Paro

 Another early morning, we left early to head to the airport for our flight to Paro Bhutan.  While the airport doesn’t offer many services there is a nice lounge available to Priority Pass holders.  They served a fairly nice breakfast buffet.  Afterwards we went through our second security check to arrive at our gate where they were already boarding passengers on a bus to the plane.  We made it but didn’t have a lot of time to spare.  

The approach into Paro airport is considered one of the hardest in the world.  The pilots must weave among mountains as they make their final approach.  There’s only about 50 pilots in the world that can fly into Paro.  Because it was a cloudy day we didn’t get the full effect of the approach.  

After gathering our luggage, we boarded a bus for our visit to Paro Dzong.  Originally a fortress built in the 17th century it now serves as a monastery.  The architecture was quite beautiful with painted walls and intricate wood carvings.  We also got to photograph some of the young monks being trained here.






We went into town for a buffet lunch before continuing on to our hotel, Ahiwaling Heritage Hotel.  This five star hotel is situated on a hillside with beautifully landscaped gardens and a magnificent main building housing a bar and restaurant.  We’ll return here at the end of our trip but I think we’ll all enjoy the one night we’re here now.




 Tomorrow : A trip to the west

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