Our one month getaway to Bhutan. November mid- December mid 2008.

Bhutan celebrated as the ultimate hidden kingdom in the world is a snow capped Buddhist Kingdom tucked away in the Himalayas. Driving along the entire length of the country was our goal..Padma was again taking us away into yet another paradise..

Trivia: Padma is our Qualis named after midnight’s children, Saleem Sinai’s caretaker though I think Barry probably has a major yen for PadmaLakhmi, the authors ex- He’ll kill me when he reads this!!

Welcomed by hundreds of prayer flags that dot the landscape to prayer wheels that are powered by mountain streams, the kingdom of Druk Yul (the land of dragon) welcomed us to a space that was seeped in hundreds of years of mythological dragons and other folklore.

Trivia: The prayer flags in 5 colors printed with chants symbolize the 5 elements and are used to invoke blessings and protection and clean energies in the air…

Driving through Thimpu, Paro, Ha, Punakha Wandue, trongsa, Jakar, Trashiyangtse , Trashigang and Sandrup Jongkhar back into India I thought I would highlight my two favorite parts of Bhutan : The trek to Taktshang Gompa in Upper Paro Valley and Phobjika Valley in Western Bhutan.

The greatest of all of Bhutan’s monasteries is Takstang, the temple perched on the side of a 3000 foot sheer cliff, wedged into the side of a mountain. Known famously as Tigers nest, the trek to the temple is accompanied only with the gurgling of water and chanting of monks. The two hour trail climbs through blue pines and ridges with valley views that are simply breathtaking. Panting my way up, I realized how unfit I had become in Bombay and promised myself to get back into shape…. Umm that still has not happened.. :(

Start of the trek

Climbing up it made everything that I did in my urban infested life in Bombay almost trivial…the realization that I don’t even breathe fresh air hit home over and over. Once done with the climb I actually felt like a hero till the guard at the temple told me some devout Bhutanese make their ascent on their stomachs.. Sigh. Will I never win!!!

Tigers nest!!

Moving on to Phobjika, my favorite valley in Bhutan, home to the migrating rare and endangered black necked cranes it is the one of the most important preserves in the country…
Bharath watching the valley with black necked cranes

Peppered with villages and hiking trails and with Bhutanese practicing their national sport, archery, this valley is dotted with houses built with wood and stone in traditional style which are almost reminiscent of Swiss chalets, 2 storeys high with an attic to store produce

The friendly but non-intrusive people all over Bhutan made it even more pleasurable. Talking to them in broken Hindi about their philosophies on Buddhism and sharing their tea and food all over the place( while Bharath claims that I talk to anything in sight-even a tree!) I know I will go back there again…Soon.

Trivia: Bhutan is supposed to be the 7th happiest country in the world!
There is so much more I could write about Bhutan..It would take a whole book…So for now I’ll let you soak with the pics and the little bits of info I have put in there…

What is it about traveling that keeps me going back for more?

Yes, there are the sights and sounds of a new place. A visual treat in terms of photography for me…The quiet buzz of an empty road or the complete chaos of a city..(Bob Dylan usually crooning in my ears)....... Its all of these and more but there’s one part of travel that gets me super excited and perpetually super hungry is all the good food I get to sample.. Anything to do with food and I am game. Crinkling my nose up and tasting dried yak meat in Bhutan( Praveen aka Pots finished a whole plate and asked for more!) to slurping down mussels in France to giggling over Bhang lassi in Udaipur to running back for samosas to the same chai stall in the Andamans my good memories of a place is directly proportionally to the number of happy food days I have had there..

My lingering memories of a coastal town in France started and ended with seafood..

Mussels or Moules as they are called, are traditionally steamed or cooked in a white wine…With a hard bluish black shell this seafood is famous in Normandy and parts of coastal S. France. It is famously said of mussels “Less is more when it comes to cooking mussels! Use only fresh mussels, which are tightly closed when you buy them. If you can’t find fresh mussels, make something else!

Giving you a recipe of the famous Moules à la Marinière. Mussels cooked in white wine. Try it with a glass of Muscadet( White wine crisp and light)
Muscadet has always paired beautifully with shellfish.

The recipe is simple:
Sauté chopped onions in olive oil until translucent, and then add garlic, three to four pounds of mussels, fresh parsley, and two cups of the wine. Cover and steam for seven to eight minutes.  Serve immediately with warm crusty bread.

Enjoy!

I still can’t get myself to calling it Varanasi. No rhyme or reason. In my head Benares reverberates of times that still linger from 4000 years ago..

Circa 2005, A few friends of mine and I from architecture school decided to hop on a train and head to Benares. I don’t remember the temples I went to or the names of the ghats…What I distinctly remember is how I felt ambling along the narrow lanes flanked on either side with sweetmeats and chants pouring out through little alleyways with scores of people each one completely engrossed in his/her own devotion moving along with their own rhythms…

I felt at peace.. and I don’t just make that up. Benares still brings out a strange longing in me and it took me at least 15 minutes of arguing with Bharath to have him include it in our travel plan for TGDC.

Most people go to Benares with a goal in mind..Walk the holy city to cleanse themselves of sin, ‘find’ themselves or simply give up in the arms of the Ganga and pass on to a better abode.

All I want is to walk those ghats and alleyways and feel that same surge of happiness.

P.S I am not highly religious but the ganga aarti out there is a must experience.

Spent time trekking up to this spot many times, in the past. I’ve even camped overnight. It has a calming effect to sit up there and watch the world go by. With a clarity of thought that can only come from breathing fresh air, I’ve decided to make my way to Mumbai by road ( maybe you should ignore the clarity of thought part). The journey would be around 1200km and I will stop over at Bangalore before covering the remaining 1000km at one go. Definitely don’t want to strain myself by covering the distance at one go. Of course I’m insane ...but then I think so are all the other 22 participants. I’m pretty sure that’s the real reason why we’ve been selected, once they made absolutely sure that we were insane (the verification process I assume, checking documents was just an excuse). Tomorrow I start my journey towards Mumbai and hope to reach a few days before the 2nd.
I see that everyone seems to be working on the blog, putting up pictures, and coming up with team names, mottos, etc. Who would have thought that driving someone else’s car would be so complicated!