Paro

We begin our ten day adventure in Bhutan by flying into Paro, a city of about 2,000 people, where the only airport in the country exists.

I've flown millions of miles, had a number of close calls in the air, and landed at some scary airports ... but this takes the cake. Our approach threads its way down a narrow winding valley. Our Airbus A319 alternatively banks 60 degrees left and then 60 degrees right. Our wingtips seem to be close enough to the mountainside to scrape the trees. I realize intellectually this is part optical illusion but it's not much comfort. I also realize that this approach would be impossible if it were windy or foggy. We are on the only flight into Bhutan today and I'm glad the weather is suitable.

These photos were taken in October 2008 mostly with a Nikon D3.

By the time we clear customs and immigration, it's dark. We ride about 30 minutes in a small bus from the airport to our hotel. We've been warned not to expect great accomodations and my expectations, at least have been suitably depressed. What kind of place will this be? As we walk in the front door all I can say is "Wow!"
It is in the hotel we first become acquainted with the rich decoration we will see adorning virtually every surface of every building in Bhutan. Maybe this is Shangri La.
This carpet in the entry way of the hotel features a pair of rare black cranes in the center. This is a motif we will see often. And this rug introduces us to a rich graphic symbolism we will enjoy our entire trip.
I understand this is the best hotel in Paro and frankly it makes a great impression. Clean. Beautifully decorated. I could get used to this! I took this photo laying on the floor in the hotel's lobby looking up to the roof.

The next day dawns gorgeous. It is now evident that our room is one of several in a detached lodge of the hotel. There are several similar lodges. And it is in our rooms that we begin to experience some of the disconnects which will come to signify Bhutan for me. There is a business center in the main lodge with reasonably fast internet workstations. My apple iPhone works better here than it does at home albeit at a cost of $4.99 per roaming minute. But the power is unreliable. We experienced several 15 to 30 minutes blackouts during the three nights we stayed here.
Next morning with the sun up, we get our first look at the city of Paro and the country of Bhutan. In the foreground is a small museum and inthe background at the top of the hill a small temple.
Paro has one main street. It's a clean, lively and optimistic place. It, too, makes a good impression.

The city's buildings seem never to exceed three stories. It looks like most of the buildings have retail space at ground level and living accommodations on the floors above. There are not many cars and the ones that are here are all very small. Even the SUVs and vans have been downsized. Fuel is all imported and runs the equivalent of about $5 a gallon. That's pretty dear in a country where the average annual income is less than $750.
Today we leave Paro to cross the Dochu La pass and will sleep in Wangdiphodrang. On the way we stop in at our first Buddhist temple. It was what I have come to call a "starter temple" for us. We began our education regarding Buddhism, temples, symbologies but it wasn't a significant temple and the introduction was light. One thing I'm beginning to appreciate right away is that Bhutan has more prayer wheels than Vegas has slots.
As we were leaving our "starter temple" we passed by a nearly dark room where several folks were praying. It was blindingly bright outside and hard to make out what was going on inside. I fired up my camera and caught this woman, spinning the large prayer wheel and counting mantras on her beads. The beads have a complex counting ability and can record up to 100,000 repetitions of her mantra. This is interesting.