Cybercasts

Friends, family & loved ones,

Another very full day for the Team! This morning we, together with thousands of Bhutanese, filled the central courtyard of the Thimpu Dzong for the annual Tschechu festival, dedicated to the eight manifestations of Guru Rinpoche who brought Buddhism to Bhutan. Don’t know what was more fascinating or colorful: the masked dances taking place in the center of the courtyard or the people-watching scene of the locals in their traditional attire.

We moved on to visit the giant Dordenma Buddha overlooking town. It’s one of the largest Buddha statues in Asia at 169 feet tall (just for the statue itself) and the interior of the stupa is lined with 125,000 small bronze buddha statues. We were all blown away by the scale and opulence of the site.

Other activities for the day included shopping, shopping, a visit to the vegetable market and shopping.

Finally, before we all leave the country tomorrow, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see a Takin, Bhutan’s national animal, at the Takin Reserve. A strange animal that looks like a combination of a goat and a cow.

Check back with us for one final dispatch tomorrow. Thanks for following,

Carole & Vern Tejas

Friends, family & loved ones,

Checking in from Thimpu, the capital city of Bhutan. It’s a great time to be here, as the annual Teschu festival is underway. Schools are on holiday and the streets are hopping with locals and visitors taking advantage of festival sales and events. It was fun to wander around downtown and take in the street scene. Tomorrow, we will get a chance to attend some of the official festival events at the Thimpu Dzong (fortress). Looking forward to that.

But to re-wind: this morning we woke up in Punakha, the former capital of Bhutan and spent several hours touring the Punakha Dzong, one of the oldest and definitely most beautiful Dzongs in Bhutan.

There, too, we were very lucky to observe a blessing ceremony involving masked dancers and chanting monks. Hundreds of Bhutanese spectators in local formal dress came to watch as well.

Before traveling to Thimpu, we stopped at a temple known as the “Fertility Temple” dedicated to an unconventional Bhutanese lama known as the “Divine Madman”. A lot of action there too, as one of the four main Bhutanese high lamas happened to be there offering blessings, including to the Team.

All in all a very full day. We will check back with you tomorrow. Thanks for following,
Carole & Vern

Friends, family & loved ones,

In possibly the most exciting portion of our trip, we were able to cross the landslide that barred our way yesterday. A narrow path was cleared and shored up so that one by one we were able to walk over the slide area to safety on the other side.

Once past, we jumped into vehicles waiting on the other side and set off for the hot springs at Gasa. After a dip in the pools and lunch, we made our way to the comforts of our hotel in Punakha, where we were reunited with our clean clothes, showers and electricity, etc. etc.

Sightseeing and travel to Thimpu are on the program for tomorrow. Thanks for following!

Vern & Carole

Friends, family and loved ones,

Friends, family & loved ones,