (Bangkok) Rising at 3am Indiandy and Di for ...

... I've taken to wearing my waist pack 'a little low' to cover the suspect area. I'm not too worried about it - I've just taken it as a convenient way to make new friends in Nepal... ;) Other than that, its been interesting to see the snippits of the U.S. inaugeration on the cable TV news here. I really liked the First Couple's dancing to 'At Last' being sung by Beyonce - particularly their unrestrained hand holding of interlocked fingers. It ...

... whereas the capitol Thimpu, has about 60,000 people. The country as a whole has about 6 million people. 40% are farmers. There was no access into the country until the 1960s when a road was built so you could drive in from India. The original capitol was too far in to the middle of the country (and too blocked by mountains), that they moved the capitol so it would be easier to gain access by car. They all get an education, including English as well as the national ...

... the king amongst the monks and other political leaders that occupied the palace area for one of the many ceremonies. We took our chances and headed up the hill, and found a decent view of the palace and the king's audience. Our view of the king himself was only fleeting, but it was still a decent ending to the day! Back at the hotel, we elected to stay in our traditional garb. This Goa was starting to feel a little comfortable (and airy ...

Kathmandu has become a bit of a topic to joke about amongst our tour group. Definitely of all the places we have visited in the Himalayas it has had the least charm. Moreover, we just kept ending up back there. Kathmandu was our original point of entry and first place we toured, we stopped by again on route to Tibet, and then we returned to spend an extra couple of days there before continuing on to Bhutan. But apparently, entering ...

... inspires you to go out and explore other remote corners of the planet. It is encircled by China, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar they are encircled by countries whose caste systems, human rights violations and generally inabilities to take care of their own people have put them in the spot light of international press for the last few decades. Somehow they've managed to maintain a peaceful monarchy and transition to a constitutional monarchy with ...

... about ten minutes of silence as I imagined they were sizing up why I was smashed in this small bus and the lack of chatter of any sorts was more than a little awkward. Then a sixty or so odd man to my left shouted something up to the driver. What happened next was unimaginable. The driver pulled on a plastic box in the cieling and a small flat screen popped down. As if it were happening in slow motion I watched him ...

... with contrasting hem. The kids are so cute dressed like that! The first day I crossed the border by land. I was amazed to see the huge line up of Indian people crossing over to go to work. I really didn't want to see Indian people while in Bhutan, but they are everywhere working on the roads and in Thimphu on Sunday they seemed to have taken over the city. They were all going to the market which was otherwise quite ordinary except from this animal skin they ...

... and everyone one of them. One of the most prominent was our trek up to what is called the Tiger's Nest. As you can see from the photos this place is situated on a mountain side. It was so awesome. Our trek up was a bit of a challenge, but was well worth it when we got to the top as we enjoyed a tea and lunch with the head Lama of the temple. Fortunately for us, Sithar provided one of his young army men to carry up our lunch and thank goodness ...