Thimphu was good, but lets see what’s in store in rest of Bhutan
After spending 2 days, 2 nights in Thimphu and obtaining permits to venture into the Restricted Areas1, we proceeded to the interiors. The picture of Punakha Dzong was mesmerizing me since a long time, and it was finally the time to go there. There were few very interesting places on the route between Thimphu and Punakha, and if we took a bus, we’d miss them all. So I decided to take a shared taxi.
Dochu La, view of eastern Himalayas
The taxi terminal in Thimphu is located next to the bus stand and drivers will ask you where you want to go as soon as you enter the taxi terminal. Unlike most places in urban India, nobody will pounce upon you or pull you into their taxis aggressively. Still, taxi drivers are taxi drivers (all over the world I reckon) and bargaining is necessary. I got a front row window for a modest sum of Rs. 150, and I thanked my hotel owner for her advice ‘don’t pay more than that…’ the previous night.
There was me, my buddy, 3 ladies (grandmother, daughter, grand daughter) and a high school student in the taxi with us. The driver was a very jolly ethnic Nepali guy. I think he was slightly pissed by my bargaining (since I paid only slightly above local price) so I carefully buttered him up by sharing my food. I also praised his horrible screamish singing hoping that he would stop, but it had the opposite effect. Finally he agreed to take a brief stop at this point called Dochu La.
Dochu La, with my taxi driver
Dochu La
La is Tibetian word for a mountain pass. Dochu La (3140m) separates Thimpu from the low-lying lush Punakha valley. The place is marked by an array of prayer flags, but the most intriguing landmark of this place is the newly constructed 108 chortens. The Chortens2 were built in 2005 as an atonement for the loss of life caused by the flushing out of Assamese militants in southern Bhutan.
As the taxi ascended the chilly heights, I couldn’t wait to see the promising views of eastern Himalayas from Dochu La. Every time the road spiraled, it teased us with a sneak preview of the beautiful snow-clad mountain ranges.
Dochu La. Look! Snow clad Himalayan peaks! I missed the Himalayas…
After some very satisfactory peeing and picture taking, we proceeded on our journey. From maple and pine to fir and rhododendron, the vegetation changed as we descended to the warmth of Punakha valley. I opened my guidebook, found something I can’t believe I missed before and decided to get off somewhere and walk to some place called Chimi Lhakhang, home of the Divine Madman. Thankfully my buddy supported all my impulsive judgments such as this.
Footnotes:
1. Visiting areas outside Thimphu and Paro requires another permit called ‘restricted areas permit.’ Read more in my Bhutan travel information post.
2. Chorten or Stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, once thought to be places of Buddhist worship, typically the remains of a Buddha or saint.
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Jaffa, western port of the Canaanite empire, 1470 BCE.
Pharaoh Thutmose III sought to regain Egypt’s control over the lands as far as Syria. He presented large baskets full of ‘gifts’ to the governor of Jaffa, an important port city of Canaan. Little did the governor know about armed Egyptian warriors hidden in those baskets.
Jaffa (जाफा, also called Yafo), located south of Tel Aviv, is among the oldest cities in Israel and consequently has a very turbulent and bloody history.
Jaffa port and a Turkish Minaret
History:
Archaeological evidence shows that Jaffa was inhabited some 7,500 BCE, which is really really old 
It occurred in recorded history only around the time of Canaan’s and was subsequently controlled by various powers – Canaanites, Egyptians, Philistines, Jews, Arabs, Mamluks, Christians, Turks, Napoleon, British etc. (not necessarily in that order!).
In 1947 when the UN plan to divide Israel and Palestine was declared, Jaffa, being a Arab town, was designated as an Arab enclave inside Jewish Israel. Riots followed and in 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the Jews conquered Jaffa. Arab residents fled. In 1954, Tel-Aviv and Jaffa were united under a municipality and Jaffa, or Yafo as it is called today, was converted to a cultural and historical center.
Today, Yafo has a mixed population of the three religions of the book.
Clock tower built in the honor of the Ottoman ruler
Welcome to Jaffa – the place from where I blogged months ago.
Seen in the picture is the clock tower of Jaffa, a monument erected in the first decade of 20th century in honor of the Ottoman Turks. By local standards, this is a brand new structure! In the old days, the clock square served as a welcome plaza to people who arrived to the town. There are markets (called shuk/शूक्) and narrow streets all around.
Guarding the sea port
Tourism:
Parts of the Old City have been renovated, turning Jaffa into a tourist attraction featuring old restored buildings, art galleries, theaters, souvenir shops, restaurants, sidewalk cafes and promenades. Several remodeling projects were underway and I think the government is actively promoting this area as a pleasant drive away from the hustle and bustle of Tel Aviv. Large number of visitors are seen during evenings and weekends, hanging out on the spiraling paths looking over the Mediterranean sea.
A typical alley. An art store appears suddenly in one of those little rooms
The old town itself is a maze of narrow stone streets and buildings. There were expensive cafes, restaurants, art galleries, souvenir shops and even a couple of museums. There are a couple of Churches and chapels, remainants of the Crusader era and a large Mosque that broadcasts a melodious morning azaan.
The Wishing Bridge. Apart from world peace, I wished for lot of money for myself. Neither came true 
Doing ‘nothing’ in Jaffa
Since I was very stressed at the end of my travels and work, I simply cooled off for two days and did nothing but hangout on the stone façades soaking the breeze from the sea.
One of my most pleasant memories was having a breakfast in a rundown eatery. It was full of cab drivers are wage workers but the food was heavenly. Simple pita bread, spiced hummus, falafel, fried eggplant and other assorted vegetables. Inspite of having similar kind of food for two weeks, this place somehow remained etched in my memory. I watched people moving stuff in carts and shouting from one end of the street to the other, signaling by hand gestures that the truck can pass. It made a great animation while writing my journal and sipping endless cups of mint tea. Occasionally someone would pass by and say hello. A simple ‘Walikum es salaam‘ reply would bring a wide grin on their faces.
On my last day
Series to be concluded in the next post.
Pictures and slideshow: Tel-Aviv and Yafo Photo Gallery
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Masada (मसादा meaning ‘fortress’) is a site of ancient palaces and fortifications on top of an isolated rock plateau overlooking the Dead Sea. After the First Jewish-Roman War a siege of the fortress by troops of the Roman Empire led to the mass suicide of Jewish rebels, who preferred death to surrender.
Masada fortress, the desert and dead sea at a distance
The Masada Story
Roman client king Herod the Great fortified Masada between 37 and 31 BCE as a refuge for himself in the event of a revolt. In 66 CE, at the beginning of the First Jewish-Roman War against the Roman Empire, a group of Jewish extremists called the Sicarii overcame the Roman garrison of Masada.
In the spring of 73 CE, the Romans successfully breached the wall of the fortress . When they entered the fortress, however, the Romans discovered that its 936 inhabitants had set all the buildings but the food storerooms ablaze and committed mass suicide rather than face certain capture, defeat, slavery or execution by their enemies.
The account of the siege of Masada was related to Josephus (the historian) by two women who survived the suicide by hiding inside a cistern along with five children, and repeated the Jewish commander’s exhortations to his followers, prior to the mass suicide, verbatim to the Romans. Because Judaism strongly discourages suicide, Josephus reported that the defenders had drawn lots and killed each other in turn, down to the last man, who would be the only one to actually take his own life. So ten men were picked to kill rest of the inhabitants and then one of those ten killed the other nine. The last man committed suicide. The Jewish commander ordered his men to destroy everything except the foodstuff to show that the defenders retained the ability to live, and so chose the time of their death over slavery.
The last Jewish resistance in the war was thus defeated and Masada fell to the Romans again.
Masada fortress
The Masada story is very dear to the Jews since this event is considered to cause a significant turn to their history in Israel. The Israel Defence Forces initiated the practice of holding the swearing-in ceremony on top of Masada of the soldiers who have completed their basic training. The ceremony ends with the declaration: “Masada shall not fall again.” (This ceremony is also held at the Western Wall)
Excavated buildings, houses, synagogue, store houses, bathhouses, a byzantine church etc.
Masada, a world heritage site, is still being excavated and restored to its past glory. This site is about an hour’s drive from Jerusalem (two hours from Tel Aviv) and is very close to the Dead sea. Dead Sea + Massada can be an ideal one day excursion. There are several tourist companies that organise these trips and it is advisable to go with them since they come with tour guides and it is easier to navigate through the Palestinian West Bank.
Entrance to the Masada. Dead sea is seen at a distance
Reference: Wikipedia
For the complete photo set, slideshow and comments, please see my Masada – Dead Sea Photo Gallery
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The conqueror, looking at his conquest Machu Picchu as viewed from Huyana Picchu looks like the Andean Condor.
Q: Why did I go to Peru?
A: To see Machu Picchu.
History: Machu Picchu (माचू पीचू meaning “Old mountain”) was constructed around 1460 AD, at the height of the Inca Empire glory. It was abandoned less than 100 years later as the Inca empire fell to the Spanish. Although the site is only 80km from Cusco the Inca capital, it was hidden from the Spanish and the outside world until 1911. Consequently this site, unlike others, was not destroyed and plundered by the colonizers. It’s an entire self-sustaining city and how the Incas built such mammoth structures on top of an inaccessible mountain is a mystery.
Machu Picchu (Fog-u Picchu) very early in the morning.
I went on the very first bus (5:30 am) from the base town Aguas Calientes, and you need to jostle with hordes of other people who also want to get on that same bus – but no point doing it other than for symbolic reasons. Why? After racing there before sunrise we found that the whole place was covered by a thick fog that did not clear until 10 am or so, haha. But that’s okay, there is so much to see.
Actually I was overwhelmed. And confused – too many things to do – Charlie in the chocolate factory!
Apart from the main Machu Pichu site, there are several interesting things that an enthusiast can do. Walk to the Sun Gate far away on one side of the site, hike to the top of Mount Machu Picchu, hike to Huyana Picchu (which is the only thing I did from this list), explore Huyana Picchu mountain and the Moon temple. The main MP site itself is extremely extremely intriguing.
Fog starting to move away
Llamas graze on the mountains and keep the grass trimmed. Natural grass cutters I walked through the sacred temples and the priests’ quarters trying to imagine how the site would be at its prime glory. I circled around their astronomical clock and wandered on the paths in the city of commons. I think its essential to read as much as you can about the place so that when you go there, everything will start making sense. OR, hire a guide 
Something at this site is strikingly noticeable even at a cursory glance: eveything is well organized. The streets, housing districts for different classes of people, storage areas, water supply, drainage etc. Making such a planned city on the top of a mountain is indeed commendable. But then, the Incas were wise planners.
A walk in the clouds
Location: The location of the city was a military secret and its deep precipices and mountains provide excellent natural defenses. From atop the cliff of Machu Picchu, there is a vertical rock face of 600 meters rising from the Urubamba River at the foot of the cliff. The city sits in a saddle between two mountains, with a commanding view down two valleys and a nearly impassable mountain at its back. It has a water supply from springs that cannot be blocked easily, and enough land to grow food for about four times as many people as ever lived there. The hillsides leading to it have been terraced, not only to provide more farmland to grow crops, but to steepen the slopes which invaders would have to ascend. There are two high-altitude routes from Machu Picchu across the mountains back to Cuzco, one through the sun gate, and the other across the Inca bridge. Both easily could be blocked if invaders should approach along them. Regardless of its original purpose, it is strategically located and readily defended.
Machu Picchu, viewed from Huayna Picchu. It is supposed to look like a brid (the Condor)
Huayna Picchu or Wayna Picchu (वायना पीचू meaning “Young Peak” in Quechuan) rises over Machu Picchu (it is 360m higher, an hour long steep hike.) According to local guides, the top of the mountain was the residence for the high priest and the local virgins (?). Every morning before sunrise, the high priest with a small group would walk to Machu Picchu to signal the coming of the new day. The Temple of the Moon, one of the three major temples in the Machu Picchu area is located on this mountain – I didn’t go there because its too far away. Only 400 visitors are allowed to hike this mountain every day, so hurry, go there first. By the time you return, Machu Picchu will be free of fog and waiting for your exploration. However by that time the morning train arrives and with it loads and loads of tourist groups Huyana Picchu offers some breathtaking views of the surroundings.
Pondering over the ruins
Machu Picchu is not a huge site (one end to opposite is just a 30 minute walk) but honestly, for someone who likes to dive down to every detail, even 9 hours are grossly insufficient to explore that place. Every stone has a story, every room has a feel.
Architecture: I’m a fan of planning and architecture but I will try to make this sound less geeky. ^_^
Most of the construction in Machu Picchu uses the classical Inca architectural style of polished dry-stone walls of regular shape. The Incas were among the best stone masons the world has seen, and many junctions in the central city are so perfect that not even a knife blade fits between the stones. Peru is a highly seismic land, and mortar-free construction was more earthquake-resistant than using mortar. The stones of the dry-stone walls built by the Incas can move slightly and resettle without the walls collapsing. Inca walls show numerous subtle design details that also help protect them from collapsing in an earthquake. The lack of strong draft animals as well as terrain and dense vegetation issues may have rendered wheels impractical. How they moved and placed enormous blocks of stones remains a mystery, although the general belief is that they used hundreds of men to push the stones up inclined planes.
The space is composed of 140 structures or features including temples, sanctuaries, parks, and residences that include houses with thatched roofs. There are more than one hundred flights of stone steps–often completely carved from a single block of granite–and a great number of water fountains that are interconnected by channels and water-drains perforated in the rock that were designed for the original irrigation system. According to archaeologists, the urban sector of Machu Picchu was divided into three great districts: (1) the Sacred District, (2) the Popular District to the south, and (3) the District of the Priests and the Nobility.
Ok, I will stop here!
Picture perfect photograph of Machu Picchu. Huyana Picchu is the tall mountain right in the front.
I thought that my trip to Peru appropriately climaxed at this juncture and I liked my route – it built up the Inca and Peruvian story bit by bit. Had I landed in Machu Picchu first, it would have been confusing. Do let me know what you think about this post and there are many more pictures in the photo gallery
For the complete photo set, slideshow and comments, please see my Machu Picchu Photo Gallery
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“Middle of Nowhere”: You might have heard this phrase, but I have actually been there!
I wanted to go to Moray and I asked my driver to let me off at the appropriate spot. He did. I got off the bus and he sped away in no time. I looked to my left:
Middle of Nowhere -1
Then I looked to my right:
Middle of Nowhere -2
Thats right, I was in the middle of nowhere. All I could see was a side road going to the middle of nowhere else.
Clearly, it was fruitless to panic, so I sat down on a big rock enjoying the views. Since there was nobody around, I started singing loudly in my unbearable sweet voice to my iPod music and reading my guidebook and lazily searching for any sign of human presence. After waiting for a while I saw a bus arriving and a Spanish-French couple got out. They had the same puzzled look on their faces that I had 20 minutes ago. – haha, amateurs!
Moray – The Agricultural Laboratory:
Moray site
Crazy Incas. Moray is noted for a large complex of unusual Inca ruins. These include most notably several enormous terraced circular depressions that were perhaps used to study the effects of different climatic conditions on crops. The depth of the pits creates a temperature gradient of as much as 15° C between the top and the bottom. As with many other Inca sites, it also has a very sophisticated irrigation system for providing the plants with water. These guys built a natural greenhouse-slash-botanical research laboratory!
That’s me at the center
Yes that’s me, and the picture is not even taken from the top. I gave my camera to the couple I met and sped down while they took the picture. It took a while to climb back, but I didn’t like the picture, so I jumped down again for the second time. pheww! Later I thought that it was futile to do this exercise anyway (I could have done it in photoshop.)
The sites are gigantic and this is only one of them. Civilizations usually construct towers, but Incas dug and went inside the earth. Thinking out of the box?
Stairs, Inca architecture, prevalent at most sites including Machu Picchu.
Salinas – Salt pans on a mountain:
Salinas
Bizarre. A spring with salty water was discovered in the mountains surrounding the valley. The Incas built salt pans to harvest salt from them. And guess what, these salt mines are still operational! There are about 3000 odd cubicles where water is evaporated to get salt. This salt is iodized and sold as specialty salt to North America and Europe. When I asked what was special about the salt, the guy at the desk answered, “Very good salt.” hmm.
Salinas
These sites were my last activities in the Sacred Valley. This was the last native Peruvian thing I saw and what a fantastic way to end this trip These are off beat locations and the standard tours don’t visit here, so its very quiet. Oh wait, the trip is not yet over, there are 3 (or maybe 4) more posts.
Salt. Any palmists? Please tell me that my future is filled with travels! Well I know it is. 
For the complete photo set, slideshow and comments, please see my Moray and Salinas – Sacred Valley Photo Gallery
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FoodEver since some European backpackers told me in broken English that “We make pictures at Penis temple”, I was curious to check that place out.
Inka Uyo
It’s a rock, it’s a farm, it’s an erect penis! The Inka Uyo
Chucuito (चुकुअीतो) is a little village about 18 km south of Puno along the coast of Lake Titicaca. There is nothing much to see here except for an archeological site called “Inca Uyo” (अीन्का अुयो). “Uyo”, in Quechuan (one of the original ‘native’ language of central Andes and the second largest spoken languages in Peru) literally means ‘penis’.
Dedicated to that idea, was the ancient Temple of Fertility at Chukuito. The site contains dozens of mushroom shaped erect penises few feet long. They are symbolically pointing towards the Inti (Sun God) and Pacha mama (Mother Earth).
A penis, hard as a rock, symbolically mating with Pacha mama, the Mother Earth
Someone told me that on specific days, virgin women arrive here at night, perform rituals to the God of fertility and sit on the phalluses. It is a symbolic ritual to increase their fertility.
A fake site?
Temple of Fertility
I was surprised that the Spanish left this site intact while they destroyed most of other Incan/Pagan temples. Infact, there is a large colonial church right next to this temple! The other thing I observed (and is quite obvious) was that the penises were circumcised… something that the Incas did not do. Some articles question the authenticity of the temple in its current form, although the authenticity of the stones itself is not questioned. Someone might just have rearranged and touristified what was otherwise a broken temple.
I purchased some phallic souvenirs and came back to Puno.
Look! A foreigner
Me and a school boy in a Combi
Traveling with local people in the crowded Combi was the best part of this journey. They were all staring at me, watching my every action, and even laughing at my broken Spanish. Earlier that day, a roadside banana seller told me in Spanish how to go to Chucoito (I was nodding as if I understood everything). From the local Collectivo stop in Puno, a ride to Chucuito costs only Uno (one) sol. The lady money collector however was teasing me and asking for “Uno Americano Dólar, Señor” (अुनो अामेरीकान्यो दोलर, सेन्योर) while I went “Si” (सी=yes) and joined the laughter.
A Collectivo could be any vehicle such as a bus, mini van or a car that is used for public transport. Specifically, a Combi is a shared taxi. The driver will wait until the vehicle is full and then leave. Often he will stuff more people in. Combi’s in Peru are the same as ‘Tuk-Tuk’ or ‘Phat-Phat’ (or any other names I dont know) in India or ‘Sherut’ in Israel or ‘Marshrutka’ in Russia or ‘Jitney’ in US/Canada.
Inside a Combi just before it got too crowded. Women are usually seen wearing round hats.
The rest of the town is pretty much typical – A Plaza de Armas, Churches, few shops around and houses and fields.
Colonial Church at the Plaza de Armas, Chucuito
For the complete photo set, slideshow and comments, please see my Puno Photo Gallery
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