After a fortnight in mostly flat and sticky Bangladesh, some VERY BIG snowy mountain peaks were waiting for us in Bhutan- the last remaining monarchy in the Himalayas.
A huge billboard of the recent Royal wedding of the 5th King of Bhutan greeted us on arrival at the airport. Every shop entrance in nearby Paro town had a photo of the famous smily couple. We decided the well travelled guitar needed a makeover so it is now covered in colourful wedding memorabilia.
In many ways Bhutan is a unique country: it was pretty much a closed society until democracy arrived in 2008; traditional culture and heritage are proudly displayed and preserved; purchasing cigarettes and smoking in public remains illegal even if we spotted some naughtiness among teenagers at the first ever Halloween party! Also rather than use serious and boring economic indicators like Gross National Product, the government prefers to use the more happy-go -lucky indicator of "Gross National Happiness" . Sooooo in Bhutan don't worry, be happy !
So feeling in top form we trekked for 6 days up two stunning 4800 meter plus mountain passes with incredible views. It's not every day you see Kanchenjunga in the distance, the 3rd highest peak in the world! During the day the sun was mostly out and about. The nights were however FREEZING and SNOWY....our new sleeping bags, all our woolly socks and the warm thermals became our best friends. Even the nearby hungry snow leopards must have been feeling cold. The feeble video camera was frozen too and temporarily died. The daily bowl of boiling hot water became our only means of washing and teas and tasty soups were always a nice warm welcome. In the mornings we anxiously waited for the sun to heat the frost covered valleys again....I could not even be persuaded to swim in the nearby streams. On one night we were spared the cold tent and slept in the prayer room of a local farmhouse and ate tasty yak meat with our hosts. A unique and brilliant experience. The final challenge was a painful, steep downhill zig-zag section from 4300m to the valley floor....our poor knees, they were shattered but it had been another wonderful trek in the Himalayas.
And the perfect end to our visit of Bhutan came when we flew within touching distance of Mount Everest on our way to Nepal....and we didn't even have to trek to see it!
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