Day 9 in Beautiful Bhutan - 28 November 2008 (a)

Making ourselves at home in Paro - marketing and cooking



This is the Sonam Trophel Hotel where we continued to stay during our 3 days' unscheduled extension in Bhutan - courtesy of Mr Chhimmy of Baeyul Excursions. This morning we went to the Paro Airport again but there was no flight to Kolkata so we returned to the hotel again - to spend another day in Paro. We volunteered to cook for dinner...

Ngoh and Khin outside the hotel entrance. We decided to go marketing for some of our ingredients in Paro town...

No, we did not have to go to the ATM to withdraw money but we did have to change for more local currency - ngultrum(Btn). The exchange rate between US$ and ngutrum was US$1 = 47 to 49 Btn during the time we were in Bhutan. This is a picture of the entrance to an ATM.

And this is what an ATM machine in Bhutan looks like...

A building with an elaborate facade in Paro...

This is a large prayer wheel in the centre of Paro town.
According to the Bhutanese Buddhist tradition, spinning such a wheel will result in the prayers flying to heaven.

The row of shop houses lining the main street in Paro. The shops sell souvenirs, handicrafts, general sundry goods as well as meat.

A group of men playing carrom along one of the streets in Paro town.

Su-lynn showing the young man the Singapore way of arranging the carrom chips...

Then she had a competitive game with...

Yeshi our guide. And in the Bhutan vs Singapore friendly carrom match - guess who won?

In the meantime, Ngoh and Khin were shopping for ingredients for our dinner. The Bhutanese consume lots of dried chillies like the lot in the background shown in this picture. They like spicy food. Bhutan gets most of its supplies of poultry meat, fish and other foodstuffs from India, its helpful and friendly neighbour. In return, Bhutan supplies India with Hydro Electric power - generated from the mountains in the north.

In the meat shop, the board displaying the prices of the different meat and fish as well as the weighing scale.. We bought 2 frozen chickens for our chicken curry and chicken chops dishes.

Waiting for our turn in the meat shop...

Dinner time...

Seen in this picture are from left - a friend of Mr Chhimmy working in Drukair; Mr Chhimmy, the hospitable and generous Managing Director of Baeyul Excursions (our local agent in Bhutan) and Mr _______, owner of the hotel we were staying in.

Khin, the guest cook in the hotel...

The soup - from chicken stock with shredded chicken meat, carrots and radish.

Yummydelicious chicken curry... made more spicy to suit the taste of Mr Chhimmy and the other "guests".

This dish was cooked at Hsiao Yun's request - French beans with minced pork.

Khin's speciality - chicken chop.

Chap chye (mixed vegetables) - we managed to buy Chinese mushrooms and black fungus from a shop that sold many Thai products in Paro town- to cook this Singaporean/ nonya dish.


End of Day 9 (a)

Day 10 in Beautiful Bhutan - 29 November 2008-

Visit to Zhiwa Ling Resort


Before we left for the Paro Airport for our flight home via Kolkata, we asked to visit the Zhiwa Ling Resort (Place of Peace). Mr Chhimmy, the Managing Director of Bae yul Excursions, our travel agent in Bhutan who knows the owner of this hotel personally accompanied us for the visit. We were shown around by one of the senior staff, Ms Sonan.








Ms Sonan with the four of us - Hsiao Yun took this photograph.

Ngoh at the entrance of the 45 suite Zhiwa Ling - which combines the traditional intricacies of Bhutanese architecture and modern technology with its Swedish under floor heating.

Once inside the hotel, one cannot but be impressed with the hotel's elaborate hand-carved wooden cornices and beautiful stonework.

This is the Reception counter.

Another view of the intricate cornices and balconies.

The beautifully carved columns ...

From the balcony of one of the rooms in the main building. We visited the most expensive suite - the Royal Room which costs US$950 per night without taxes . The suite comes with 2 huge bedrooms which can accommodate 4 to 6 guests, a large conference room, attached baths and other facilities. In fact, we feel that the price is not expensive if we have 6 persons to share the cost especially when the room is very luxuriously furnished. Perhaps on our next visit, we may book into this hotel...

The other facilities in this resort include the Spa, a Business center, a tea house, a restaurant, disco, a meditation hall and a temple. According to the brochure, all winter, weeklong Buddhist Retreat programmes are conducted by world renowned Rinpoches.

View of the other buildings which house the Junior Suites.

End of post

Day 9 in Beautiful Bhutan - 28 November 2008 (b)

Walking along the River in Paro





Ngoh and Su-lynn together with our guide, Yeshi went for a leisurely walk along the river that runs through Paro while Khin, Tiang and Hsiao Yun stayed in the hotel - as we had volunteered to cook dinner for ourselves and a few others including Mr Chhimmey and the boss of the Sonam Trophel Hotel.

The "trekkers" captured these scenes during their walk:


These are the very unique trees along the bank of the river...

The river with crystal clear cold waters with lots of pebbles...

Ngoh walking with guide Yeshi while Su-lynn took this shot.

During the walk, Yeshi was called back and he took a short cut by crossing the river.

Crossing a river is no problem for a local Bhutanese like our guide..

For certain parts, Yeshi had to jump over stones and pebbles...

Look, it's easy ...

There are lots of logs in the compound of this village house.

A part of a village house.

This house has clothes hanging outside its compound and it also flies the Bhutanese flag.

Ponies grazing and drinking water from the stream

A typical scene along the river - women washing clothes by the river.

A scenic view of the river with the village/town in the background.

Another beautiful part of the river.

A few local Bhutanese taking a stroll along the river and throwing pebbles along the way...

A little boy enjoying a packet of titbits outside his house - very simple joys of childhood - like most children we met in Bhutan.

Another simple joy - watching people passing by.

These three boys are engaged in some kind of play.The boy in the middle is wearing the national costume ("gho").

Cows - there are plenty of them in Bhutan and they are also regarded as sacred animals - like in India.

There are also many dogs in Bhutan. According to the guide, many of them are vaccinated so that they do not spread rabies.

70 % of the Bhutanese are farmers and they work hard and are contented. Primary producers like farmers are an admirable lot in any country.

A family walking home - one member was carrying a white sack of rice? while the mother was carrying a toddler on her back.

This woman with weather-beaten complexion was carrying a basket of wood and other stuff.

Ngoh stopped to have a picture taken with this local villager.

And then he walked briskly, probably heading for home.

These two local Bhutanese had an easier mode of transport - a three-wheeled "tractor"?

It was no wonder that both Ngoh and Su-lynn enjoyed their walk along the river as they had a glimpse of the local village life as well as enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

End of Day 9 (b)