[This blog written by Ethan Collings Hawkins]So, officially, I'm not in Bhutan anymore, but I'm still going to talk about it. One weekend we went camping and rafting. Even Kai and Noah did it! We rode class three waves, with some 4's thrown in. We made a gigantic sandcastle kingdom. There was an eddy beside the river where I made my largest sandcastle ever. It was 3-4 feet tall, 2-3 feet width. Then it rained and the river rose overnight, ..........(*sniff*). I played volleyball (feet style), archery, frisbee and darts. I was really good at darts, and tied with a "master". Let's say experienced. One time I was losing, so I threw the dart really hard, and it went through the ground and hit the part that is in the ground. It still counted though. There is a picture of me throwing a dart by the river at the top of the blog. In archery, well I was never really good at it. We hiked up to a chorten that I think is called, BUM-BUM-BUM.... The Dark Room of Evil Demons That Like Eating Human Shish Kabobs. We walked up to the very top of the chorten, with each of the demons glaring at us all the while. An Ethan paradise. It was a very tiring hike. Dad, who was carrying a 1,000,000 ton backpack looked like he dove in a swimming pool. It looks really cool in the night when lights shine all over it.
Another day, we hiked up to the most famous monastery in Bhutan. It is called Tiger's Nest. It is built right on the side of the cliff. When you walk in the temple, you can see the side of the cliff through the walls. Where the side of the cliff is there is no wall. There is a waterfall on one side too. There is a picture of it at the top of this blog.
The story of Tiger's Nest is that these people were taking a statue to another monastary. When they got there the statue spoke and said, "Hey buddy, what the heck am I doing over here?!? I should be over at Tiger's Nest!" The people almost lost it and the statue said, "Well a fellow is going to pick me up and carry me the rest of the way, so sup and rest easy pilgrims." So the "fellow" came along from Tibet and carried him to Tiger's Nest. Then he meditated there for three months, then gracefully flew or rode on a TIGER back to Tibet.
I think I'm overloading this, so I'm going to stop now. See you all soon in the States.
