Automated Stories from Google

I had recently migrated to an Android smartphone from a Windows 'not-so-smart-version' phone that I had been using for some years. This was a huge upgrade for me and more on this in a separate post, soon. I now want to talk about another feature that I had stumbled upon.

As part of my Moto G2 phone default-settings, I had enabled backup of phone camera pictures onto Google+. I was happy to get this going, since it was a chore to perform backups with my old phone, something that I had to remember to do manually with a transfer to the laptop, once in a while. Over the past couple of months I had hardly taken any pictures on the new phone and this changed with my Backpacking trip, wherein the mobile camera came in pretty handy. I was quite happy with the quality of pictures as well since, with a combination of HDR, focus & exposure settings, many a time, the pictures had turned out better than the other Sony point-and-shoot camera I carried. 

Mid-way during the trip, I got a notification that Google+ had created a picture story. With curiosity when I opened it, I was amazed to see a neat story woven by picking the best from hundreds of pictures, stitching together the location details, sequencing them across different sizes like a scrapbook and finally making it ready to share, with a suitable title. At first look, I was quite impressed with the intelligent way all of this had been put together, with no manual intervention, to create an engaging story, that almost seemed human-created!

Delving further, I understood that this feature was launched by Google in mid-2014 and it worked by simply combining the following techniques:

1. Picking the best, refined set of pictures through algorithms, by avoiding blurred ones, repetitions and the like
2. Using the location tag if its been set, else, use the even 'cooler' algorithm to detect the location by reading the picture landmarks
3. Leveraging Google's auto-awesome feature to improve photos, create animations or video transitions from multiple picture frames, and set pictures with different shapes and orientations
4. Detecting the date & time to sequence the pictures and also build the story
5. Finally, rules to break the story into a logical number of days and picking a relevant tile (for example, my pictures over 5 days was built into 3 stories of varying duration)

It is features such as these that make me want to enable the many Google services that read my location, store my photos, sync my calendar/email and backup files - which otherwise makes me wary due to the company's growing influence & knowledge of my personal life! 

Click this picture story above, that Google created from my Bhutan trip. 

BPD: Culmination at Kolkata

(BPD: Culmination at Kolkata, 2-3 May '15)

Starting from the Bhutanese border of Phuentsholing on the 2nd May, I was headed towards Kolkata for the last leg of my journey that I had booked from Kolkata to Hyderabad, for the Sunday night. The journey from Phuentsholing to Siliguri takes about 4 hours, and its best to take the Bhutan bus that makes several scheduled trips in a day between these 2 places. Getting a little lazy to do pre-bookings and not wanting to block a time for departure, I decided to take the Indian buses and/or shared-taxis. This became yet another break journey with multiple stops and ended up taking over 6 hours on the whole. The route taken was Phuentsholing- Jaigaon- Hashimara- Birpara- Lataguri- Siliguri.

From Siliguri, I had booked a Volvo bus for the overnight journey to Kolkata. Climbing in, I was greeted at my seat in the bus by some mellowed barks and I was pleasantly surprised to find a 50-day old German Shepherd as my next seat companion! The interesting set of travel partners continued through the trip. Accompanying her was a dog-fanatic, who had just bought her at Siliguri from a dealer to add to his family of 2 other dogs, a wife and parents. He gave me a low-down of the dog breeds and how easy it is to adopt most of them and what little maintenance they can demand, from a first-timer like me.

Just as I was about to fall asleep, this last booking for a 'comfortable', event-less travel was meant to end up with some trouble. Interestingly, throughout the trip, I had absolutely no problems with any of the travel in shared modes by shared-taxi, auto, local bus and the like throughout Darjeeling, Sikkim and Bhutan. Starting with a list of issues in the Volvo bus like leaking and malfunctioning AC, a faulty battery, insensitive driver, and a bus in such a bad condition that it wouldn't start after dinner break without being pushed by the passengers! The extremely bad condition of the roads didn't help either and after long delays of over 4 hours and a mini-revolt by all the passengers, the bus finally reached Kolkata by 12 noon. Shaken and dust-gathered, I got out of the bus to the sweltering summer weather of Kolkata. Perhaps, this contrasting scenario was a gentle, yet final reminder of how well things had panned throughout my 2-week trip, for which I had to be thankful!

At Kolkata, I was getting reunited with Premjit, the buddy from college and the star of our famous Agra trip! I had a great time at his place with his family and particularly his 6-month boy, the ever-adorable Baby Bang. I was treated to a sumptuous lunch of Chelo Kababs at the famed heritage restaurant, Peter Cat at Park Street, and topped up with a masala chai at a Dhaabha nearby. Catching up with stories from the college and experiences from the company he had founded, we severely ran short of time. After the good, short stop for the evening, I got a ride to the airport to complete my return journey.

Chelo Kabab at Peter Cat (Pic source: tripadvisor)

Landing in Hyderabad, and walking towards the exit, I was welled with a range of intense emotions from the great travel experiences, amazing variety of places seen, wonderful friends made for life and the humbling learnings from the 16-day backpacking trip. I promised myself to complete writing the experiences with a picture-blog, internalize the learnings as part of my day-to-day activities and get back on the travel circuit soon! 

BPD: Back on the Indian border

(BPD: Back on the Indian border, 1 May '15)

After a good week in Bhutan, I had booked my return for the 1st of May from Paro, by bus.  I was looking at taking a day extension and visiting Punakha valley in Bhutan, another scenic place in Bhutan. However, I had put this off for the next trip and planned to get back on my 7th day in Bhutan, which was the default permit duration. Being a little more informed about the workings, I promptly 'reserved' my ticket at the Paro city bus stop a day earlier, and arrived on time at the designated hour of departure. As the bus rolled out of Paro and crossed the Paro Dzong, small & impressive Paro Airport, undulating mountains and the valleys, I bid my goodbyes, until the next time.

Meeting a varied set of interesting individuals had been happening throughout my backpack journey. Again, in the bus, I was fortuitous to meet another different individual. A man who looked to be in his forties, was actually a retired civil engineer who had worked with the UN and other agencies in a job, travelling around the world. What was interesting however, was what he did after retirement. After observing farming models in Australia, he set out to try his hand at farming, more in an attempt to put his unused land in Bhutan to some use.

Starting with a very small area cultivated with crops and fruit trees, he also bought a couple of cows and chicks to dabble with a new, full-time job as a farmer! As small successes led to excitement, coupled with his stellar entrepreneurial streak, though late in life, he had rapidly expanded in the last 2 years. He gave an interesting account of why and how he tried out different things in his farm, and how he had ended up with a large cultivated area, growing close to a dozen crops and fruits like paddy, maize, banana, pears, lychee, guava. His animal farm had also expanded into hundreds of cattle and a big layer-poultry producing milk, eggs and other dairy products that he sold in the local market. He was also using all this produce in a tourist guest house which he had also set up, to brisk business in South Bhutan and Paro!

His energy was infectious and he spoke more like a man on a mission, who had just begun and was hungry to try out a hundred more new things in his farm. He pointed to the plenty of land still left unused, as if it were another indication of the miles left to go, for him. It was amazing to hear the knowledge he had accumulated in a short span and his eagerness to learn more, in an area completely different from his life-long profession. When he also mentioned about the blueprint he had just drawn up for contract-farming of cattle and how he intends to expand, I saw a lot of similarities in him with Suguna's MD Sundararajan, who had painstakingly and ingeniously carved out a billion-dollar poultry business in India over the last 2 decades.

Deep in conversation, I didn't realise that we had spoken 6 hours and had already reached the Bhutanese border town of Phuentsholing. Bidding good bye, I proceeded back to the same hotel that I had stayed in, on my first day in Bhutan.  By now, I had made up my travel plan for the last 2 days of my trip. I was going to stay put in the border town and just chill out for a day, reading, writing and having a relaxed time, with a change of gear from the continuous travel that I'd been doing. I just reminded myself again, that it was just a vacation and this was what I felt like doing, at that hour!

6AM: Lounging at the park, Phuentsholing	Bird (is also) watching..!

BPD: Scaling the famed Tiger's Nest

(BPD: Scaling the Tiger's Nest, 30th Apr '15)

With rains lashing out the city until early afternoon on 29th April, I had walked around Paro visiting the local places that day and had planned to visit the famed 'Taktsang' monastery the next day, a Thursday. On a clear day its better to start early for the monastery, since it involves a strenuous uphill 4 hours walk and it could get either very hot midday or end up with some early showers, with the weather being unpredictable in the mountains.

Starting at 8 am, I took a shared taxi until the junction where the main road splits towards the base point of the monastery. From there, it was about 4 km to the base, which was a nice scenic, morning walk on a gradual uphill road, meandering across the river and through a small hamlet with completely timber-built houses. Considering the views along the path, I decided to not cover this bit by taxi. After an hour of walking and sneak previews of the Taktsang monastery from afar, I reached the base until which point all taxis ferry the tourists. And there were a decent number them at that hour of the morning.

The village en route to Tiger's Nest Monastery (partially visible on the cliff behind clouds)

Timber-built houses in the village	Interesting sign at a monastery, on the way

The base point has some makeshift tourist shops selling knick-knacks, apart from other minor refreshments. There are no elaborate arrangements at this place for meals or any additional facilities, hence its better to come prepared to directly start hiking from this point. Considering that the route turns out to be a tough hike for first-timers and old aged people, they have an option to use mules. However this option is only until a midpoint during the journey, and from there one must hike through some narrow pathways, that are best covered only on foot.

The route up the mountain has a well paved, wide dirt track for the horses and those preferring a gradual incline, while there is also a steep trail that saves some distance but involves steep, tiring climb. The total distance up to the monastery is about 5km or 3 hours from the base point, and at various points we saw small sets of tourists turning back as they couldn't make it up further. The heavy rains from the earlier day were partly playing spoilsport, with the path becoming wet & slippery.

Model of the water-bell setup
& actual one (Botanical garden)

While I started the climb up, I was surprised to hear some voices in Tamil, not a usual occurrence in such a faraway place. This was a businessman from Chennai who was travelling with his family on their annual vacation to this mountain Kingdom and had covered Thimphu and Punakha valley, which is rated as the next most scenic place in Bhutan, after Paro. Chatting and walking together, we crossed a place where the waterfall flowing from the top of the mountain turned into a small stream at the base. As with the standard Bhutanese architecture, they had built three domes on the stream's path, each housing a large prayer bell that gets operated and pushed around by the water flowing around a paddle that's fit at the bottom of the bell. With the continuous flow of water, the bells perpetually chime away to glory, and the simple but ingenious mechanism with the chiming sound is a sight to behold. Such water operated bells can be found throughout the country and many of these are of considerable antiquity.

Prayer bell domes at Taktsang base	..and the stream water exiting the bells

Flowering Rhododendrons

Right at the midpoint where the horses halt and bid goodbye, there is the 'Taktsang' cafe that serves tea and coffee with sugar-coated biscuits, to give a small break from the walk. The views of the monastery from this point are click-worthy. At this point, the family from Tamil Nadu decided to stay back, not wanting to risk the climb with kids and the middle-aged lady. While I moved ahead, the driver who was accompanying the family joined me, for the last leg of the journey. The final leg of the hike up from there is at almost the same altitude as that of monastery but goes around the mountains. The walk is on rock-cut steps over a series of zig-zag paths going up-down, amidst rhododendrons in full bloom and offering stunning views of the monastery, of the high waterfall and also of the steep drop down into the rolling valleys beneath. The view at several places got so beautiful that I stopped taking pictures, since I realized it was impossible for the pictures to do justice to the views unfolding! I just stood by and tried to internalize the beauty.

View at the midpoint, near Taktsang Cafe	View of Taktsang from Cafe

The more one looks at the monastery it makes one wonder how monks could have made it up here in the earlier ages, let alone complete a full-fledged construction at such an elevation, against the sheer drop of the cliff. The path to the monastery, across the mountains has been developed well for tourists and made safe with solid iron and concrete railings added. Construction of this path would have also been a tough, expensive and time-consuming affair.

Yet another shot of the cliff..	..and the stone-cut steps in the path

Reaching the monastery at 12.30 PM, we just had 30 minutes to complete the prayers before the temple closed for the hour-long lunch break. The monastery has large and majestic statues of Guru Rinpoche, also called Guru Padmasambhava in the main and assumed forms. Legend has it that the Guru flew onto this cliff on top of a winged tigress, meditated and took a ferocious form to tame the local evil spirit and turn it into a protective deity.

The Tiger's Nest Monastery, finally from up-close

Amongst the temples and butter lamp hall, we were surprised to see a small opening in the cliff labeled the 'tiger nest'. Not finding any tourists going in and unaware of the significance, we ventured into the completely dark cave that was damp and slippery with water continuously trickling into the rocks. The opening led into a cave with a steep drop of almost 2 floors inside that had to be covered by crawling down a slanted wooden panel, then on a make-shift ladder, and finally squeezing oneself to get past a huge boulder in the way. This path finally culminates in a small dark corner in the cave, that had the Guru's picture and a small lighted lamp. We learnt later that this was the place where the Guru had meditated for 3 years, 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days & 3 hours in the 8th century! Before climbing out, we tried coming out on the opposite end of a rock crevice that showed some light streaking into the otherwise dark cave. This brought us onto the edge of the cliff that was a vertical drop, and gave a clear, unobstructed view of the valley and snow-covered mountains on the other edge of the Paro city, bordering Haa.

Lunch at Champaca cafe, Paro city

After scrambling out of the 'real' tiger nest cave, we made it out of the monastery, just in time for the monastery's lunch break. After a short pause to meditate in the serene and heavenly surrounding, we were on our way back. This time, the way down was covered mostly on the steep walking path that needed a little, careful maneuvering to avoid twisted ankles. The journey down was covered in 1 hour flat, to get us back to the base point, completely exhausted but fully invigorated. Once back in Paro city, I headed straight to the Champaca cafe for a sumptuous lunch of rice with kidney beans dal and vegetable salad.

BPD: Paro, a Paradise on Earth

(BPD: Paro, a Paradise on Earth, 29 Apr '15)

Paro, is about an hour from Thimphu, at a distance of 55km and the closest city to the capital. Though a smaller town with lesser business activity than the capital Thimphu, its a much more beautiful place with pristine and natural, breathtaking landscapes. It also has the famed 'Taktshang' or Tiger's Nest monastery, that is the unofficial symbol of Bhutan for tourists, and a single look at which would make one want to visit the country.

Paro is covered on all sides by mountains, and the valley in between is a fertile land cultivated by the Paro Chhu river that runs through the length of the city. Its truly a sight to see the vast number of fields that grow paddy, wheat and a variety of other crops that give its fields several shades of green, brown and red interspersed. This city, like the rest of Bhutan is sparsely populated and only the main Paro city has a continuous line of houses, hotels and shops, which is anyway just 3 streets wide! The city has a calming influence on people and the only sound is that of the occasional plane touching down or taking off from the Paro airport, which is an equally impressive tourist sight, unlike perhaps any other airport in the world.

Arriving at Paro on the night of 28th April, I had about 2 days to spend, before I started my journey back to the border on the 1st of May, until when I had the visa. I started the day with a breakfast of Bhutanese fried rice and freshly prepared spicy pickle, amidst a heavy bout of rains. The unseasonal rains had been playing hide and seek throughout my backpacking trip, but the weather Gods had been considerate enough to not foil or majorly alter any of my plans, anywhere. I decided to spend the day visiting the Paro Dzong and the natural history museum, apart from walking around the city and possibly hiking up one of the many mountains around.

The National Museum of Bhutan is housed in the ancient and renovated Ta Dzong, which is a 7 storey tall watch tower built in the shape of a conch-shell. This structure is currently under renovation following some damages due to the 2011 Sikkim earthquake that rocked the entire Himalayan region. The museum has a good set of antique paintings apart from detailed notes and video on the traditional Masked dances of Bhutan. There are also some ancient bronze artifacts and other exhibits, dated thousands of years old, that trace the culture of Bhutan. However the highlight of the museum is the abundant information painstakingly put together on the natural history of Bhutan, its varied climatic zones, different types of forests in the country and the associated flora and fauna. There are some well preserved taxidermy exhibits of several animals and exotic birds.

View of Paro Dzong overlooking the city	Painting in the fort

The Paro 'Dzong' or fort is nearby, within walking distance of the museum and houses a massive structure with an imposing central dome that raises up 5 floors, and for quite some height above the surrounding structure. Since most 'Dzongs' are converted into regional administrative offices, there is little tourist focus and no information provided on the history or significance of the forts, which was a disappointment. Taking cue from several forts in India where sound and light shows are organised daily, it would be a great means to explain the rich cultural and historical significance of these structures.

Inside the Paro Dzong..	Ancient dustbins made of tanned animal skin!

Guided by some locals, I decided to descend the fort through the back-entrance, that is generally used only by locals commuting to this part of the city. This route offered some stunning views of the entire Paro valley, along with the mountains in the backdrop that stand out with varied shades of pine and fir trees. From the heights of the Paro Dzong, one can clearly see the pristine waters of the Paro Chhu river entering the Paro city at a distance, running through the series of paddy fields on its path towards the fort, and eventually snaking its way along the fort walls and under the ancient foot-over-bridge towards the route that eventually takes it out of the city.

River Paro Chho flowing by the fort

Rear view of the Paro Dzong..	Picture-perfect landscape.. view from fort

Descending from the fort and crossing the wooden bridge, I got onto a street that houses the art gallery with some of the best 'thangka' paintings that I had come across in Bhutan. 'Thangka' is a traditional Tibetan-Budhist painting done on cloth depicting a composition of several minute religious figures. Detailed with vivid colors it appeared to be machine printed to perfection, though in reality all paintings in display had been created over weeks and months of effort by the local artists. Stepping into a painters working room, I could see several in-progress works of thangka art and the kind of detailed sketching and preparatory work that goes into making each masterpiece, which typically takes anywhere from a couple of months to over a year.

I then walked right through the paddy fields to some more breathtaking views and passed some truly rustic homes. Reaching the other end of the valley, I decided to hike up the first visible mountain through a dirt track, which I learnt that eventually goes up to the Chele La pass, bordering the Ha valley. The mountains in the pass were now visible and exhibited fresh snow deposited from the morning's change in weather.

A walk through the paddy fields	..its lush green everywhere!

A set of rustic homes near fields	A serene place near the house

As I started hiking up, I passed some children who were getting back home up in the mountains, after their day at school. Soon there was no sign of people movement and almost an hour of hiking alone got me to an area where I was greeted with some barking by a pair of wild mountain dogs. I moved perilously past the dogs after picking up a couple of stones to scare the dogs, or rather give me some false comfort! Walking further ahead, I crossed a small village with few huts, and to some louder barking, this time by some domesticated guard dogs in the village homes. Not seeing any people movement in the village, I moved ahead, towards a small monastery that I had heard about being on this route.

After covering some distance, the pack of wild dogs were growing stronger with a couple more additions and all patiently started following me, some wagging tails and others not giving any indication of friendship, or otherwise. Feeding them with some cookies didn't seem to work with all the dogs, as the friendly ones ate them all up, making the others sulk more. There I was, walking like a pied-piper with a pack of wild dogs following me! Finally, with the monastery in sight at some distance and dusk setting in, I decided not to push my luck further and turned back on the way down. This time, I took the steep trail going down the mountain and managed to converge to the route inspite of missing the half-visible trail at several places. Back amongst some mountain homes I encountered a bunch of little enthusiastic kids who were spending their evening playing near their homes. They promptly greeted me and asked a lot of questions on my whereabouts, but also regaled with their knowledge of Hindi cartoon characters and their dialogues - Chota Bheem, Motu Patlu, Doraemon and the likes seemed to be the most popular Hindi versions that they watched!

View of paddy fields on the way back	Kids getting back from school

Coffee & pastry at Champaca cafe!

Reaching Paro main city, I checked into the Champaca Cafe, an outlet serving great coffee, good food, a warm ambiance with a mini library and free WiFi - all great ingredients to attract travellers and there they were keeping the cafe busy through the day. While in Paro I spent a lot of time lounging around this cafe drinking loads of coffee, chatting with the travelers, reading and writing.

BPD: A day in the Monk's hut!

(BPD: A day in the Monk's hut!, 28 Apr '15)

The twin monasteries of Tango-Cherri are on the outskirts of the Thimphu city and involes a 45 minutes drive from the city to the base point, from where the roads to these monasteries diverge, in either direction. The walk to each of these monasteries is a short and easy hike for about 45 minutes, and gives a very good view of the city and the agricultural fields, in the Kabisa valley around. 

I started at 9 in the morning in the hot, sunny weather. Looking for public transport in the bus stand, I was assisted by a bunch of students who had planned their trip to the monastery. It was a group of about a dozen, 10th standard students who had planned the trip on account of the national holiday on 28th April - Zhabdrung Kuchoe, which is the anniversary of Zhabdrung Rinpoche the religious leader who unified Bhutan. It is locally considered a very auspicious day and marked with celebrations at all monasteries throughout Bhutan.

While waiting at the bus stop, the students were quite entertaining, with Hindi movie dialogues and songs, showing that they were completely in tune with the happenings and who's who of Bollywood! When asked about my roots, I was surprised with their knowledge of geography as they seemed to be able to place Chennai and Tamil Nadu, a feat for school students from another country. But my hopes came crashing down when I learnt that Chennai figures in their vocabulary, thanks to 'Chennai Express', the popular Shah Rukh Khan movie! 

Waiting at bus stop with the students	On the way to Tango monastery

After a lively interaction with the kids over the bus journey, we reached the base point and decided to hike first to the Tango monastery. The word 'Tango' in Bhutanese language means 'horse head'. This name conforms to the main deity, locally called Tandin, an equivalent of the Hindu deity 'Hayagriva', deified in the monastery. After crossing an archery training field, the ascend was up through a small forest. About a kilometre of walking brought us to a place packed chock-a-block with cars parked. This was the final point for private vehicles, and it appeared that the place was getting swarmed that day with locals, who had converged to offer prayers on the 'holy-day'.

A crystal clear stream on the way	At the base point

Soft drinks & snacks as offerings for deity!

As we started the hike up the hill, the weather turned moist and started raining, taking everyone by surprise since very few were prepared with umbrellas for shelter. As people scrambled for cover, I noticed that almost all the people carried plastic bags filled with chips, coke and other snacks. Upon enquiring, I was surprised to find that this was the standard offering to deities in Bhutan, apart from the butter for lamps. In all monasteries, one can find podiums before the God stacked with such snack items and they are offered back to devotees, along with the holy water, an Indian equivalent of the 'prasad'!

This short hike to the Tango monastery looked quite like the walk up to Vaishno Devi shrine from Katra, in Jammu. Hordes of people walking up and down the zig-zag moving roads amidst several stalls selling snacks (mostly momos), while along the way one can also find heaps of stones arranged to form mini, multi-storey structures, perhaps for good luck, here as well! I then reached a fork point in the road that split it into 2 opposite paths. Looking for help, I approached a lady nearby who was visiting the monastery with her sister and nephew. Getting the right directions, we continued walking along, talking about the offering of fast-food items to the deity, mode of prayers, significance of the day, and also eventually on the philosophy of Buddhism.

Buddhist inscriptions on a rock	An eco-friendly resting spot!

Shortly thereafter, we reached the monastery to a warm reception by the monks, and were served hot tea with rice grain crackers, another common custom in Bhutan. Just when I was about to take leave of the family, one of the monks who was their acquaintance, approached and invited me as well to his meditation hut. Puzzled and unsure, I accepted and walked around to a hill nearby that housed a set of small huts, where the monks lived. Stepping into the wooden hut, we found a humble and peaceful room with a series of religious pictures adorning every inch of the walls. There were three small cots for the 3 monks who lived within the single room, while there were small desks with several books on Buddhism, apart from ancient scrolls and scriptures. The single window present was overlooking the forest and had a view of the valley beneath. This was the place where the monks lived for 4 years as part of their higher education in the Tango University of Buddhism, considered to be one of the oldest and best centers of learning for monks in Bhutan. I learned about the system of education for monks and the rigorous classroom and field training that they were put through, before they got a chance to serve as priests in the high monasteries.

Tango Monastery, that also houses the university	The family I met on the way

With the Tango monastery in the backdrop	At the Monk's meditation hut

The humility of the monks bowled me over, when they took every chance to serve us, while in their hut. They cooked us a meal of red rice with potato sauce and topped it with some more tea and rice crispies. We had a sumptuous lunch amidst conversations, while the rain lashed out with a heavy downpour outside. As the rain subsided, we took the blessings of the monk, along with some small medicinal pellets that he offered. We proceeded back to the monastery, where the same monk took the pains to take us to the other places of worship within the monastery. Amongst the places that tourists generally give a miss, there was a detour around the main temple that leads to a steep climb up a cave, through 3 floors of narrow wooden stairs. This brought us to the place where Ngawang Namgyal, the unifier of Bhutan had meditated and performed tantric rituals, and hence considered a very holy site. There were several openings in the caves with artifacts hundreds of years old, the stories of which were patiently translated to me from the monk's native Dzongka language, by the family.

Rear view of the Tango Monastery, with path towards ancient caves

On way back..Guess this picture's orientation!

With the rain showers pausing on our way down, we had to navigate the wet and slippery route down from the monastery. The family's 4 year old kid was now half asleep from the tiring walk during the day, and needed some carrying to be brought down. With a 20 minute walk, over some rhymes and kid-talk, he fell asleep and we safely reached the base. After getting dropped back to the hotel, I bid goodbye to the family and started on my way to Paro, which was the next destination. A chance meeting with the family had turned them into a good acquaintance, and by the evening when we finished visiting the monastery, they felt like part of the family.

BPD: Thimphu, the Capital city

(BPD: Thimphu, the Capital city, 27 Apr '15)

The concept of home-stay is not prevalent in Bhutan and one must plan accommodation in hotels. However, while talking to people, I've heard about and also met enterprising people who are venturing into this area, though the places are not yet advertised online, and are let out only to acquaintances. I stayed in a hotel in the main city in Thimphu, wherein I ran into a couple visiting the country from Meghalaya, Assam. The husband had setup his own business in the area of enterprise software security, while his wife was with the Indian Railways.

Kid at the monastery

Joining them, I went around Thimphu visiting the places of interest. The most noteworthy one is the Changangkha Lhakhang, a 900-year old monastery, that is right in the heart of Thimphu. This is a very popular monastery with the locals and acts as the virtual birth registry, as all newborns are mandatorily brought here first, to be named and blessed. The place has ancient paintings on temple walls, and small carvings of religious figures on stone slates, that are placed behind the prayer wheels, all around the temple.

The Changangkha Lhakhang monastery	..birds at the Memorial Chorten

'Buddha point' is an under-construction, mammoth statue of Buddha measuring over 50 meters and slated to be the tallest Buddha statue in the world. The statue has a majestic presence over the city and at the angle its been built, is clearly visible from all parts of the city. The only attraction (and feature) in the Thimphu zoo is Bhutan's national animal, the Takin. I ended up visiting the botanical garden at the insistence of the couple, but it turned out to be a good find, with its collection of ornamental plants and some very exotic flowers. The garden has a very aesthetic architecture, with several click-worthy spots and is very well maintained. We were taken an order of Maggi Noodles in the garden canteen, and ended up being served the Koka thukpa, a soupy noodle prepared using the Koka ready-to-cook noodle, which is the staple and most famous noodle from Singapore, that is consumed in all of Bhutan!

The majestic Buddha point

Takin, Bhutan's national animal	Royal Botannical Garden

There are only a limited number of tourist spots in Thimphu, and these can be easily covered in under 4 hours, leaving one with enough time to explore the city, that is sparsely populated and spread-out length-wise from north to south. The twin monasteries of Tango and Cherri are in the city outskirts, worth visiting and are important religious places of worship with a long history. After exploring Thimphu on foot on the first day, I was contemplating on doing a solo hike in one of the many mountains around the city. Looking up for inspirations, I came across this book compiled by Rogier Gruys, which seemed quite detailed with a combination of short and long hikes, apty titled 'Mild and Mad Day Hikes around Thimphu'. After much deliberation, I was more inclined to hike up to the twin monasteries, a route also mentioned in the book, with an option to extend the trek higher into the mountain ranges for few more hours, beyond the Tango monastery. 

A view of one of the districts of Thimphu City