It was effing cold last night! Our homestay rooms aren’t heated but did have cosy blankets – it was a sprint from the warm bed to the warm living room where breakfast is served. Today: scrambled eggs, pancakes, red rice, chilli. A circuit ride around the valley is on today’s itinerary – on horrendous rocky…

Just when you thought you had seen the most amazing thing ever, Punakha Dzong. Beautifully situated at the confluence of two rivers, Pho Chu and Mo Chu, it served as the capital and administrative centre until 1955. We left the Dzong and headed along the valley and up towards the heavens, this time to Pele…

Traffic was at a stand still still as we headed out of town today but Karma asked the police if we could ride through the lane closed to cars that ran past the stadium where the peace prayers were taking place. The stadium was at a lower elevation and open to the street. This afforded…

Food has been good here so far – definitely catered to western tastes. Buffet includes rice, chicken dish, beef of pork dish, lots of veggies (cooked to perfection) then some odd dishes at each meal such as little battered fish pieces & chips or spaghetti noodles with veg. There is inevitably their national dish lurking…

Spectacular ride today along the Paro and Thimphu rivers. As part of the Global Peace Prayer Festival 2025, the route from the country’s only international airport in Paro to the capital Thimphu was lined with prayer flags. If I were riding alone I never would have gotten to Thimphu with all the photo ops! The…

Unsurprisingly, I feel more at home in the chaos of Kathmandu than the in the luxury of an oil rich Gulf State. The chaos falls somewhere above Indonesia (more dense) but below India (no cows, so far.) In spite of this, the traffic flows – people seem to show much more consideration for each other…

Just in case you were wondering how to write “Tim Horton’s” in Arabic… I tried unsuccessfully last night to get my freebie hotel room changed to the in-terminal hotel. I was hoping of scoring some extra sleep time instead, I got private fancy-van transfer into town. The route was lined with every western fast food…

In my nerdy childhood I collected stamps. I was always intrigued by my Bhutan foil and space exploration lenticular stamps. When I learned that this tiny Himalayan country was closed to outsiders, had no TV and valued Gross National Happiness over GDP, I became even more intrigued and vowed to go there someday…that day is…