Should I or shouldn't I?
I have almost arranged a trip to Bhutan. I need to do something to shake myself out of my doldrums - and Bhutan seems just the thing.
I have liked the sound of the kingdom of Bhutan ever since I'd heard about it on a TV programme about happiness a year or so ago. In Bhutan there are no plastic bags, no traffic lights and no soap operas on the TV. Happiness counts - and I would like to see what such a place is like.
However, I am apprehensive. Before when I've arranged my research trips to remote places I've gone alone. And although I have enjoyed it I have to admit that I have spent a lot of the time terrified.
What would happen if I lost my sense of direction, I'd think, as I took a little stroll along some marshy bit of tundra to see a calving iceberg. How long would it take people to realise I was missing if I twisted my ankle in this gully? And is this the right bus? Am I sure? Did that man understand my rubbishy Spanish and my little diagram? Now are we going north or south? To Bariloche or south to Chile?
So this time I am planning to join a Lonely Planet little number and everything is arranged - A night in Calcutta and then a Bhutanese plane to Chomolhari base camp and a trek in the Himalayas on the Bhutanese-Tibetan border national park... And the two-man tents; yaks to carry our gear; down jackets and insulated sleeping bags... It all sounds fine to me in the morning but in the middle of the night I wake and think about it and it sounds more like an ordeal. What if my tent companion snores? What if I do? And is too indelicate of me to ask about latrines?
Having decided to go I find myself resorting to finding reasons why I can't:
(i) It's too self-indulgent.
Well it's either that or the mental hospital, says HS (and yes, dear blog-reader, things have got almost that bad);
(ii) I am not fit enough.
Nope, there's still time - only 3-4 aerobic activities a week for 4 months and the trip's in October;
(iii) the medical insurance will be extortionate.
No, it's not. Trekking doesn't count as harzardous;
(iv) Right knee is a bit dodgy.
No, it'll be fine says my wonderful doctor (who is enthusiastic and seems to think this is just what I need) - if I do the exercises he is demonstrating I shall have no trouble at all;
(v) my slight asthma then...surely if the air is thin...?
No problem - just take your medication - and go to the asthma clinic - you're two years overdue.
(vi) Too late for injections?
Nope, plenty of time for those too;
(vii) HS and HM will miss me.
No we won't!
Well, you could object a bit...
If you don't take this chance now, maybe you never will.
So I shall..
Well, maybe...
I have liked the sound of the kingdom of Bhutan ever since I'd heard about it on a TV programme about happiness a year or so ago. In Bhutan there are no plastic bags, no traffic lights and no soap operas on the TV. Happiness counts - and I would like to see what such a place is like.
However, I am apprehensive. Before when I've arranged my research trips to remote places I've gone alone. And although I have enjoyed it I have to admit that I have spent a lot of the time terrified.
What would happen if I lost my sense of direction, I'd think, as I took a little stroll along some marshy bit of tundra to see a calving iceberg. How long would it take people to realise I was missing if I twisted my ankle in this gully? And is this the right bus? Am I sure? Did that man understand my rubbishy Spanish and my little diagram? Now are we going north or south? To Bariloche or south to Chile?
So this time I am planning to join a Lonely Planet little number and everything is arranged - A night in Calcutta and then a Bhutanese plane to Chomolhari base camp and a trek in the Himalayas on the Bhutanese-Tibetan border national park... And the two-man tents; yaks to carry our gear; down jackets and insulated sleeping bags... It all sounds fine to me in the morning but in the middle of the night I wake and think about it and it sounds more like an ordeal. What if my tent companion snores? What if I do? And is too indelicate of me to ask about latrines?
Having decided to go I find myself resorting to finding reasons why I can't:
(i) It's too self-indulgent.
Well it's either that or the mental hospital, says HS (and yes, dear blog-reader, things have got almost that bad);
(ii) I am not fit enough.
Nope, there's still time - only 3-4 aerobic activities a week for 4 months and the trip's in October;
(iii) the medical insurance will be extortionate.
No, it's not. Trekking doesn't count as harzardous;
(iv) Right knee is a bit dodgy.
No, it'll be fine says my wonderful doctor (who is enthusiastic and seems to think this is just what I need) - if I do the exercises he is demonstrating I shall have no trouble at all;
(v) my slight asthma then...surely if the air is thin...?
No problem - just take your medication - and go to the asthma clinic - you're two years overdue.
(vi) Too late for injections?
Nope, plenty of time for those too;
(vii) HS and HM will miss me.
No we won't!
Well, you could object a bit...
If you don't take this chance now, maybe you never will.
So I shall..
Well, maybe...
posted by Clare Dudman at 7:01 pm
15 Comments:
Yes.
No. But that's me, isn't it? I prefer to pound my pillow into a comfortable shape at home.
Ha, equal votes so far! Thank you both (Susan - I may take my pillow with me - I am fussy like that - as long as it fits on the yak).
Definitely go! I saw that program on happiness and would love to go to Bhutan. They seem so amazingly cool, and I've never met (or even heard of) anyone I know who has been there. You sold me on the "no plastic bags", that's my current obsession. I take my own bags everywhere I go shopping but Jerusalem shopkeepers eye me warily and can't restrain their urge to give me a brand new bag at several points during each transaction.
So go - for me! - and report back. Are they really that happy?
Tania
It sounds wonderful, if rather strenuous. Aah if I were 20 years younger...
GO!
I definitely think you should go, if for no other reason than the selfish one to see Bhutan vicariously through your reportage of it. It's a country I'd very much like to visit as well.
Clare,
Do go. You will forget all about the annoyances and frustrations of a life shared with publishers!
My husband has a global positioning unit that fits inside a pocket. Sounds like you could use one. (And then you can go all over the world looking for secret caches, as the gps addicts do.)
You Know What I Think.
But the rest of us don't know what you think, Jan! What's your vote? (It looks like Clare will be going, doesn't it...?)
Jan votes, yes, Susan. I'm still wavering. I'm just so tired at the moment - I'm finding it difficult to think straight.
If it's simply a quest for 'happiness', then it's no use looking anywhere other than at home, I think. I suppose my opinion has been shaped by what I've observed in my nearest and dearest...
I love going to forgin countries by myself to, but meeting up with someone when I get there, so I think your loney guide group is the perfect balance for safty and solitude. It sounds like the best of both.
How fantastic this sounds. I am going to write tonigh about a experiece I had with San Marino today. I found myself saying sometime I would like to go there.
I would also like to Islands hop in the aegean sea.
If I was thinking of going to Bhutan I would be having the exact same (and I know I've used two words there when one word would've done ... I think it's because I'm looking for emphasis)internal dialogue.
It's something to do with facing the fear of the unknown isn't it? The key question I'd be asking myself is: Will I be disappointed with myself if I don't go?
And I'd probably be also looking forward to that sense of achievement after having done it. Also - you've done it before, so YOU DO KNOW YOU CAN DO IT!
Thank you for your votes! Much appreciated. I am still deliberating but shall make my mind up soon.
Should!
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