October 14 - Arrival in Bhutan

Our Bhutan pilgrimage.

Our adventure began in Bangkok Thailand where we spent a couple of days touring while waiting for our trip to Bhutan to begin.

Monday October 14, 2013

We were scheduled to fly on drukairways which is the national airline of Bhutan. We were forewarned that the flights tend to be oversold since there are so few of them. Our flight was scheduled to depart from Bangkok to Paro Bhutan at 6:45 am but we arrived at the airport at 4:00 am to be sure to obtain seats. While waiting in line we met another couple from Detroit Michigan who were doing the same Chomalhari trek as us. He was an avid mountain climber and she was an all around athlete. They had recently hiked Kilimanjaro.

Once on board the flight, we met other group members and quickly learned that we were surrounded by ultra marathoners, serious hikers who had covered the entire planet and very serious athletes. The clincher was that they -all ten of them- were in their 50s, 60s and 70 s.  My sister and I were some of the youngest in the group. I quickly decided that we were too young to hang out with these super fit older folks.

Upon arrival in Paro, we were greeted by our leader Namgay who has led hikes for the past 17 years.  We learned that Bhutan is a very popular destination for older tourists because of the cost of visiting the country. To avoid turning into Nepal which is dirty and overcrowded with backpackers,  the Bhutanese government requires that each tourist spend $250 per day while visiting. All tourists are required to tour with a personal guide and driver.  Between that and food and hotel it is not difficult to meet the $250 requirement.

Bhutan is known for its natural beauty.  The trekking is incredible in the Himalayas. However, what is most important to the government and to the people is the country's gross national happiness. This is measured by looking at the level of happiness of the citizens based on health, quality of education, family life, cultural heritage, good governance, ecological diversity and individual well being.

The Bhutanese people believe that economic prosperity as measured by the GNP is far less important than the overall happiness of the people as measured by the GNH.   Economic growth is seen not as an end but rather as a means of achieving more important ends. It appears that Bhutan is off the scale when measured by GNH.

The concept of GNH was introduced by the fourth druk gyal His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck in the early 1980s and has been considered revolutionary by the global leaders around the world.

So after we claimed our luggage and obtained our visas, we all took a van to the capital city of Thimphu which is the largest city with a population of 100,000.  It began to pour down rain while we were driving and it did not stop for three days. The rain was caused by the cyclone that struck adjoining country India resulting in many deaths there. The rain meant that there was huge snowfall in the mountains where we would soon be trekking and camping. I arrived with a serious cold and the rain/snow made me concerned.

After eating lunch at our hotel, we all got in the van to tour. We went to the Tashicho Dzong which houses the royal government. We also toured a Buddhist temple and began our instruction about the practice of Buddhism in Bhutan. Every country has such varied practices and we saw big differences having just arrived from Bangkok.

We learned that monks are often selected by their family members to serve as a means of bringing good virtue to the family. Many boys are sent to live at the monasteries at very young ages and will decide at 18 years old if they are prepared to make a permanent commitment. That commitment includes among many things celibacy, no use of modern technology( other than cell phones which every monk seems to own)