Kaleberg Archive for Keyword: bhutan, Page: 2

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Upcoming Hiking Tides

These are low tides of under three feet at least two hours after sunrise or before sunset.

Next tides for La Push
9/22/24 9:46 AM 2.29 ft
11/11/24 2:43 PM 2.45 ft
12/9/24 1:16 PM 2.87 ft
12/10/24 2:23 PM 1.71 ft
12/24/24 2:12 PM 2.69 ft

Next tides for Dungeness
10/1/24 9:13 AM 1.85 ft
10/2/24 9:45 AM 2.48 ft

Next tides for Cape Alava
9/22/24 9:56 AM 2.87 ft
12/9/24 1:59 PM 2.93 ft

01/25/19 - Back From The Crane Center On our way back to our hotel after visiting the Crane Center, we saw a cluster of birds fussing and fighting on the ground across the wetlands. Some were Himalayan griffins. Obviously, something had died and attracted notice. We watched for a bit, then headed on, back to Amankora.	The Crane Center
A bird in a tree on the way back	The town
Another farm house	A Himalayan griffin showing off
More exciting bird action	A crowd of birds
Griffins among the flock	In the distance, hence some of the blurry photos
A stream in the light	Another stream
A crow on a rooftop	Yet another stream - These are wetlands.

Keywords: bhutan

01/24/19 - From Monastery to Wetlands As much as we hated to leave Amankora Gangtey, we set out to the local dzong, the monastery on the hill across the valley. The monastery was fascinating enough, but then we headed through the adjacent village, down and into the pine forest on the monastery hill. We saw black necked cranes in the fields. They love that stubble. We walked through the forest, past daphnes and dwarf bamboo, and emerged to an overlook adorned with prayer flags. There were black necked cranes in the wetlands below. Then we made our way down to the wetlands, crossing on a cow damaged causeway and watching for cranes as we went. We saw some flying and as we followed the road we saw many others, some nearby and some in the distance. Apparently, this has been a great year for the black necked cranes.	Amankora Gangtey - Why would we ever leave?
The monastery	Some detail
Prayer wheels	Monastery dogs
The village on the hill	People hard at work, unlike us
Black necked cranes enjoying field stubble	A daphne in bloom
Pine forest	Prayer flags overlooking the valley
Descending to the wetlands	Cottoneaster
Across the wetlands	Cranes in flight
More wetlands	More black necked cranes
Even more cranes in the wetlands	The road to our ride home

Keywords: bhutan

01/24/19 - Country Evening in Gangtey We had a country evening in Gangtey. First we had a traditional hot stone bath in a wooden shed. There were candles, hot water, artemesia floating like seaweed in the water and the setting sun. Then we had dinner in a potato shed. There was a hot fire, traditional music and song, and a wonderful dinner with a view of the valley. Did we mention candles? There were candles too, so dazzling one of us nearly tripped over one as we entered, dazzled.	Fire near the bath house
Inside the bath house, candles	The traditional bath
The mat door for privacy while changing	When we left the bath, fire was out.
Country walk	The moon rising
Arriving for dinner, a welcoming fire	Bhutanese musicians
Candles at dinner	Our table setting

Keywords: bhutan

01/23/19 - More From Our Welcome to Gangtey Here are some more pictures from our first hike in Gangtey.	Farmland view
Melting snow	Wooded mountains and broad wetlands, perfect for cranes
Ruts in the road	More red branches
Water runs all through the valley	Song birds
A farm house	Crows
Another farm house	Our valley of the cranes

Keywords: bhutan

01/22/19 - Welcome to Gangtey We left Punakha, and once again were on a winding mountain road riding through wild forest with snow capped hills in the distance and glimpses of rivers far below. We followed Bhutan’s east-west highway, then turned south to the Pobjikha Valley and Gangtey, beautiful isolated farm country. We had no sooner settled into the Amankora there than we took a walk from the hotel through the countryside. We went through a farm village, past drying turnips, half wild cattle and black necked cranes. Yes, there they were, wintering in the wetlands of the valley and foraging on the crop stubble.	The river in Punakha
A rest stop en route	Mountain road
More mountain road and snow capped peaks	Yet more of the road
And even more	Amankora Gangtey
Farm land	A farm shed
Black necked cranes	One of those cranes again
A farm field with drying turnips	More cranes, farther afield
Traditional Bhutanese architecture	The farm road
Beautiful rock	Red branch tips, a sign of spring

Keywords: bhutan

01/22/19 - Not the Port Angeles Farmers' Market We checked out the local farmers’ market in Punakha. It’s held every Saturday morning and is full of local produce, rice, vegetables, betelnut, cabbages, potatoes and so on. We were sorry we didn’t have a kitchen or we would have gone crazy there.	A lively market
Punakha has a broad range of local produce	More of the lively market
Chiles and spices	Local peppers, perfect at high altitudes
More peppers	More produce
Local red rice, great with scrambled eggs and hot chiles	More pretty produce
More of the farmers’ market	Bhutan may be in the Himalayas but it is not much farther north than Hawaii, so it has wonderful produce.

Keywords: bhutan

01/21/19 - Rafting in Punakha We took a rafting trip down the Female River that runs through Punakha. This was the gentler option than the Male River. There were a few rapids, short stretches of white water, but this was not an adventure by anyone’s standards except our own. We had never been rafting before. We squeezed into wet suits and put on helmets. Then we boarded the raft and learned how not to hit each other or our guide with the paddles. That done, things went smoothly. The high point of the trip was the Palla’s fish eagle that swooped over our raft and downriver. We watched this great gray bird in awe. It was a rare sighting. There was no way we were going to be fussing with cameras. We did take a few pictures of the more common and more cooperative ruddy shelducks. We had views of the snowy mountains whose meltwaters in which we were rafting. We passed prayer flags and shrines. It was an amazing journey, and, for us, quite an adventure.	The banks of the river
Snowy mountains upriver	A placid stretch
Silver water and exotic trees	Another view of the river
A sparkling day on the Female River	Yet another view
A ruddy shelduck	A few more ruddy shelducks, just for luck
Beautiful water	Exotic trees

Keywords: bhutan

01/21/19 - Punakha and Its Fortress Punakha is the garden of Bhutan with fruits and vegetables grown year round. Farm stands in the outskirts of the city sold spinach, apples, oranges and other vegetables even in January. Bhutan is in the Himalayas, but it is also far south at 27N. The big agricultural product is rice, especially their wonderful local red rice. The land is terraced and irrigated, and vegetables are often grown under plastic tents in the colder months. We visited the 17th century dzong, once a fortress, but now a temple. We couldn’t take photographs inside where Buddha presided and murals told stories of his life and enlightenment and those of other great teachers. There is a major winter festival next month, and we watched young monks practicing one of the dances. The teacher was clearly the master of the art. He moved with great grace and control. Some of the young monks had developed some skill while others were new to the dance. We didn’t feel right taking pictures. We’re sure they will give an excellent performance come the big day.	View of the mountains from Amankora
Another view from Amankora	The infinity pool and agricultural land
The great Dzong of Punakha	Almost a Tuscan villa
Terraced rice fields	Indian cotton silk (or perhaps silk cotton) tree flowers
The river	The entrance to the Dzong
In the courtyard	One of the many murals
The bodhi tree in the dzong	Another view of the courtyard
Bhutanese architecture	Another view
Monks in red robes in the courtyard	The river below
Mountains above	Misty late in the day

Keywords: bhutan

01/20/19 - A Stroll Before Rafting Before our raft trip we took a short walk. The trail led to a shrine, but we didn’t make it that far. The river below was waiting for us. We did see the rice fields and had a glimpse of the distant snow covered mountains. Punakha, as it turns out, is great for just about every variety of vegetable. It also produces rice and winter wheat.	Across the bridge - We added our own prayer flags.
Rice and vegetable fields	Rice fields
Christmas plant - poinsetta in an un-Christmassy setting	Another view
Christmas flower	More terraced farm land
Another pretty view	We’ll update this when we look this bird online.

Keywords: bhutan

01/19/19 - On To Punakha We headed east from Thimpu, over the mountain pass to the next valley and the city of Punakha. We stopped at the pass for a view of the high mountains beyond, capped with snow. Then we descended into the mild valley. Even in January, there were oranges, spinach and other vegetables on sale at the little farm stands we passed. That afternoon, we crossed the suspension bridge over the Female River to our hotel.	View of the Himalayas
More mountains, more snow	Another view
A magpie with a long tail	Snow and color
That bird again	Another view from the pass
For safe travel	Distant mountains
The bridge to our hotel	Christmas plants
The Female River	Across the valley

Keywords: bhutan

01/18/19 - Thimpu Bhutan Having been in an airplane for days on end, we went for a short hike on our first morning in Bhutan. It was a short trail not far from our hotel. We walked to a shrine overlooking the valley. There were prayer flags all about. The white ones commemorated the dead. The more colorful ones were for the living. The prayers were as if recited when moved by the wind.	Our hotel - just like in the pictures
Prayer flags at the start of the hike	The Buddha overlooking Thimpu
A view of the valley	Pine cones
Another valley view	More prayer flags

Keywords: bhutan

01/17/19 - Coming Into Bhutan We knew we weren’t in Thailand anymore. Those mountains were huge. We had been flying north for over two hours. Now we were coming into the place of the snow, the Himalayas. Our destination was Bhutan. We aren’t in Port Angeles anymore either. More to follow.	A first glimpse
We were at 34,000 feet, and those mountains didn’t look flat.	Another view
Coming closer …	… and closer
Not Port Angeles	Definitely not Fairchild Airport

Keywords: bhutan