And Finally, to Bhutan!

Now, finally an update on my time in Bhutan thus far.

On September 7th, after one last delicious breakfast at my hotel, I headed back to the Delhi airport for my flight to Paro. Check in went smoothly, although I did have to pay a large fee for my excess baggage (the free baggage allowance is 20 kg). I knew that in advance so it wasn’t a surprise.  Then after passing through customs and security (shoes could be left on, thankyouverymuch), it was into the duty-free shop. I’ve never shopped in one before, only browsed, but I had a request from a certain husband to get a bottle of whiskey and some dark chocolate. And boy did I get some chocolate! We’ll definitely be sharing it!

And yes, the carpet at the Delhi airport is every bit as wonderful as Matt said. There were two styles but unfortunately I was only able to get a picture of one.

Other great perks of the Delhi airport: reclining chairs (genius!) and these humorous, completely unrelated news bites:

As with Matt’s, my DrukAir flight (Bhutan’s national airline) was able to take off as scheduled. Nothing too exciting to report except the views. THE VIEWS. I was lucky enough to get a window seat on the left side of the plane (crucial for mountain viewing). I may or may not have seen Everest’s peaks (I couldn’t quite hear what the captain was saying). In any case, I did see the peaks of some of the world’s tallest mountains and it was every bit as exhilarating as you would imagine. I was more amazed by seeing the mountaintops through the clouds than I ever imagined. It was truly breathtaking and in all my travels I’ve never felt as awed by a sight.

If any of you have read books about Bhutan, I’m sure that you have heard about how harrowing the flight into Paro is. I can now tell you with certainty that these are great exaggerations for literary effect. Yes, you do fly closer than usual to some mountains but it never feels like you’re going to hit them (as is suggested by many authors). It wasn’t any scarier than flying into SFO (which to me aways feels like you’re going to land in the water - anyone else?) And, as you might expect, the views are again spectacular. My window was very smudged but you get the idea.

After landing in Paro, we disembarked from the plane and entered the traditionally Bhutanese-style airport to pass through customs once again. This process was fairly slow and not helped by the fact the we lost electricity for a few minutes (an event that hasn’t yet been repeated). Matt had told me that I would need to pay $20 for my visa upon arrival, a fact that I forgot until I was sitting at the gate in Delhi with only $14 in my possession after spending most of my cash on chocolate (like I said, SO MUCH CHOCOLATE). Anyway, travel being travel, I figured something would work out. I mean, would they really not let me in the country? After the customs agent had looked over my paperwork, she told me that I in fact needed to pay $40 for my visa. Well, lucky for me I still had a 50 Euro bill that was left from a previous trip and that I found in the front pouch of an old purse a few years back. I held on to it figuring it would come in handy sometime. And the time was then. Hurray!

After claiming my luggage, I walked out of the Paro airport expecting to be greeted by Matt. Well, he wasn’t there but I wasn’t concerned. I figured that he was just running a little behind. However, everyone else was very concerned. I was offered a ride into town and one particularly concerned man insisted that I use his cell phone to call Matt. I did and I was right - Matt and his friend were just running a little behind. 

They arrived not too much later in a small car that was luckily able to fit all of my luggage. Then Matt offered me a Dramamine and we were off driving along the windy mountain road (pretty much all roads in Bhutan are like this) with lush greenery and steep hillsides all around. We made one stop at a holy water site (water flowing from the top of the mountain) and one stop to buy fire-roasted corn and green beans from a family selling on the roadside. 

Matt had a faculty meeting to attend so after we arrived back on campus and at our apartment I took the rest of the afternoon to unpack. That evening was a faculty dinner that is hosted once monthly so we also attended that. I was pretty tired but it was nice to finally meet the people I keep hearing about. I wasn’t all the talkative due to jet lag but it was fun nonetheless.

On Saturday, we went into Thimphu in the staff van. The campus is 11 km from town so it’s not easy to just pop in. We walked around town for awhile, had lunch, checked out the handicraft sellers (where we bought a beautiful wooden bowl), got groceries from a store and the produce market (so fun!), and had coffee and cake at Ambient Cafe, a expat hangout that Matt has mentioned before. The only picture from the day was me drinking coffee there.

Thimphu is a very manageable city and I loved the fact that it is possible to walk around without being bothered! It’s fabulous and obviously makes adjustment much easier and less tiring. The town extends uphill so there are many staircases connecting the different streets. I don’t know my way around yet but I’m sure I’ll pick it up soon. It’s quite interesting to be surrounded by the ancient and the modern. There are the ubiquitous prayer flags, monasteries in the mountains, religious sites visible in the mountains and in town. In contrast, many Bhutanese young men sport the gho, the traditional male dress of the country, rolled down around their waists with t-shirts on top. My favorite: Megadeath. A large number of young men also have punk hair styles - gelled in crazy angles and occasionally dyed various colors (and, oddly enough, it works for them!). Matt even said the he once saw a monk driving a Mercedes and using a Blackberry. Such are the complexities of development.

Sunday was more of a lazy day but in the afternoon we did go for a hike. The campus extends directly uphill and if you follow a path near where campus ends, you arrive at a large stream that is the water source for campus. 

We tried to figure out a good way to cross the stream and eventually settled on the tree that formed a kind of bridge across the water (which is obviously why it was there). Matt said that he’d seen people walk across it before but we opted for scooting instead. We tried to find more trails after crossing the stream but were less successful. We were able to find a few small ones but eventually we ended up bushwhacking, at which point I decided I wasn’t having fun anymore. We made our way back to the stream where Matt decided he should walk through the water. After discovering that the rocks were very slippery, I opted to scoot back across the log. I am happy to report that no injuries were sustained.

Baby bamboo

This week has been pretty quiet. I’ve been updating the blog (as you can tell), which actually takes quite a bit of time. In addition, the internet here is very slow so any online tasks take significantly longer than they would on most internet connections in the US. In fact Matt told me that it is possible to purchase more bandwidth for use in one household in the US than is available in all of Bhutan. That should give you some perspective. We were spoiled! Enjoy it for us. 

I’ve also been updating my resume so that I can find some sort of work here. We’re unsure if I can get an official paid position given that I am here as Matt’s dependent (don’t you love it?). We’ll see. I’m sure there’s something a nurse can do, even if unpaid! Once I get a SIM card for my phone, I’ll start networking more. So far I have a few good leads. The director of Royal Thimphu College has several siblings who are doctors, one of whom is an obstetrician and one of Matt’s friends knows the director of UNFPA Bhutan (United Nations Population Fund). Matt has also met the son of the dean of the nursing school and several people who have worked at the hospital in town. I haven’t yet been to the hospital so I can’t say for certain if I want to work there. Again, we shall see. In any case, I’m confident that something interesting will work out.

So far I’ve been enjoying my time here. Probably the best part is the beauty (besides being reunited with Matt, of course!).  It’s quite amazing to be constantly surrounded by pine-covered mountains. We get a good dose of nature were we live because, like I mentioned, we are located outside the city and are farther up in the mountains. However, the disadvantage is that we are removed from the city life and culture. Yes, there are Bhutanese people who work at the college, but it’s not the same at total immersion (as frustrating as that can sometimes be). I’m kind of missing my study abroad days when we got cultural orientation, local language classes, and a home stay! I’m sure more familiarity with the culture will come with time and some travel to more rural areas.