Flying High

15th February 2016
Arriving at Paro Airport


My timely check in at Paro Airport resulted in a very comfortable seat: the window seat on the right hand side of the plane in the premium economy section immediately behind the bulkhead. Ideal for spectacular views of the Himalayas. Together with a clear sky, this promised mountain views to build on those of the previous day's flight from Bumthang to Paro.

The views were brilliant, with a quick look at Mount Johlmari and Bhutan's other high peaks before the bigger Himalayan peaks, Kilimanjaro and Everest, came into view. 

My being glued to my window was interrupted only by my neighbours trying to shove their cameras in front of my face with a perfunctory "excuse me". This invasion of my personal space finally got too much when the woman in the isle seat not only moved into my foot space but also tried to move herself largely into my seating space and I responded with my best British policeman "stop" hand signal. 

I resumed my being glued to the window and snapping photo opportunities, many of which were blurred, a combination of zoom lens and slightly bumpy flight not really conducive to perfectly clear pictures. 

Eventually the Himalayas disappeared from my view and we started our descent to the transit stop of Mumbai. 

Back in the air, the smog layer became pronounced and continued all the way to Thailand. Glimpses of the huge river delta area that is Bangladesh was a reminder of the vulnerability of areas such as this to the effects of global warming. 

The landing at Bangkok was a sharp reminder that I was no longer in Bhutan. There were more airplanes at the airport than I would usually see cars in Kheni in a week. And it seemed that there were as many people in the airport as in the whole of Bhutan.

This reminder was reinforced as we drove from the airport, towards Bangkok along a multi laned highway that broadened to 8 lanes in one direction at one point. This contrasted sharply with the approach to Paro airport, which was under (re)construction and was as rough as some of the treacherous mountain roads elsewhere in the country.