Inspired by looking through photos in preparing my slideshow, I’ve finally posted a few more photos from our trip to Bhutan up on the web. Head over to my Flickr page (or more specifically, my Bhutan Photo Set) to see them. There are lots more photos to process and publish – especially film photos from our non-digital SLR. I’ll place those up on Flickr as time permits.

All this thinking about Bhutan has also inspired me to finally start reading the book on Dzongkha, the official Bhutanese language, that I bought a few months back. Fascinating reading so far!

Ater a week in Thailand, our flight from Bangkok Airport was scheduled to leave at 5:50am, meaning an obscenely early start from our hotel in downtown Bangkok. At the airport, we arrived well ahead of Druk Air staff, who eventually showed up sometime after 4am. Whilst waiting, we met a lovely couple from Brisbane who were also heading off to Paro to do the same trek as us. Although we assume that we would be trekking together, they ended up walking in the smaller World Expeditions group.

Unexpectedly, our flight actually had a brief stop-over in Kolkata in eastern India; well, not really a stop-over, since those of us on the plane didn’t even disembark, but passengers alighted and boarded around us.

Once on the final leg to Paro, the scenery was apparently pretty spectacular, with views of Everest, Kanchen Junga and other Himalayan peaks. Unfortunately, we were seated on the wrong side of the plane to see most of this :-/. Despite that, however, the scenery was still pretty impressive, as was the spectacular landing into Paro. Apparently, the Airbus 319 we were flying in is pretty much the largest plane that can actually land at Paro; certainly anything with a wider wingspan would surely be clipping trees and valley spurs as the plane banked from side-to-side on approach, based on how close the mountains, trees and houses appeared to be to the wing tips on our descent.

Paro airport is just possibly the most picturesque international airport in the world! All the buildings (right down to the air-traffic control tower and terminal building) reflect traditional Bhutanese architecture. The short drive from Paro Airport to our hotel also showcased the bold and colourful traditions of Bhutanese architecture and design in the shops and houses that we passed. Adding to this colour was the traditional dress of ghos and kiras, worn by many of the people going about their business.

One of the must-see attractions in Paro is the Taktsang Monastery, otherwise known as ‘Tigers Nest’. Spectacularly perched on the edge of a sheer cliff, it is a 1.5 – 2 hr hike up to the viewing point, level with the monastery. Bear in mind that Taktsang is actually at about 2800m, which is about as high as Mt Kosciuszko – the highest point in Australia.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to hike all the way to the monastery , since access is generally limited to monks. From our vantage point across a gorge, we had spectacular views of Taktsang and back down into the Paro valley. Despite it’s status as a must-see attraction, we passed surprisingly few tourists on the track. This was when it actually started to hit home that, even with the recent interest and coverage of Bhutan as a travel destination, for the moment at least, it remains off the beaten track.

A short walk down the hill from the museum is the Paro Dzong. En-route to the Dzong, we were approached by three enterprising young Bhutanese kids calling out ‘Photo! Photo!’. After taking their picture, they asked whether we had anything to give them. Alas, we had nothing, but I’m sure their technique must work on many visitors!

There are a large number of dzongs (fortresses) throughout northern Bhutan, built in strategic positions to provide advance warning of invading Tibetans. Today, the Dzongs often contain both government offices and the monastic body, and the Paro Dzong is no exception. The buildings are amazingly impressive and grand, and dwarf just about everything else in the area.

We spent a bit of time in the Paro township, exploring the local shops, taking photos, buying stamps and posting cards to family, as well as stocking up on last minute essentials for our trek such as chocolate and prayer flags (blessed by a monk no less!). Unsurprisingly, the variety of goods available was not huge, so we were stuck with chocolate coated cashews that ended up tasting like cough medicine, and small, crumbly cadbury chocolate bars from India (that still tasted damn good at about 5000m in the cold!!).

Our time in Paro was, alas, quite brief, and before we’d quite explored everything around us, we were packed and ready to embark on the first day of our 14 days trekking through the Himalaya in western and northern Bhutan – which I’ll be posting more about in the coming days and weeks.

Below is a sample of photos from our time in Paro. Again, I’ll eventually have a whole gallery setup to showcase a more extensive collection of pics, but for now, you can at least have a peek into the photographic story of our time in Paro.

The trek was almost certainly the most physically and mentally demanding activity I have ever undertaken, but was equally fascinating and stunning at the same time. Our trekking was hampered by unseasonably bad weather, including rain, sleet and (a lot of) snow, along with temperatures ranging from -10 to 35 degrees during the course of the trek.

The remote areas of Bhutan in which we spent the bulk of our time really are like walking back a few hundred years to medieval times. The villages have no roads, in fact, no vehicle access at all (not by air or by land) – everything is brought in on yaks, ponies or carried by people who, like us, must make the multiple-day trek along steep, narrow, rocky paths from the nearest road-accessible towns. There is (of course) no mains power or water.

Over the next few days (and probably weeks), I hope to publish a selection of photos and stories from our epic journey in the mountains. Feel free to leave any comments or questions as they arise – Bhutan is a truly fascinating country that I’m still very interested in learning much more about.