We’re back! It’s been a bit quiet on the TravelingSaurus front as I was enjoying vacation too much to bother posting from Bhutan or Thailand. I could have said that the internet was too slow or something, but honestly I just wasn’t that into it. Sorry.
But now there is so much to catch up on, while catching up on life in general. I’m super excited to share our wonderful experiences from The Land of the Thunder Dragon.
Thailand, as most of you already know, was awesome. I seriously could have eaten 20 more days of Thai food without regret. I loveeeee Thai food. Well…there may eventually be some regret.
DH and I didn’t even come close to killing each other during the trip, either. It’s one of the longest trips we’ve been on together and also the farthest we’ve traveled. DH will say that it helped that our seats were soooo far apart on the flight home, thanks to ANA Business Class, we couldn’t really talk–or see each other, for that matter. Whatever. I think our shared love of Tom Yum and Tom Gai helped, too.
I love returning home, but I am one of those people that insists that everything is unpacked and cleaned within 24 hours. I just can’t help it. I hate disorder. I hate mess. Pretty sure everyone thinks I’m OCD now. Again, whatever.
I didn’t even take a nap today which is success in and of itself! Last time I went to Asia I was absolutely dying. I remember force-feeding myself apples during my commute home so I wouldn’t fall asleep at the wheel. So much better this time. Not sure if it was the awesome lay-flat seats on the way home or just a better plan to attack jet lag, but only two days and I’m totally functioning. I did wake up at 5am one day, but considering I slept from 7:30pm to 5am, I can’t really cite that as a total failure.
Here are just five little things I loved about Bhutan. It’s just the tip of a very large iceberg…
1. Red Panda Beer. OMG. Dear Bhutan, please export this. I’m not only in love with the adorable label, I love the beer. LOVE. It’s an unfiltered wheat beer and it’s deeeeliiccciousss. I wish I had more time to consume more Red Panda.
2. Darts. Totally would never, ever, be allowed in the United States seeing as these things most definitely would constitute a safety hazard, which is a shame. We spent hours playing darts with our driver and guide. Seeing a Bhutanese game in person was also incredible. Thumbs up to Bhutanese darts.
3. Stamps. They say that Bhutanese stamps are a collectors dream, and I didn’t really understand why until we went to the post office. They are SO cool! They have such a wide variety, from Bhutanese wildlife and bridges, to the Apollo 11 landing. Plus, it only costs 20 ngultrum to send a postcard internationally, which is around $.38. Please explain to me again why USPS costs so much?
4. Ema Datshi. Chilies and cheese. The national dish. Two words. Hot. Wonderfulness. I wish I could have numbed my poor little inexperienced mouth with Novocain and devoured as much as I wanted. Alas, I was steaming, sweating, nose running, and still trying to eat more…it’s like queso on steroids. And it was incredible.
5. Landing in Paro. While the approach was less dramatic than I anticipated after reading some alarmist reports online, it’s so much fun to watch them twist and turn a commercial jet past hills and rice paddies onto the runway. It doesn’t ever feel unsafe, but it is pretty incredible to look out and feel like you are maybe two wing-spans from the foothills. And I now fully understand why they don’t fly in bad weather.
More soon!
