DAY 15
After Koina, we reached the campsite we were supposed to go to the previous night. It was all the way up. I was glad we didn't do it the previous day. We had an early start and reached the camp 3.5 hours later. Had a good breakfast after.
We kept descending going towards Gasa. Somewhere I tried washing my face...in a waterfall and caught an eye infection. Ok, thank you! I looked a mess again with some gooey coming out of my eye all the time and my eye was red. I think I put some medicine...nothing helped. It finally went away on its own by the next day.
My general state of mind was ruffled with the happenings of the previous day. I'm sure it was the same for everyone. We were okay but also not...something like that. When I reached Gasa, I turned my phone on. And from the messages I gathered that my dad wasn't going to be available in India for his 70th birthday. I had requested for a change in the entire trek schedule (which happened) so that we could coordinate the dates. What fun, I thought. :)
At the final camp site, the trek organizer had got us a lot of goodies...beer, cool drinks, cookies...I can't remember what I ate but basically, I couldn't consume much. The trek and our life there seemed better, nicer. I was feeling very strange being back.
The next morning I called Patta...asking if I could stay at his place and Ahaan and Suzette would come there a day later in Hyderabad...if he wanted to hangout etc. This was the alternate plan to Nana's birthday hangout. So he said yes and that was the plan. (The Hyderabad trip ended up being great fun with Kody and family also joining...Neelu sent me to some closeby expensive hotel for massage...I took a few days to be physically normal).
The dinner was strange. Everyone was there but there were disconnects. But we ate, we spoke, we joked.
DAY 16
The drive to Thimphu was maha fun. Different people took turns being the DJ. We went to see the Punakha dzong on the way. There were these purple flowers...beautiful trees...purple flowers all on the ground, monks sitting chatting, praying, joking. Divya said those were jacaranda trees. I liked the drive. We bought lot of junk food. We bought stuff on the highway...like that red-chillies paste with corn...I loved it. We finally reached Druk hotel. There was TV...I like to watch mindless TV after treks...I watch it without knowing what am watching...just staring into the TV. In some odd way, it helps me reconcile with the reality...to accept that the trek is over and we are in the city...something like that. I remember drawing too. It's what I happily do when I want to do nothing.
That night we had a great time at dinner...wine, gossip and stuff. The hotel manager came up to Mayur and asked if he knew a friend of his who had died a year ago. We were all shocked. He showed us the friend's facebook pic...and told us how dear a friend he was. We talked a lot about rebirth and reincarnation. I was reading Tibetan Book of Living and Dying through the trek and I remember being very active and animated about some story I had read about how an Englishman remembered a past life from several generations ago and helped archeologists discover and make sense of the entire landscape (can't remember where this was)...middle-east/ Europe.
DAY 17
There was sightseeing and stuff the next day. I think I took a break and went to sleep in between...I missed the Thangka painting school...Milan took several pictures...I would've loved to see it from the look of the pics. Very technical art work. Earlier we went to the general post office - it's an interesting place...Bhutan celebrates everyone's success...it could be US going to the moon, there'll be a stamp...India gets independence, there'll be a stamp. It's an amazing, amazing place. And amazing, amazing people.
We had pizza for lunch, did some shopping...the whole day was generally vague for me...being in this city-like life. I loved one book shop...but never bought anything from there.
After Koina, we reached the campsite we were supposed to go to the previous night. It was all the way up. I was glad we didn't do it the previous day. We had an early start and reached the camp 3.5 hours later. Had a good breakfast after.
We kept descending going towards Gasa. Somewhere I tried washing my face...in a waterfall and caught an eye infection. Ok, thank you! I looked a mess again with some gooey coming out of my eye all the time and my eye was red. I think I put some medicine...nothing helped. It finally went away on its own by the next day.
My general state of mind was ruffled with the happenings of the previous day. I'm sure it was the same for everyone. We were okay but also not...something like that. When I reached Gasa, I turned my phone on. And from the messages I gathered that my dad wasn't going to be available in India for his 70th birthday. I had requested for a change in the entire trek schedule (which happened) so that we could coordinate the dates. What fun, I thought. :)
At the final camp site, the trek organizer had got us a lot of goodies...beer, cool drinks, cookies...I can't remember what I ate but basically, I couldn't consume much. The trek and our life there seemed better, nicer. I was feeling very strange being back.
The next morning I called Patta...asking if I could stay at his place and Ahaan and Suzette would come there a day later in Hyderabad...if he wanted to hangout etc. This was the alternate plan to Nana's birthday hangout. So he said yes and that was the plan. (The Hyderabad trip ended up being great fun with Kody and family also joining...Neelu sent me to some closeby expensive hotel for massage...I took a few days to be physically normal).
The dinner was strange. Everyone was there but there were disconnects. But we ate, we spoke, we joked.
DAY 16
The drive to Thimphu was maha fun. Different people took turns being the DJ. We went to see the Punakha dzong on the way. There were these purple flowers...beautiful trees...purple flowers all on the ground, monks sitting chatting, praying, joking. Divya said those were jacaranda trees. I liked the drive. We bought lot of junk food. We bought stuff on the highway...like that red-chillies paste with corn...I loved it. We finally reached Druk hotel. There was TV...I like to watch mindless TV after treks...I watch it without knowing what am watching...just staring into the TV. In some odd way, it helps me reconcile with the reality...to accept that the trek is over and we are in the city...something like that. I remember drawing too. It's what I happily do when I want to do nothing.
That night we had a great time at dinner...wine, gossip and stuff. The hotel manager came up to Mayur and asked if he knew a friend of his who had died a year ago. We were all shocked. He showed us the friend's facebook pic...and told us how dear a friend he was. We talked a lot about rebirth and reincarnation. I was reading Tibetan Book of Living and Dying through the trek and I remember being very active and animated about some story I had read about how an Englishman remembered a past life from several generations ago and helped archeologists discover and make sense of the entire landscape (can't remember where this was)...middle-east/ Europe.
DAY 17
There was sightseeing and stuff the next day. I think I took a break and went to sleep in between...I missed the Thangka painting school...Milan took several pictures...I would've loved to see it from the look of the pics. Very technical art work. Earlier we went to the general post office - it's an interesting place...Bhutan celebrates everyone's success...it could be US going to the moon, there'll be a stamp...India gets independence, there'll be a stamp. It's an amazing, amazing place. And amazing, amazing people.
We had pizza for lunch, did some shopping...the whole day was generally vague for me...being in this city-like life. I loved one book shop...but never bought anything from there.
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