Our Bhutan guide Pema (his name means pure, lotus, or enlightenment) met us at one of the world's trickiest airport nestled among high Himalaya mountain ranges. The only way to enter Bhutan is by its national airline Drukair which only has 6 airplanes and a handful of certified pilots. The hotel Tashi Namgyel Resort is near the airport and has a fantastic view. It is on top of the hill and the high altitude did slow us down a little. It probably will take us a day or two to get use to it and catch our breath.

Our tour started at the National museum in Paro which gave us a good overview of Bhutan's history, environment, geography and a permanent exhibition of all the masks we will be seeing at the Paro Festival . The museum itself is a magnificent round stone watchtower built in 1649.

The Tshechu's of Bhutan are magical. The Paro festival is being held at the plaza of Rinchenpung Dzong ( fortress). Mask Dances are performed at the festival to convey religious messages to all the spectators. During the dances all evil spirits are suppressed so that the teaching of Buddha flourishes and brings joy and happiness to all human beings. Taking part in a Tshechu supposedly brings blessings to the person and removes bad karma. Among all the colorfully attired masked dancers, there are several red faced clowns who not only entertain the audience with jokes and crazy antics but also collect money for charity. One clown cornered Ray and engaged in a mock fight and got some money from him. Pema told us this is also the place women show off their best Kiras. I took pictures of some beautiful ladies and an engaging young couple. The Bhutanese are very easygoing and also very attractive.

We had our first Bhutanese meal which consisted of stewed chicken, rice, potatoes, mixed vegetables and cabbage. For tourists that is OK but we were disappointed that we didn't have a chance to try the famous fiery chili cheese hot pepper national dish "ema datsi". We were , however, able to convince Pema to take us to some local restaurant for Bhutanese Momos (dumplings) dishes and they were very good.

At our last day in Paro, we met some visitors who attended the same festival but on its 5 th and last day. Not only they saw the unfurl of the Donka (the sacred giant painting) but they also saw the King and the Queen who also attended the event. If we ever come back for festival, the last day probably will be a better day than the first day.