The third and final phase of our 2012 Asia trip was Bhutan. We started with a couple days in Thimphu, Bhutan’s capital and largest city, toured by car for several days in the countryside, and finished at Paro, one of the larger towns and the site of the spectacular “Tiger’s Nest” monastery.

Photo gallery

The complete photo gallery for our visit to Bhutan is here: 2012 Asia part 3 – Bhutan.

Slower and calmer

Bhutan felt very different from India and Nepal. Part of this is simply population density: Bhutan’s population per square kilometer is like Colorado’s, where Nepal is like Delaware, and India is like Rhode Island. Everything is slower, quieter, more modest.

One day in downtown Thimphu, as we walked away from the car and some of our stuff, Robin asked whether the car was locked – knowing that it had not been. Our driver went back to take care of it, of course, but as he did so, he and the guide exchanged slight smiles. We suspect suppressed eyerolls and an unspoken, “Oh definitely. Let me go back and *lock the car*”, as if the idea of needing a lock here were quite amusing.

We had heard about the Gross National Happiness doctrine introduced in the 70s by then-King Jigme Singye Wangchuck. It’s probably safe to assume that reality will fall short of any ideal such as “national happiness”, but it seemed to us that this concept does play an actual role in today’s Bhutan. For example, our guide spoke of GNH impact being used as a screener for development projects, the way environmental impact statements are in the United States. Maybe the social contract is more harmonious here.

That said, it’s not “happiness” as in “happy-go-lucky”. Bhutan seems to be a nation of rules, though – as far as we could see from our tourists’ perspective – not necessarily oppressive ones.

Buddhism

Buddhism is everywhere in Bhutan.

We saw monasteries, temples, stupas, and prayer flags everywhere we went, and we learned a lot about Buddhism and Bhutan’s Buddhist history from Sangay, our guide. The bhavacakra, or “Wheel of Life” depicts the three poisons, karma, the six realms of samsara, the twelve links of origination, and much more. As an illustration of samsara, the bhavacakra can be used as a framework for explaining many of the most important Buddhist teachings. (Wikipedia has an excellent article on the bhavacakra that goes into detail on much of this.)

Even Bhutanese political and military history are expressed in Buddhist terms. The founder of modern Bhutan, Ngawang Namgyal, is described first and foremost as a Rinpoche, meaning essentially: a guru. This is not untrue, but it’s not the whole truth. He was also a conqueror, a politician, and a ruler.

We were told that in Bhutan fortresses are always part monastery. We saw this, for example, at the Punakha Dzong:

Bhutanese countryside

We spent several days in the Bhutanese countryside, spending a lot of time on very rough roads in a small car (with cool American bumper stickers). If we had it to do over again, we’d either take more time or cover less ground. That said, we saw a lot of great things!

The road trip part of our visit started on a bizarre note at Chimi Lhakhang, the monastery of Drukpa Kunley, the “Divine Madman”. He earned his title by teaching Buddhism through outrageous behavior. I won’t tell you which part of his body was dubbed the “Thunderbolt of Flaming Wisdom”, but he was supposed to be able to turn demonesses into protective spirits by smacking them with it. (If you need further hints, check out the photo of “Phallus Handicraft” in the gallery.)

Moving east, we crossed the Black Mountains and traveled down into the Phobjikha Valley, a huge, high, wet glacial valley. It’s very sparsely populated, beautiful and tranquil. We stayed at the lovely Dewachen Hotel, and in the morning walked the Valley up to the Gangtey Monastery. Along the way we saw the black-necked cranes – we were lucky enough to be there at the right time for their winter vacation from Tibet – and stopped to chat with a nomadic shepherd. We were quite interesting; fortunately our guide was well-informed and able to explain us at length.

Arts and crafts

Bhutanese artifacts such as buildings, clothing, and towns have a vibrant, striking look due to the system of arts and crafts prevalent in the country.

As with other aspects of Bhutanese life, the arts and crafts occur in an environment of more constraint than we’re used to, or really even comfortable thinking about, and yet… the result is impressive and satisfying. Within the constraints Bhutanese artists manifest tremendous creative energy.

There are thirteen traditional Zorig Chusum, which are in general very specific forms of familiar arts such as weaving, tailoring, painting, woodcarving, and pottery. The link just given points to a Bhutanese Tourism Council site that provides photos and descriptions of all thirteen arts and crafts.

Paro and Paro Taktsang

We wrapped up this leg of our trip in the lovely town of Paro, including a visit to the country’s most iconic, postcard-perfect site: Paro Taktsang, the Tiger’s Nest Monastery.

Climbing to the monastery was a beautiful way to finish our time in Bhutan.

More photos…

The full set of photos for our Bhutan visit is here: 2012 Asia part 3 – Bhutan.

The second leg of our 2012 Asia trip was Nepal. We spent 9 of 12 days trekking in the Annapurna Sanctuary region before departing for Bhutan, and also had a little time in Nepal’s two largest cities: Kathmandu and Pokhara.

Trekking in the Himalaya has been a lifelong dream, especially for Robin, and it didn’t disappoint! Of course the terrain was spectacular; we also had wonderful weather, met terrific people, and even ate some really good food – ask Robin about the “magic garlic soup”.

Photo gallery

The full photo gallery for our visit to Nepal is here: 2012 Asia part 2 – Nepal.

Kathmandu and Pokhara

We were in Kathmandu on days 10, 20, and 29 of our overall trip: the days before and after the trek, and the day after returning from Bhutan. The last of these days took us to Patan, the twin city just south of Kathmandu.

Because our time in Kathmandu was so broken up, we didn’t get as strong a sense of the city as we might have in three continuous days. But we did get to see some memorable things, and Crystal Mountain Treks treated us to lovely dinners on each night.

On arrival via Yeti Airlines, we were met by the extraordinary Kami, our guide for the duration in Nepal – you’ll hear more about him below. He took us to Pashupatinath Temple on the first day. This is a temple to Lord Pashupatinath: Nepal’s national deity, an aspect of Shiva.

Later, after the trek, we took ourselves to Swayambhunath, the Buddhist “Monkey Temple”.

After coming down from the trek, we had part of a day in Pokhara, a city of about a quarter million that’s the gateway for Annapurna trekking. Our timing limited us to “tourist central”, but it was beautiful to walk (yes, walk!) along Phewa Lake and look up to where we’d been hiking. At dinner, we’re not sure what we had to eat, but we’ll always remember the Nepali language lesson we got from our sassy young server. “Dhanybhad bahini – thank you, sister!” (But she’d say “Dhanybhad didi” in return to Robin, the elder. Got it.)

“Zoun zoun!”

That’s Nepali for “hubba hubba”: let’s go!

What can we say about trekking? Just like backpacking at home, except… completely different. Longer (and higher) than anything we’d done before, and very grueling at times, but then a lodge at night with roof, mattress, and a restaurant. Plus a guide and a porter – we’ve never had that in the Olympics! 12-pound day packs definitely beat our usual backpacking rigs… note to selves: check out “ultralight packing”.

No doubt we could have done it on our own, but it was easier and infinitely more fun with the help of Kami, our guide, and “Carson”, our porter. (Kami is the one giving thumbs up in the photo.) Kami is a farmer most of the time; a trekking guide once or twice a year. Carson lives in Kathmandu.

Their help with stuff and know-how was great, but who they are and their attitude about taking care of us was just awesome. Their sheer physical capacity is a marvel, too. Kami told us the standard load for a full-time Nepali porter is 100 kilos – 220 pounds – and these are not big people.

Robin was physically down on the first trekking day. Kami was probably a bit worried about her, though he didn’t let on until dinnertime. She wasn’t eating… not okay with Kami. She found the cure at lunch the second day: the aforementioned magic garlic soup. Just possibly the timing was favorable (she was already starting to feel better), but it was lovely medicine full of garlic and yellow-curry-type spices. She also said she thought she could manage some potatoes, so they brought her a plate of about twelve full-size baked russets. Too funny!

We had beautiful weather the entire time. In the lower elevations, temperatures were in the 70s. At the very top it got down to freezing, but we were well equipped – we never put on all the clothes we had. At night the lodge rooms, though unheated and uninsulated, retained quite a bit of warmth and kept us toasty.

Town and country

At first we were hiking through beautiful agricultural terrain, where the villages are permanently occupied by farmers. The Nepalis cultivate ground on such steep slopes that they have to be narrowly terraced by hand. They grow millet, buckwheat, rice, and lots of different cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, cauliflower, collards…)

As you go higher, the conditions become more and more difficult for farming, until the plantings are hanging on for dear life to ground you wouldn’t think could possibly be worked.

Finally, you’re in the Sanctuary itself, where you no longer see cultivation beyond small gardens, and the villages exist only to support trekking. There are signs in the Sanctuary warning that it’s forbidden to bring in or consume meat. There was some “punishable by” type wording: very cryptic – the best we could make of it was that violators’ souls will be in peril.

Children and Tihar

We saw children everywhere, especially because it was Tihar, the Nepali equivalent of Diwali. The children gather on the path and sing a special song while holding out a plate for money or treats. We had been repeatedly schooled that we must not give to begging children (it supports exploitation), but we learned that this was more of a Halloween trick-or-treat equivalent. That was a relief, because saying “no” to these delightful kids was painful!

Tihar also brought singers and dancers to our lodges for a few nights, making for even more of a party atmosphere than usual.

The people in the villages were very focused on supporting their schools. We saw lots of donation boxes, and several people talked to us about the importance and difficulty of keeping the schools open. Robin, with her professional knowledge of what’s really important, had brought a bag of erasers that was received with great ceremony by one of the villagers.

We even ran into a volleyball game right on the trail that turned out to be a fund-raiser for the schools. We don’t know who the teams were, but the players must have come from far and wide – the level of play was very good: long volleys of dig, set, smash all the way.

“Tea Houses”

Each afternoon brought us to a “tea house” lodge (and each lunch, and each time we got too tired to take another step, for that matter). With a few adaptations they’re pretty much the same from the lowest to highest elevations.

Your room is a stone and wood box with a mattress on a bench: very simple, but very welcome!

There’s always a restaurant. The dal bhat – lentils, rice, vegetable, greens, “pickle” – is always good, and bottomless, which matters when you’re trekking. It’s also right up our vegetarian alley – we love this food. But it gets old every meal, so then there’s the menu, which is an amazingly diverse multi-page affair with everything from pizza to chow mein. Mike says, “Probably no Michelin star in the foreseeable future, but they do incredibly well under the circumstances.” Robin thinks that’s harsh and says the food was fabulous!

We fell in love with the people at the lodges. Very comfortable and friendly with the trekkers, very fun. The language barrier generally ranged between significant and complete, but that just made communicating more fun.

On top

Annapurna Base Camp, or “ABC”, was our highest point: 262 meters lower than the summit of Mount Rainier. It was a splendid day, and we felt good.

The area of the camp is full of prayer flags and monuments to fallen climbers.

According to Wikipedia’s Annapurna article:

The Annapurna peaks are among the world’s most dangerous mountains to climb, although in more recent history, using figures from only 1990 and after, Kangchenjunga has a higher fatality rate. As of the end of 2009, there had been 157 summit ascents of Annapurna I, and 60 climbing fatalities on the mountain. This fatality-to-summit ratio (38%) is the highest of any of the eight-thousanders. In particular, the ascent via the south face is considered, by some, the most difficult of all climbs.

Fellow trekkers

We were traveling with people from all over the world, and because we were on the same paths with kinda similar paces, we ran into the same people over and over. Given the activity and the setting, most were friendly and fun.

Here are Josh and Annalee, from England. Robin met Annalee descending from Ghandruk, nervously eyeing a cow on the steps below. It turned out that Annalee had been gored by a cow in India! The trek was throwing this girl some curve balls – she was also developing plantar fasciitis (we guess) in her foot. Kami had a huge stash of pharmaceuticals, and Robin knew what to do with them; together they were able to help somewhat.

We admired Annalee’s determination, and Josh was taking great care of her. Robin commented that she thought they should consider each other “keepers”, and guess what? When we encountered them again as we were just descending from ABC and they were about to reach it, Annalee showed us her beautiful new engagement ring!

More photos…

The complete gallery for this part of our trip is here: 2012 Asia part 2 – Nepal.

On November 2nd 2012, we left Seattle for a month in South Asia: the longest trip we’d taken together and the first time either of us had been outside of North America + Europe. The trip was about 20 hours including a 14-hour single leg from Seattle to Dubai.

We landed at Indira Gandhi International Airport in the wee hours of November 4: day 3 of our trip.

Photo gallery

The full photo gallery for this part of the trip is here: 2012 Asia part 1 – India.

Delhi (days 3-5)

A high point of our entire trip was our first day in Delhi, when we visited the dargahs (tombs) of Sufi teachers Hazrat Inayat Khan and Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan. Finding the dargahs was a great introduction to the challenges of driving in Delhi (not that we had our hands on the wheel!): more cars than you can imagine, trucks, buses, motorbikes, bicycles, pedestrians, and more cows, most traveling on what seeed to us the wrong side of the road. It’s a cacophony of jostling and honking in what is apparently controlled chaos. On this day we had an English-speaking driver who didn’t speak English, and no guide, which was great: once we reached the dargahs, it allowed us plenty of time to sit alone quietly and meditate in that special atmosphere.

We stayed in GK2 (“Greater Kailash 2”) in the southern part of the city. We had a nice, modest hotel and found our way to a wonderful restaurant. (As far as we could tell from our brief and privileged visit, all Indian restaurants are wonderful.)

The following day, our guide Susil took us to some of the tourist highlights such as the Jama Masjid (“Friday Mosque”) and the Qutb Minar. We also prevailed upon him to take us to the Spice Market. We arrived there at rush hour, and we’re sure it’s the most crowded, busiest, liveliest, and – definitely – most aromatic place on Earth.

Agra (days 5-6)

We took the train to Agra. It was pretty nice: comfortable, not too crowded, and with full meals included.

Of course we had sky-high expectations for the Taj Mahal, and we weren’t disappointed. The marble inlaid with jade, lapis lazuli, turquoise, carnelian, and jasper is gorgeous. Mike says it’s kind of a drag that we barely got to poke our noses into the inside of this vast and wondrous building. (Robin rolls her eyes: it’s a burial place. Plus we did get to go in a little bit.)

The Taj was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, who was also the author of the Jama Masjid in Delhi. Constructed beginning in 1632, the building is a mausoleum for Shah Jahan’s third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died bearing their 14th (!) child.

According to our guide, Shah Jahan intended to build a black Taj as his own mausoleum, in symmetrical position to the original across the Yamuna River. This seems to be a fiction, though – for instance, see this article on the Black Taj Mahal Myth.

Another attraction was the Agra Fort (or Agra “Red Fort”), which was particularly impressive because we didn’t have prior expectations and (according to Mike) because we were able to wander about inside. This building has a long and fascinating history. Shah Jahan was imprisoned here by his son Aurangzeb, supposedly because of his spendthrift ways (“Another Taj!? Enough is enough!”) A fight over succession seems more likely. The Agra Fort was also the home of the Koh-i-Noor diamond for a time.

While waiting in Agra for our train to Jhansi, we were approached on the platform by a large group of high school boys who had won a national science contest and were attending a conference with other winners. They were anxious to practice their English and talk politics. Completely delightful! From Jhansi we drove (yes, another amazing ride) to our first small-town stop: Orchha.

Orchha (days 6-7)

As you can see in the gallery, there are interesting things to see at Orchha, but the best part was the place we stayed, the Bhundelkhand Riverside, and its wonderful manager Ajay.

Ajay showed us terrific hospitality and spent a lot of time with us; he says he always “pounces” when he hears an American accent, and that certainly seemed to be the case with us. He also had a fascinating story to tell. The great-grandson of the last Maharaja of Orchha, he spent several years in the USA at school, and then as a Silicon Valley business development manager, before returning to Orchha to manage the hotel. “In America I was like a pillar growing ever thicker and stronger, but not supporting anything.” Spending time with him gave us an appreciation for the challenges of growing a business in modern India while meeting traditional responsibilities to the surrounding village and its families.

The Bundelkhand Riverside is surrounded by native jungle. We were lucky enough to see jackals from our balcony overlooking the river… apparently this is a rarity; Ajay said he had never seen them there.

Khajuraho (days 7-8)

As the only person in Asia who didn’t know what Khajuraho is famous for, Mike had a delightful “wtf!?” moment on first viewing the temple carvings. You can see in our gallery that many of the sumptuous and highly expressive carvings are also very explicitly sexual.

It was hard to figure out the relationship between the Khajuraho art and the generally modest Indian culture. Our guide and others relate it to Tantra, though we were also told that truly Tantric expressions of sexuality would always be concealed, never public. Again, we heard references to the Kama Sutra, but according to James McConnachie in The Book of Love: In Search of the Kamasutra, the relationship is not so simple:

Today, Khajuraho is popularly known as the ‘Kamasutra temple’, but its coupling statues do not in truth ‘illustrate’ Vatsyayana’s positions. They are the child of a strange union of Tantrism and fertility motifs, with a heavy dose of magic. Fertility and conception are of course screamingly absent from the resolutely secular Kamasutra – as is Tantrism.

With such disagreement among the experts, who are we to judge… though looking at some of these carvings we can’t help but think that if the goal was conception, there were easier ways to go about it.

Varanasi (days 8-10)

Our final stop in India: Varanasi, formerly Benares. According to Wikipedia, Varanasi is the oldest continously inhabited city in India and the holiest of the seven sacred pilgrimage cities for Hindus and Jains. Varanasi is also special to Buddhists because of nearby Sarnath, the deer park where Buddha taught his first disciples.

Varanasi was a perfect bookend to our first day in Delhi; likewise spiritually moving and another high point of the India portion of our trip.

We visited the ruins at Sarnath, as well as the nearby Mulagandhakuti Vihara temple and the small but exquisite Sarnath Museum, where photography was unfortunately not allowed. Among the museum’s many treasures is the Ashoka Pillar, whose crowning capital is the National Emblem of India: you can see its image on the flag and currency.

The heart of Varanasi (and, it could be said, of India) is Ganga – the Ganges River. Ganga is an epitome of India’s embrace of contradictions: polluted to a life-threatening degree, even carrying large quantities of human remains, yet the holiest place to bathe and a sacred place to die. We saw this inscription on a riverside wall: “Fortunate are the People Who Reside on the Banks of Ganga”.

We walked along a few of the 84 ghats, took a sunrise boat ride up and down the shore, and twice attended evening Aarti: once at one of the larger ghats (Dr. Rajendra Prasad Ghat) and once at the small Assi Ghat, southernmost of all the Varanasi ghats, right in front of our riverside hotel. We found the Aarti ceremony very moving. The floating candles are surrounded by marigolds – we lit them and set them in the holy river. This beautiful video gives a fair sense of the Aarti experience, though you’ll have to imagine the pungence of the thick clouds of incense and the energy of thousands of pilgrims and worshippers: Varanasi Ganges River Ceremony Ganga Aarti. (This isn’t the real sound, though. The Aartis we attended sounded more like this.)

Did those of you familiar with the shofar enjoy the application of the conch in the Aarti? We were struck in particular by the almost verbatim analogues of teruah and tekiah gedolah…

More photos…

The complete gallery for this part of the trip is here: 2012 Asia part 1 – India.