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Day 50!
 
Gosh, it seems like a long time. Thinking about it, it is a long time. Looking at a map, I find it hard to believe that I have covered all this ground. 50 days represents the half way point of my journey, not only in time (I have planned for a 100 days trip) but also geographically: I am now turning around to make my way back home. Until now, I was always heading towards the east, now I am looking towards the west, towards home.
 
The morning is fresh and for the first time, the skies are blue.

Paro, Sunday the 7th of August

Degrubenc
2005-12-09 17:50:07

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Day 50!

Gosh, it seems like a long time. Thinking about it, it is a long time. Looking at a map, I find it hard to believe that I have covered all this ground. 50 days represents the half way point of my journey, not only in time (I have planned for a 100 days trip) but also geographically: I am now turning around to make my way back home. Until now, I was always heading towards the east, now I am looking towards the west, towards home.

The morning is fresh and for the first time, the skies are blue.

After breakfast Mr. Nice suggests a small trek up one of the nearby mountains. I happily accept the chance to stretch my legs and we take off up the mountains. To reach the path we cross through the Royal Military Academy of Bhutan, never have I seen such lax security, the gates are open and there is no one guarding them, the village has set up a small temporary market on the parade square and the soldiers are happily milling about chatting to the local beauties and trying to impress them with their press ups and shiny boots.

The soldiers are smiling, pleasant, say hello to us, offer to help us and shake my hands to extend their welcome as they have seen it done in foreign films. The army does not seem to be a stern, strict and faceless army as in so many other countries in the region, there are no armed soldiers in the streets, no sentries outside big buildings, neither tanks nor helicopters. They seem to live in peace and harmony with the people.

I find it surprising that everyone here speaks English, even the farmer’s and their daughters do, it is basic and simple English but grammatically correct with a sufficient vocabulary to hold a normal conversation. Their level of English is generally far better then in Nepal and I would venture to say even better than India. Of course as soon as I get comfortable with the notion of everyone speaking English I notice that waiters ...