On to Bhutan, Paro, Thimphu

Postings are less frequent now, with slower internet connections available -- that also means that I will have to add photos later, too. We made it across the border, with a few hours of visa delays -- no problems, just lots of time in the sweltering heat of the border town of Phuentsoling. And yes, there is a great contrast between the orderly relatively clean Bhutan side, and the raucous muddy muddle of the Indian side. We immediately encountered a friendly gentleman who assisted us in finding the right building and office to get our passport visa stamped. But then we had a long delay in getting a share-taxi to Paro, and a 6-hour drive through narrow, winding, and steep mountain roads in the dark and rain and construction.
Bhutan's roads in this area are all under construction-- they are racing to complete road-widening projects before 2008, so it's a massive project, bigger than any I have ever seen...and it makes the drive even scarier than usual.

Paro is a wonderful valley and town, quite traditional but also well setup for tourism. We stayed in a humble inn, that was fine except that it locked up tight from 11pm to 8am...that was a problem when we tried getting out for an early taxi ride up to the most prominent tourist site: the Tiger's Nest Monastery.
We made it out, and up the road, and up and up and up the trail for stunning views of a stunning monastery (pictures to come). We made it back in the afternoon and caught a share-taxi to the capital city of Thimphu, again through a 100km road construction zone.

Thimphu is lively, vibrant, much more cosmopolitan than Paro -- maybe half the people here wear national dress. We met with students and parents and relatives and politicians -- more on the Bhutan political scene in a later posting.

Chris just came down with a stomach bug, which has quieted our activities today -- fortunately, visiting a student's house was helpful: he caught a nap, and had some home-made tea remedy....that, and some Cipro, is making him feel better already!
He needs to get all better tomorrow, so that we can depart for our trek on Tuesday morning in good health!