Buddies, Birthdays, Beauty, BHUTAN!

Hi everyone. I’m writing en route from Paro, Bhutan, to Kathmandu, Nepal. We spent the week with our dear friends, Kalina and Penny, who flew across the world to explore this incredible country with us. Our days together were just magic.

We actually started our reunion in Singapore. I can’t even describe how happy we were to see those two.

We celebrated Ginny’s 10th birthday together. Kalina brought gifts and cards from friends at home, and Ginny was the happiest birthday girl. We went to a waterpark, ate sushi, and watched a light show from our hotel room. It was a great day, and this awesome kid is 10!!

The next morning we all hopped on a Druk Air flight to Paro, Bhutan. Only one airline flies to Bhutan, and only 24 pilots are licensed to land planes there because of its difficult valley runway. The plane banked hard to the left until just before landing. It was wild. Then we noticed a red carpet being rolled out for the business class door, and passengers were ordered not to take photos. We thought that was odd, but went along with it. Turns out the King of Bhutan was on our flight. Look at us sharing recirculated air with royalty!

We spent our first day in the capitol city of Thimphu. First, the kids all sat on Kalina.

Then we visited Thimphu Chorten (the Memorial Stupa), built for the third king of Bhutan.

We lit butter candles in honor of those we love, which felt really good.

From there we went to the Buddha Dordenma Statue (aka Big Buddha), shining bright at 52 meters tall. Set against an incredible Himalayan backdrop, it’s hard not to feel the power of the massive Buddha.

We then visited the Simply Bhutan museum to see examples of traditional Bhutanese life and to practice archery, the national sport of Bhutan.

To end the day, we hiked out to a Buddhist monastery where a monk gave us blessed bracelets that we had to keep on for three days. (They all fell off before we got back to the trailhead.) Finally we met the national animal at the Takin Reserve. Here's one scratching his wooly belly on a rock.The kids concluded that takins look like part capybara and part bison.

I think they nailed it.

The next day we left the city and drove to the rural Phobjikha Valley. Our van dropped us off a couple miles away from our lodge so we could walk the rest of the way through the village. The mountain views (and 9,800 ft elevation) took our breath away.

The following day was another big one--my 44th birthday! I was so happy to hear from so many of you (thank you!), and was over the moon to receive gifts from home delivered by Kalina. We visited a Buddhist monastery, where the head monk gave us all blessings of Amitayus, the god of long life. Then I got the BEST surprise--our awesome guides, Kuenzang and Sangay, had secretly stashed lunch and juice boxes in the van to deliver to the kids at Bayta Community Primary School.

Visiting with those kiddos was the best. They were so excited to practice English with us (they were so good!), and we loved learning about their impressive curriculum. From the school we went on another hike and got hilariously lost. We didn't mind, though, because the views were just so incredible.

We then traveled to Punakha Valley. We had a picnic lunch along the female river of Punakha (apparently female rivers are calm, male rivers are raging (that gave us all a good laugh)). Ryan and Kuenzang went for hike while Kalina and I watched the kids play in the river.

Then we rafted down some Class I rapids, which was, well, wet.

That night Ginny started feeling sick, so naturally I concluded she had malaria. We took her to the hospital the following morning, and the doctor said she's just fine. Whew!

Our final day in Bhutan was so special. We hiked up to Taktsang Lhakhang (the “Tiger’s Nest”), a massive monastery built into the side of a mountain, 900 meters above Paro Valley.

It was a beautiful five-mile hike through pine forests, with over 700 stairs up to the monastery.

Baker and Lu did amazing. I am so proud of them. (Ginny still wasn't feeling well, so Penny and Ginny had a girls' day at the hotel.) Kalina was in her happy place hiking in the peaceful mountains. It was just a perfect day.

Lu was SO excited to show the Tiger's Nest to Tigey! This tiger has seen it all.

We said goodbye to Kalina and Penny this morning at 4:30 am, as we headed to Nepal, and they embarked on two days of flights to get back home. We also said goodbye to Kuenzang and Sangay, who we absolutely loved.

It is hard to stay goodbye to Bhutan. It was been a wonderful week full of friends, adventure, and pure joy. Bhutan: stay cool, we'll be back (likely when the kids are old enough for the 10-day trek from Thimbu to Paro).

**Realtime flight update: We just flew past Mt. Everest!! These mountains are spectacular!

We will be out of touch for a couple more weeks while we explore Nepal. We are most excited (...and slightly terrified) for a 4-day trek in the Himalayas. I'll blog once we are back in Kathmandu!

All my love,

Madeline