Bhutan

Bhutan is just very beautiful & peaceful and if you're ever close to it (or far, doesn't matter) you should definitely pay it a visit. Being a small country at roughly the size of Switzerland it has only about 700'000 citizens. And coming from the chaos of Kathmandu it was like having found Shangri-La, where the land is clean and close to heaven & the people unostentatious and religious deep in their hearts. And it really does make a big difference to who leads a country, and by what I've seen and heard Bhutan's king and his predecessors have been doing a really great job with the resources they have. I was very much impressed by the fact that not making as much money as possible is the goal, but the happiness of the people, and that environment protection has such a high value, being taught to every child at early school. As well I've experienced the great respect and gratitude the Bhutanese people have for their king, many of them wearing the badge of the royal couple on their traditional clothing. 

Of course I also must say that I only had a very short time over there, and my trip was very well organized (in fact, you cannot do any tour there on your own, and when you go, your stay must cost 250 USD minimum by law, so being a rather luxurious event - all of it not the way I would have done it if I had had the choice), so at the end of the day I most likely have seen only a small piece of the country, its people and their real life.

Anyway, I had a great time over there, especially with my guide Tashi and my driver Kinzang, who on the last evening out even danced for me at some very peculiar bar ;-). So over the 5 days we visited lots of temples, religious gatherings, forts and other places in Thimphu (the capital), in Punakha and finally Paro. On the last day I was also very happy to do a little hiking up to the Tiger's Nest, after sitting in the car for too much time. The Tiger's Nest is a place where Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava is said to have done his meditations, but also many other religious people, for instance like the Divine Madman, a very funny historical person who apparently not only taught with religious wisdom but also with his genitals ;-). Even more funny, many foreign couples who failed in having children so far came to Bhutan to pay his temple a visit, and according the the photo album many of their wishes have come true eventually.

Well, it was a too short time in this lovely country and I guess I have to come back there some time to stay a little longer. On my flight back to Kathmandu I was lucky enough to see Mount Everest out of the window, and I guess that was the closest I would ever get to its summit.

Now I had one more week in Kathmandu to spend but in the end, it wasn't really worth it, especially after a little food poisoning I picked up this week (nice night time on the toilet) and also because I must say, this city became more and more ugly to me. Anyway, I was happy to catch my flight out of it today and doing a stopover in Bangkok I will fly on to Myanmar on Monday. And I'm really looking forward to the beach now :-)