At large in Paro
After yesterday’s exertions, today was a more low key day
for my last full day in Bhutan. Again, I
was up by about 7.30am in time for another phenomenal breakfast – the yogurt
I’d been dreaming of since my very first night at Uma followed by some very
tasty poached eggs on English muffins with hollandaise sauce and smoked salmon
(intolerances, be damned!). It was
absolutely delicious, so very stuffed and happy, I met up with Michael at 9am
for our last day of sightseeing, a drive to the Chelela Pass and Haa valley.
Chelela Pass and Haa
Valley
Here’s what my itinerary says about the Haa Valley:
Post breakfast you will be driven to Haa Valley (Chelela
pass)
The pristine and picturesque Haa valley is located about 3
hours west of Paro. The Drive from Paro to Haa valley takes you up to the
Chele-La pass which is located at a height of about 3800 meters. Make sure you
ask you drive to stop the car here so you can enjoy a beautiful view of Bhutan’s
2 highest and best known peaks the Jichu Drake and Mount Jumolhari, some times
of a clear day you might be able to catch a glimpse of Mount Kunchenchunga the
3rd highest mountain in the world from this view point. From there we will
descend down into the Haa Valley down to the town of Ha.
The Haa valley till recently was closed off for tourists and
even today people of the valley live in a manner not very dissimilar from a
time long ago. The Haa valley is one of the most isolated and least populous
districts of the country. The Haa valley is also home to an Indian army base
that helps protect the border of Bhutan from Chinese incursions. There are many
small temples and monasteries in the district with the most important being the
Lhakhang Karpo( White Temple) and the Lhakhang Nagpo ( Black Temple). The
Lhakahng Nagpo’s central shine is said to be identical to the central shrine of
the Jowo Temple in Lhasa, Tibet. Legend has it that the Karpo temple was
constructed along with the assistance of the Local deities, as a result of this
divine intervention they started to be known as the Hay (Surprises in
Dzhongkha) and later on Haa. After spending the day in the valley we will
return back to Paro for the night since there are no hotels of note in the
valley.
The drive from Paro to the Chelela pass took about an hour
and a half. The roads were actually pretty
decent – still twisty and turny, but at least tarmacked, so less crazy bumpy
than the ones in Bumthan and between Trongsa and Thimphu. The scenery was nice but after a while
climbing up from the valley, it was all forest with not a huge amount to
see. One thing we did see, though, for a
fleeting two, maybe three, seconds was a black bear!!! We caught a glimpse of him lumbering across
the road about 50 metres ahead of us, before he disappeared into the forest,
out of sight! What a thrill – all the
time I spent in the Canadian Rockies where there are supposed to be
bears-aplenty, I saw bugger all but here – I saw my first real live bear!! Unfortunately it was over and the bear was
gone before I’d managed to get a picture, but that didn’t really matter. However, honestly, that was the most exciting
thing that happened in the whole 3 hour excursion to the pass – we finally made
it to the top, ostensibly to enjoy the amazing views of Paro and Haa Valley to
see…. nothing!! Nothing but a thick,
impenetrable bank of thick white cloud that enveloped the mountain top!! Ah well.
After our exciting trip to see clouds, it was time for
lunch, this time in a little place in Paro town. The food was pretty good (again, better than
Taj but not as good as Uma!) and I took a gastic gamble with some chicken
drumstick things. My guts had seemed to
have recovered from their little spat, so I thought I’d chance those, but maybe
avoid the chili cheese for today….
After lunch, it was time for a bit more shopping in Paro
town. As a result of my heroic efforts
of the last couple days, I didn’t actually have that much left that I either
wanted to buy or could actually afford.
But I did pick up a couple of bits – a dohje and one of those offering thingys that I’d seen loads of by
the side of the road but cant remember their name!!
We were back at the hotel by 2.30pm, so I had a couple of
hours to relax, chill out and start to think (sadly) about packing before my archery
lesson! It was in the grounds of the
resort with the old fashioned bamboo style bow and arrows and – though I’m no
Katniss Everdeen and would be toast in the Hunger Games, I’m very proud to
report I didn’t completely suck!! My
first ever go at archery and I got pretty bloody close to the target. From 70 metres away, one shot only missed the
target by a foot!! Whoo-hoo!! (of course, that was balanced out by plenty
of shots that were short, wide and/or hit the tree, but even still!!).
After all that exertion and that of the hike the day before,
there was nothing left to do with my last evening in in Bhutan than to
surrender to the outrageous luxuriousness of a traditional Bhutanese hot stone
bath and massage. OMG. It was amazing. The bath house was a couple minutes walk out
into the grounds of the hotel, in its own separate little space, and walking
into the little bath house (which was all mine!), it was beautiful. There was a stunning view of the glorious
Paro Valley out of the
panoramic view windows and the wooden bath was completely covered with vibrant flowers floating on the surface. The therapist added some salts to the bath and explained that, if I wanted the water hotter, all I needed to do was strike the metal singing bowl (*DING!*) and a white hot stone would appear through the little wooden hatch, and be dropped into the water to then radiate its heat throughout the whole bath. It was perfect. Even though the bath was already pretty warm, of course I had to have a go with striking the bowl and taking some pics of the hot stones being fed through the hatch – made the water pretty bloody hot in the end, though so, despite having a full 30mins to relax in my own private bath, I think I was out and sipping ginger tea after only about 20mins.
Then the therapist came back in and gave me a fantastic – if
ouchworthy – massage. Again, it was all
elbows and crunching of muscle knots but hopefully its all doing me good and
helping undo all those hours of being hunched over a computer screen. A nice touch this time was the bowl of
flowers placed directly under the massage donut thing you rest your face on,
when you’re face down – why don’t all places do that?
After a phenomenal hot stone bath experience, all I had left
to do to complete a glorious final evening in Bhutan was to go and stuff my
face with some incredible food again, courtesy of the prodigiously talented
chef at the Uma. Today’s feast started,
as always, with a fantastic bread basket with some particularly yummy indian
bread. Slathered with melted butter, it
became absolutely divine when sprinked with some sea salt crystals (from
England, as it happens!) so I had to have a couple of helpings of that!! I washed it down with a perfectly chilled
glass of Graves Reserve Ciron, Bordeuax 2007 – the same wine I’d enjoyed so
much the night before.
For my appetizer, I had this absolutely transcendent dish of
smoked trout, goats cheese, gherkins, rocket and dill. I was so delicious, I pretty much inhaled
rather than ate it and I think I remember actually doing a happy dance about
half way through it, it was that good.
Then I opted for the chicken with puy lentils and pancetta – again,
totally delicious, especially paired with the Taltarni Syrah Pyrenees Victoria
2005 (Amber’s choice). For dessert, I
was in Amber’s capable hands again, so enjoyed a yummy Lemongrass sorbet,
steeped in vodka and drizzled with a little Cointreau. I didn’t finish all the vodka or Cointreau as
I had half a mind on the fact I still had to finish my packing. But, finally, all the food was gone and it
was time to call it a night, so I thanked Amber for an absolutely unforgettable
experience. Honestly, I love everything
about this hotel – the atmosphere, the food, the service, the smell, the food,
the little nooks and crannies where you can find solitude and peace, the incredibly
spicy yet delicious ginger tea, the jaw-dropping and completely captivating
view from the restaurant, the BEST YOGURT I’VE EVER TASTED, and how you feel
that everyone genuinely cares whether you are happy and satisfied and isn’t just
pretending because its their job. I even
love the way my washing came back to me – like everything about this place, it was
stylish and adorable, with my pants wrapped in tissue paper and presented in a
bamboo box! I cant think of a better
place to wrap up my once in a lifetime trip to Bhutan.
No comments:
Post a Comment