We were up at 2am in the morning getting ready to catch the early flight to Paro. Needless to say, by the time we arrived at Bangkok airport, we were pretty bleary eyed. Ernst and his son’s Simon and Michael were already there, but Michele had missed her flight so would meet us in Paro the next day.
It was a 3hr flight to Paro but as we approached, we could see the Himalayas rising above the clouds. With 98 of the country made up of mountains, Paro airport turned out to be quite the landing experience. We descended into a valley, apparently one of the few places in Bhutan flat enough for a runway, making it the second hardest airport landing in the world. In keeping with that theme, Paro airport has to be one of the most amazing airports I’ve ever seen. Everything from the control tower to the airport terminal was covered with intricately carved woodwork and artwork, in keeping with the local architecture.
We were met by Jason and the Pedal Pedal crew, run by a local operator Tsering, who is running our Bhutan trip. Tsering is a mine of information about Bhutan, and life here. We exchanged our currency for Bhutanese Ngultrum, which has only taken over from bartering as the main medium of exchange recently (within his lifetime).
After a delicious Bhutanese lunch with many vegetable dishes including the famous ‘chilli cheese’, we headed back to our hotel. ‘We eat chillis like a vegetable’, according to Tsering. I can believe that.
Our arrival in Bhutan coincided with the Tsechu festival, the biggest celebration in Bhutan. We climbed up to the ‘dzong’ which is an old fortress overlooking the town, where the 5 day festivities would take place. We watched the locals enact various folk dances, dressed in traditional garments, and having a great time. Paro is at 2200m, and those of us used to lower altitudes felt a little puffed as we hiked up to the dzong.
After that we had a great dinner, trying to learn each other’s names, and had early night to catch up on our sleep. There are 16 riders in our group, four of us being unicyclists.