Day 5

Forgot to share hotel tips/experiences on days 3 and 4, so here they are:

In Punakha, I stayed at the Meri Punseum. It wasn't that merry - wifi didn't work, electricity got cut, and they closed the bar at 10pm (ok it was supposed to have been closed anyway on Tues); but generally good enough as a rustic 3 star hotel offering huge rooms. Bed was comfortable, dinner was pretty good, and they provide a fan in the guest room - which I found useful (none of the hotels in Paro, Thimphu and Punakha offer AC for cooling, only heaters installed). Presently, there's only one other tourist class hotel in entire Punakha - also operated by relatives of the Royal family, and it is not any better. 

Returning to Paro, I was booked one night at the Tenzinling - purportedly 3.5 stars, but best avoided. It looks decent, in fact attractive from the exterior, but rooms are poorly executed. If you have to stay there, do ask for a room on the ground floor. They've installed water pumps in the attics of the 2 storey accommodation buildings and the pumps start and stop every 30 secs. When I called the front office at 1.00am, the rudely awoken staff knew exactly what I was talking about and where the noise was coming from. Curiously they never thought it was a curable problem!...sleeping with ear plugs on (thank goodness I had a pair) is never pleasant, more so when on holiday...

Which brings me to my little gripe and hope for this place...The revered Thangtong Gyalpo (King) was a pioneering engineer who built 58 iron chain bridges in the 15th century, several of which are still in use today. Sadly, the Bhutanese seem to have lost much interest in science and engineering in the time between then and now.  Having decentralized university campuses when there is hardly critical mass (with country population of 700,000) and locating the engineering college in a small town in the remote southern tip of the country (only a 6 hour drive, sir) isn't helping much. 

Certainly there are resource and funding constraints (the World Food Programme and other UN initiatives are still very active here)....it's just that general focus and pursuits seem to only center on religion, rituals and things of the past.  I'm sure this is likely a poorly informed perspective, akin to trying to size up the proverbial elephant from its rear end....But perhaps therein lies the appeal of less complicated lives and secret to greater happiness.         

Today the plan was for a meditation retreat. The travel agency website had advertised a "meditation session with a senior monk" - I thought this might be my chance at Satori (yes, profoundly optimistic) so signed up for it :). As it turned out, much as Tobgay is good at many things, he does not have a Rolodex of senior monks to call on...sometimes his sales & marketing colleagues get the better of him.

So we switched plans, as we've been quite adept at doing often cos the itinerary never considered my waking hours,...and opted to visit a farmhouse instead. This was fun and educational. All the crops are grown organically - the bite and flavour of the apple is making me rethink the produce we buy and consume back home. Also got to sample a home brew of ara which is made from fermentation of rice and wheat assisted by yeast, and scented with a hint of sandalwood...happy days...

Later in the day I checked into the Uma Paro...nice. InterContinental-ish in style and approach :))

You never know whom you might meet...there's a wanderlust afflicted, single malt loving, Singaporean sous chef at this place, by the name of Val, who whips up a pretty mean and innovative Indian mee goreng!