Thimphu, Bhutan’s huge capital: Less than 100.000 inhabitants, said to be the world’s only capital without a single traffic light. There once was one for some time, but it got removed again aftr complains it would be ‘unpersonal’. The traffic police is in place again every day to regulate the dense traffic around Thimphu’s central roundabout. Continue reading Thimphu, Bhutan’s Capital
Category Archives: Travel
Travels across the world…
Druk Path Trek (II) High Mountain Cuisine
Day 4, Thursday 18-OCT, Jimilang Tsho -> Simkotra Tsho (4110m) (cont.)
DP_20071018_103148.jpg: A small make-shift altar at the Jimilang Lake. Ratnar had brought three butter lamps specifically to be placed here. He had lighted them earlier before we started walking. But unfortunately they had been blewn out by the wind when we now passed by. See them burning here again after being lighted once more. They must have continued to burn for the next three days: Everything was perfect now, weather, food, health, trek… Continue reading Druk Path Trek (II) High Mountain Cuisine
Druk Path Trek (I) Only One Survives
Trekking was the part of the Bhutan trip I was looking most forward to. The cultural part reliably proved to be highly influenced by Bhuddism and is in its essence not so much different from Tibet. But in Lhasa I barely left the city proper. Here now I was supposed to walk six days, five nights, over and through Buthan’s mountains at the south-eastern edge of the Himalaya Mountains. Continue reading Druk Path Trek (I) Only One Survives
Paro (II) Taktshang Goemba
Taktshang Goembe, “Tiger’s Nest”, is the most famous and spectacular monastery of Bhutan as it is attached to sheer rock 900m above valley ground. It is the place where Guru Rinpoche flew “on the back of a tigress, a manifestation of his consort Yeshe Tsogyal, to subdue the local demon, Singey Samdrup.” (Lonely Planet) Guru Rinpoche then seem to have liked the tranquility of the place and meditated right there in a cave in the rocks for three months. Continue reading Paro (II) Taktshang Goemba
Paro (I) Entering Bhutan: Temples and Landscape
Getting up early, 3am, for a flight at 5:50 to Bhutan. Where is Bhutan?, you might ask. That’s fair. The immigration officer at Bangkok airport ask me the same thing: “Where is Paro?” (the city stated on my boarding pass) “In Bhutan.” – “Bhutan?…Is that between India and China?” – “Yes, right there, in the Himalayans” – “Oh!”
You should expect that Bangkok immigration officers have to do with Bhutan more often. Druk Air, the Royal Bhutan Airways, doesn’t fly from many places. Bangkok is one of them. But the lady was just curious. Continue reading Paro (I) Entering Bhutan: Temples and Landscape
Bangkok – Stop-over
Bangkok, Thailand…so much said about it everywhere, what shall I add? This document is just a sign of life. I arrived yesterday afternoon from Siem Reap, checked into my nice hotel and directly ventured out to the main modern shopping area around Siam Square with its shopping centers. I had some things to organize in Bangkok: Continue reading Bangkok – Stop-over
Angkor (III) Carvings and Angkor Wat again
Today (09-OCT) was the day of long motorcycle rides. There are two sites, which are a bit out of the way, but luckily in the same direction. As a matter of fact, when you drive out to Kbal Spean for the underwater carvings you pass by Banteay Srei, a temple known for its unique stone carvings. So the day is all about carvings 😉 Continue reading Angkor (III) Carvings and Angkor Wat again
Angkor (II) North East and Roluos Group
Today focused on the ‘smaller’ temples in the North-East of Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat, as well as the older Roluos group, a bit to the East of Siem Reap. Continue reading Angkor (II) North East and Roluos Group
Angkor (I) The Main Sights
The reason most people (including me) come to Cambodia: Angkor Wat! Or to be more precise, something I learned from my book: Angkor Wat is actually the name for ‘just’ the main temple. Angkor refers to the old capital of the kingdom of Cambodia during most parts of the Angkorian Period (802-1432). A long time. While Angkor Wat is so magnificient that the Cologne Cathedral looks like child play (except for one thing…we’ll come back to that…hm, maybe two ;)), 600 years are sufficient to build a lot more. The city of Angkor, Angkor Thom, was close by and has been built and abandoned twice. Some remains, those built from stone, the material reserved for the gods, can still be seen. The rest was made from wood, and it doesn’t need much imagination to figure out what happened to that. Hence, I put these documents under its own category “Angkor”, as this in fact is a city’s name. Continue reading Angkor (I) The Main Sights
Phnom Penh to Siem Reap
Today was mostly about getting from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, which is the place where you stay for visiting the temples of Angkor. My Phnom Penh Tuktuk driver brought me to the bus company and bid me farewell. The bus was highly comfortable with all seats on the top floor and me sitting in the very front, so I could also watch straight ahead through the wind shield. And: I was surprisingly the only foreigner. Only five other locals on the bus. During lunch break a westerner arriving with a different bus company joined my table. Apparently the same service, about the same price, but bus full. Well…this time I probably made the better deal with this more local company.
Continue reading Phnom Penh to Siem Reap