and the vicious cycle brings me back

Hey, all.... and here I find myself here on this page.... never knew I was still logged onto Blogger since I do all my blogging on Google+. Still great to see fellow bloggers and those who wish to travel to Bhutan to go on some cultural tours or be a part of some Bhutanese Buddhist festivals or maybe even slog the Himalayan treks. Anyway, just to let all interested know, I'm still live and kicking at www.bhutanrebirth.com ;)

See ya there sometime.

Keshav

You Have Moved? Where? Why didn't you tell me? I would have helped!! Honestly!! Only that my car broke down that day... ... ...

Main Blog @ Google+

Main Website @ Bhutan Travel Tour Trek Vacation Packages

Main Street in Thimphu @ Norzin Lam

As I went thru a CN Travel article- "Bhutan or Bust"| this I write I thought I must...|

and see where this time www.bhutanrebirth.com strayed into (the article)

Ok, first of all only now did I notice that it isn't CNN but Conde Nast Travel. Great article though by a Adam Platt.

What made me do a double take (in slow motion) was the following excerpt:

[While on Druk Air, the stewardess handed out] Kuensel, which carried the story of a woman who’d been hung in a not too remote part of the country by villagers who suspected her of being a witch. (Maybe not everyone is happy.)  

I would like to say that it is not possible for 2 main reasons:

1: Lynching in public does not happen in Bhutan, not only uncommon but never takes place

2. Being a witch may not necessarily be a totally bad thing. There are people (openly known people) who can 'kill' through prayers, sort of witch-doctors, women suspected of being witches but not in a bad way, in sort of gossips around villages, love potions... you know. The Bhutan government took steps to ban such practices especially during archery matches when a Tsip or witch doctor was also one of the team, his main target the opponent archers ;). Lots of cases of people dying through such cases, well, attributed to such cases.

That's what caught my eye, oh and the fact that the Dell founder was hopping around Bhutan in his own helicopter. Didn't know that was permitted, even entering Bhutan in their own plane (once there was an Arab Sheikh (related to the Dell founder by money) who wanted to do that but wasn't allowed was what I had heard).

Rest great article, well observed.

Cheerio,

Keshav-http://www.bhutanrebirth.com/

write with comments to bhutanrebirth@gmail.com.

13 May 2013: A day of 2 incidents of Ladies and Alcohol... ;)

13 May, Thimphu outskirts: Group of ladies spilled a huge jerkin of local rice wine down the steps outside my parents' apartment. Immediately looked outside and the first lady was drenched in the alcohol. I think the first lady (not Mrs. Obama) dived to save her ara? The stairway is still smelling of the stuff ;)

13 May evening, Heart of Thimphu: Stood and watched outside a shop as 2 ladies got hold of a carpenter who sat down with his tools to open a bottle of red wine. Just watched as the carpenter used various tools to attack the cork while anticipation grew with the 2 ladies. Red, red, wine....

- yet another day goes by with Travel Vacation Packages to Bhutan 

Getting into Bhutan (or leaving)...

Today I wish to talk about, well, the topic up there...

Entering Bhutan is interesting (avoiding the Himalayan peaks for a start. Spotting a Yeti hiding. The last one could be hallucination. But then again, is it?). You most likely have to fly in with the Royal Bhutanese Airlines, Druk Air either from Bangkok, New Delhi, Calcutta, Kathmandu, Dhaka and (off and on) Bodhgaya, Rangoon, Singapore and Bombay. The first four are the reliable ones. The flight is interesting if your interests include roller coasters and similar thrills. I don't mean up and down- I remember once when I was a passenger this lady from somewhere abroad actually let out a scream while the plane was circling to land at Paro, our only international airport. But let me not get sidetracked.

Most tourists enter and depart from Paro, one hour from Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. However, some tourists include Sikkim and Darjeeling in India in their itinerary.  They have the option of going (or coming) by road from Phuentsholing in the south (5 hours from both Paro or Thimphu, the capital). There's also another gateway in the east in Samdrup Jongkhar where you can exit (or enter) from Gauhati in Assam.

These here then are the comings and goings into and out of the tiny Kingdom of Bhutan... can I mention here details of everything (everything about Bhutan, well, traveling to Bhutan) can be found (that is, if you click there) at http://www.bhutanrebirth.com. Go for it, nothing to lose, let us welcome you to the website at least... it's not that bad, I promise....worth some clicks... ;)

- Keshav (Bhutan Rebirth Tours & Treks), and no, that's not my surname, hence the brackets

Thimphu Tsechu, Festival in the Capital of Bhutan on from 9-13 September 2013

Thimphu Tsechu, one of the most popular Tsechus (festivals) is on from 9th - 13th September, 2013. The Thimphu Tsechu at the capital of Bhutan is a great time to catch the local culture, religious pageantry and to mix with the Bhutanese at their most fun. Package Cost: US$ 2250 per person. Visit

 http://www.bhutanrebirth.com/Pages/holidays/festival_thimphu_tsechu.htm

Ancient Festival disrupted by Modern Democracy

28 April, Bumthang: Ura Yakchoe festival in Ura, Bumthang for the first time in known history was stopped because of the National Council Elections!! Involving wine (singchang) tasting and drinking, the Election officials made the locals postpone the festival as arriving having alcohol to vote is not allowed. However, after the election and resumption of  the festival the election officials attended the festivities as a 'token of good appreciation' for abiding by the election norms. Now what can one say about this? Old traditions hampered by democracy? Or just necessary side effects of modernisation...

NC losers, going to try becoming MP winners

Ok, the Bhutan Upper House (National Council) Elections are over and in a month or so is the main National Assembly elections for Member of Parliament. Now, apparently the (apolitical) ones who lost the National Council elections are allowed to take part in the (very political) MP elections if they can wrangle a ticket. Is this normal? Does this happen in other parts of the world? I wonder...

Bhutan- the Himalayan Kingdom: Shabdrung Kuchoe

Bhutan- the Himalayan Kingdm: Shabdrung Kuchoe: 20 April 201, Thimphu: The Bhutanese today observed Shabdrung Kuchoe commemorating the passing of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, the Unifier o...

Shabdrung Kuchoe

20 April 201, Thimphu: The Bhutanese today observed Shabdrung Kuchoe commemorating the passing of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, the Unifier of Bhutan, in 1651 CE. On this Death Anniversary of Shabdrung, this year falling on a weekend, so holiday goodbye :( devotees go to temples to pray and circumambulate the chortens for blessings and spiritual peace... Today evening I visited the Jigme Dorji Wangchuck Memorial Chorten in Thimphu and just happened to shoot this brief footage on the evening of  Shabdrung Kuchoe and put it online at www.BhutanRebirth.com...

Bhutan's Second General Elections- to go or not to go...

Ok..the newly democratic country of Bhutan is now about to have the 2nd General Elections. Tuesday is the National Council Elections. So, first people have to see the candidates debate and hear them answer questions asked by the electorate. Just to show you how things are going... day before yesterday, in one of the big districts in the east- Samdrup Jongkhar, all the three candidates had to do was stare at each other while no one, zero number of people turned up. Is that indifference or ignorance of the democratic process?

I myself will not be bothering to vote this time. A huge number of other Bhutanese will also not be voting for various reasons ranging from "own village too far to go to vote" to "couldn't be bothered"...

This is just the way the story goes....

Just an observation from http://www.bhutanrebirth.com/

Hello from Bhutan

Hi all in Blogger Land. This is Keshav Raj Gurung. It's my first time ever blogging though I have seen a few blogs before. Along with my partners I have a travel agency in Thimphu, yup-that is the capital, if it was up to me maybe I could have jazzed up the name, like the City of Diamonds or something along those lines.

Well, tomorrow is the Bhutanese New Year. I think the Chinese had theirs yesterday. Ours should be together with the Tibetans. Don't know who's wrong and who's right but guess it'll just be same sh*t, different year. Those Mayans really let us down...

I'm just scribbling along, if you can call the punching of these keys scribbling. And speaking of keys, why are they called keys?? Just coz a piano's thingys are called keys too? So where are the locks is the question that automatically pops in my mind.

Anyway, I guess I got to promote my site as well...that's how I landed up here... one link leading to another and so on....God knows where the first page I started from is...well, my page for tourists is (www.TouristBhutan.com)... if you are interested in coming to the Himalayas and having tea with the yeti visit this site. Actually, yetis are probably a bit out of the question, they are too shy- you got to know them for a while before they open up... but they do have plaster casts made from the yetis' footprints at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests but only the yeti knows if it is for real, may a guy with gout went stomping around the snow.... and oh, the Royal Government's policy for tourists is US$ 250 per tourist per day (US$200 off season when the yeti hibernates). That's their policy to dissuade backpackers and the like and before you forget, I'm no Government so not my rule.... and they enforce a commission of US$25 per tourist per day to the partner abroad, like you, is what I'm offering to you if you would like to be partners who send tourists to Bhutan....with us ;-). You can access the website through www.BhutanRebirth.com.bt/start.htm also.

Hey, if this is blogging and I can just let my thoughts flow and my 2 index fingers do the talking it is quite good fun, this sharing, like an AA meeting, in fact,....only, just remember to clap when I'm done...

and that's it... see ya another time...

Keshav.