Dive Trip - Simillan Islands

After our rushed turn around we did make it to the south in time for our dive trip!  We stayed on a live-a-board boat for 3 days and did 9 dives in 3 days!!! We had some beautiful weather as well as night time rain storms! Well not only rain storms but lightning storms too! This was actually kinda nice to see for our night dive... 

dad and I suiting up for a dive 

can you spot me in the water?  

The trip was on the Andaman  Sea around the Simillan Islands.  We were on the boat for pretty much the entire trip but we did stop off on Ko Simillan.  The area is a national park so they are very strict about where you are allowed to go!

pretty rocks behind us!

on Koh Simillan...

The trip was amazing! We saw tons of bright coloured fish, sting rays, eels, reef sharks and even a barracuda!  I did get sick on the second day... we think from all the diving, but i pushed through! Even through the fever and no appetite I still dove and had a wonderfully relaxing time! 

These are a few of the beds where we slept!

Our boat! We slept under the blue/white striped part. 

The group of us! (except for mum who was taking the picture). 

Dad back at the pier with the long tail boats in the background. 

We spent our last night on the mainland before flying back to Bangkok... we were happy to have some fresh water to swim in after 3 days of salt water!

Dad and I at breakfast at our hotel. 

walk along the beach... it was interesting to see the areas hit by the tsunami 7 years ago  

finally non-sea-water to swim in!

Fastest turn around EVER

So after an amazing holiday we were supposed to fly out of Bhutan to Bangkok, spend one night in Bangkok before leaving for the south.... well we arrived in the Paro airport bright and early... waited for 6 hours only to find out our flight was cancelled due to high winds!  This would have been ok except we were supposed to catch a flight at 10am the next morning for Phuket!

us at our new hotel!

They put us up in one of the nicest hotels in Paro! this was a definite bonus! and we told we would fly out the next morning... not in time for our flight but still in time to catch a flight to the south! but would we have time to head back to Evergreen (the hotel I live in) to grab all our beach weather clothes???!!!

little lakes around the hotel 

We went for a walk to a little town just down the road from our hotel! It was really cute, we were the only westerners there!

Painting the very intricate designs on the houses. 

little market we found in the town  

Prayer wheel! 

a real old-fasioned scale! I was so amazed! 

Well we arrived in the BKK airport and while my dad was organising the flights my mum and I SPRINTED back to Evergreen! We made a 15min turn around at the apartment! Dont think I've ever packed so quickly before in my life! and I've had some pretty quick packing jobs!

Yay! Finally our flight is ready to take off!

we had a stop over in India! So I got to have a glimce of india!!!

I also snuck off the plane to take a step on Indian land!

We SPRINTED back to the airport to make in just in time for our flight! Literally walked right up to the gate as it started to board!

We were very very lucky! but we made it to the south!

Bhutan Day 3 - Paro Festival

We were really lucky and just happened to be in Bhutan during the Paro Festival! This festival occurs once a year therefore we made sure to be in Paro for at least part of it!  We left Timphu early in the morning and drove straight to the Paro Dzong where the festivities were going one!  EVERYONE was dressed in their fanciest, most colourful traditional clothes!  We felt very drab in comparison but it was so beautiful to see!

Paro Dzong in the background.

Everyone sitting on the hill to watch the performances.  

The main event was the tapestry they unravel just for this one event a year.  It is hundreds of years old and is very sacred to the Bhutanese.  It was hung up at 3am!!! We did not get there in time to see it being opened but we did get there in time to see it and to see them put it back away and parade it out!

everyone was running in to try to touch it for good luck! Even just seeing it is supposed to give you luck for the year!

There were also lot's of dance performances, and singing... not exactly the type of dancing we were used to but watching A dance was interesting.

and the march of the monks... All the pictures below of people parading in is for the march of the monks.  The monks marched in at the very end.

here are the monks! 

 We loved the people watching!  so this is just some writing to break up the pictures really but below are just some examples of  the people we saw in the crowds. 

Karma and Chencho (our driver and guide). 

The girl on the far right is a famous Bhutanese actress! 

After the festival we were driving to visit another Dzong when we came across an archery tournament! Just a casual one but it was still fascinating to watch!  The Bhutanese are famous for their archery.  They do not use weights and are able to hit targets 120m away.  They are some of the sharpest shooters in the world!  

It is so far away you can barely even see where they are aiming! (120m away if you were wondering) 

See how small the target is!

Last part of the day we made it to one last Dzong to roam around.  We also walked around the town of Paro looking through some of the stores.  Mainly the touristy ones with the "traditional" gifts to buy to take home... did buy a couple post cards but that was all.

The tree behind us had 2 different colours of pink flowers! Unfortunately it did not come out in the picture but it was very impressive!  This was the last Dzong we visited! 

Bhutan Day 2- Phunakha and the Fertility Dzong

 We woke up in Timphu the next morning finally refreshed after an actual nights sleep! After our buffet breakfast we headed to the mountains.  After our hike the day before this mountain excursion was spent in a car and not by foot.  On our way to Punakha we drove over the Dochu La pass.  At the top if it was a clear day you can see the Himalayas but our guide said he has only been able to see them twice before in his life.  There is no smog but there is condensation creating a haze.

The Dzong at the top of the pass.  

I cant remeber how many of these mini prayer Dzong's there were (they have religious artifacts and scripts burried underneath them) but there were around 100 I believe.  

After about 1.5h of driving we made it to Punakha which is in a valley.  2 Rivers intersect here and they call one the female river (the more tame river) and the other the male river.

The Punakha Dzong behind us with the intersecting rivers in front. 

Highschool girls doing their schoolwork  

Entrance to the Phunakha Dzong... steep steps to climb!

After Phunakha we continued driving to another town where the fertility Dzong is located.  This is where we stopped for lunch as well.... At first I didnt know we were heading to teh fertility Dzong so after looking in a gift shop I turn to my parents and go "there are some really phallic looking objects in that store, I cant figure out what else they could be other then penises?" to which my dad responds "they probably are penises" and he was right... 

note the paintings on the wall... not sure if you can read it but the sign for the restaurant says
"RKPO Restaurant, Cum Bar" 

They really don't leave much for the imagination... 

the fertility Dzong is the one on the top of the hill in the distance... Mum and Chencho on the walk over. 

At the fertility Dzong... mum was a little nervous with me there!

On the way back we stopped at the botanical gardens which the King's mother set up.  It was more like a conservation forest but still a nice area to walk around.  Sorry no pictures but I did find a swing set to play on... this time I did not get kicked off for being too old!