Breakfast of stuffed paratha (ate little as squitty)…
We had a room with a view…this view… at the Druk Hotel
…then set off on trip to Tango monastery. Saw Queen Mother’s house, Royal Guards Training Centre and villages along the way.
Pema told us that the climb to Cheri might take 2 1/2 hours – in fact we did it in just over one hour including no rest. He must have thought that we were really feeble.
Back in the day, I could tie my own shoelaces and walk quickly up and down hills
So were we visiting Tango or were we visiting Cheri? It’s so unclear from my notes. But it turns out, the monastery we visited is known as Tango Cheri. Sounds like a soft drink that wouldn’t appeal to my taste, but let’s leave that aspect to one side.
Tango is truly beautiful although we were only permitted to see outside the buildings as a venerable visitor was about to leave.
Our bonus was to walk down with and befriend the farewell party.
Yaks at Dodina – the foot of the Tango Cheri trail
Back to Thimpu for lunch at [Hotel] 89 – tried Momos and other stuff (did Ged eat too much?). On to visit takins in semi captivity. (Ged felt strange affinity with them).
Frankly, the resemblance is uncanny
Back to hotel for squits and short meeting with Pema’s boss. Spent evening squitting and reading.
All the pictures from this day can be found in the following Flickr album – Nos 62 to 92:
First stop, Memorial Chorten – stupa with pretty prayer wheels – walked around and couldn’t go in.
“Walked around but couldn’t go in” was a recurring theme when we toured Bhutan at that time. Given the high level of per capita per diem tax that we tourists had to pay to visit Bhutan at that time, it seemed a little churlish also to deny those visitors access to the very things they might have gone there to see.
Some places were less restrictive than others and I recall Pema blagging us in to one or two places where we thought we were going to be denied entry. For example:
Second stop Changangkha Lhakhang Monastery (not usually available to the public), where the monks chanted and let us look around
Then on to the indigenous hospital, where we had an audience with the registrar of the hospital. We had a look around the grounds…
…then onto painting school – sculptures, carvings, thangkas…
…and then on to library – being renovated.
Ian & Pema check out the library
The post office, then lunch at Pema’s house. Chime cooked us dried pork, phasha ba, potatoes & cheese, and red rice. We also tried salt butter tea (no ta!) and Arra [Bhutanese rice wine] (OK).
Butter tea has never worked for me, wherever I have tried it. Rice wine concoctions, on the other hand…
It was an unusual but not unique experience for us to receive generous hospitality in the homes of our guides while on our travels. Visiting Abdel & his family in Aleppo three years earlier springs to mind…
But one aspect of our home visit to Pema’s house was especially memorable. In Bhutanese culture, visiting friends homes for meals is relatively common, but the custom is to leave immediately after eating the last mouthful of food. We were aware of that. Indeed, Pema had told us about that.
As we ate our last mouthful, I said to Pema, “shouldn’t we now go?”, to which Pema said, “oh no, we follow Western customs in our house. Stay and try some arra”, which we did.
The expression on Chime’s face, however, suggested that she was a little discombobulated by this more western custom:
Chime (thinks): “Why haven’t they gone yet?”
The other lesson I learnt that day, and have learnt over again on the several but rare occasions that I have taken alcohol during the day…is, in my case, don’t!
Don’t fall over!
One final point about Pema’s house and Bhutanese cultural mores. It is traditional for homes to be emblazoned with particular images. Pema’s house was no exception, which Janie ensured she captured for posterity in this photo:
Last I heard from Pema about the baby in the picture – he was in Australia doing a masters degree!
…then saw the King [while we were] on a short photo stop! Then home – out again shopping (got some mats and toego jacket this time). Special order supper of pork, chicken, beans in cheese and red rice.
Red rice really is “the thing” in Bhutan. It is said to have the highest nutritional value of all rice species. Don’t all rush out and buy some at once, readers.
All of the photos from this day are contained in the following Flickr album – Nos 33 to 61:
Crack of dawn start – brought toast and bacon to our room – off at 5:30 for airport. After excess baggage debacle, said goodbye temporarily to Delhi and flew off to Paro via Kathmandu.
A neurotic American woman got off at Kathmandu and then returned flustered and apologetic. She turned out to be the tour guide from American group!
Bhutan’s sole airport
Drove from Paro to Thimpu – not an especially spectacular drive. We were driven by our guide Pema, as our driver is ill.
Pema Gyalpo was a wonderful guide for our week in Bhutan. I have a feeling he ended up being our driver and guide throughout the week. We’re still in touch, 25 years later (as I write) and I’ll write more on him as the story of our journey unfolds.
Had lunch at Plums (pork, noodles, potato cheese, rice) then checked into hotel before heading off to shops.
Farce at handicraft emporium where our chosen goods got lost between the ticketing and the payment booth!
Found a small shop with a wacky lady, Tsering Dolkar, who will hopefully make Janie a Toego.
Back to hotel for rest, supper and early night.
The re are other pictures from this day, within the Flickr album below – Nos 21 to 32:
Delhi Imperial Hotel – with doormen, our guide Harmahindra Singh and driver Gurcharin Singh
We didn’t hang around in those days – our itineraries were not for the faint-hearted. We landed at midday, dropped our bags and did a quick change at the Delhi Imperial, then went out touring for the afternoon. That was our Delhi slot and by gosh we filled it.
Arrived on time (early). Picked up by Harmahindra Singh and Gurcharin Singh. Did a quick change and then went off touring with them.
Went to see sites – New Delhi including presidents house, India Gate and Parliament House. Old Delhi (through Lahore Gate) to see Jamamasjid Mosque, Red Fort & bazaars in Old Delhi. Tried but found nothing to buy.
Back to hotel for wash/rest and then mild Indian meal of Tikka and kebabs and daal and rice. Early night.
If you want to see all the pictures from this day, they are on the following Flickr album – Nos 1 to 20 – just click the pic.
We had a fascinating set of adventures in Asia that spring. The good news is that we have a plethora of photographs and a pretty detailed travel journal from which to construct these Ogblog pieces.
The not such good news is that I seem to have mislaid my Steppes East Itinerary for this trip. Mind you, the itinerary would be uninformative for much of the Bhutan leg of the trip, as we ended up staying in different places than those originally listed in all locations, other than in Thimphu, where we stayed at the Druk Hotel as planned. The journal and stories that follow will explain.
Update: Itinerary Rediscovered…
I found it, misplaced, at the flat. I have scanned the document. Here is a link to it.
…And Now, Back To The Story
I recorded very little about the outbound travel day:
Rose early to pack and prepare to leave. Put car in for service and bought a feast of raw fish for our lunch. Event free journey.
It seems most strange that I took Nobby in for service on the day we were leaving. I can only surmise that Mac Small, the lovely manager at Ruislip Honda who used to look after us so nicely, agreed to give Nobby forecourt space for the duration of our holiday. Perhaps they thought he was so beautiful that he would attract interest and therefore act as an advertising model of their showroom.
Also a slightly unusual choice of food ahead of a long journey, but perhaps we had a crazy craving for some sashimi and surmised, quite rightly, that such dining would be denied us on our trip to (mostly landlocked) Asian countries.
We would have bought the fish from Atari-Ya in West Acton – then not too far from Janie’s place and now (25 years later) just a three minute walk from our Noddyland residence.
In those days, the owner, Mr Sakai, would no doubt have served us our sashimi himself.
Pictures from the whole journey are on Flickr in four albums. If you just want to ogle pictures and read picture captions, they might be all you need, rather than the several Ogblog articles that will follow. Each of the images below is a Flickr album link.
This was the first of two Krapps that Janie and I had in the early part of the century, as it were. The second was Harold Pinter’s Krapp at The Royal Court, which I shall Ogblog in the fullness of time.
I really liked this one, John Hurt’s, while marginally preferring the Pinter. Janie only got on with Harold’s Krapp.
This one included the mime show intro, whereas Harold’s didn’t. I expect it was the mime show and banana business that put Janie off a bit.
I had long rated John Hurt as an actor and felt he did justice to this difficult part…and that it did justice to him.
The critics got very excited at the idea of John Hurt bringing his acclaimed Gate Theatre Dublin performance of Krapp to London. Here’s Maureen Paton in The Telegraph a couple of weeks before the show landed in London:
Actually, we got wind of this production late and ended up booking seats for the very last night of the run, in order to score decent ones. Janie’s diary note reads “Row C – four rows back”.
Here is Patrick Marmion’s review from The Standard:
…and were very keen to see Conor McPherson’s next one.
Further, as members who had been loyal through the years of “exile” while The Royal Court was being redone, we were invited that Friday afternoon to a “guided tour” of the revamped building. Janie and I were both motivated to take a Friday afternoon off work and “go see” before the show.
It was on that tour that Janie and I spotted the little nook seat in a recess of the stairway just before you get to the upstairs bar…latterly the library. We took a shine to that nook and for many years took great pleasure in having a pre-show or interval drink in there.
As for Dublin Carol, we really liked it and it cemented our view that Conor McPherson was a writer to watch. It didn’t quite pack the punch of The Weir, but that play was always going to be a tough act to follow.
Brian Cox played the lead in Dublin Carol, with great charisma. Andrew Scott, & Bronagh Gallagher were also excellent in support. Ian Rickson directed.
I’m not sure what the critics made of it at the time…let’s find out.
I’d forgotten this bit, but because of delays to the finishing of The Royal Court, Dublin Carol previewed at The Old Vic for a while. Susannah Clapp reviewed it, with great enthusiasm, there…
But most of the subsequent reviews seemed to want to talk about the grand opening of the newly refurbished Royal Court than the play/production that graced it, doing McPherson, Cox et. al. no favours. Please note, the grand opening was two or three weeks before the hoi polloi tour that we enjoyed in March.
This production was credited as “Donmar Warehouse at the Albery” and everything about it was Donmar Warehouse, but playing away from home. This production had received glowing reviews and awards the year before at the Donmar. We missed out then but were not about to miss out on it now.
Excellent cast, Nigel Lindsay, Sarah Woodward, Stephen Dillane & Jennifer Ehle leading, with David Leveaux directing.
Our “Donmar Warehouse at The Albery” experience was a more relaxing evening and a very fine production. Janie doesn’t really warm to Stoppard, but she did warm to this one.
I won’t overdo the reviews, as they are from the original production 9 months earlier, but here’s just a couple of examples of the raving – the first from our friend Michael Billington in The Guardian…
I think Janie must have sourced these tickets, because her diary notes that we’ll be sitting in the fifth row. Great diary detail, 25 years on, that one.
A delicious concert of baroque, mostly sacred, music at The Wig. We had thrown ourselves into the baroque season that year, venturing even on a Wednesday evening, which was usually off limits in our busy lives back then. I recall that the effort was well worth it.
We heard:
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer – Sonata no 8 in G
Sebastian Knüpfer – Wenn Mein Stundlein Vorhanden Ist
Johann Sebastian Bach – Mass in G Minor, BWV 235
Johann Sebastian Bach – Mass in G Major, BWV 236
Georg Muffat – Sonata ‘a cinque’ in D
Johann Kuhnau – Tristis Est Anima Mea
Back then, The King’s Consort was a bit of an “all stars” affair in the early music world, with Carolyn Sampson, Rebecca Outram, Charles Daniels and Andrew Carwood, to name but four, all appearing under Robert King’s banner.
Some unusual pieces in there too. Let’s see if I can dig out some tasty samples. Here’s a sweet performance of the Schmelzer by Ensemble Masques
The Knüpfer was part of The King’s Consort’s recording projects around that time. Here is their recording:
The first of the Bach Masses at the centre of this concert, BWV 235, has been beautifully recorded live by the Netherlands Bach Society.
Here is Herreweghe’s version of the Kyrie from the Bach Mass BWV 236. You can load and click through for the whole of this mass if you wish:
The King’s Consort had also recently recorded the Kuhnau a couple of years before this concert. Here is their beautiful recording.
For a brief while, that little theatre in Chelsea, near World’s End, was one of our favourite fringe places. Janie and I rated this piece as:
Very good.
Small scale and domestic – that tiny theatre didn’t lend itself to scale works, this one, like the other plays we saw there during that period, held our attention, entertained us and made us think.
Not much in the way of formal reviews to be found, but here goes. Rachel Halliburton in the Independent was sufficiently convinced to write it up briefly:
