Day 57: Bhutan - Day 4 walking, jumping & biking + the Local Cuisine

DAY 4 BHUTAN FUN FACTS: LOCAL CUISINE

The Bhutanese cuisine seems to have a similar theme at each meal, each day. For breakfast: Bhutanese rice, a curry (more like broth) with chili paste, rice noodles and dried beef with chili. For lunch & dinner, Bhutanese rice, fried spinach with chilies,cauliflower with chilies, and my favorite dish, chili & cheese. so basically, if you can't handle chili spice, you might go hungry.

The biggest shocker is there literally is NO Burmese sweet. They have processed cookies, candy & biscuits that the younger generation is growing up with...and surprise, surprise, Bhutan is having the 1st occurrences of childhood obesity. But the only 'sweet' is chugo -dried cheese that you suck on - and its not even a sweet!

DAY 4 ACTIVITIES

We visited another temple at the Gangtey monastery. I hate to say it, but yes, there is such a thing as being templed out.

We tried the local betal nut (no tobacco is put in the betal chew in bhutan). i spat out red juices for a bit until i spit it all out after feeling slightly light-headed. You can't say we did not try it!

We leisurely strolled through pine forests and along the Gangtey valley, a glacial valley with only cattle grazing and some black-neck cranes flying by. So peaceful that we decided to do a jumping shot...




Lunch was at a farmhouse where i ate my favorite chili cheese dish to date. i'm coming quite the connoisseur as it is served at every lunch and dinner.

Next up was adventure in Bhutan with a 2hour mountain bike ride along dirt and rocky roads to a village where the local men were playing the national sport, archery.

Not a bad day in Bhutan!

NEXT UP: Day 5 Long travel day

Day 56: Bhutan - Day 3 & The Phallus Fascination

I promise I'm not being like a teenage boy imitating Beevus & butthead, 'hehehe, uh, that looks like a penis' as i stare at a vague resemblance of a phallic like object. No joke, there really are penises popping up everywhere in Bhutan - from wood carved statues in temples to paintings decorating the exterior of houses and buildings. We're talking intricate drawings at massive sizes and some animated with eyes and arms.

Its believed the phallus wards off evil and bad luck for the family. Our guide also proposed the theory that the phallus is shameful, so if put on the walls, the hope is they will not bring further shame upon themselves or their family.

Yes, that is a penis on the building in front of Katie. 

We drove 3 hours to Punakha, crossing the Dochula Pass and arrived to the peak with a viewpoint of the Bhutanese Himalayas. Here's a magnified view of the highest peak.

 We walked through rice fields to visit Temple Chummie Chukhang, the temple of the Divine Madmen, Drukpa Kunley. People come to this temple because its believed to make barren women fertile or they come with their children to thank the Buddha and Divine Saint. When we were there a monk around the age of 11 blessed a mother and a 6 year old daughter with a wood-carved phallus the size of my forearm.

We visited another operational fort....

 ...and a tantric temple. Tantricism is commonly misrepresented as only having to do with sexual practices. While there is an element of 'cosmic' sexuality to the practice, I did a little research and the idea is that salvation results from the merging of 2 primary cosmic aspects, male & female, but the focus is not sex. The practice centers around the use of mudras, yogi postures, controlled breathing, repetitive mantras, etc. But this does not mean you will not see some gods or beings carved or painted in various sexual positions inside the temples...

There was an elderly man outside of the temple with beads chanting his mantras into the early evening. 

NEXT STOP: Bhutan Day 4 & Fun Fact: Bhutanese Cuisine

Day 55 - Bhutan: Day 2 Paying the Monk Tax, 3 years of Silence & more...

DAY 2 BHUTAN FUN FACTS: 

BUDDHISM: MONKS, STUPAS & RITUALS

With 2 Buddhas, thousands of Gods and hundreds of thousands of saints, each corresponding to intricate stories and specific rituals, i.e subduing of the demons and spinning prayer wheels clockwise (see mini-prayer wheels below), etc, I can barely

absorb it all to distill it down to a few fun facts. But here's my best attempt at what I got for you....

Monks
* Meat eating Buddhists

* In the 1600's, there was a monk tax, which required each family to send 1 child to become a monk. While this has stopped, parents still can decide if they want their child to be a monk. I saw monks as young as 10yrs old! Remember, unlike the rest of SEA: once a monk, always a monk. No sex, drugs, alcohol, late sleep-ins or other un-monklike actions...
                                                             ...until perhaps your next life.

Stupas/Temples
* 7000+ Stupas with Buddhist shrine temples holding invaluable antiques, jewels, gold buddah statues, etc, dating as far back as 7th century. It's forbidden to take photos inside, so I can only try to describe the interior. Sandalwood incense aroma, gold-plated columns, intricately carved & painted wood, Buddah & God shrines with gifts of packaged junk food, saffron infused holy water, altars decorated with colorful flowers made of butter,

1000+ Buddahs or paintings lined the walls of the 2-3 stories & colorful silk ties hang from the ceiling. Here's an example from a craft workshop: 

Rituals

* Clockwise walking around stupas 108 times
* Reciting mantra prayers while counting beads or spinning prayer wheels clockwise 108 times

* Hoisting at least 108 prayer flags for the deceased to help the dead find the right path in the next life (although there's concerns that the forest will be gone within the next 20 years if this practice continues.


DAY 2 ACTIVITY

We started Day 2 with a hike up to the Tango Monastery (2400 meters) built by a 16th century monk. He is believed to have reincarnated into Desi Tenzin Ragye, who is now 18 years old and will become the next appointed head of monks once he completes his training. What does his training entail? Only  3 years, 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days of silent mediation. He has a few more years to go...

We visited the Buddha Dordenma statue, which will be the largest Buddha statue in the world once it's completed (169 feet). It will house over 100,000 Buddha statues.

We also stopped by a wildlife conservatory to see Bhutan's national animal, the Takin (mix between an ox and a Goat).




NEXT STOP: the phallus fascination

Day 54 - Bhutan: 8 Auspicious Days in Bhutan

How auspicious that I have 8 days in Bhutan in accordance with the 8 auspicious symbols of Buddhism!

Bhutan is pronounced BOO - TAN (as in the Spanish word for bread (pan) not as in how you look after a day at the beach). For those of you who are too lazy to pull up Google Maps, visualize China/Tibet and India with Bhutan landlocked between and Nepal nearby to the West.

My friends, Jill and Katie, are joining me in Bhutan to soak in the landscape and culture. For each of the 8 days, I will share my newly learned fun facts about Bhutan and photos of the day's activities.

DAY 1: GENERAL BHUTAN BACKGROUND

* Population 700,000+
* Monarchy - Currently on King #5 (34), who went to school in San Francisco, is a mountain biker, down-to-earth and looks like an Asian Ken doll, but sorry ladies, he's recently married to a 23 year old.
* In 2008, the limit for tourists was 85,000 per year. The limit was removed and in 2013, 200,000 tourists visited Bhutan. For context, Angkor Wat in Cambodia gets over 2 million tourists per year.

DAY 1 ACTIVITY

Pilots have to be specially trained to land into Paro airport in Bhutan. With one of the shortest runways in the world and the tight quarters of landing into a wind tunneled valley between the Himalayan Mountains, Paro airport wins the award for the Top 10 scariest airports in the world. Although i think my flight on March 10 to Lukla, Nepal might take the cake for the most terrifying airport to fly into.

View from my window as we descend into Paro airport with the tree-lined mountains appearing as if they are in brushing distance to the wings:

I will out Katie and reveal that she thought the stewardess was wearing a photo button of her and her boyfriend....and that would be a no. It was the King and Queen as kindly clarified by her Butanese neighbor. We survived the flight and this time easily identified the King and Queen on a Billboard at the airport arrival. (Picture to come)

We walked along our first of many bridges covered with prayer flags, and visited our first of many temples.

In the late afternoon,  we visited Thimpu Dzong, Bhutan's Capitol Hill, which houses the King's office and Monk residence.

NEXT STOP: Day 2 in Bhutan - Religious Fun Facts

Day 53 - Myanmar (Burma): Burmese Days - My Favorite Burmese rituals, traditions & quirks

It's always sad to leave a country right when you're getting accustomed to it. The sites, sounds, food & customs that first seemed unusual, or perhaps daunting, transition into familiar comfort as you learn to navigate around traffic or identify the daily rituals or discover your favorite foods & street vendors.

So on my last morning in Myanmar as I ran around Kandawgyi lake with the rest of the joggers, walkers, yogis, chanters, even yellers (yes I ran by a few people cathartically yelling into the air), I compiled a list of my Myanmar moments and memories that I will miss.

* Betal nut vendors, rolling the betal nut (chewing tobacco) into banana leaves.

* Betal stained teeth and red blobs of goo spat from both men's and women's mouths into viscous pools on the ground.

* The 'smooch,' which is a pursed lip smacking call used to capture the attention of the waiter.

* Teahouses lining the streets, packed with locals sitting on small plastic stools drinking sweet condensed milk tea or green tea

* Monks with shaved heads, including women and kids, carrying silver bowls to collect alms. Its amazing how locals will always donate to the pot. And many of the monks were the most jovial monks I've seen in South East Asia!

* Women strolling casually with all sorts of items balancing on their head - from umbrellas to sacks of rice to trays of food.

* Mohinga stands with rice flour battered onions, rice noodles and fish soup broth feeding locals (and me) at all hours

* Longis - long skirts tied and knotted at the waist of men, which somehow magically stay put while walking, sitting, doing construction work, riding motorbikes, etc.

* Women & men with painted faces. Some painted completely white, while others have painted decorative circles, leaves or other shapes.

* Greeting locals with the Burmese hello, minga laba

* Printed bills of the same currency in mismatched sizes, some double the size of another bill

* Public phone stations on the side of the street. Not payphones, but literally a landline phone set on a table for local calls.

* Reverent bowing & prayer recitation upon passing a Buddha shrine

* Support for Aunt Sa Suu Kyi, shown through posters of her and her dad in homes, taxis, etc. Suu Kyi is the female leader for the National Democratic League.sShe is a former political prisoner (put under house arrest in 1989-1995 and 2000-2010 by the Burmese government) and Nobel Peace Prize winner. Things will get nasty in 2015 for the election year if the constitution is not amended to change the unfair arycile that was added to prevent her from being in powet: -  'anyone whose spouse or children owes allegiance to a foreign power cannot become president or vice president.' Suu Kyi was married to the late British scholar Michael Aris, and her two sons are foreign citizens.

  

* And of course tea leaf salads and palm sugar and coconut candies

NEXT STOP: Sub-Indian continent leg of my trip. 8 days in Bhutan!!

Day 52 - Myanmar (Burma): Last full Day - Burmese soap operas, gluten-free pancakes, street meat

I need to learn how to make fluffy gluten-free rice pancakes as featured to the right. I was smiling ear to ear upon finding this vendor at the morning market.

I boarded the Yangon bus, customarily packed to capacity. The bus had small plastic stools in the middle row to seat 5 across. The woman on the stool next to me leaned on my arm rest with her head on my shoulder. With the AC blasting, I wrapped myself in my silk liner and down jacket, looking like I was dressed for Nepal. 

I was mindlessly entranced by the Myanmar programming of slapstick burmese soap operas, which invoked belly rolling laughter from the locals (somewhat captured in this video). 

The rest of my day in Yangon comsisted of: an amazing bean paste dish from 999 Shan Noodle shop.

...an hour massage where the woman walked on me and poked me with her knee, elbow and hands.

.... A street food dinner from grill street (19th street) where there are rows of vendors with meat, fish and veggies and you put the items you want to be grilled in a basket.

 ...a visit to desser row where I tried egg custard, coconut sticky rice and sago balls.

Too bad I just start getting comfortable with street food right as I was leaving. 

NEXT STOP: Half day in Yangon and an evening at the Bangkok airport hotel 

Day 51 - Myanmar (Burma): One of my favorite days in Burma at Mt Zwegabin (even with a drunk tuk tuk driver)

With a locals breakfast of mohinga on the street, Melissa, Cassie
and I adventured to Mt Zwegabin (2372 ft). To get to the start of the hike, we walked past 1150 identical Buddha statues lined in rows. I counted 2172 steps (roughly an hour) up to the pagoda on the top of the mountain.

Along the way, I walked and traded off taking photo shoots with monks and a group of 18-24 Myanmar guys.

I even got my prerequisite country headstand photo accomplished!

We then were accompanied by our new Myanamar friends to the Kaw Ka Thawng swimming hole. Along the way, we strolled by beautiful countryside down a dirt path where kids biked by in laughter and seemed immune to the stifling heat. We found a lifesize maze and walked through it with, surprise, a mini pagoda temple at the end! We saw a monk in a red robe, repainting the red robe of monk statues that lined the road.

Our new friends treated us to one of my favorite noodle dishes by the swimming 'hole.'

We shared a bottle of whiskey, making our Burmese version of a Hot Toddy with Gold Royal Burmese whiskey, hot water and palm sugar.

On our way home, we flagged down a tuk tuk, feeling lucky to find a ride home before sunset.....Until we noticed the driver was flying along the road, veering from side to side, irresponsibly passing cars, and yikes, not keeping his eyes open. He was the first drunk Burmese man I encountered and unluckily, he was driving our tuk tuk. 

So, we demanded him to stop, and after an abrasive scene where he seemed to be demanding Cassie's camera for payment, we ended up hitchhiking with a sober man, who spoke no word of English, kept his eyes open, stayed straight and demanded no payment. 

Who would have thought that hitchhiking was safer than paid transport?!

NEXT STOP: Last full day in Burma on a bus back to Yangon.