Detroit Skyline, and icy Detroit river: Viewed from Windsor, Canada on a cold February afternoon
I was in the automotive capital Detroit, Michigan, USA last weekend. There was Valentine’s day too, and one might wonder what I was doing in Detroit, a city infamous for intolerance, crime, racial segregation and an overall decay since the inevitable collapse of the automobile sector. I don’t know the extent to which any of that is true.
Well I had a lovely time, spending the gloomy snowy weekend eating, drinking, sleeping and getting pampered. Here are some not-so-glamorous pictures of the city.
There are rows of broken, unkept, dilapidated houses, just outside downtown
Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. (Note the emphasis on ‘Most’, since there are “Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament” in other cities of USA)
Downtown Detroit
Taking down a building right in the heart of the city. There are several abandoned buildings around
Streets in the business district were empty although it was the lunch time
Fist of a champion
The municipal building
I haven’t been posting for a long time for a number of reasons but I assure you that I’m well and back in action. I received several emails and comments asking me if everything was okay – yes it is! Thanks for checking in! I’ll be checking out my reader soon.
The “Seven Sisters” is the English name given to a group of Moscow skyscrapers designed in the Stalinist style. Moskvich (Muscovites) call them Stalinskie Vysotki (Сталинские высотки / स्तालीन्स्कीए वीसोक्ती), meaning “Stalin’s tall buildings”. They were built from 1947 to 1953, in an elaborate combination of Russian Baroque and Gothic styles, and the technology used in building American skyscrapers.
The buildings had more symbolic than utilitarian value and gave a taste of Soviet architectural and technological progress.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia
The building is on the first ring highway of Moscow and close to the Old Arbat artist street.
The building was obviously bigger than what my camera could take!
The seven sisters are as follows:
Moscow State University (MGU), Sparrow Hills
Hotel Ukraina
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya Hotel
Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building
Kudrinskaya Square Building
Red Gates Administrative Building
Lomonosov Moscow State University seen from my flight. (Also seen is the circular Olympic stadium)
It’s great to explore a city on foot, possibly the best way to see little things here n there. The streets near the city center are small and jumbled.
Walkway along the Sochi-Adler road, probably the most important road in the city.
Underground walkway for pedestrians.
While asking for directions, one lady asked me to jump in her car since she was going the same way. Surprise surprise! The vehicle was made for left-hand drive! Apparently, made-in-Japan cars are quite popular, and Japan, just like India, South Africa, UK, Australia, SE Asia, etc. drives on the “correct” side of the road. LOL
Neighborhood near the city center
In case you get lost…
I also found people quite polite. “Пожалуйста” (something like पाझाल्यस्त) means both ‘please’ and ‘you are welcome’, and everyone dutifully used it.
After a wonderful time in Punakha, Wangdue and Thimphu, we moved westwards to the city of Paro. Located along the banks of the Paro chhu in the lovely Paro valley, Paro has Bhutan’s only airport. It is situated about 7 km from Paro town, and that’s probably the only flat strip of land the country has.
Paro town, decorated because the country was celebrating 100 years of monarchy
As our bus descended into the valley, we saw houses with metal roofs and other signs of progress compared to Thimphu. I got into an argument with a guy who lamented the fact that natural building materials were being replaced by modern ones and that this trend is bad and that government should ban it. Well, I would personally prefer to live in a house with wooden or ‘natural’ roof. But who am I to judge others? I don’t live in Paro! If local people think that metal roof is better, cheaper, functional, etc., I trust them more than my wishful thinking of an idealist world.
I like the colorful decorations. Also the ubiquitous ‘STD-ISD-PCO’ signs
Getting there:
If you are flying into Bhutan (from India, Nepal, Bangladesh or Thailand), you will arrive at the Paro airport which is 15 minutes away from the town. If you are a non-Indian foreigner, the mandatory tour company will ‘take’ you from the airport itself (read more about this) so you don’t have to worry about anything. If you are Indian, you are on your own, unless you want to spend money on a tour operator right from day one (read more about this). Taxis are available outside the airport and you (Indians only) can choose to go to either Paro or Thimphu. For regions beyond, you need the ‘Special Areas Permit’ which can be obtained in Thimphu only. For non-Indian foreigners, the tour company will arrange everything.
I entered Bhutan by land (border with India) and went to Thimphu first to extend the travel permits. Paro is 53 km from the capital Thimphu and it takes about two hours by bus. There are a limited number of bus services available, leaving at 8:30 and 14:30 from either towns (Rs. 70). The other option is sharing a taxi (Rs. 150-200 or more depending on how well you bargain).
“Kiss a Tiger once in your lifetime.” √ check!
We rented a room in a hotel run by a Nepali guy. Very basic, clean and cheap – Rs. 400 ($8) for two, including heating. There was a bakery across the street and lots of restaurants nearby, very nice!
Paro has a grid-like planned structure (built in 1985) and is very spacious. There is not much to do in the town and most interesting places are scattered around the valley, as you will see over the next few posts.
Prayer wheel at the town center
The town square is marked by a tower-like Chhoeten Lhakhang and a large prayer wheel. I liked the idyllic pace of Paro, even on a weekday, it seemed empty and silent.
Paro city center
PS: I intend to speed up posting and wrap the Bhutan series in five weeks. If you are bored already, please let me know and I will accelerate even more!
To add some spice to our rather routine blogging life, Odzer and I collaborated on this photo post. It shows certain common urban features in Toronto (Canada) where I live and Chandigarh (India) where he lives.
Bus Stop Signs
Tiles on a Sidewalk (North American term) or Footpath (Indian term)
Graffiti
Manholes
Traffic Signal (also called Stop light or Traffic light in North America. It took me a while to catch on that).
Crosswalk (North American term) or Zebra crossing (Indian term)
It was very interesting to do this post. The standardization of cities around the world amazes me. All these pictures are from my neighborhood and I am always armed with my camera, taking hundreds of pictures. We shall return with more interesting pictures.
You can see in the picture above how tall the prayer flags are, I am standing at the bottom. This picture was taken from one of the hills north-west of the city. The built up valley with little colorful rooftops looks pretty.
Thimpu city in the river valley
The yellow-green houses in the picture above is the ‘modern’ construction. Looks quite out of place. The city sprawls along the true-western bank of the Wang Chhu river. The city is very young, it was designated as the capital of Bhutan only in 1961.
Some street in Thimpu
While it is common for the humble Bhutanese to complain about their garbage problems, most of the city is very clean and traffic is very relaxed. There are a number of taxis, and even a couple of bus routes! Walking on the beetle-nut stained footpaths is the best way to explore the city.
Main traffic intersection
Traffic signals story:
Thimphu is one of two national capitals in Asia that does not have traffic lights. Local authorities had installed a set of lights at this junction but before they became operational the lights were removed. People complained that the automatic traffic signals were too impersonal and hence very unnatural to Bhutanese culture. So, instead of traffic lights, the city takes pride in its traffic police that directs the oncoming traffic with their dance-like movement of their arms and hands. (See video below)
Visit my earlier post for a picture of the same street corner at night.
A street in Thimpu
Thimphu may be the biggest city in Bhutan but you can easily walk the whole city in less than one day! It is very calm and attractive, with a number of cafés, restaurants, art stories and souvenir shops sprinkled all around.
We’ll end this little post about Thimpu with the dancing-traffic-policeman video.
Detroit Skyline, and icy Detroit river: Viewed from Windsor, Canada on a cold February afternoon
There are rows of broken, unkept, dilapidated houses, just outside downtown
Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. (Note the emphasis on ‘Most’, since there are “Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament” in other cities of USA)
Downtown Detroit
Taking down a building right in the heart of the city. There are several abandoned buildings around
Streets in the business district were empty although it was the lunch time
Fist of a champion
The municipal building
Bhutan
Canada
India
Israel
Peru
Russia