AMANKORA BHUTAN UPDATE

THE LAND OF THE THUNDER DRAGON

The Inner Silence Meditation retreat in Bhutan with Amankora took me to this exotic country once again. I was surprised to see so much new construction in the cities. Although the forward-thinking Government in Bhutan has stipulated that all construction should be in the traditional architectural style, it hurt my creative eye to see the wannabe colours and new carvings on the buildings.

Amankora

Amankora, however remains the same. Despite the fire in the Thimpu lodge everything was as beautiful and as peaceful as it has always been.

Their young dynamic new Spa Manager, Alexander Ivanov, had already very kindly prepared the logistics for my arrival and has given the spa a new face.

As usual we started our journey in Thimpu where a couple of my guests had arrived a day earlier. Every morning we started with Zen Walking and Inner Silence Meditations. The meditations were designed to take us progressively deeper into ourselves to discover our Inner Silence, and going beyond our physical bodies, our breath and our minds.

The first night Rinpoche Mynak gave us a broad overview of Buddhism and The Four Noble Truths. He spoke to us about the lineage of the Shabdrung, Bhutan's first pioneering monk, who gave the country a structural educational system together with a spiritual tradition, that would withhold values into their daily lives. He was responsible for building the beautiful Dzongs that are strategically placed on cliff tops and riversides, standing tall and foreboding in their architectural beauty.

At the Thimpu lodge, Thayl was the visiting Therapist at the Spa for the month of May.

Amankora have unique way of offering spa services in their five lodges.  For example, if I liked Thayl's treatment, I could call for him to any of their lodges. He would travel between 2-4 hours across the country just for me! This is why I love Amankora style. Nothing is too much of a problem to keep their guests happy.  It makes them so special.

The way Thayl treated my body was unique. It required me to receive it whole heartedly with total abandon. His long effleurage strokes embraced the length of my whole body as never before. He then moved to a deeper tissue massage using his elbow in strategic places along the sides of my spine. He told me he worked intuitively and listened to what the clients body was telling him through the movements. He sure listened to my body and claimed it with great confidence. He left me longing for more!

In Thimpu we spent a morning walking up to Cherie Monastery, where local monks go for study before they are ordained. This is always a nice hike up to the mountains in preparation for the final pilgrimage to Tigers Nest in Paro.

At the Thimpu spa Alex was just finishing a training session for a group of blind therapists. Every country that I have been with Aman, I have always been impressed with the way they embrace the local culture into their CSR.  I watched the training for a while and continued on for my relaxing hot stone massage.





Aman spas have their own signature treatments at every lodge as well as a choice of fragraces to suit your mood. I opted for the relaxing lavender bergamot and cedarwood. It was gorgeous.

After two nights in Thimpu we were on our way to my favourite Aman lodge in Gangtey Valley. A very luxurious picnic was laid out for us on the way.

Ready to go!

Picnic on the way to Gangtey

Dochu La Pass on the way to Gangtey

Arriving in Gangtey always takes my breath away.

Gangtey Lodge

Yoga in the morning overlooking the Valley

Making our own Tsa Tsas

Cow jumped over the moon!

The vastness of the valley, watching the stoic Dzong atop a cliff, Aman's charming little lodge with firewood stacked in every corner it seems like the right place for our Inner Silence Meditations

Gangtey Monastery

Nice set up by Alex for our meditations!

During our meditations here, the Tibetan singing bowls seemed to resonate more loudly. Zen walking in the valley amidst the wildflowers and making our own clay casted Tsa Tsas helped to go inward more. Nature has its own ability to silence us. A day in Gangtey was spent walking mindfully through the entire valley.

I love the wildflowers in this valley

My hot stone bath in the potato shed

And here is also my favourite Himalayan Hot Stone bath in the potato shed. The hot stone bath is a traditional Bhutanese healing treatment where natural river stones are heated and lowered into the bath to release beneficial minerals while local Khempa herb infuses the water with its healing properties. 

Shed owner preparing the stones for my bath

The bath is followed by an invigorating Himalayan Salt scrub to remove the dead skin cells and re-energise your body and 60 minutes oil massage concentrating on tired muscles and joints. You cant get more 

authentic than that. 

Preparing my bath

The same old lady, owner of the shed, personally lifts the red hot stones and drops them in my bath water. The water temperatue is controlled by the number of hot stones in the bath.  

This is my most favourite spa treatment in the world. I love sitting in my tub looking out into the vast valley. 

Yup thats me

Soon its time for us to leave for Punakha.

The stunning Punakha  Dzong

Wish fulfilling bridge

As we travel through the mountains and valleys of this beautiful country, our Inner work is helping us to go more silent. To reflect, to change and to make some resolutions going forward. The Inner Silence begins to set in and a good therapy in their spa is much appreciated after the long walk to the  temple of the Divine Madman.

Playful monks

The Aman lodge in Punakha is specially charming because it is a traditional farmhouse that has been converted with extensions for the living and accommodation areas.




The spa is part of this old farmhouse. The little outdoor courtyard is a great place to watch the fireflies at night. Next day we signed in for a picnic by the river . But it started to rain so hard we had to picnic under the umbrellas!! But Aman style anything is possible and stylish!

The most unusal picnic!

I like keeping the visit to Chimi Lakhang as a surprise. It bowls people over so Im not going to write too much about it but here is a peek!!

Finally on our last leg at Paro. I was happy to see Thayl and Alex again.

The boys- Alex, Bradlie and Thayl

Our pilgrimage to Tiger's Nest on the final day was the highlight of our stay in Aman Paro.

Off we go!

Rain was threatening to prevent us from going to the top but with all our prayers put together, the clouds parted and not only did we get to the top, we even caught a beautiful sighting of Bhutan's highest snow-capped mountain Jomolhari.

A thousand butter lamps

Mount Jomolhari

In between our Inner Silence Meditations, I had promised Alex I would give the entire spa staff an hour of Sound healing with my Tibetan Singing Bowls. The staff had been so supportive all through our journey and this was definitely a way to thank them for all their hard work with my group. His best Therapist ,Wang, also gave me a Trekkers Massage, a final complement to a long day of walking, using stimulating peppermint and rosemary oils to soothe and uplift my tired body!

Our final days in Bhutan were spent understanding the Four Noble Truths and the Eight Verses of Mind Transformation and recapping on how to reach and access our Inner Silence through the buzz and activities of the "monkey mind." Lots of tools were given to continue the practice at home.

Bradlie, the general Manager at the hotel miraculously got us a permit to host a dinner for us within the "haunted" ruins of the Drukgyel Dzong which made a great farewell to our Inner Silence Meditation Journey in the Land of the Thunder Dragon!

Drukyel Dzong

And now getting ready for the next journey. Coming anyone??

Recommendation: None . It  was perfect!