Every time we check in for a flight, Jackie points out that it is our 25th wedding anniversary and our 50th birthdays. Air Canada upgraded us to business class. Air New Zealand gave us premium economy seats. Thai airways sent back premium champagne and deserts from business class, along with a couple of souvenirs and a congratulations note signed by the captain of the 747. Nice people!!
Two people who are making our Bhutan trip are our guide and driver. They are both incredibly knowledgeable - it does not matter if we ask them the name of a bird, how the central bank of Bhutan sets prime interest rates, the meaning of a specific deity on a mandala, how marriages work, the name of a crop in a field, what the most common criminal offence is ( Jackie had lots of questions on the local justice system and they had all the answers!), the name of a flower, the difference between different branches of Bhudism - these guys know it all! Plus they don't mind cranking up the stereo so that we can sing along ACDC's Highway to Hell or Bob Marley's One Love while we are driving. Driving rules here seem to be based on "hey, do feel like going first? Or do you mind if I do?" The speed limit on the national highway is 50 km/hr. On the good road between the airport and the capital, a few people were going faster than that. On the drive east of the capital, we were doing 40 and passing most people because the roads really couldn't handle any travel that was faster than that. Our guide has an arts degree from a university in India, while our driver has a degree in IT. He usually works full time on the company's website and information systems, but they were so busy that he got sent out with us - lucky for us, since he is incredibly knowledgeable and a good complement to our guide.
Bhutan is not a rich country, but it appears to me that it is, and I figured out that the reason is that it is so clean. No offence India, but most of your of urban areas look like garbage dump. There is virtually no litter any where in Bhutan. To show you how dedicated this country is to the environment, in the middle of Thimpu, the capital, there is a 400 year old monastery. The king decide that that the monks can only meditate if it is quiet, so there is this enormous green space around it. The Gantey valley is the winter breeding grounds of the nearly extinct black necked crane. The government feared that power lines may disrupt the cranes' flight patterns, so they refused to put electric power into the valley until 3 years ago, when they could afford to install all of the lines underground.
We have been to several temples, and if there is a service going on, we like to sit with the monks and respectfully observe for a while. When ever we do, eventually a monk or nun will come by and dump some food on our laps. The monks get a lot of donations of food from pilgrims and supporters, and sometimes they will chant for 8 hours continuously at a time ( don't ask me what they do for bathroom breaks - I just assume that they get up and go when they need to!) so somebody is always dropping off a little something to keep them nourished. At a major monastery and meditation centre outside of the capital, a monk dropped some bubble gum on my lap. Later that day, Jackie and I were taking in some chanting at the largest nunnery in Bhutan. A nun came over with a basket that looked like a 6 year old's Halloween dream come true - chips, chocolate bars, all kinds of junk food that had been donated by somebody. "You should take something," said our guide. "It's a sign of respect." I went for the cheesies. I certainly didn't expect cheesies from Buddhists.
On our first day in Bhoutan, we saw a lot of vehicles that were all decorated. It was the feast day of an important Buddhist deity. Our guide told us the deity's name, but said, "his name is complicated and you won't remember it, so just think of him as the god of engineering!"
On our long drive to the probhija valley, we stopped in a little town to stretch our legs. School was just letting out. Jackie has a certain magnetic attraction to little kids in foreign countries, so it was no surprise to me when I turned around and four super cute little 9 year olds were chatting her up. They wanted to know what her profession was, but they were quite baffled by the concept of a "judge". They asked her how old she was - Jackie said 50, but we're pretty sure that they heard 15, since they were surprised at how tall she was for her age! One of the girls asked me what my profession was. "Engineer." "Oh, very honourable profession!" "Would you like to be an engineer when you grow up?" "Oh no, I will be a doctor." All of this from a nine year old!
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