DAY 7, MARCH 28, BHUTAN

BHUTAN

Bhutan, a mountain state,
Has changed a lot of late.
While still a monarchy,
It's now a democracy.
Their new king they venerate.

Also we found out
The people are right devout.
In this land of not much size
That sees fit to modernize,
Tourists fly in and out.

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Our bus left the Park Hotel in Kalkota for the airport at 6 AM. We boarded the plane about 9 AM. It was a direct flight to Paro, Bhutan and only took about an hour.

After clearing customs and getting our luggage, we drove about two hours to Thimphu in a large van. We made two photo-op stops along the way. At the first there is a view a temple across a canyon, and at the other a view of the merging of two rivers in the canyon below. At the latter, we were lucky to see two langur monkeys on the hillside above us. It was a most enjoyable ride through the mountain pass, and I took several photos. The two-lane road was widened about a year ago. The old road was very curvy and just slightly more than one lane wide.

The hills have a rather dry, rocky appearance. Unlike those we saw in Tibet, they are not barren. But the trees are sparse and rather small. They have to get government permission to cut a tree, even on their own property, and they have to replace it new saplings.

There were terraced fields in the wider valleys.

We have a very nice Bhutanese guide, maybe 35 years old, and he will be our guide all the while we are in Bhutan. He tells us a lot of fascinating information. Unfortunately I miss a lot of it because of my hearing problem. His English is pretty good, and he has a strong bass voice, which is helpful to me. Like many men we see, he wears a traditional costume that features a skirt.

Bhutan generates hydroelectric power and sells it to India. Power generation is perhaps the main source of employment. There are about ten dams, and there are plans to build about 15 more by 2020.

We rolled into Thimphu, had lunch in a hotel, and moved on to another hotel, Hotel Phuntsho Pelri, where we checked in. We had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves, and I took a walk around town for ~1-1/2 hours. The weather was good during our bus ride but drizzling rain during my walk. At 6 PM our guide gave us an orientation, and we had dinner.

He said the population of Bhutan is 700,000 and the population of Thimphu, the capital, is about 65,000 people and 5,000 dogs. Bhutan is 90% Buddhist, 8% Hindu, and 2% Christian. Education from age 6 through high school, about age 19, is mandatory. Bhutan was united briefly under one ruler in the 17th century, then split into pieces. It was finally reunited in 1907 under the first king of the Wangchuck dynasty. The fifth king was just crowned in November, 2008. In 2008 Bhutan became a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy. (Now it has a parliament and a prime minister.) This change was novel in that it was pushed by the fourth king, who abdicated in favor of his son, and not welcomed by the citizens.

The store signs are in English, often with the local native language additionally included. Our guide said it used to be that all school classes were taught in English, but now both languages are used for instruction. He said the native language has very complicated grammar, and English is preferred for some usages, and almost everybody can read English and understand spoken English, but they are hesitant to speak it, fearing they will be embarrassed by doing so improperly.

It's quite a change from Kolkata in being the opposite of crowded, in its mountainous terrain (elevation 7,2600 feet in Thimphu), and in temperature (cool but not quite as cool as was New York City).

Wireless is not available in our hotel. There is an Internet cafe very close by, and it is cheap. But it does not have wireless; it has “ethernet” which involves attaching a wire as you would a phone jack. The operator of the place and I couldn't make it work on my MAC computer So I resorted to sending a short e-mail to a few relatives and close friends. I'll post blog entries (written off-line) later.

Bhutan has one university – in the eastern part of the nation. The very best students go there and at government expense. A much larger number go to universities in India at their parents' expense.

Our guide Dorji said housing is very scarce, as well as expensive, in Thimphu. He said it is much easier to find a wife than an apartment.

In Bhutan it is against the law for citizens of Bhutan to smoke tobacco or to sell tobacco. Dorji says the citizens accept this law without complaint because they know smoking is unhealthy.

Bernie :-)