The picture is of Drakpa Dorji, my guide, in front of Tiger's Nest monastery which clings to a rock face 900 metres above the valley near Paro. It was a tough but delightful trek and it was so good to have some clean fresh air. There was some old snow and later on the way back down it rained a bit. Later we also visited a 7th century temple where the monks were happening to perform a ritual with much chanting, banging of drums and blowing of horns. We also did a...

Wonderful hotel at Punakha. Peaceful friendly and well organised. Good views over valley. Left 8ish to go to local market. A lot of chillies! Still many vegetables from India. Bhutan does not produce very much and receives most income by producing electricity and from tourism. There are not so many tourists because of having to pay $250 a day on top of the airfares getting there. But then the total population is only about 740,000. Then drove back up to the pa...

Yesterday just flew back to Dhaka and the Whitehouse Hotel. Discovered that it is connected to the Seagull Hotel. No wonder I am happy there. Had a super meal and everyone so friendly and helpful. I am so excited to go to Bhutan at last. Flew Druk Air with views of Everest and flying awfully close to some mountains before landing in Paro. There I was met by my guide Drukba and Wangchuk the driver of the flashy big Honda. The sun was shining and it seemed very m...