We were awake and finalizing our packing at 1:30am this morning in order to be at Bangkok Airport by 3:00 the required 3 hours before our 6:00am flight to Paro, Bhutan. The four and a half hour flight to Paro made a stop in Dhaka, Bangladesh. We thought maybe this would allow us techincally to add Bangladesh to the list of countries we have visited, but transit passengers did not disembark.

Our final destination for the day was the Thimphu the capital of Bhutan but that city does not have an airport, the city of Para has the only International Airport. The landing at Paro was quite spectacular as the town and the airport is in a steep sided valley and as the plane descended, the valley sides appeared from a passengers point of view, to be very close to the wing tips. Finally on the ground we were greeted by cool weather, 12 C° and snow capped mountains.

We met our guide and driver as expected and started the 1.5 hour drive to Thimphu. The change of altitude, climate and culture was immediately obvious as we left Paro. The land is mountainous, the hillsides are covered in dry brown grass or evergreen trees, and rice fields in the valley are brown many having just been ploughed ready for the yearly harvest when the wet season arrives. Housing is very different to any buildings we have seen on this trip and somewhat reminiscent of Nepal.

Not far out of Paro we stopped at Tachugang Lhakhang, a place that has two foot bridges across Paro Chhu (Paro River). One of the bridges is modern, well endowered with prayer flags and is in use. The other is old, built in the 1420's by a Buddhist master named Tangtong Gyelpo and is made of iron chain links.

Once in Thimphu we made a short stop for lunch in a restaraunt housed in a traditional Bhutanese house built sometime in the 1800s. We discovered that Bhutanese food, which is heavily laced with chilli, is going to be a bit of a challenge for Nina and I. Our taste buds and digestive systems are not as robust as they once were.

Our final scenic stop for the day was to see the famous Takin, Bhutan's national animal. It looks a bit like a cross between a Wilderbeast and a Deer. On the eastern side of Thimphu, about 500m of altitude above the city there is Motithang Takin Reserve which houses a number of the animals along with a smattering of deer of various kinds, and a few mountain goats.

After a visit with the Takin we found our way to Terma Linca Resort and Spa, which is where we will spend the next couple of nights. It looks like a relatively new facility and is situated on the banks of the Wang Chhu. A very nice setting.

During our stay we found the staff exceptionally helpful and accomodating adapting their food services to our somewhat difficult requirements.

The above link for the hotel is to Trip Adviser site as the hotels own site did not provide pictures of the buildings and settings.