The wife vs. the mother, Bhutan |1|

We’re back from a trip in Bhutan, which I really want to document properly on BozAround. It will be mainly through photos as I took sooo many, and they will tell much more about this beautiful country than my own words. Bhutan is roughly the size of Switzerland, squeezed between China and India high up in the Himalayas. The country is a monarchy with a much-loved young king, and the youngest democracy in the world. It’s well known for being a very safe place to travel, dotted with buddhist temples all over, and with a strong identity of its own. It’s also a haven for outdoor activities, especially trekking and biking. It’s not an ideal place to go with young children (high altitude, very long and bumpy roads, lots of hiking), hence we decided to make it a “just the 2 of us”…but it did not go exactly as planned (when does it with children??!?).

We were going to travel for 2 weeks without the children (a first!!). I was very worried to leave but Ceki insisted, so the wife won over the mother. All was perfectly organised in my absence, each minute carefully planned for the 3 of them, looked after with love and care by my mother at our own house. But…we had to rush back home (in London) after 1 week of travelling. Our little baby was taken to the hospital for a couple days. All is well that ends well and he has now recovered. However, it was a huge stress to be 2 days and 2 flights away from him.  By the way, at only 9 months he communicated his sadness & angriness very well when he saw me again. He literally did not look at me, did not want to come to my arms, nothing, for the first (dreading long) 30minutes! I learnt my lesson the hard way. And although I have a section on the blog titled “Just the 2 of us”, don’t count on it for now. I won’t add destinations after Bhutan. Motherhood will prevail and travel will be proper family travel from now on!! No more thinking we can pack and go on the road just like that when we have 3 children at home. I’m 40 and the reality has finally hit me. Am I being too dramatic?

Ps: the photo on top is of buddhist flags which you see everywhere in Bhutan, hanging in “inauspicious” places (such as a mountain pass, or where 2 rivers meet), protecting a sacred place, bringing luck to a family home… The 2nd photo is of the massive golden buddha which looks over the capital Timphu.