Richard And Jo Demeester's photos with the keyword: Paro

Back in Paro, we got another view of the airport, highlighting how there are no real approaches that don't avoid weaving through the terrain.

Every ingredient, bar the meat, was from the farm. The little kitten would not take no for an answer. A lap was her one intention, and discouragement was pointless.

There are rooms of varying size, with one, two, or more baths. We were in room 5. The baths were ready for us, with herbal sprigs floating in them, and steaming indications of hot water. We lowered ourselves in, and let the hot water perform its rejuvinating magic. As the water cooled, we would knock on the wooden panels. Moments later, a voice would call from the other side - "Stone?" "Yes please", we'd respond. And within a minute we would feel the thunk of large hot stones being dropped in the water of our baths. So the ends of our baths stick out through the wall, and are well divided from where we sit, and where the stones are dropped, so as to not risk our feet touching the stones directly. The stones are piled over a fire, and large metal tongs are used to move them about. Two or three men were servicing the baths, cleaning and preparing, or adding stones. It was an amazing experience.

Near Paro, we stayed at the "Tsherring Farmhouse". Our main reason for choosing it was the on-site hot stone baths. But we did want the local experience. The main building, besides being a temple, had a variety of rooms round the outside. Nothing fancy, but this was our little nook.

Perched high above Paro, the climb to this monastery was obviously rewarding. From this viewpoint, it felt tangibly close. We had ascended for nearly 2 hours, climbing somewhere between 500 and 600 metres. But, it was not over. To get "from here to there", we had to descend and re-ascend again, adding perhaps another 100 metres of work. Entry to the monastery is by ticket. The ticket office is at the start of the walk. You don't really want to forget that!

On arrival at Paro airport, collecting baggage is a uniquely Bhutanese affair, with the two baggage carousels running around models of the country's two fines Dzongs.