Reaching for the Stars: Bhutan - A Very Romantical Place

The day started early with a 3:30 a.m. wake up call which consisted of a nice man knocking on our hotel room door with fresh fruit! The second he knocked I sprang out of bed and struggled to get the door open, but finally got things going. We left for the airport at 4 a.m. Jen and I finally got to see the inside of the New Delhi Airport (remember that last time we just walked through emergency exits and on the tarmac to our next flight...)! It is beautiful and huge and very, very nice. Our flight left for Bhutan at 6:35 a.m. It was a quick flight - about 1 1/2 hours. I was basically in and out of consciousness on the flight since we have had about 6 hours of sleep in the past 2 nights combined (first the train ride from you know where and then the 3 hours of sleep..). Once we disembarked the aircraft, it was a beautiful site to behold. #1 - it is so peaceful and quiet - #2 - it is very, very clean - #3 - it is peaceful and quiet!

It took us all but 10 minutes to clear customs and get our of the airport and there we were greeted by our guide, Karma Tenzin. He gave us white scarves to welcome us, introduced us to our guide and our driver for the next 5 days, and piled us all in the car. Jen and I couldn't get over what a completely opposite place this is from India - and so close. The people look completely different (very much like Tibetans), the laws and freedoms are aplenty, it is very clean and quiet, and best of all, GNH! Gross National Happiness. I'll write more about that later...

Before I expire and have to go to sleep, let me just say that we had a lovely day driving from Paro to Thimphu and seeing the beautiful sights here - a paper mill, an art and handicraft school, an animal sanctuary for some really weird looking creatures that look like they belong in Star Wars, the town with all of its little shops, the Parliament Building, The Fortress and King's Palace (that is probably about the size of my parents' house) and a few other things. I can't get enough of the beautiful architecture here. Everything has beautiful intricate designs painted all over it and I am fascinated. Completely.]

To cap off Valentine's Day, Jen and I had a romantical dinner with our guide, Chencho and our driver, Ugyen. After thinking that they stood us up as we waited in the lobby for 15 minutes, we came to find out that they were in the restaurant upstairs. We had a great time talking about Bhutan and trekking - it was a great Valentine's date! One of them speaks English pretty well and the other speaks barely any, but our guide says that he is "very jolly"! Jen and I then had an evening of watching an episode of the Bachelor on my iPad and painting our toenails - such luxury!

Happy Valentine's Day from Bhutan!!!

The paper mill