Thimphu to Phobjikha Valley

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The most arduous road trip so far, the first hour and a half was fine, a slow zig zag on a good road up to Dochu La at about 10,000 ft where I was hoping for some magnificent Himalayan views but the cloud was there before us .As we descended all the way down to 4,000 ft and the valley floor the road gradually deteriorated to a potholed unsurfaced track and progress became painfully slow.We had lunch at a small hamlet and as I ate I looked out on the adjacent dry rice paddy where two young men and a young woman methodically cut the rice stalks bundled them into sheafs, built a stack and baby sat a tiny little girl toddler,it was people watching at its best.There was a cat too, supervising.

Near the ruins of the burned out monastery at Wangdue we crossed the river for the ascent to the Black Mountains which proved to be as scenic as it was scary,the road an easy rival to the worst that India had to offer.Our driver is excellent and our Hyundai Santa Fe in as new condition,but it somehow dosnt count for much when you seem to be balancing on the edge of an abyss for hour after hour,creeping higher and higher.Then at 11,000 ft and shadows falling we began the easterly descent into the Phobjikha valley.Totally isolated,broad,fertile and sparsely settled,this is probably the most remote place I have ever been to.I am spending the night in a guesthouse after the seven hour drive and the silence is deafening,I can hear my slightly laboured breathing (it is still 10,000 ft) and nothing else.Tomorrow some hiking and hopefully a glimpse of some wildlife perhaps the fabled Black necked Crane,Muntjar,Boars,foxes,Leopards and Black Himalayan Bear, all are said to make this area home.Obviously there is no Internet here,they have not long had electricity,so this post will be queued pending....

108 Stupas at Dochu La 3300 mtrs

Wangdue Monastery (Destroyed by fire 2012) 

Rinchengang

Phobjikha valley,first sight.

From the Guesthouse.

Thimphu

Each time I am presumptuous to think that it doesn't get any better than this,it does.My moment of, if not epiphany then the closest I am likely to get to Saul's magic moment on the road to Damascus,happened early this morning at near 10,000 ft at the Tango Monastery.The steep zigzag trail up is marked at intervals with Buddhist teachings and being a student of Buddhism in my youth,I was pretty well primed by the time I reached the monastery which is also the national university of Buddhist studies.

The students here spend a minimum of 9 and often 15 years of study and then 3 to 5 years of solitary meditation,there are 350 students here plus there teachers in a 16 th  century monastery,where all of there supplies and daily needs arrive via a ropeway from the valley.

So I was in the midst of a combination of hundreds of years of introspection,education and dedication and a teacher in answer to my question  about the difference in the schools of Buddhism said that he couldn't answer for any religion or methodology but he and his students were concerned for all mankind,I had already been deeply impressed by the sincerity of these monks,they are not going through the motions,they are the real deal,but this guy just exuded compassion and understanding and my atheism took a heavy blow at that moment.I hope that I don't forget this morning,it was special.

Last morning in Gangtok,Kanchenjunga at sunrise.

Paro to Thimphu

Detail of uncompleted 51 meter Golden Buddha overlooking Thimphu.

Also overlooking Thimphu .

Himalayan wildflower.

My Guide Tashi

Student monks at Tango.

Tango Monastery

I am feeling extremely humble.

Established 12 century by Lama Rimpoche

Recent pics

Tea pickers Darjeeling to Gangtok

Gangtok to Siligurli

Siligurli to Paro

Further down the range

Coming into Paro valley

Landing

At Paro

Paro to Thimphu 

Thimphu,Bhutan

I can hardly keep up with myself, at the moment,my head is spinning.I left Gangtok early yesterday in a shared jeep and after a scenic roll down the mountain arrived  at Siligurli about lunchtime. Siligurli is another railhead town and in a word unattractive,so I took a taxi to Bagdogra and was lucky  to score a room in the only hotel near the airport.A cold beer or two restored me enough to contemplate the adventure ahead.

I was just about knocking at the gates of the airport this morning in my impatience,I needed to be early you see to secure a window seat on the left hand side,which I managed to do.

Right on time the Druk Air A319 took off climbing steeply for the half hour hop to Paro,almost immediately I had Kanchenjunga within touching distance at my window followed by the giants of the Himalaya,one after the other,it was a magic show and perfect weather to boot.Suddenly we turned left as if to fly straight into the huge wall of rock and ice,another sudden lurch to the right and we were in a ravine,a v shaped valley,looking across the plane I could see clearly the green wall through the right side window,and likewise through my window.Now I realized we were falling like a stone,but too late we kissed the Tarmac and stopped like a Harrier jet,on a sixpence.People were moving about the plane and I still sat there like a stunned mullet,things had happened too fast I needed a rewind and replay button.I was told it is the worlds shortest runway and only 7 pilots have clearance to fly in and out of Paro.

My guide Tashi and my driver,whose name I am not attempting were there to meet and greet.I was draped in my white silk scarf and we were off to Thimphu,an hour and a half of driving through valley scenery that defies my weak arsenal of adjectives.Suffice to say it is extremely easy to see how it became labelled as Shang ri la.

On checking into my hotel almost immediately I sat down to a lunch of 8 separate dishes,there was a bowl of cream of carrot soup,a salad of tomato,cucumber,onion etc,a plate of spiced grilled crispy fish with chopped chives and lime,a plate of cauliflower and broccoli cooked in butter,a bowl of curried chicken,there was a salver of pasta cooked with shredded cabbage and chillies in a butter sauce.a huge bowl of rice,and the national dish of shredded chillies and cheese.God I hope this doesn't happen every day.

After this feast, was sight seeing in Thimphu.I am back at the hotel enjoying a whisky now but my head is still trying to disseminate all this.

What I do for research folks.

My Wi-Fi connection is very hit or miss so I don't know whether I will get this out,but photos are out of the question for now:-(

Bye Bye India

Hard to contemplate this my last night in India,just a kilometer or two from Bagdogra airport and only an hour or two from Paro.The next chapter is about to unfold,exciting,at least I am heading back to the mountains,I resent the heat and dust of the lowlands however short a time I have to spend here.

Gangtok,Sikkim

Finally left Darjeeling just after 1pm,there where 12 of us crammed sardine like into a Mahindra Jeep.For the first hour or two we zigzagged down the mountain through a panorama of steep tea plantations,with the jeep,in it's lowest gear.At the bottom and crossing the fast flowing river that separates West Bengal from Sikkim we began the torturous and slow climb up to the border post at Rangpo.Foreigners have to have an " Inner Line Permit" and go through immigration and passport control here and the whole beaureaucratic process takes some time,and patience.

Onwards and upwards,it began to get dark and it began to rain,luckily only the last hour or two of the journey was in darkness,literally as the lights on the jeep didn't work.

It can be daunting and a little demoralizing disembarking from your transport in the rain,in a strange dimmly lighted town,that is perched on the side of a mountain.

Darjeeling was once part of Sikkim until annexed by the British Raj for use as an R and R center for its troops fighting in Nepal.Then after the debacle of partition Sikkim kept its independence as a separate kingdom until in turn annexed in the seventies by India as a strategic buffer against Chinese aggression in the region.Leaving Bhutan as the last surviving independant Himalayan kingdom.The people are a mix of Tibetan refugees,Nepalis,Ghorkas and Sikkimese tribes people,the religion is predominantly Buddhist and the food a combination of Indian,Tibetan,Chinese and Nepali.Here endeth the lesson.

Across the valley,from my Gangtok hotel window .

Gangtok

Tibetan Hotel

Enchey Monastery,over looking Gangtok.

Prayer wheels

Young monks

View from Enchey.

Leaving Darjeeling(Almost)

Stuff up

Ah it wouldn't be India without one,despite me being told at the jeep stand on Wed and again Thurs that you couldn't book jeeps arrived this morning to find it fully booked and now have to wait for 1 o'clock .which means another mountain road trip done in darkness,probably wont arrive at Gangtok now until 8 pm.So I am back at the cafe/bakery part of Glenarys Hotel having a big English breakfast such is life:-(

Comfort food will be the death of me or at least unwanted weight gain,especially as India seems to throw up rather a lot of situations where comfort is needed.