On Friday, our day began with a relaxed final morning in Kyoto. We wandered over to a coffee shop (Sagan) and then made our way to Kyoto Station and the Shinkansen. The trains were crowded this AM and so we had to wait for the more empty one (with our unreserved seats) to make the journey to Tokyo.
I may have said this in an earlier post, but the Japanese have done an excellent job of moving people from place to place with relative ease. We quickly moved around the country or within a city using busses, subways, and trains. For those who have traveled in Europe, this experience is similar….for Asia, Japan really sets the bar high. We really used the system to its fullest and that made the trip that much more enjoyable.
We eventually made it to the airport and left for our ix hour flight to Bangkok….a slight delay got us into Survanabhumi at around midnight and we headed to the hotel (Great Residence) for a three hour nap.
Our very early wakeup call at 4:00 AM was refreshing, in so many ways!
Our flight to Paro, Bhutan landed a bit ahead of schedule and we headed off into the country, walking to Paro Dzong, the National Zoo, and Buddha Point.
It’s going to take us a couple of days to catch up on sleep and to get into the groove of Bhutan.
Our trip sends us to Punakha, the original capital of Bhutan, and the Temple of the Divine Madman. Our day will be in the small bus, one winding roads, through high mountain passes and thick cloud-forest jungle. If we are really lucky, we will see the Himalaya range in the distance.
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