Before I got to Bhutan with Cody, I made a list of 10 things I thought the country would be like:
1. It has square houses
2. Cheetahs live there
3. There are no trees
4. There are pyramids
5. The people look Korean
6. The people's favorite food is snakes
7. The geography is desert
8. The coordinates are: 23 North and 32 East
9. They have plenty of fresh, clean water
10. The people are mostly mad.
*Bonus thought: Countries that are nearby: Korea, India
Then I got to Bhutan and here is what Cody and I found:
1. Cody and I stayed in a traditional Bhutanese house, made out of mud, bamboo, and wood. The doors and windows were decorated with animal and flower designs. In the house we stayed in, the cows lived on the bottom floor, the second floor had storage, and the third floor is where we lived. And the most important part of every house is a prayer flag in the center of the roof
2. One website told us there were cheetahs in southern Bhutan, but most websites talked about the snow leopard. Cody and I saw a snow leopard. It was crouching on the mountainside. This is what he looked like!
3. We saw the Himmalaya from everywhere! We also saw lots of rice paddies. There is flatness and pointiness everywhere here. We couldn't find any deserts in Bhutan.
4. Cody and I went base jumping off the Lakhang, which are monastaries. Check this out. (We got this picture after we jumped.)
5. The people don't look Korean. They come from tribes of northern Burma and northeast India and Nepal. So they look like this
6. "Ema datse," which is chilies and cheese, is one of the favorite dishes in Bhutan.
7. Bhutan is comfortably squeezed into the middle of the Himalaya
8. 27 N, 90 E. I was close!
9. Glaciers are melting and so water is harder to get. Also, even in Bhutan, there is a problem with dirty water.
10. The goverment watches out for the happiness of its people. For a long time, they knew TV would not make people happy. They were the LAST country to introduce TV. It was the year Eleanore was born. 1999. They don't allow tobacco or plastic bags in Bhutan because the goverment thinks they make the people less happy. The one traffic light they ever had made people frustrated so they took it down and put back the person to direct traffic. That must be sooooo tiring. There is hardly ANY advertising. And Bhutan cares about the environment and the spirit of the people.
*11. I was right on one of the countries that are near Bhutan, which was India. The other one is Tibet.
Frances Joy
1. It has square houses
2. Cheetahs live there
3. There are no trees
4. There are pyramids
5. The people look Korean
6. The people's favorite food is snakes
7. The geography is desert
8. The coordinates are: 23 North and 32 East
9. They have plenty of fresh, clean water
10. The people are mostly mad.
*Bonus thought: Countries that are nearby: Korea, India
Then I got to Bhutan and here is what Cody and I found:
1. Cody and I stayed in a traditional Bhutanese house, made out of mud, bamboo, and wood. The doors and windows were decorated with animal and flower designs. In the house we stayed in, the cows lived on the bottom floor, the second floor had storage, and the third floor is where we lived. And the most important part of every house is a prayer flag in the center of the roof
2. One website told us there were cheetahs in southern Bhutan, but most websites talked about the snow leopard. Cody and I saw a snow leopard. It was crouching on the mountainside. This is what he looked like!
3. We saw the Himmalaya from everywhere! We also saw lots of rice paddies. There is flatness and pointiness everywhere here. We couldn't find any deserts in Bhutan.
4. Cody and I went base jumping off the Lakhang, which are monastaries. Check this out. (We got this picture after we jumped.)
5. The people don't look Korean. They come from tribes of northern Burma and northeast India and Nepal. So they look like this
6. "Ema datse," which is chilies and cheese, is one of the favorite dishes in Bhutan.
7. Bhutan is comfortably squeezed into the middle of the Himalaya
8. 27 N, 90 E. I was close!
9. Glaciers are melting and so water is harder to get. Also, even in Bhutan, there is a problem with dirty water.
10. The goverment watches out for the happiness of its people. For a long time, they knew TV would not make people happy. They were the LAST country to introduce TV. It was the year Eleanore was born. 1999. They don't allow tobacco or plastic bags in Bhutan because the goverment thinks they make the people less happy. The one traffic light they ever had made people frustrated so they took it down and put back the person to direct traffic. That must be sooooo tiring. There is hardly ANY advertising. And Bhutan cares about the environment and the spirit of the people.
*11. I was right on one of the countries that are near Bhutan, which was India. The other one is Tibet.
very cool blog,
ReplyDeletethe beauty, and caring government, and snow leopards make me want to go check it out for my self.
Cody :)
Frances, I agree with Cody! I want to see a place that is beautiful and whose government really puts the people's happy hearts first! Not money. Not popularity. Not race. Happiness. And it IS squeezed comfortably in its geographical place! How in the world did you GET there? Great post, Frances! Carolyn
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome place you picked! The Himalayas, REALLY! Logan and I are learning a lot about certain areas in the Himalayas because of his Chautauqua character, Sir Edmund Hillary. Hillary was the first person (along with his Sherpa Tenzing Norgay) to summit the highest peak in the Himalayas, Mt. Everest. I love that you shed some light on other beautiful, awesome areas of this vast mountain range.
ReplyDeleteCody has been researching Bhutan and has found some great things about that area that he will be writing about soon.
Wish I could see all this epic scenery with you! Take lots and lots of photos.
Jessica