Daylight Savings Time in Wangdue and the Return to Paro

I was using my phone for a clock and when I got up this morning it said it was still only 4am, which was strange as I was normally sleeping a little later. I tried to go back to sleep without any luck so I got up and headed down to the hotel’s coffee and tea hut, just outside my room. At first I thought, wow it’s pretty light out, but then thought, well we did drive nine hours through the mountains yesterday. Maybe we are lower, maybe there are not as many mountains to block the sunrise so it gets lite earlier.


I saw John, from the other group, at the coffee stand and said "Good morning, looks like you are up early as well". He said he and his wife had been getting up at this time normally, but this was the first hotel to have coffee, so they normally stayed in their room until later. I got my coffee and walked back to my room, and that is when it sunk in, I bet my phone automatically went back an hour for daylight savings time. There was no network here for my phone to sync with so it was just falling behind based on the specific date. Sure enough I went back to the coffee hut and found a clock, I was one hour behind. I hurried back in order to turn on my shower to give it enough time to get warm before breakfast, and 10 minutes later I got in.

I packed up everything and went down for one last breakfast with the group. I would be heading to Paro today, while they would be stopping in Thimphu. We exchanged emails and said our goodbyes. I found this on the window of the office while checking out and asked my guide what it was. It looked like some kind of bug leaf, but it was not moving. He went and asked someone at the front desk who basically said it was some kind of leaf bug, but it was still not moving. I was starting to think it was fake and some kind of joke they played on their guests, so I went to pick it up. Turns out it was in fact real, and can split what looks like a leaf in to two wings and fly, and is pretty quick. However, when properly motivated, I’m pretty quick as well. Once everyone stopped laughing at me we got in the car and took off for Paro.


We drove through Thimphu and finally arrived at Paro. I checked in to my hotel, which overlooked the airport.


I wanted to take it easy and relax a little. I had a beer and my guide joined me for an amazing five course meal, including beef. I returned to my room, took this picture, and then laid in bed and turned on the first TV I have seen in a while.


It was refreshing to see what was going on in the world, and even more refreshing to watch a legitimate news program on both Al Jazeera and RT. Instead of the largely bias and mostly made up bullshit we are spoon fed in the US. With a greater appreciation that there is a whole world out there, I drifted off to sleep.