Castle of the White Bird!

After breakfast, before heading to Bumthang from Trongsa, we visited the Trongsa small town and visited the watch tower of Trongsa. This watch tower has been converted into a museum by the king. We had to walk up the stairs to Trongsa, and we have to walk slowly to prevent getting breathless. 

I was impressed by this museum, as it contains several buddhas, Buddha statues (both peaceful and wrathful forms), relics, sacred texts, costumes, some textiles, weapons, ritual tools, items used by past Bhutan kings and many more. There is a detailed and comprehensive description against each items which give quite a good introduction to each items, so our guide need not be besides us to explain everything. 

Just by visiting this museum, you can get a good introduction to the tradition, culture and history of Bhutan. You are not allowed to bring any cameras or recording devices into this museum. After visiting the museum, we drove about 2 hours to Bumthang. We visited the Bhutanese carpet factory along the way, and we bought some handicraft gifts from the shop. Here they use yak and sheep wool and even pure silk to weave different carpets and Bhutanese textiles. 

After lunch and checking into our Bumthang, we visited the Jakar Dzong (Jakar means white birds), so this Dzong literally means “The Castle of White Bird”. We make offerings at some of the small temples inside this Dzong, and climbed some amazing very steep staircase. 

Inside one of the temples belonging to the local deity, I received a divination using dice from one of the monks inside this temple. Yippie!

Mysterious black hat dance!

After early breakfast, we set off as early as 730am. We were told there would be some road blocks due to heavy construction along the highway and we need to be at specific timing to cross the highway. 

As such we by pass Wangdiphodrang and went straight to Gangtey Gompa. The journey from Punakha to Trongsa took about 5 hours, and I consider it tedious! We have to drive through narrow mountain roads which seem to be able to only allow one vehicle to pass through at one time. Imagine trying to squeeze pass a big lorry or big truck coming from the opposite direction! 

And there were so many invisible turns and winding roads that it can make you giddy easily if you are not used to travelling on mountain roads. We even pass by clouds; it was so cold! So you can imagine how high we were! Gangtey valley is beautiful. The familiar brown and white houses look like tiny lego toy houses from far away. We spotted some yaks along the way and took some pictures. We welcomed any breaks from the long drive on the mountain road along the way and had lunch at Chendebji restaurant. 

When we finally arrive at Trongsa, it was nearly 3:00pm. We decided to check into our hotel and went straight to visit  Trongsa Dzong, built in its present form by Chogyal Minjur Tempa, and were lucky to witness an auspicious lama dance called the black hat dance, as it was a government holiday today to celebrate the coronation (crowning) of the present king. 

The lamas at the dzong were ordered to perform some (long life) blessing ceremonies and black hat dance to bless the present king with long life.

Sacred place on Earth!

After early breakfast, we drove to Punakha. Along the way, we stopped to take some pictures of a Dzong, and met some cute Bhutanese children. 

We took some cool pictures with them! I made the wrong choice of bringing my small jacket along with me, because as we pass by Dochula Pass, we stop by to see the 108 Bhutanses Stupas. It was high up in the mountains, and thus was very cold! There, with the help of our guide and driver, we hang up our long life prayer flags that we had originally gotten for our parents from one of the Bhutanese temples. 

We are unable to see the Himalayan ranges since it was very cloudy that day. Instead we walk round the stupas. The stupas were built by a noble family during the time when Indian terrorists were invading some parts of Bhutan a long time ago, according to the story as told by our guide. Next we continued our journey to Punakha, and from Thimphu to there, it took us about 2 hours to reach. 

We had lunch at one of the local restaurant before taking a short trek up to a temple called the Chimi Lhakhang. Chimi means dog. 

There is this story about the dog and the divine madman. Once upon a time the divine madman met a cowboy with his cow while traveling from Tibet to Bhutan. The cowboy looked very sad and depressed, and the divine madman asked him what was happening. The cowboy told him he was very afraid and fearful that he would not be able to make it back home in time. 

The divine madman told him not to worry and with his miraculous powers, he made the cowboy go to sleep, and the next moment the cowboy woke up, he found himself safely back at home. The cow was with the divine madman as he promised the cowboy he would bring the cow back to his home himself. During that night, the divine madman tied the cow under a tree while he himself climbed up to the peak of the tree.

Some demons smelled the smell of fresh meat and came to the tree. The divine madman subdued the demons with his magical instruments and transformed the demon into a dog. Then he pulled the dog to where the location of the Chimi Lhakhang (Chimi temple) was and buried the dog under a stupa that he built himself. 

Later, the divine madman’s brother built a temple next to the stupa, and this was how the Chimi Lhakhang (Chimi meaming dog) came into existence. During the trek we walk through humble nice farmhouses, vast plains of rice fields, saw many dogs running around and cows resting on the rice fields. Inside Chimi temple, we received blessings from the magical instruments belonging to the divine madman, and the interesting thing is the ‘magical instrument’s are shaped like men penis!

These are the exact magical tools used by the divine madman himself to subdue the demons, and in many Bhutanese houses of today, you could still see these pictures of ‘penis’, originated from the divine madman. We also get a chance to see the bow and arrow belonging to the divine madman and which he brought from Tibet when he came over to Bhutan.

Next, we drove about 20 minutes to our hotel  (Hotel Meripusnsum) and checked in. The hotel is like a resort built high up in a mountain. After check in, we visited the Punakha Dzong. The Dzong is situated between the two rivers – the male river and the female river and are one of the biggest river in Bhutan. 

We walked through the suspension bridge to reach the Dzong. The whole building was rebuilt in 2003 as the original building has almost half of its walls destroyed by a terrible flood many years before 2003. The Dzong was said to be built in 1637 by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (a saint said to unite Bhutan and chosen the first king of Bhutan) and is situated between the Pho Chu (male river) and the Mo Chu (female river). 

For many years until the time of the second king it served as the seat of government. 

Nowadays, the present king’s palace is in Thimpu, and the Dzong is occupied by monks and certain parts used as administrative buildings. Inside the temple of the Dzong we could see a huge statue of Shakyamuni Bhudda at the center with his two important diciples, Guru Rinpoche on the right and Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal on the right. Certain parts of the Dzong are not accessible by foreigners like ourselves.

The divine madman!

After breakfast we drove to Thimphu from Paro, and took about 1 and half hour. We visited the Trashicho Dzong. As today is a public holiday (Buddha descending from heaven to earth to teach again), the national museum, situated right at the top of the Dzong is closed. 

We then visited the zoo, and saw the national animal of Bhutan, the Takin. There is this story about the Takin being created by the divine madman. Once upon a time when the divine madman fled to Bhutan from Tibet, the villagers asked him to display some powers so they could believe that he was a real saint. The divine madman asked the villagers to bring to him a cow and a goat, and in front of them he joined these two animals together. Thus the Takin was created, with the face like that of a goat, and its butt like that of a cow! 

Most sacred places on Earth!

We finally arrived in Paro Bhutan! We have the good fortunate to see the highest mountain in the world from our plane while landing. Nearing Paro airport, we realized we are surrounded by mountains! Bhutanese houses, when seen from high up in the sky, look like tiny little house toys, and were mostly brown and white in color. The airport at Paro is unlike other international airport! During that time when we touched down, our aeroplane is the only one which has just arrived there! The air is so cool and fresh!

We met our guide and driver who were patiently waiting for us at the entrance. To welcome us, they gave us a which katak each and took us to our hotel to check in. This hotel is called Hotel Olathang, and is one of the oldest hotel in Bhutan. 

After check in, we went straight to lunch first in the city area of Paro before heading to the Rinpung Dzong, which is also known as the fortress of the heap of jewels, and was once an important fighting ground. From the Dzong, we enjoy a short and easy walk to the Pachu river and cross to the other side over a traditional wooden covered bridge. We were then driven to see the national sport and game archery before heading to the Kichu Lhakhang, which is the oldest and the most sacred shrine of Bhutan built in the 8^th century by Tibetan king songtsen gampo. 

As today is a Bhutanese public holiday (celebrating the coming of Bhudda to earth again), there were quite a number of local devotees visiting the Lhakhang and praying. 

We took walk round the temple turning prayer wheels. After that, we stopped at the heart of the city of Paro and went to the rare stamp shop to get some stamps. I bought some Bhutanese stamps as well as an old stamp of Bhutan (1969)

We dine and stay overnight in Paro hotel.

All photos (c) copyright MysteriousBhutan.Blogspot.com