Road Trip to Bumthang

I was requested to travel with guests out to Bumthang, the farthest lodge.  Last time that I was there I was flown out privately by the guest, this time I drove. I was excited for the drive as it would let me see a lot of the country I had not seen before.  The down part was that it would be a 10+ hour drive.  A good point was that it would also give me a chance to stop at Dung-Dung, a restaurant I had heard about for a long time that was supposed to be the best in the country.  I ordered the yakpa which is a strip of yak, semi jerkied and mine had a lot of tendon with it.  Loving to eat tendon I was happy.  The ezay (a chopped chili garnish) was delicious here, spicy with a hint of pickling and they had nice ema datse (chili and cheese).  After lunch we got back in the car and continued on the way.  About an hour later we saw a group of langurs, monkeys with white hair and dark faces.  I had no idea they lived here and was so excited.  They were cute and so interesting to look at. We actually had a great wild animal day as we also saw a Himalayan Griffon Vulture soaring through the air and then perching high on a tree. And later we saw a bunch of brown monkeys.  One of the monkeys even got in a fight with a dog, which was pretty amusing to watch. (neither animal was hurt).  The gate picture near the bottom is the top of a pass which separates the east and west of Bhutan.  And the car in the last picture was cool as well, it was an "explosive truck."  A truck that must have contained a lot of explosive materials, probably used to help break up rocks in order to make new roads.  All in all it was a good drive.  When we arrived at the lodge, the king had also just arrived there for tea with guests.  Unfortunately I was unable to meet him. :(

PoTD - Hardly Chinese

They call it chinese food, and authentic at that, but the two places in Thimphu that serve Chinese food are nothing close to any of the chinese food I've ever had in my life.  At Chopsticks, the more known local chinese food joint, they serve sichuan rice missing the key ingredient... sichuan pepper.  Now this wouldn't be a big deal as it's hard to get in most parts of the world, except the peppercorn grows natively here in Bhutan.  It was a huge disappointment for me, as a Jew I need to have chinese food every now and then... it's in my blood (well, sort of).  Alas, I think I will need to wait till next month when I leave Bhutan to have proper chinese food again (I'm looking at you BKK Chinatown)

The dog goes to the farm...

Bhutan has lots of dogs in the country. Some are pets but most seem to be stray. Each lodge I work with has a few "lodge dogs" that they take care of but strays always seem to try to work their way in as well.  In Thimphu there was a stray who was barking too much so the staff brought him somewhere far away and dropped him off, leaving him to find new quarters. Somehow, me made it back.

At the Paro lodge, where I am housed mostly, there was a very cute new girl stray that had been hanging around recently.  She was adorable, and liked to follow me around and I really wanted to take care of it. But sadly, as I move around a lot for work and also will be leaving next month, it wouldn't make any logical sense.  Still, I liked the dog a lot and would feed it extras of my food.

One night I brought my dinner back to my room to eat in privacy. I had a plate of Indian food and also a little basket with raita and flatbread. I put the basket down a top of higher ledge near my door, opened the door and walked inside to put the plate down. When I went back outside to grab the basket, I also had a little meat for the dog. The dog was gone. He had followed me back but then disappeared. Was he scared of me? I couldn't find him anywhere, and then I noticed my bread basket was gone.  She had somehow gotten up to the ledge, grabbed the basket and then ran away. I was surprised and upset. Upset because I really wanted that yoghurt with my food and also I needed to bring that basket back tomorrow and now couldn't.

Luckily in the morning I found the basket and ramekin a few houses away with a mess of white raita everywhere around it.  I saw her later and was going to be upset, but she was too cute to be mad at. (see the first picture to understand why.)  However, it wasn't just me she was stealing from. Sometimes when guests would eat outside the dog would act all cute and beg for food. Then when the guests weren't too careful, she'd steal a muffin or croissant from the table. A smart but sneaky dog, and something you can't really have around a 5 star hotel.  So there was talk of getting rid of this stray.

I came back to my room the other afternoon and off to the side was a crate with food in it and a door open by wire.  Clearly a trap of some sort for this stray.  The dog had followed me back to my room, as usual, and then when it got the scent of food in the air she left me and headed for the box.  She was just sniffing all around it at first, not going in as it was like she knew what was up. But then she went in and started to eat the food. The cage had to have the wire pulled to drop the door, so I pulled it. I felt bad and conflicted.  I knew that the dog had to leave, but I really loved playing with it and looking into her cute cute eyes. But, it had to be done. And if not me, the security guy would have been over in a few seconds to do the same. In fact, when he got there he kept thanking me for doing it. Not that it made it any easier for me.

I hope this stray makes it back ok, but I'm not sure she will. I was told they'll bring it to a farm to play with other dogs and be taken care of and better fed. Hmmmm... does Bhutan have the same sort of fairytale story to tell the kids about dogs dying as we do in the western world?

Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten. Round 2

One of my favorite places to visit in Bhutan is Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten. It's a beautiful stupa on top of a hill overlooking a valley with a river running through it.  I find that I can have peaceful thinking when there, clear thoughts as well as this wonderful feeling of contentment from being in such a beautiful place.  This visit found me there during a festival of some sort. There were numerous monks praying and walking around as well as local people painting the surrounding stupas. I found out that the queen mother was going to be there as well, though I found this out after I left. Every other guest who went met her, but I sadly did not. :(

Last time I posted photos from here I didn't get a good shot of the chorten. This time I wanted to show you all a little more of the stupa itself. I wish you could all go there and feel the presence that is felt when at Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten.

Takins... Round 2

When I was in Xian, China I discovered an animal I had never seen before. The Takin. A sort of goat meets cow hybrid of an Antelope.  The chinese one was yellow, these a darker color.  Sadly, I couldn't get too close as the fences prohibited this as well a making it hard to get a good shot of the animals. The Takin is the national animal of Bhutan, which makes sense as they are a very peaceful and seemingly happy animal.

The nature reserve also had a few other animals such as deer and antelopes of various sorts.  Not the most exciting of zoo type places, but always cool to see newer (to me) types of animals.