Asia Adventure 2012: Thimpu, Bhutan

According to Greg, the dogs quieted down around 4am. Breakfast was buffet style, thank goodness, so there was no wasting of food. Sherab and Dorji arrived right on time and we set out for our cycling excursion.

Our first destination was in the Kuenselphodrang Nature Park, past countless prayer flags, all the way up to the magnificent Buddha Dordenma, which is currently under construction. But this construction site was kindly opened to tourists seeking a sneak-peak. On this short trip we gained 400 meters of elevation. It was a tough go, but as Greg says, “we must earn the view”. This Buddha, 162 meters high is the biggest Buddha in Southeast Asia. The ride down was a bit too exciting for me. Greg and Sherab barrelled down, but I applied the brakes vigorously the whole way down and I’m sure both front and back brake pads will need to be replaced by the end of today.

Sherab explained so much information about Buddhism to us and I dare not repeat any of it here for fear of barely understanding the basics of this complex religion.

Our next stop was a tour of the Junshi Handmade Paper factory where we saw how paper was made. The process involves the boiling of dabney tree bark strips to access the pulp, soaking the pulp, draining off the excess water, pressing, and finally, drying. Then they fashion it into a variety of paper products and even press flowers and leaves into it. Do you recognize the leaves in the picture below?

I finally realized that I had been struggling in the 2^nd gear up to this point. My legs were starting to scream loudly at me until I realized it. Once I switched to 1^st gear it was much, much easier.

In addition to dogs, some cattle, donkeys, and goats also roam freely. We saw many on the next leg our our cycle tour, which took us outside of Thimpu into a forested area where Dorji served us a hot lunch with all the trimmings. Can you imagine? Now that was awesome. After a short rest where I continued photographing prayer flags, we headed towards the gate of the Jigme Dorji National Park.

Along the very-steep-in-sections way, we passed by the Guru Drub Chu rock painting. How amazing and how did they do it? Then through a rustic village, across the Begana Janag bridge under which the Begachu river flows, we were on the home stretch to our final destination for the day, the Jigme Dorji National Park gate and the bridge leading to the footpath to the Tango University, which is a Monk’s hillside University, built by the Divine Madman of Bhutan (who you will read about on tomorrow’s blog Feb 28).

The legs got a bit of a break on the way down, but there were still some hills left to challenge our spent legs. The legs that managed to help us gain 400 meters in elevation, not including all the up and down! We backtracked our way back into Thimpu just when school was getting out. So there were lots of children shouting hello to us along the way. One group of young boys asked me where were I was going and I sang out “Thim-pooooo”. He and his friends giggled frantically and started copying my wayward pronunciation of Thimpu before smiling widely and saying bye. They are so cute. Altogether we hiked about 55 kms.

Traffic in Thimpu is very accommodating to cyclists and I was not afraid to be cycling on what would be the equivalent of Westney Road during rush hour (right on the road that is).

We both enjoyed relaxing deep tissue massages before dinner. Very nice indeed!