Bhutan: Land of the Thunder Dragon
Nov 3-23, 2024
Known for its Gross National Happiness, the Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan, is perched in the Himalayas between India and China. I've read that one reason the British never were able to incorporate it into their Empire --- It is just so damn hard to get to Bhutan! Even today, only three roads lead into the Land of the Thunder Dragon.
I chose to fly, and it still took a while to get there. JFK to Doha -- Qatar to Bangkok -- and finally a flight on Drukair to Paro. The landing at Paro International Airport is said to be one of the most dangerous in the world, and only a few certified pilots can navigate it. Our pilot, Karma Shedrup Tshering, happened to be the nephew of our head Bhutanese guide, Hishey Tshering. He expertly piloted between the mountains and made the final sharp turn, finding the runway with ease.
Arrival in Bhutan was a breeze. I changed some dollars into Bhutanese Ngultrums, bought a phone sim card, good for a month for 500 Nu (about 6 bucks), and found myself out of the airport and meeting our guide Hishey in a blink of an eye. Five others in the group, Shelly, MB & Hugh, Janet, and Candy were on my flight to Paro from BKK. Jim and Judy, flying from Kathmandu will join us after lunch.
We piled into the comfy bus which transported around the country over the next 3 weeks with expert driving from Dorji (aka Kota). Additional guides accompanying us included Chimmey, plus Rabgay who drove the little orange car that would shoot ahead to scout birds or set up meals for us in the field.
Heading toward the Hotel Eutsholing in Thimphu, we made one birding stop along a small river, the Paro-Thimphu hotspot according to ebird. My first bird sighting in Bhutan was a Russet Sparrow glimpsed near the airport as we were driving. The river stop yielded 14 species including 9 life-birds for me including River Lapwing, Eurasian Hobby, White-capped Redstart, and a Himalayan Buzzard. We also saw the first mammal of the trip, a smooth-coated otter.
The Hotel Eutsholing was a little over an hour further, in Thimphu, the capital and largest city in Bhutan. Thimphu is at nearly 8,000 ft elevation, so I welcome the elevator to get to my third floor room. This is the only elevator I will see on the trip, though I fortunately acclimatize to the altitude after a day or two. Bhutan is one of the world's highest countries, with an average elevation of 10,760 ft.
We've all had a long day and it isn't even lunch time yet! That's what a 5am departure will do to you. After lunch at the hotel, we headed out for a visit to the Royal Takin Preserve. This zoo-like setting was built in 1974 as a genetic reserve for Bhutan's National Animal, the Takin (Budorcas taxicolor whitei). It has expanded to function as a rescue and rehabilitation sanctuary for other wild animals and some endemic birds including the Blood Pheasant and Himalayan Monal were in captivity here. We saw both of these species in the wild later on our trip.
I also ebirded a few bird visitors in the area including the Spotted Southern Nutcracker which I got a nice shot of flying away with a pine cone in its mouth, and one of my best photos of a White-throated Laughingthrush was one of these birds on the outside of the enclosure trying to find a way into the enclosure holding its friends.
There were a number of ungulates in the park including Sambar Deer. I have some really blurry photos of Sambar Deer seen in the wild from our trip to India and Nepal in 1987 and 1988.
Before it got dark, we had time to drive up to visit the Thimphu Buddha perched high above town. This gigantic Buddha is one of the largest seated Buddhas in the world at 177 feet (54m). My photos don't do it justice.
With jet lag, I was in bed by 8 and up super early the next day which gave me plenty
of time to sort my socks and figure out how to get the shower to work. Thank goodness for
my engineering degree. Breakfast was great with omelets, sausage, fruit, and cereal
with warm milk. Feed me well in the morning, and I'm a happy camper.
Day 2's lineup included visiting the main cultural attractions of Bhutan's capital city of Thimphu. We began at the General Post Office which included an extensive postal museum as well as a large collection of commemorative stamps for sale. Having been an avid stamp collector in my youth, I spent some time going through the collection and picked out a number of stamps to purchase, focusing on those with wildlife and cultural sites we are likely to see on this trip. I also picked up a few postcards to mail home.
Next stop, the Jungshi Handmade paper factory. We were allowed to take pictures of the workers, and it was cool to watch one woman roll out thin (almost invisible) sheets of paper. The paper is made from daphne bark, some of it is infused with flowers and other plants.
Thimphu's National Textile Museum had many interesting exhibits. Alas, no photography was allowed inside. I remember seeing several examples of traditional dyes that reminded me of my work with fading of Chinese Plant Dyes. There were also a number of museum videos, including one explaining how the national dress for men and women is donned and fastened.
Just before lunch we visited the National Institute of Zorig Chusum. Zorig Chusum translated means "13 crafts" and the Institute teaches students traditional art skills including Traditional Painting (Lhazo), Sculpturing (Jinzo), Wood Carving (Shagzo), Calligraphy (Yigzo), Paper making (Dezo), Bronze Casting (Lugzo), Embroidery (Tshemazo), Weaving (Thagzo), Carpentry (Parzo), Masonry (Dozo), Bamboo and cane weaving (Tshazo), Gold/Silver Smithy (Trozo), and Black smithy (Garzo).
After lunch was the days highlight: a visit to "Simply Bhutan". Simply Bhutan is an interactive museum that showcases various aspects of traditional life in Bhutan. Visitors can sample various activities such as archery, coin tossing, earth ramming to build a wall, and sample yak butter tea, among other things. Watch out, if you hit the archery target, as I did, you have to do the traditional celebration dance. I threw in a little Macarena with mine.
Simply Bhutan also has the Wangchuk Chenmoi Dumra (Garden of Phallus). Phalluses are a common sight in Bhutan The symbol is meant to bring good luck, promote fertility and harmony, and ward off evil spirits. They are painted and carved in and on buildings throughout the country, and for sale in most tourist knick-knack shops. The symbol was popularized by the "Divine Madman" in the 15th century when Drukpa Kunley brought Buddhism to Bhutan
Today wasn't about birding, but I was pleased to snap a photo of a Himalayan Buzzard flying over Simply Bhutan. That was probably the most oft seen raptor of the trip.
Off to an early start, left Thimphu at 6:30am and drove to the Druk Wangyel Chortens (Stupas) about an hour away. These 108 Chortens at the Dochula pass, just over 10,000 feet, are an important destination for both tourists and for locals, because the pass is a popular spiritual destination. Bhutan's highest peak, Mt. Gangkar Puensum can be seen from the pass. We did a bit of birding before breakfast at the pass, and continued birding and visiting the site for another hour or so after breakfast.
By 10am we reached our next stop, the Royal Botanical Park. Here we took 2 hours and 19 minutes to bird a 1.26 mile loop. That's how birding goes, you don't walk very far or very fast. I really enjoyed this park, even though most of the birds were hard to get on with binoculars. One, the Red-billed Leiothrix was heard only, but I recorded its cool sound. Here we also enjoyed seeing a Eurasian Otter and an Orange-bellied Squirrel.
Stopped along the Trashigang Highway and tried to make sense of a mixed flock of little flitty birds high in the trees. One with an amusing name is the Orange-bellied Leafbird. Amusing, because "leaf bird" is what we often call a sighting of a leaf that looks like a bird. This area also had a Striped Squirrel, but the little sucker was too fast for me to get a photo.
We had lunch in the field and did a little birding on our way to the "lowlands" (around 4,000 feet). We're spending only one night at the Dragon's Nest Resort in Wangdue. My room had a lovely view of a river lined with palm trees. After checking into our rooms, we went back out for a couple more hours of birding along the river. My first ducks of the trip were seen, Ruddy Shelducks. Overall, this trip was not very ducky.
At dinner, while reviewing our bird list, we heard a Scops-Owl calling outside the hotel. That brings my life bird list up to 1685 with 60 new Bhutanese birds so far on the trip. Plus an additional 6 added during my Bangkok stop-over on the way here.
An early morning start with another good breakfast. We had a long drive today along the Puna Tsang Chu River with warmer temps down in the flat lands. A portion of the drive was along the border with India, and I noticed a fork in the road into that country. I believe it is the only land border crossing currently open into Bhutan.
Frequent birding stops today. By now the sound of the Collared Owlet is becoming seared into my brain. It's the call our guides play to get the attention of birds in the field. Similar to what we do back home, but using the Eastern Screech Owl call in NY. Later on the trip today, we heard the Collared Owlet answer back.
We had success finding our main target, the White-bellied Heron, one of the world's rarest birds with approximately 60 of them left in the wild. I saw one flying down the river and lost sight of it when it landed in the rocks. I then couldn't find it with binoculars, but miraculously got a photo of the bird by shooting at that area. One of our group, Candy McManiman, got an amazing shot of the heron flying with a Himalayan Goral watching from the edge of the shot. [Candy's White-bellied Heron and Goral]
We visited and had lunch at the White-bellied Heron Conservation Center in Sunkosh. More info at Royal Society For Protection of Nature. In addition to facilities for a few captive birds, there is a small museum with information about the birds. Currently, White-bellied Heron are critically endangered with less than 60 mature individuals and fewer than 5 breeding pairs in the wild.
Mammal sightings today included a Himalayan Goral, Assam Macaques, and the Golden Langur (Trachypithecus geei), an old world monkey found in this area. The Golden Langurs are currently endangered with a decreasing population around 6,000.
We have two nights at the Marigold Hotel in Gelephu. As seems to be the trend in Bhutan, the bathroom door is secured on the outside with a heavy dead bolt appropriate for Fort Knox.
I love the smell of sewage in the morning. You guessed it, we made an early morning visit to the Gelephu Sewage Treatment Plant - a must stop for most birders! It was a great stop, my kind of birding with many larger birds and others down where they are easy to look at rather than flitting around high among tree leaves. I saw Lesser Whistling Ducks, Pond Herons, mynas, babblers, barbets, rollers, and did my biggest ebird list of the trip so far with 35 species and a lot of pictures. After a couple hours birding, we returned to the Marigold Hotel for breakfast, a yummy curry, some puffy bread thingies, eggs and other stuff.
Out for more birding around Gelephu until lunch time, back to the hotel for lunch and a siesta to avoid the heat of the day, followed by another late afternoon birding excursion along a road in the area. Highlights included elephants crossing the road and an Oriental pied hornbill.
After dinner at the hotel (a nice potato curry and pork belly), we walked a short distance for owling and found a Brown Boobook. Love that bird's name. I didn't take my camera for this outing, but was able to take a photo with my phone of Hishey's phone attached to his scope with the bird on it.
Early start in the morning as we head up to Tingtibi. With lots of stops for birding, I add 12 more ebird checklists and get at least 30 new species this day. We have a couple of multi-species blasts with many small birds flitting about and it's very hard to get on some of them, but I manage a few photos. Best shots include a Collared Treepie, Green-billed Malkoha, and Long-tailed Sibia.
We stopped midway for lunch at Hotel Reng and rolled into our lodging at TWang around 5ish as it was getting dark. TWang is our most basic accommodation of the trip. Hishey described it as "camping with walls" but it is much nicer than that. It's a simple hotel room with an attached bath, albeit one with a squat toilet and no hot water. My room is very small, with a single bed, small chair, and one tiny table for furniture. But, I have working WiFi since my room is located directly above the lobby. Much better than camping!
Next morning I'm up again at 4am. I went to sleep at 8pm, so that's a full 8 hours. We're meant to have coffee at 6:15am and be out birding by 6:30, but I make some instant coffee in my room (glad I brought that electric kettle) and have an early morning snack before that.
We drove and birded, and drove and birded, eventually stopping for breakfast in the field around 8:30am. The meals in the field have been very good with tables and chairs set up for the group and lots of hot food choices carried with us. Breakfast included eggs, rice, and buckwheat pancakes with local honey.
More birding after breakfast until we returned to the TWang for lunch and a break
before another round of birding in the afternoon.
The Salmon life bird list at the end
of the first week in Bhutan has increased by 167 new bird species seen in Bhutan.
Another early start with a full day of driving and occasional birding stops along the way. We saw more Golden Langurs this morning. A large group were along the side of the road licking the rock edges to add minerals to their diet. Also spotted an Orange-bellied squirrel, but these guys are too fast for me to get a photo.
There was a morning stop in Wangdigang at the DY Jadram Cafe, and later another relaxing field lunch set up next to a small stream near the Dangdung bridge. The lunch spot had more of the usual lovely scenery near a small building with a prayer wheel, plus a special visit from a Eurasian Hoopoe. A group of young people were making a music video of some sort nearby. They were dressed in traditional garb and singing what might have been a "love" song. Though they tried to keep straight faces, they would erupt in giggles and need to restart the shoot frequently.
After lunch we found a special bird called the Yellow-rumped Honeyguide. It's a small, sparrow-sized bird that hangs out on honeycombs and feeds on wax. They prefer the wax of the Himalayan giant honey bee, the world's largest honey bee. Earlier, we had seen some scary looking road signs with a drawing of a giant bee (1-2 feet wide) and warning to stay in vehicles. The bees near the honeyguide were fortunately not that large, and very high on the cliff, so we were not in danger.
Around pi-time (3:14pm) we reach the Yotongla Pass. The high point for today at 11,237 feet. We stop and walk for about a mile looking for birds, but it is quite windy and quiet along this stretch of the road.
The Kaila Guesthouse in Bumthang will be our lodging for the next 3 nights to allow us plenty of time to soak in the annual festival at the Jakar Dzong. It is also the most comfy hotel we have yet to stay at.
Jakar Dzong translates to "fortress of white bird" and it is an imposing structure on top of the ridge overlooking the town of Bumthang. Each fall, the Dzong has a multi-day festival to celebrate the anniversary of Guru Rimpoche. It features dancers with masks mixed with jesters and other monks. Hundreds of local people attend wearing their finest clothes, and an important sacred tapestry is unveiled on the final day followed by a blessing.
We headed up to the Dzong when it opened at 9am on the second day of the festival. Arriving before the crowds, I got a good spot next to a wall by a railing with excellent views of the action. Monks wearing colorful masks and outfits danced, swirled, and filled the center space of the Dzong with ritual dances for hours. Clown jesters patrol the edges to keep out children or tourists who may stray into the scene. Although there is a sacred ritual component, the atmosphere feels like a Fourth of July party with seated people picnicking on blankets along the edges.
I watched the spectacle and snapped away with my camera hoping to capture some of the beauty and magic. By 11am the crowds had swelled to the point they were pressing against me. I managed to escape and headed back down hill and walked the half mile to our guest house.
After lunch back at the hotel we had a short birding trip along a nearby river which netted a few dippers, an Ibisbill, and a Black Crake. Not bad for an hour bird outing.
On our second morning in Bumthang, we headed to the Zakar Dzong after breakfast to witness the unrolling of the sacred scroll and get a blessing. We beat the crowds who later filled the place and lined the steps on the way into the Dzong for a blessing. There was a bit more dancing and music and we then joined the throng in the center and received a blessing that included holy water, oil and rice.
Leaving the Dzong, we headed a short distance to the Bumthang Valley to visit Kurjey Monastery. Kurjey is a sacred place in Bhutan where Guru Rinpoche meditated on a rock and left his body imprint (Ku=body, Jey=imprint). This happened in the 8th century and involved the guru changing into his 8 manifestations and dancing on the grass. His dance was so wonderful and miraculous that all local deities went there to watch. The story continues involving the King recovering from his ailments and thus Guru Rinpoche started to spread his way of Buddhism throughout Bhutan.
Our group toured around Kurjey. Inside one of the temples I purchased a small wooden phallus that had been blessed by the monks. It is now home hanging on a Buddha that's been in my family for 60 or so years. [see photo]
We then went a short distance down the road and visited Tamshing Lhakhang. This is a very old temple/monastery with some mural wall paintings dating back to the early 1500s, some of the oldest in Bhutan. Inside is a famous Cloak of Chain Mail blessed by Pema Lingpa. It is very heavy, approx 55 lbs, and if one can don it and circumambulate around the inner chamber of the temple three times, it is considered to be an auspicious act that can cleanse all of one’s sins! Hishey and Rabgay each did this. I touched the chain, but couldn't lift it!
Back to the hotel for lunch followed by an afternoon excursion into the mountains above 11,000 feet. The altitude is fortunately not bothering me, and I even took the opportunity to try out some exercise equipment up there next to the Pedtsheling Monastery.
We departed at 6:30am for a long drive to Yongkhola which took us over the Thrumshing La pass at 12,500 feet. We descended to our base at the Trogon Villa in Yongkhola for the next three nights. We're down in the lowlands at 5,500 feet.
We had many stops along the Bumthang-Ura Highway looking for birds and red pandas. I got my first good look at Blood Pheasants today, but we struck out on red pandas. They are small mammals and could be easily hiding in the trees.
Fun trivia fact learned today: WiFi in eastern Bhutan language means cowshit. Plus, a nice lunch stop today with yummy pork momos. You can't say no no to a mo mo.
Another birding group is staying at the Trogon Villa and we see them heading out around the same time we do and later in the day we get a report of their Beautiful Nuthatch sighting. The Beautiful Nuthatch is one of our target birds in this area, and it is the cover photo on the spiral bound Bhutan Bird Checklist that Hishey gave each of us and that we tick off our sightings in each evening after dinner. So it's a sure thing, right?
We spend much of our time during the next two days on a quest to get a better look at the Beautiful Nuthatch. Much driving and birding is done along the Semtokha-Trashigang Highway, and other unnamed roads in Mongar. Candy and I are among the lucky two in our group who actually got a decent look at the bird. Thanks to taking a look through the other groups spotting scope immediately after pulling up to a spot where that group had located the bird. The other group had been enjoying the Beautiful Nuthatch for 1/2 hour or so as we made tracks to reach them before it flew. Upon our arrival, I looked in their scope, Candy looked in their scope, then the bird flew before anyone else in our group got to see it. The next day we located another Beautiful Nuthatch high up in trees with terrible back lighting. A "not-as beautiful nuthatch" was in the same trees, and I got a photo of that guy (the Chestnut-bellied nuthatch).
Despite frustration with the Beautiful Nuthatch, we had some other fantastic sightings in this area. Highlight was a tawny owl, sitting still as if posing for our photos. There were also some lovely Black-throated Parrotbills very close in a bush near the road.
On the mammals front, we got great looks at some yellow throated martens, and a different type of Langur, the Capped Langur. And on a night drive, we saw a Giant Flying Squirrel and heard a Brown Wood Owl calling.
A long 12 hour day on the bus backtracking northwest in search of high altitude birds that we missed on the way down. We ended up at the Chumey Nature Resort in Bumthang. It's in a lovely hillside setting, but we unfortunately arrived after dark and left at 6am the next morning with little opportunity to explore the grounds.
Before leaving Yongkhola, we made one more stab at finding the Beautiful Nuthatch, but struck out again. We were also again skunked on our search for the red panda. But, we did spot a few Spotted Laughingthrush, and encountered parties attending the king's sister's wedding in the area, otherwise the day was a bit of a bust.
A very nice day began a little before 6am when my bag was collected, and I walked down the confusing paths at Chumey Nature Resort in the dawn light. When we arrived after dark last evening, I had no idea where my room was. This morning, I was again sorry that we didn't get to stay at this place more than one night.
Our bus was able to navigate the steep winding road up to Tharpaling Monastery at 11,800 feet. It is a beautiful place teaming with Monal Pheasants posing for pictures. After a brief exploration of the grounds, our breakfast table was laid out with views of the Chumey valley below.
We drove and made a few birding stops along the way. At 10:30am I got my first look at five Black-necked Cranes in a field near some buckwheat. We are planning to visit the Crane Center tomorrow, and according to Hishey, these birds are on their way there. We also saw many cold tits, Coal Tits, Rufous-vented Tits, Gray-crested Tits, and our own tits were cold.
After lunch, we made a stop for more snacks in a small town, Gangchup. I bought some chips because they have magic, India's Magic Masala, to be exact. More magic awaited us a few miles down the road near where parts of the movie, Travellers and Magicians was filmed near Chendebji Chorten. I found the movie at the library after returning home, and the scenery looks exactly like where my travels took me.
There was a nice collection Tsha Tsha figurines by a pair of water driven prayer wheels. Signage said "This water is Drangsong Latsho. Drangsong is the great Dharma protector of Kunkhyen Longhen." And of course, there was another Yak grazing near the roadside. ((short video of prayer wheels)
Chendebji Chorten is a large white stupa erected in the 18th century by a Tibetan Lama named Shida. A few other tourists were visiting the site, and a group of young monks were enjoying a soccer game on the grass. Our guide, Hishey is a soccer (football) fanatic, and he watched the game while the rest of us explored looking for birds, and in my case, for a geocache. Geocaching is one of my hobbies back home. See: Geocache: Chendebji Chorten Traditional Cache (GC3XEBF).
Arrived at our Namgayling Cottages in Phobjikha near sunset. My room is surprisingly cold despite the heater turned up to max. I checked the elevation on my GPSr and marked it at 12,853 feet which took me by surprise since we are in a "valley".
Early morning drive up to roads near the Pele Pass (Pelela) to look for birds before brekkie. It was cold out, but I added a Darjeeling Woodpecker and a Crimson-browed Finch to my bird list. There were more cold tits, too. We spotted "fresh" tiger tracks on our walk, but no tiger. Though I got a great look at, and photo, of a pika.
We spent a long time birding at high altitude and had breakfast up there. The sun had come out by brekkie, making our eggs and pancakes more enjoyable. A police escort for the "on duty monk relic transport" passed us on the drive down. Urgent business, indeed.
We visited some shops near Pelela Stupa, and I bought one of my few souvenirs of the trip. I'm calling it a Salmon lock. It's a large brass fish shaped padlock. Looking up info about it after returning home I learn that Fish is one of the eight lucky/auspicious symbols of Buddhism and Fish represents courage and fearlessness. My lock is also a puzzle lock, and one has to push the fish eye in order to get the key to turn. And the key hole is hiding under one of the fins that needs to be flipped to find it. So it is a really cool thing. And some available on eBay are selling for 5-6 times what I paid for mine from the nice Bhutanese woman.
Our timing was perfect as we reached Phobjikha Valley, the wintering ground for about 350 Black-necked Cranes. The cranes started arriving near the beginning of our trip and a few days earlier there were only a handful in the valley, but crane numbers had been steadily increasing. We spent 30 minutes at the Black-necked Crane Visitor Center. I got a lovely cappuccino in their Thrung-Thrung coffee shop, and was able to sit and sip it in an upstairs viewing area set up with scopes looking out on a field where 89 Black-necked cranes had gathered.
Our guide, Hishey, was the Communications Officer for the Royal Society for the Protection of Nature (RSPN) and he worked with Dr. George Archibald, co-founder of the International Crane Foundation. He told us some stories about George who did major work with banding and radio collaring of the black-necked cranes. Archibald pioneered several techniques to rear cranes in captivity, including the use of crane costumes by human handlers. Archibald spent three years with a highly endangered whooping crane named Tex, acting as a male crane – walking, calling, dancing – to shift her into reproductive condition.
We got lunch at the Gadhen Ihayuel Restaurant in Gangtey and spotted a bunch of Oriental Skylarks along the road back to our Guest House. The birds blend into their surroundings well and it's hard to pick them out among the clumps of mud in the field. I also took a look at the hot stone baths across the street from our guesthouse. They heat hot stones and dropped them in the water in wooden tubs. The tubs are oriented sticking through a privacy wall, so the stoker of the stones is "outside" and adds more stones as the bather wants more heat. Could be nice if you like that sort of thing, but not my cup of tea.
After a break, we headed out again at 3pm and hiked about 3 miles on the Gangtey Nature Trail to a crane viewing platform. It reminded me of Sandhill Crane viewing in Nebraska, without the rain. We had a view over some fields, a pond and a serpentine river. There were some ruddy shelducks and 3 mallards in the pond, and eventually about 100 cranes flew in near dusk. There was one Common Crane in the mix with the Black-necked Cranes. We stayed at the viewing platform for about an hour and walked back to the bus after dark.
We're retracing our steps heading back west from Phobjikha over the Dochu La Pass. We stop at a familiar birding spot along a river in Punakha and spot four Green-winged Teals with a few Ruddy Shelducks. The teals are about half the size of the other ducks.
We arrive at the Spirit Village Lodge in Punakha shortly before lunch time. The room is nice, but lacking electricity for some reason, but that problem got sorted out by the end of lunch.
We spend a couple hours in the afternoon visiting the Punakha Dzong, Palace of Great Happiness. It is located between the Po Chhu (male) and Mo Chhu (female) river. We approach it across a very cool suspension bridge across the Po Chhu River. Later we exit out the other side across an ornate wooden cantilever bridge.
Photos are allowed on the exterior and there are many colorful murals near the entrance. There is a pattern that reminds me of a scrabble board that I learn is a geometric poem about the Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal. The first courtyard is huge with a large stupa and bhodi tree. My camera lens is not wide angle enough to capture it. The large interior of the Assembly hall has golden statues of Buddha Shakyamuni, Guru Rinpoche and Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal.
Hishey treats us to many stories relating to the history of Punakha and the Zhabdrung. Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal was a Tibetan Buddhist teacher and founding father of Bhutan. We are told the story of the relic that is said to have been used by Zhabdrung to deceive the Tibetans during hostilities in 1639. The Zhabdrung hid the relic in the cuff of his sleeve while holding a decoy in his hand. He was thus able to truthfully swear this is the genuine relic while pointing toward his sleeve. He then threw the decoy into the river. The Tibetans believing the important relic they were fighting for was lost, gave up fighting and went home. This story also relates to why Bhutanese garments have cuffs on the sleeves and Tibetans do not.
After the Dzong visit, we do a tiny amount of birding along the river followed by a welcome stop at Garuda Cafe for lemon tea before returning to our lodging.
Before breakfast, we had an early morning bird walk along the river next to the Spirit Village Lodge. We returned for breakfast and then birded a bit more before departing and heading for Thimphu. We went over Dochula and stopped again briefly at Druk Wangyel Complex as we retrace our steps from the start of the trip, which seems ages ago!
Back in the capital city of Thimphu we pass some shop signs including one for "Bed, Bath, Bhutan". No time for shopping as we head to Hishey's home in Thimphu for lunch. His wife made some delicious momos and spring rolls, and salad. Some pizzas were also ordered and I had a slice of one of them, but the other food was so much better!
After lunch we drove on to Paro and stopped for a bit of birding along the river near the airport before heading to our "glamping" stop at Tenzingly Luxury Villa. My tent was spacious and lovely to look at. Unfortunately there were some heat issues and I spent some of my time inside curled up in a chair next to the one working space heater that could keep one corner of the space warmish.
The big day we've all been looking forward to -- the hike to Tiger's Nest Monastery!!
The day began with a hearty English breakfast. Excellent eggs, sausage, croissants, and oat meal followed by a drive to the parking area for the walk to Tiger's Nest. This sacred Buddhist site precariously hangs on the side of cliffs above the Paro Valley at 10,240 ft elevation. The trail head starts at 8,500 feet. So we're facing a 2-3 mile hike with considerable elevation gain. It's fortunate we are doing this after nearly 3 weeks of altitude acclimatization in the country. I couldn't have done this walk on day 2 or 3.
The trail at the beginning of the trek is shared with mules, some with passengers, and is wide and easy to navigate. This is a welcome relief as I had not known quite what to expect. Knowing it is an extremely popular attraction, I was worried about being on crowded, narrow path with too many other hikers. But, this was not a problem at all.
We started our hike when the site opened at 8am. The faster members of our group took off with Hishey and probably made it to the top while the remaining 4 of us were enjoying coffee and snacks at the cafe located at the halfway point. There were numerous stops to enjoy the view and catch breaths along the way. It took approximately 1 hour 45 minutes to the Tea House. Rabgay offered to carry my pack, and I happily handed it over. He's 24 and a soccer player, so it didn't slow him down any!
Because it had been so cold in my room overnight, I dressed in many layers. I quickly warmed up while hiking and began peeling off layers. I welcomed the restroom break at the mid point Cafe to remove some under layers that were not necessary for the remainder of the day.
After a break for Cappuccinos at the Cafe, Hugh, MB, Candy, and I continued up while Janet opted to remain at the Cafe. We met Hishey and the other 3 members of our group coming down before we got to the view point across from the Tiger's Nest. The monastery is at the same elevation as the view point, but requires one more hurdle to reach it. One must head down and back up 600 stairs. Yikes!
Candy continued on with our guide Chimmey. Hugh and MB turned back, and I soon turned back and walked down with Rabgay. All in all, I was walking for 5 hours and my tracker said I did over 19,000 steps. Very satisfied with the accomplishment of reaching the view across from Tiger's Nest, not too shabby. And, my knees held up well without need of the knee braces I'd packed along.
We had lunch at a restaurant in in Paro called Mountain Cafe. I ordered Nasi Goreng, the name of a dish I vaguely remember getting at an Indonesian restaurant in Pasadena 45 or more years ago. It was a little spicy, and worked perfectly with the side of yogurt I ordered.
After lunch, we visited the National Museum in Paro. It had lots of cool stuff in a maze like building. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside, making it difficult to remember what all was in there. I do remember seeing a collection of Bhutanese stamps including some first day covers commemorating the Apollo 11 moon landing. There was a dungeon with weapons on display, a room with a large 3 dimensional mandala, other rooms with pots, jewelry, paintings of Buddhas and other deities, and many items made out of bamboo include a bamboo wine decanter. The museum had about a million stairs inside, too. Just what people who went to the Tiger's Nest need!
Today's adventure was a drive to Bhutan's highest motorable point, Chelela, just over 13,000 feet. We had to leave our lodging at 4am so we could get to the pass in time to watch the sunrise. It was a 2 hour drive to the pass, which ended up with limited views due to clouds. Most of the group was too tired and/or too cold to enjoy our breakfast spread that was set out to take advantage of the sunrise.
We did a little birding near the road, and then 3 of our group opted to join Hishey for a walk to the Nunnery. Those of us remaining on the bus were driven to another access trail heading up a steep hill to the nunnery. The path was very narrow with a drop off on one side. About half way up I was overcome by vertigo, something that had never happened to me before. I had the good sense to sit down, but then was frozen in place for the next 30 min or so until Judy and Jim happened to notice and come to my aid.
Feeling completely exhausted after the long bus ride back to Paro, and ginormous lunch at the Villa. I opted to skip an afternoon excursion into town for shopping. I'm not much of shopper anyway.
We had a big evening outing at one of Hishey's brothers homes, where Hishey's mother also lives. He has a large family, and many of them plus us, plus another tour group being led by one of the other family members all had dinner and a show at the brother's place. There was a lot of traditional dancing. Plus, a jester with a phallus thingo to encourage you to put tips into the yak puppet's mouth. I tipped the yak, but didn't touch the phallus.
Our final morning in Bhutan. We all gathered before breakfast for a "surprise" party with lots of cake and a performance by folk singer, Jigme Drupka, followed by even more food at breakfast.
Half of our group is leaving on an earlier flight and we all take the bus to the airport to say goodbye and give out tips to the crew. Candy, Janet, Shelly, and I have a later flight and spend an hour our so for a quick shopping trip in Paro and I buy a warm Bhutanese hat that would have been useful on some of our colder outings. I also pick up a cool looking painted rock. Shopping done, we head back to the Tent Villas for lunch and leftover cakes from the morning. The chocolate cake was delicious!
That's it. Time for one last trip in the bus to the airport and the long set of flights to return home. Paro to Bangkok to Doha to New York.
My final Trip EBird List netted 278 species observed in Bhutan over 21 days. The Bhutanese birds included 252 new species added to The Salmon Bird List plus 6 new species were added during my overnight in Bangkok on the way to Bhutan.
I also was able to add 16 new mammals to my Animals List. I don't keep a butterfly list, but I took photos of a Red Helen, Tamil Lacewing, and Small Tortoiseshell butterflys.
I took 5978 photos during the trip and trimmed that down to 103 for this travel log + 654 photos included with the more detailed photo sections below.
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