Day 7...
Our last full
day in Bhutan, we set off from Punakha in the morning. We needed to
get all the way back to Paro for our early morning flight the next day.
We
stopped in Thimphu for lunch with Sonam, who had been a huge part of
our pretrip planning. We spent a couple of hours wandering Thimphu
on our own, soaking up the athmosphere and shopping a little.
After 7 days of
getting guided through the best the ountry had to offer it was
interesting to see the “real thing” of the urban landscape.
There wasn't any dark underbelly, but it was somewhat less perfect.
Trash is a big problem, and the urbanization is clearly outstripping
both public sanitation/trash removal infrastructure and the need for
social rules about littering. It wasn't as bad as many developing
countries, but could quickly threaten the scenic downtown
shopping/tourist district, particularly when so much of the tourist's
experience here is so idyllic, so the expectations are unfairly high.
Before leaving Thimphu we again were invited to Jack & Karma's, for tea. We got a warm reception and talked a bit about our friends in common back in Los Angeles (Hi to John and Amy!).
Repeating the beautiful drive along the river was a pleasure in it's own right (at the checkpoint to Paro the guys were “bachelors again”). Along the way we could observe locals recreating themselves at the end of the day. Lawn darts is popular here, but Archery is the national obsession.
We'd gotten a good look at the game after the market in Paro a few days earlier, and so had our eyes open for it along the way. Every town has archery fields, and often we would see groups of men gathered shooting at targets impossibly small in the distance. It's a team sport, and the teams cluster around each end of the range (rather trusting, if you ask me, but I suppose adding 'good sportsmanship' to the list of Bhutanese virtues wouldn't surpise anyone). Like I said, the targets are tiny, and very distant, so whenever someone on the team hits the target at the other end the team sings and does a little dance.
The sport is primarily played with imported compound bows of the type you might have seen at the Olympics (Did you see the team from Bhutan in the parade of nations? Archers all!). In the whole time we were in the country I only remember seeing one group that was using traditional bows. Tashi was very impressed, as the range is the same size, but the challenge much greater.
For our last night we were back in our grand hotel in the old governors mansion. A quintessential Bhutanese experience is the hot stone bath, traditionally an annual or semi-annual indulgence. Huge wooden baths, big enough to soak up to your neck, have two chambers that admit water between them - one where you lounge and the other for the stones. It takes hours to prepare, as a huge wood fire is made and the stones heated until they are red hot. These are then put into the other chamber of the bath. The baths were in a kind of shed out behind the hotel, and lit only by candles.
By the time our bath was “ready” the water probably could have been used to cook an egg. After a few minutes of soaking I was somewhere between medium and well done, but when the guy brought in extra red-hot stones in the tongs, Susan was stoked for it (crazy chick). The stone sizzled and popped as it boiled the water around it and ejected the minerals into the water (which provide the water it's beneficial effects). Wrapped in our robes we walked back to our room on rubber legs. It was great.
We had an early wake up as we needed to catch our flight out. But before we left we got breakfast, waiting on us was the same friendly staff member as our first morning, with the same deliberate, gentle english. This time we were expecting it, and left empty the pauses that to an American conversationalist would be painfully long. “We have coffee... toast...” Susan didn't say a word, still dubious that our morning of toast-only breakfast was caused by her saying “yes thank you” to soon.
“...beans... ham... ...”
“That would be great, thanks” I finally interjected. And so we were off for Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, with full bellies.
