The Gantley Palace Our trip to Bhutan began with a 2am arrival at the Bangkok airport. We spent the day holed up in an airport hotel relaxing, charging batteries and reading up on Bhutan. The next morning we headed back to the airport at 4 am to catch our flight to the Himalayas. Druk Air is the Bhutanese National airline and the only airline that flies to the country. They have only two planes, and one destination, Paro - Bhtutan's only airport. The two planes are Airbuses, which are the largest planes capable of landing on the very short runway in Paro. Paro was selected as the airport site because it is the widest valley in Bhutan. Tickets for Druk Air can only be purchased by Bhutanese travel companies after a visa has be secured. This is the smallest, most unique airline that we have dealt with thus far in our trip

The Paro Dzong We arrived in Paro and met our guide, Gelay; who would guide us through our cultural tour of Bhutan as well as lead our trek through the mountains. Gelay is Bhutanese, educated in India, and one of the owners of our tour company, Keys To Bhutan. After a few hours of the typical introductionary conversations, we discovered a kindred spirit in Gelay.  He was serious on the surface, but a warm and intellegent guy at heart.  He and Brice hit it off on computer topics; while Naomi and Gelay had much in common in our work with kids.  We hired a guide and discovered a friend.

We checked into the hotel that would serve as our home base while in Paro, the Gantley Palace. The Gantley was built in the 19th century as the palace for the regional king of Paro. We had the pleasure of the kings old quarters in the top of the hotel. The room was stunning and we declared it our official honeymoon suite.  Our first taste of Bhutanese hospitality was thrilling!

Prayer Wheels Over the next few days, Gelay led us through Paro, Bhutan’s second largest city of ten thousand. First on the itinerary was to pick up a bundle of prayer flags for our trek. These bright flags, inscribed with Buddhist prayers and imagery, are hung in windy places in order to release the prayers to the heavens. The next day we went to Taktsang, a 17th century monastery built into a cliff thousands of feet in the air. This stunning monastery is steeped in history and is a major Buddhist pilgrimage site. While we were in the temple, the caretaker monk included us in a ceremony to bless our prayer flags. In these first few days, we were not only acclimatizing to the altitude but we were learning so much about Buddhism and its role in Bhutanese history and life.

Bhutanese PortaPot After a few days, it was time to head for the hills, the really big Himalayan hills. We were embarking on the 15 day Laya-Linshi trek. It begins in Paro and follows Bhutan's northwest border with Tibet for the first half of the trek and then heads southeast to the lovely city of Punahka. A Bhutanese trek is unlike any outdoor experience that we've had. Where we are accustomed to planning our route, carrying all of our gear, and cooking our own food, things here are quite different. A trekking group consists of up to a dozen tourists, a guide/leader, a cook, a cook's assistant, and several horsemen/yak herders. For our trek, we had a crew of five guys: Gelay, the guide; Tashi, the cook; Dorji, the assistant; and Karma and Chenchu, the horsemen; and thirteen horses/mules.

A unique highlight of the timing of our trek was that one of Bhutan’s queens (The king is married to four sisters) had started the same trek about ten days before us.   While we walked the trail for recreation, she was walking to the remote villages to teach about birth control and HIV prevention.  Because of this auspicious timing, many of the bridges over the glacial rivers had been rebuilt in preparation for her trek and the overall trail had been spruced up a bit. Many of the campsites also bore signs of her visit with areas cordoned off with pine boughs for the queen's tent. On several nights, we slept in the royal campspots.

Chomolhari A typical day began with tea and coffee served to us in our tent, followed by a hot breakfast. After we ate, Gelay would lead the two of us as well as Dorji, on the day's walk. After we left, the rest of the guys would break camp, load up the horses and set out after us. We hiked until lunchtime, when Dorji would pull out a hot lunch of rice and side dishes prepared that morning by Tashi. As we ate lunch, the rest of the crew and horses would usually pass us. By the time we reached camp, the guys would have everything set up as well as coffee, tea and cookies waiting for us. Dinner would follow, frequently with campfires. This was much more luxurious than we are accustomed to. While we were uncomfortable with this arrangement in the beginning, we quickly grew accustomed to it.

Happy Kings The trek itself was amazing, challenging, and frustrating. The first few days lead us north along the Parochu river valley. While the scenery along the river was impressive, the personal interactions were the most memorable. We shared meals and traditional butter tea with several families, as well as chai tea at a remote Indian outpost. After a few days walking, we arrived at one of the highlights of the trek, Chomolhari Mountain (24,136ft). The is one of the largest mountains in Bhutan and one of its most sacred. After a rest day exploring the Chomolhari base camp, we walked on to our first high elevation pass, Nyile La (16,071ft). As we neared the top of the pass, clouds began to roll in and by the time we were hanging our prayer flags at the top of the pass, it had begun to snow. After we had crossed the pass and walked down into the valley, we were getting the feeling that the snow was not going to let up for a while.

The next day brought us to one of the most incredible experiences. We spent the morning at the Linshi Dzong, a remote Buddhist fortress nestled in between massive mountain passes. This dzong is inhabited for majority of the year by a small contingent of novice monks. They head south for warmer climes around the end of October, so both the snow and the foreigners had caught them before their migration and those little boys were getting cold in their red cotton robes and bare feet. We hiked up to the dzong in a white out, with snow swirling everywhere. We were first greeted by three young monks practicing prayers in their robes with down jackets underneath. From there we made our way into one of the prayer rooms where there were about a dozen ten to twelve year old monks chanting. We were greeted by some of the warmest, most engaging smiles imaginable. Once the cameras came out, things got really fun. Possibly the greatest benefit of digital cameras is the ability to show someone the picture you just took. In a place with no film or mirrors, these monks rarely see themselves and photos are prized possessions. Simply being able to see themselves in the display of a digital cameras was thrilling for them. We spent the next hour watching them with their prayers, taking pictures, showing off the photos and letting them take a few of their own pictures. Seeing such pure and simple excitement from children was amazing, especially given the fact that they were monks cloistered away in a remote monastery.

The visit coincided with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and was special celebratory gift for Naomi who was particularly missing home and family that day.  However, it is cool to think that we spent the High Holidays at such high altitudes.  We even had Bhutanese apples and honey.

Monks with Nikons After the dzong, the trek took on an eerie pattern. We knew there were giant mountains out there, but we just couldn't see much of anything.  A light snow and thick cloud cover continued as we trek over big passes and descended into a snowy valleys for the night. It was only for our fourth, highest, and final pass that the weather finally broke. As we stood atop the Sinche La pass at 16,516 feet, we had our truly Himalayan moment. We were standing on top of the world, closer to the heavens than we have ever been and most people will ever go.  The air was thin, the weather was breaking, the massive mountains surrounded us, and the view of the Himalayan expanse spread out before us was indescribable. As Gelay and the guys strung together all of the remaining prayer flags in a hundred foot long arc, we relished in the power of the moment.  It was an unforgettable moment of beauty and a celebration that we had successfully walked so far.

From Sinche La we made our way down to the village of Laya. This is one of  Bhutan's larger mountain villages with 800 residents, though it is accessible only by foot via a three day trek from the nearest road. The Layaps people have a distinct culture to the rest of the Bhutanese. They are a rugged, self-sufficient people with a unique dress that differs from the conventional Bhutanese attire. Layaps are yak herders and wheat farmers. When we arrived, a host family served us butter tea and Ramen noodles.  After lunch, the mother offered to dress Naomi up in the Layap attire. After an interesting process of trying to find materials long enough to suit Naomi's height, we headed over to the neighboring primary school for Nomi to show off her new duds. The children loved it, even referring to her as "ahji" or queen (quite fitting now that she is a King). We were able to capture some more beautiful photographs of the Bhutan's greatest treasure, their kids. 

Victory Pose at the Pass After a day of hanging out with the Layaps, it was time to head down to Gasa and its awaiting hot springs.  A day of soaking in the hot springs certainly helped loosen two weeks worth of trail dust and we were ready to wrap up our amazing trek.  We spent the next few days checking out the Punahka Dzong, the shops in Thimpu, and various cultural highlights before saying goodbye to Gelay and a new love, the magical Kingdom of Bhutan.

As we enjoy our time in Thailand, we have spent a lot of time reflecting on Bhutan. Those three weeks were like nothing we have ever imagined. We were immersed in a culture that is strong and open, steeped in history and led by a king with incredible foresight. The country is a magnificent example of the traditional grandeur of the Himalaya. We shared moments with Bhutanese that were warmer, closer, and more exhilarating than we have experienced thus far in our trip. We will cherish these experiences for years to come and we hope to return in 2007 for the 100 anniversary of the establishment of the monarchy.  For more information about Bhutan,  visit the "Destination Details" page.