3 Countries

Its been a while since I blogged, so allow me to catch up.  Since my last post, I have been to 3 countries, and I don't really have a lot of pictures to show for it.

First, I went for training to Johannesburg, South Africa.  I arrived on a Sunday, was in training all day from Monday to Friday, and then left on Saturday.  So I don't think I can fairly create my usual list of top thoughts.  But I can tell you a few things.  Here are some random thoughts:

• Johannesburg is clean, and the roads are great.
• Food and drink are cheap.  Both in Restaurants and at the supermarket.  Two guys in my class and I went out for dinner every night, and never paid more that $20 per person, and we did not hold back.  Full entrees, wine, beer, etc.  
• The weather was so great - 70's and sunny.  No Haboobs.
• I went to a wild animal park, but I cant say I really liked it.  These are captive animals, even if I am in a caged vehicle, and they "appear" to be free to roam, they re not.

The highlight of the trip was the supermarket.  I stocked up on high quality, inexpensive beef, pork and cheese.  I brought it all back to my hotel and asked them to hold it for me in their freezer.  On my last day, I bought a cooler, filled it with the frozen food, went to the airport, and I checked it as luggage.

I once heard that you are not a real Foreign Service Officer until you have lugged a cooler full of food through an airport.  I can now check off that box.

Next, Carole and I went to Oman for a long weekend.  We spent the most of our time at a very nice resort called the Shangra La.  Again, my visit was too short and limited to give a list of my thoughts. I will tell you that Oman has a very stark beauty to it,  The kind you only get in the desert.

I can also tell you that in the past, Carole and I have never thought of ourselves as the kinds of people to do the "lounge around the pool" type of vacation.  Evidently, that's changing.

The final country we visited recently was...The United States of America!  We went back for a sad reason, the passing of Carole's mother.  We ended up back for a little over two weeks, and so now I can give you my thoughts after having spent almost a year out of the country.  So here they are in no particular order:

• Its green!  Trees and grass everywhere!
• Its clean.  You have no idea how clean America is until you have lived in a place like Sudan.
• Food and drink,  Going back to our favorite places and trying new beers is an unbelievable luxury.
• Being homeless is weird.  Having sold our house, from now on when we visit, it will be a combination of staying in hotels, and with friends and family.  Over the course of our visit, we stayed in 2 hotels, and 3 different homes.
• Family and Friends:  Meeting up and catching up is another unbelievable luxury.
• Poker!  I managed to get a game is with my old poker buddies. (thanks again, Gus!)  I have not been able to get a regular game going over here.
• Bagels.  OMG!  They are soooo  goood back home.
• Its a small world - Two Canadian friends from Khartoum were going to the east coast for a wedding and we gave them some advice on where to go.  With our unexpected trip, it turns out I ended up meeting up with them in Connecticut!
• It was relaxing.  Living abroad has all kinds of stress.  On a day to day basis, you might not even notice it.  But once we were home, you can feel it lift.  

Bhutan

Carole and I just got back from Bhutan and it was a spectacular place.  So without any further adu, here are my top ten thoughts on Bhutan:

10 - Traffic Lights.  

There are not any.  Not one in the whole country.  But they do have traffic police:

9 - Altitude,  

Bhutan is in the Himalayas, so its high.  The places we went were only considered to be the foot hills to the Himalayas, which does not sound very high, but it was.  Most places we went were about 7,000 feet, and the highest we got was about 10,500 feet.  But we did see a peaks that are over 24,000

These bags of chips are fully inflated because Science! 

8 - Penises. 

I have to be very careful with this one.  The last time I blogged something that was even slightly off color (Travel Goals)  I received an e-mail from a reader telling me it was an embarrassment (Thanks, Mom!).  But if you want to know about what it is like to visit Bhutan, you need to talk about Penises.  Mom, if you are reading this, you might want to jump down to number 7.

In the 15th century, Lama Drukpa Kunley, known as the divine madman, was said to have defeated a demon using his penis.  As as a tribute, there are paintings and carvings of penises everywhere.  They are on buildings, signs, postcards, gift shops, etc.

In the gift shops, they have them on key chains, and stand alone.  They have them regular and larger than life.  They have them painted and or natural.  They have them with wings.  They have books of the "Phalluses of Bhutan."   And the penises are displayed right next to statues of Buddha and other religious items.

7 The Royal Family

Bhutan LOVES their royal family.  Their monarchy was founded on 1907, and in 2006, the fourth king abdicated and let his 26 year old son take over.  In 2011 he married and earlier this year, his wife gave birth to their first child.  There are pictures of the happy family everywhere, and many people where buttons dipicting the royal family.  Everyone we asked spoke of the poyals with real affection.

6 Bridges 

There were three bridges in Bhutan that are worth mentioning.


Thangtong Gyalpo lived in the 14th century and he loved to build bridges.  His bridges we made of chain links, and we crossed one of them.  It was like trying to walk on a chain link fence.  It was awkward, and you could see to the river below.

Just to put this in perspective, this was the first thing we stopped at in Bhutan.  We had been traveling for 2 days - Flight delays, missed connections, lack of sleep, etc.  Then they have us walk across this see-through bridge,  And right in the middle of the crossing, I noticed that the chain going down the center of the bridge is missing a couple links and is wired together.  Still, I thought it was pretty cool.

The second bridge is right next to the first.  After we crossed hard to walk on bridge, our guide told us we would walk back on the "modern bridge."  Low and behold, there is anther bridge I had not even noticed.  However, instead of Modern Bridge, I would describe it as pretty good bridge except for the missing and rotten planks.

The third bridge is Punakha Suspension Bridge.  At 525 feet, it is the longest suspenstion bridge in Bhutan.  

5  Festivals

One of the highlights of going to Bhutan is going to a festival.  We were lucky enough to go to two while we were there.  Festivals usually take place at the local monastery.  They are all day family affairs.  All the attendees wear traditional clothes.  They bring blankets and picnic near the main performance area.  Its good people watching territory.

The performances are traditional dance and singing.  It usually tells the stories and legands of the local area.

Sometimes you people watch.  Sometimes people watch you.

4 Dragons

Bhutan has a dragon on their flag.  Seriously, how cool is that?  They love the symbol of the dragon.  They don't call themselves Bhutanese, but rather People of the Dragon.

3.  Buddhism

I have been to 3 Buddhist countries - Bhutan, Cambodia and Laos.  Somehow, the feel of Buddhism is different in Bhutan than the other two.  While there are a lot of Buddha statues, and Buddhist monks, it feels like there are fewer.  Instead there are Prayer flags and  Prayer Wheels.

When Bhutanese spin a prayer wheel, they recite a mantra - Om Mani Padme Hum.  I asked our guide what it meant and he said its not a simple or short answer.  The overly simplified answer is that the words represent important ideas in Buddhism.

The flags represent the same mantra.  In fact, there are some prayer flags that have the words written right on them.

When spinning a prayer wheel, always go clockwise

This Buddha is 168 feet tall.  They told us it was the tallest in the world, but I found a list that puts it at #17,

There were 108 stuppas at this location.  Evidently, 108 is an important symbolic number in Buddhism.  We came across it regularly, including a special gift to honor the new crown crown prince - planting of 108,000 new trees.  

This is a bodhi tree.  The Buddha was sitting under the same type of tree when he achieved enlightenment.

We bought prayer flags that we hung right here, in full view of the Tiger's Nest (more on that later) 

Prayer wheels came in all sizes from huge ones 10 feet in diameter to hand held.

2  Things I Cannot Show You

I cannot show you some of the best things we saw in Bhutan.  Photography was not permitted in many places of worship.  This was another difference from Cambodia and Laos.  Inside the temples was colorful and interesting.  Lots of art - statures, paintings, tapestries, etc.

One of the most memorable was a temple were were told we could not go in because there were monks having their daily prayers.  But we were allowed to a room above it that looked down on the monks.  They were chanting, there were drums and horns.  It was fascinating to watch.  And I have no pictures or video.

1.  The Tiger's Nest

Without a doubt, The Tiger's Nest was the highlight of the trip.  It typifies many of the items on this top 10 list.  Its at high altitude.  Its very Buddhist.  There are parts I was not allowed to take photos.

Paro Taktsang (its real name) is located on a cliff wall at just over 10,200 feet.  It is a 3,000 foot climb to reach it, and it is well worth it.  It was built in the 17th century, and rebuilt a couple times due to fire.

I have rarely seen such a spectacular place.