Punakha

Day 43 – Thimphu to Punakha – 6 Oct 2018

After traveling a few kms from there, we reached the mountain pass of Dochu La. This is a must visit place in Bhutan for its stunning views and climate. The place offers a 360 degree view of the stunning Himalayan mountain ranges, forming the perfect background for the 108 chortens built at the pass in memory of the Bhutanese soldiers who lost their lives in the December 2003 battle. 

The drive to Punakha took around 2.5 hours which took us through the scenic country sides of Bhutan. 

Upon reaching Punakha, we went directly to Punakha Dzong, an epitome of traditional Bhutanese architecture. It is a massive Dzong and anyone can enter inside without restrictions. The traditional wooden bridge across the amazing Sankosh river which took us to this beautiful fortress was as spectacular as the Dzong itself! Being less crowded and such a peaceful place to be, we spent almost all our time inside one of the three tranquilizing courtyards of the Dzong, sitting under a gigantic banyan tree. Walking and climbing up the Dzong, was such a pleasure, with its ancient architecture, wooden stairs, mural paintings, and the mesmerizing courtyards in a golden shade!

After the relaxed time at the Dzong, we decided to go on a small trek to Khamsum Namgyel Chorten. As we headed out of the Dzong, we spent a few minutes on the river side to get a picturesque view of the Dzong sitting at the intersection of two rivers  surrounded by lush green trees. Punakha is famous for its paddy fields, and we drove all way along the paddy fields to finally park the car near the famous wire bridge towards the Chorten and started walking. After walking through the paddy fields for sometime, playing with a lot of small streams of water, we started feeling so tired and to add to it, daughter also refused to walk beyond a point. Soon we decided to drop the plan of climbing to the hill top, and returned back.

It was already noon and we haven’t had our  lunch and we didn’t want to get more tired. We decided to start our return journey. On the way back, we stopped at the Dzong again to click more pictures.

On our return journey, we stopped at the famous Phallus village for a once in lifetime experience. We had read about the village a lot, but were not sure about the exact location and kept on looking out for the same. As the place approached, we could see that almost all households were boldly displaying phallic symbols almost everywhere – doors, windows, murals etc. However all these depictions have a spiritual orientation based on the “Temple of Fertility” located in the place, where numerous childless couples hike to every year for offering prayers! We roamed around the village and was astonished to see a lot of handicraft shops selling phallic crafts in different forms. It started raining as we were walking down the street, and we were really wondering whether those stories of buying one of those phalluses bringing in fortune really makes any sense! However the rich traditions and bright shaded stories were so fascinating, that we ended up buying one 🙂

We had our early dinner in one of those small restaurants on the road side on our way back, which offered a very nice valley side view amidst the rain! It was a perfect meal for ending an amazing day filled with stories of tradition, history and culture, which we had never seen or experienced before! We happily drove back to Thimphu where we had a different accommodation booked for the upcoming day!

Day 44 – Thimphu – 7 Oct 2018

Another day in Thimphu and we wanted to utilise this day to explore all places in and around. Before we could step out, the receptionist of the new hotel which we moved to the previous night, informed that they had some renovation work to be done in our room, and they are booking us a room in the Ramada hotel. That was a cute upgrade!  After checking into the new hotel, we went out to visit the Great Buddha Dordenma, the omnipresent statue of Buddha which is visible from any part of the Thimphu city. This is the biggest sitting statue of Lord Buddha in the world, and it is a must visit, I feel. The car can go till the entrance and the Buddha point is very well maintained. A really huge statue made of bronze and gold and from the top, the statue gives an astounding view of the beautiful Thimphu valley. The numerous steps upwards at the entrance on climbing, slowly unveils the gigantic golden Buddha and is really a treat for the eyes! The sun is really bright at the statue, adding more divinity to the golden texture, and the sky laid a perfect blue background for the Lord! We were just awestruck at the sight of the temple beneath the statue which was completely a divine feel with thousands of candles tripling the golden shine of the interiors!

After spending some really relaxed time at the statue, we went back to Thimphu, had a pizza lunch at one of the restaurants in the city centre. The ambience looked more of European cities, with people hanging around with friends and having chit chats with a cup of coffee on the table top in the restaurants. In the afternoon we went to visit the Motithang Takin preserve. Takin is the national animal of Bhutan, and they can be seen in abundance in this wildlife reserve area of Thimphu. In the evening, we came back to the football stadium to watch the U-18 women’s SAAF football tournament losers final between India and Bhutan. India won this time for 1-0. After tasting a traditional Paneer thupka outside the stadium, we headed northwards to visit the weekend market street, where we shopped a variety of handicraft items including purses, bags, and fridge magnets. It was an awesome experience to walk along the street in the misty evening, with several traditional shopping items spreading vibrant colours, on the road side. As it got colder and darker, we headed back to our amazing stay by the side of Raidak river.  We were so much craving for a homely food, and we ordered a small portion of curd rice and “bindi” fry which we shared among us, as we listened to the river stream gushing beside our glass windows! As we fell flat to our bed, we were really longing for one more day in the Thimphu streets!

---