Birds Flyin' High...: Thimpu to Punakha

Our first stop on Day 2, was at a Memorial to the 3rd King of Bhutan. You'd think this might be a bit boring but far from it! It was a magnificent Buddhist stupa and there were probably around 100 pilgrims circumnavigating the base, rolling hand-held prayer wheels or rubbing prayer beads (said to bring good karma). There were also some very large prayer wheels near the entrance to the grounds, with people sitting beneath them, keeping them constantly turning.

The King's Memorial

Pilgrims circumnavigating the stupa (most in national dress)

Sometimes it feels intrusive to be watching and taking photos when people are worshipping but it wasn't like that at all here - everyone was really warm and welcoming, smiling at us and saying hello. One man even asked me to take his photo! The majority of other tourists are a fair bit older than us (presumably due to the expense!) so we attracted a fair bit of curious attention.

A pilgrim spins the giant prayer wheel in the grounds of the King's Memorial

Next we visited a giant Buddha statue on a nearby hill overlooking the capital. The complex is still under construction but the statue is said to be the largest Buddha in the world.

Big Buddha

Views over Thimpu

Next stop was an animal sanctuary where they care for takins - the national animal of Bhutan. The takin is said to have been created by the Divine Madman (more on him later), using the head of a goat and the body of a cow! Apparently there was once a zoo in Thimpu but it didn't fit with the Gross National Happiness concept so the animals were released back into the wild. However the takins didn't want to go and just hung around the town trying to find food, and so eventually they were put into this sanctuary!

Takin

We then made a quick stop at a nunnery, each taking care to rotate all of the prayer wheels as we passed clockwise around the building before entering. Inside, the altar was covered in bowls and baskets of offerings - mostly bags of crisps! (These are blessed and then distributed to the needy). There were also burning butter lamps and elaborately decorated ritual cakes. We were given some holy water which we had to sip and then touch on our forehead and run through our hair.

Nuns (with shaved heads) spinning prayer wheels at the nunnery

Just before lunch we stopped at a Folk Museum which was in the form of a traditional Bhutanese farmhouse, so gave us a good insight into how the country people used to live. Then lunch, which of course involved more chillies! We also tried butter tea, which was like a salty, buttery soup and was eaten with dried cereal snacks. Pretty good!

Butter tea with cereal snacks

After lunch we visited our second dzong, Tashichho Dzong at Thimpu. This is the most important dzong in the country as it houses the King's throne room and offices and during summer, is the residence of the Chief Abbott (the most senior religious figure in Bhutan).

Tashichho Dzong, Thimpu

The Dzong

Inner walls, adorned with religious paintings

The King! I haven't even mentioned the King yet!! Bhutan has been a monarchy for just over 100 years and the royal family are pretty much worshipped here. Pictures of the young King and his beautiful wife hang in every shop, restaurant and home. I was merely intrigued by the way the people hold him in such reverence, but of course it turned into a running joke that my interest in him was a little less than innocent! We did ask Ring if we could meet him for tea but apparently this wasn't in the schedule. The Royal family are very accessible to the people though, and apparently they can often be seen driving around Thimpu (their cars have the number-plate, BHUTAN, so they're not too hard to identify!).

Just playing along with the "king obsession" joke...

After the dzong we made a quick stop at the local fruit and veg market before heading back to the hotel. In the evening we went out for dinner with Ring and Ten, which was really good fun. After being quite serious on Day 1, Ring was now starting to show his true colours and began regaling us with jokes, impersonations and ridiculous dance moves. He's a bit like a cheeky, hyperactive kid and we automatically took on the role of parents! Luckily we also had Ten to keep things sane! I was really happy that we had young, fun guides though - it made it feel like a bit of a road trip with friends, rather than a guided tour.

Dinner with Ring (next to Emm) and Ten (next to me)

The next day we drove around three hours to the district of Punakha. On the way there, we stopped at Dochu La, one of the highest mountain passes. We wished to erect a string of white prayer flags, which are hosted in honour of the dead. It is said that when the wind blows through them it helps to guide their souls to the next life. We thought this would be a nice thing to do, but we didn't realise that it wasn't as straight-forward as it sounded! Firstly, the flags must be consecrated by a monk before being hosted. Rushing around the shops the previous evening we'd discovered that many of the flags on sale had not yet been consecrated (again, it's a wonderful thing that the shop-keepers were conscientious enough to admit to that!). We finally found some, but we then had to make sure that it was not an inauspicious astrological date for hosting prayer flags! After a fair bit of research on the part of our guides and their various friends and family members, we determined that the stars were in our favour and we could go ahead as planned!

The Dochu La Pass: 108 stupas and a LOT of mist

Emm and I wrote out the names of lost loved ones and Ring translated them into Dzongkha and wrote a name on each flag. We then tied the string of flags up on the top of the hill, along with the hundreds of other flags. It was a really nice moment.

Ring translating the names... one per flag

Emm ties up one end of the string of flags

The wind blowing through our white prayer flags, sending the souls of our loved ones on their way

We visited another, more modern, monastery here and then stopped for tea, before continuing on to another village for lunch.

Action shot (Ring also fancies himself as a photographer)

Another very unusual aspect of Bhutanese culture is that the houses are very often decorated with paintings of phalluses... said to ward off evil spirits! It's in honour of the Lama Drukpa Kunley, otherwise known as the Divine Madman, who lived in the 15th century. This revered lama practised a somewhat unorthodox form of Buddhism which involved drinking beer, sleeping with countless women, and subduing a cannibal demoness in Punakha, using his enormous “magic thunderbolt of wisdom.” I kid you not. You'll often see a wooden phallus hanging from the eaves of a house too.

Village restaurant

Village house

The tree is decorated with prayer flags and other lucky "talismans"

In the afternoon we visited Punakha Dzong, the most beautiful dzong we'd seen. It was located at the confluence of the Pho Chhu (father) and Mo Chhu (mother) rivers and was surrounded by lilac jacaranda trees. Inside the monastery we sat and listened to Ring tell us the story of Buddha. The walls were adorned with paintings recounting his life.