This entry is for Monday, June 1.

Since we leave Bhutan today I figured I would write my traditional “Final Thoughts” just on this portion of the trip. We aren’t walking this morning so seems like a good use of time.

1. The blend of governance and spirituality was fascinating and refreshing. It’s also interesting how obvious it is – with stupas and prayer flags Everywhere – and yet it doesn’t seem oppressive. I guess when your religion is based on compassion, kindness, and detachment, people tend to be happier in general, and we experienced that with the locals for sure.
2. Learning more about Buddhism was interesting. I’m very anti organized religion and have always thought if I had to pick one it would be this one. It’s more philosophy than dogma and everything always comes back to compassion and kindness. It’s hard not to get behind that.
3. There’s not the wealth inequity we have at home and other places. The focus on National Gross Happiness doesn’t allow it. Everyone is provided with a basic standard of living. We saw not a single homeless person the entire trip. That said, opportunities to do really well are limited and younger people are starting to leave.
4. Given hydroelectricity is their biggest industry, it’s not surprising that there are lots of electric vehicles. Even the police cars in Thimphu are electric.
5. I couldn’t believe how Dorji had cell phone access everywhere we went. 10k feet in the middle of nowhere? No problem.
6. I was very surprised how predominant English is. They’ve been teaching it in schools since the 80s. All the road and store signs are in English. We encountered very few people that didn’t speak it and that was mostly in the rural areas.
7. Bathrooms weren’t nearly as different as others prepped me for. Yes, occasionally you would find the very Asian version where you are squatting but that was actually the exception. Here’s the odd thing I noticed though: there was usually soap and water to wash your hands, but more than 50% of the time – maybe more – there wasn’t a way to dry them. Sometimes there was a literal towel, and maybe I saw a hand dryer once. But more often than not you were walking out with wet hands. Strange.
8. And finally, this trip was the first time I can recall experiencing the style of plug shown below. Our hotel in India had them and 3 of the 5 we stayed at in Bhutan did, too. We brought adapters but only needed them in two places because of this smart design.

I took this last night of the fortress all lit up as we were going back to the hotel from the restaurant. Seems like a fitting last photo of Bhutan.

It’s 6am now. Will pack, go down for breakfast at 6:30, then Phurpa is taking us to the airport at 7:30 for our 9:40 flight to Delhi.

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We landed about Noon and made it to our hotel about 1:30pm. Not bad considering immigration, bags, getting and Uber, and traffic in the 2nd largest (by population) city in the world.

We are staying at Le Meridien, a 5 star hotel in the Marriott lineup. Ash used points to get us 3 nights free; his status earned a free upgrade to a suite. Also club lounge access and breakfast included. No cost to us. Keep that in mind as you see the next few photos.

The lobby. Ash is on the left at the Marriott Bonvoy desk hooking us up.

Living room. They later brought us snacks and a bowl of fruit.

Coffee bar with fresh flowers.

Bedroom. Ash is very excited about this.

Bathroom…

…with a window that looks into the bedroom.

And a half bath off the entrance.

We had already decided we wanted to get manicures and pedicures in Delhi and they were available here. Reasonable prices and they could take us now. So off we went.

We are on the 11th floor. Salon, spa, gym are on the 4th floor. Vertigo kicked in just looking down here.

It was a full service salon, with separate areas for women and men. There were 5 barber chairs to the left of this and 3 of them had guys in them. Busy place. You don’t have to be a guest to use it. These guys have been working here 25+ years.

We each got a manicure and a pedicure. With a generous tip, total cost was $80.

We hadn’t had lunch yet so went to the lounge for snacks about 3:20pm.

Little quiches, some chicken that tasted just like tandoori and was wonderful, a daal like item with a potato cake filled with peas and spices.

After we went for a walk and did some shopping.

The first area we hit is known as Janpath market. Janpath means “for the common people” per Ash. The next several photos are of that area.

It was called “Bryan’s”. Cracked me up.

Ash eating Indian guava from a guy on the street.

We bought a table runner and 12 matching placemats. This is an area where Ash excels: haggling. She wanted 4200 rupees. He got her down to 2500. So about $25. They literally yelled after us once we walked away and were a few stalls down already when she agreed to his price.

Burger King. We also saw McDonald’s, Domino’s, Subway, Starbucks. None of that in Bhutan.

Still Janpath just now out on the street.

Next was an area called Emporium. This is state supported shopping, each state of India – there are 29 of them – has a shop here selling good special to that area. And my kind of shopping: AC and no haggling – the price is the price.

We bought another pillow case here since we don’t have one from India.

White napkins from here. Same store below.

With a cool name: Kamala.

Greeted by monkeys when we walked out.

This was Ash’s agenda on this walk.

He has been talking about this elephant carved from sandalwood for months. He first saw one like the big one in 2012. Long story short: we got the small one.

This is a Sikh temple known as Gurdwara Bangla Sahib. It has a lot of significance in that religion, and a global reputation for charity, equality, and selfless service. There’s a covered area we walked by where anyone can sleep and hang out all day do they want, and they will be fed.

Street food.

One of the things I couldn’t get over was how green everything was. This and the next few shots are just about that. I just wasn’t expecting such lushness.

We got back to the hotel a little after 6:30pm.

We were both exhausted so opted for the snacks in the lounge. Those 2 fried things on the right was paneer. So fried cheese if you’re not familiar. Wow. Maybe the best thing I’ve eaten on this trip. Sometimes it’s the simple things, right?

The hotel has a steam room so I’m going to take advantage of that once I post this.

We have hired an Uber for the day tomorrow to go to Agra to see the Taj Mahal.