Thimphu and beyond

8 November
Drove up north past the Government Ministers' high-walled compound to a hill where there were prayer flags and prayer flag posts capped with short wooden swords to ward off evil spirits. Then a short walk down the hill to a point where we could see a grand view of Thimphu below, with a grey haze in the distance that was almost level with where we were. The large Buddha we visited yesterday afternoon was difficult to make out, but not hard to find, certainly dominates the valley from it's position. Drove further down the hill to the Takin Reserve, where the future of the Bhutanese National Animal is being preserved. There were 2 types of deer housed as well, Musk and another smaller type as well. There were also some dwellings nearby, where woman were creating textiles on looms for sale; small houses with rocks on top of the tin roofs, chillies drying in the sun. At the side of one of the houses, alongside of the washing were strips of meat, hanging to dry.
   Returned to the city centre to swap some USD for Ngultrum [Nu], which is on par with the Indian rupee. Everywhere we go there is a good deal of construction of new houses, and the majority of the labourforce are Indians, living in rickety, shambolic temporary lodgings erected alongside the construction sites. Every now and then, on the sides of the roads, we came across small groups of women, cleaning, weeding, or repairing where they are sitting or squatting. can't get over the decoration of the buildings, which appear quite simple, but when you add the sometimes intricate brick or plasterwork under the eaves, edges of windows, doorways, which are handpainted, as well as in between the windows where it is usually painted white, animals, images from religious motifs, etc. No steel and glass high rises here - the result is a uniformity of design, of a "style", with the differentiation being the brick/plater/painted decoration, use of timber, etc. Notice that all shop signs are small rectangular handpainted white on blue background. The national flag is flown everywhere, as well as large posters of the newly, recently married Royal couple, who are universally adored by the population. Damn, we missed the wedding, it was quite the event we were told!
   Lunch at a restaurant where it soon filled with western tourists. We were soon joined by 3 from Canada and one from San Francisco. Food was westernised Bhutanese, which was delicious: goat curry, rice, potatoes, cabbage, spinach, dried mushrooms with chilli. We had no time to relax really as the new arrivals looked like they were ready to kick us off!
   Next stop was the Textile Museum, where we watched a short video on the history of the national costume, it's origins and development over the last 200 or so years. Afterwards walked down the street to the national Handicrafts Emporium, where we bought some postcards - there was a wonderful array of arts and crafts there, including traditional costume, embroidery, jewellery, footwear, masks, pottery as well as a large selection of books.
   Drove to a 15th century temple, [sounds like] Chungunkar, which sat atop a hill. Imposing, solemn, steeped in history. Spun the multitude of prayer wheels before taking off our shoes and entering the inner sanctum, where a group of monks were performing their prayers. A few people came in and put their hands together and then lowered to the floor prostrating towards the central holy sculpture, including our guide and driver, Jigme and Ugyen. Jigme explained some of the significance of the holy sculptures, which I cannot remember now. But, suffice to say, it was a rather sober time, trying not to feel out of place but knowing we were totally our of place there, in the holy space, crammed with religious painting on the walls as well as multicoloured tapestries and banners and cylindrical Japanese kite-like things, much of the material was faded and obviously old. Incense and offerings, rice scattered on the old timber floorboards by the main monk. Wish I knew more to be able to detail what we saw, what we heard, what it all meant.  You could smell and touch the layers of history of that place.
   Next we visited the National Institute for Zorig Chusum, where the 13 National traditional arts are taught, including wood carving, embroidery, weaving, mask-making, painting, and pottery. All taught in simple classrooms, nothing high tech at all … the intricacy of the work the students were producing was mind-boggling! All by hand and eye. A sign that caught our eye in one of the classrooms - If you're a good human being, then the skills and knowledge you acquire will benefit the whole society otherwise it's like giving a weapon to a child".
   We visited the Folk Heritage Museum, which gave a fascinating insight into life as it was before gas/electricty, perhaps only 20 years ago! Everything done by hand, the grinding of wheat and rice into flour, as well as churning milk for butter. A large wooden structure of 4 storeys, which may have multi-generations of more than 7–8 people. Bottom floor for the animals, next floor up storage of grains, etc for overflow of guests as well as for activities like play and games, next floor up kitchen and living areas, as well as rooms set aside for worship and prayer [altar room], top floor under the roofline for drying of chillies, mushroom and corn. There was an outside hot rock bath, which some of the older generation still use nowadays. Also saw water powered wheat grinder and water powered prayer wheel. To think all of this has changed in a generation, now with electricity and gas, mobiles, computers, internet, email and satellite tv …
   The 4th King of Bhutan is seen as being the Visionary King as he decided to bring Bhutan into the modern world, and the current 5th King is expanding on this, as well as giving land to the poor. TV didn't really enter Bhutan till maybe 6 years ago!
   Afterwards, as we were tired with information overload, back to the hotel for break, tea/coffee – Jigme left us for a short while. Were picked up by Jigme and Ugyen, who drove us to the same restaurant where we met up with Pranita, great to see her again. After a short while Jigme went off to the "guide's room" as he did at lunchtime. Had a great long chat about lots of things, found out Pranita is the youngest of 9 daughters! She was good company and would like to stay in touch.
   Other observations: lots of stray dogs here, not owned by anyone, they just lie wherever they want to during the day and rest, sleep, relax, and take over the streets at night. Went to bed c9pm local time and all we heard were people's voices from down street level as well as dogs barking, incessantly. Same thing first thing this morning. Was funny to see a few dogs lying on the road next to the traffic police shelter - nicely decorated in the Bhutanese style - as the policeman was directing traffic and the cars and vans and trucks went round the dogs …
   No kids on skateboards, no graffiti or tagging, no loud cars with doof doof music …
   Haven't seen any neon signs, but have seen a few lit signs; found out from Pranita that the shop signs are decreed to be white lettering on blue background. A few shops in the vicinity have coloured light ropes and some fairy light ropes to give their shops a bit of pizazz at night.

9 November
A little after 8, headed off out of Thimphu, another bright, sunny day, again with murk in the atmosphere up to a few hundred meters, along very windy, and often times, quite narrow roads. Again, at a slowish pace, no faster than 40 kmh as the roads didn't allow for much faster. Saw plenty of haulage trucks from India, brightly coloured and decorated, as well as 4WDs of all sizes, taxis, sedans, very few motorbikes. Again, if a vehicle wants to overtake, they toot, and as we slow down and/or pullover, they pass … a few close shaves as vehicles pull back over to our side very quickly. The terrain and vegetation changed the further we went, and at one point reminded us of the Dandenongs, quite a few hairpin bends, very little barrier-wise at edges to stop vehicles going over if any crazy occurred, god forbid. Passed a temple built many hundred of years ago on the way. After 1–1.5 hrs arrived at Dochula Pass - at c3000m altitude - with a spectacular view of the Himalayan ranges. There is a temple and 106 stupa complex, built to commemorate a victory of Bhutan over terrorist attack in the mid-90s. Spent a bit of time wandering around and taking in the amazing view of snowcapped mountains in the distance, the highest of which was over 7500 metres. Off to a cafe with an even better view of the range, where we had hot drinks and sweet biscuits. Leaving, we again hugged a very winding road, hugging mountain sides, at some points seeing terraced rice paddies, and the occasional food stands.
   We stopped for a simple lunch at a lovely restaurant - Chimi Lhakhang Cafeteria - in a small village, near a temple dedicated to the Divine Mad Monk. When done, drove onto a place where two mountain rivers converged, Punakha Temple, which was huge! Apparently was where the first wedding ceremony for the current King was held. An imposing steep stepped entrance to a place that was awe-inspring in its scale and wealth of hand-painted detail, jaw-dropping really. The more I saw the more incredulous I was to the skill of the artisans that designed, built and decorated the complex … but the greatest, stupefying sight for me was the interior of the temple itself … every square inch of wall and ceiling and column surface was decorated …columns with stamped [embossed] gold coloured metal, intricate hand paintings everywhere on the walls and ceilings, glassed in cases of deities, giant statues of Budhha and gods, thrones/seats for upper eschelon of monks, brightly coloured banners and flags and other materials, all of which provided a sumptuous feast for the eyes … it was a shame photography was not allowed, I was itching to take pix as the scale of the place and the wealth of visual stimulus was unbelievable. Wow, wow, wow!
   Spent a good deal of time there before heading back to a spot near that village where we had lunch, where we and Jigme were dropped off to walk along a track to a another village, set in the midst of terraced rice paddies, seeing farm life, people going about their daily business, up close, on the way to the Divine Mad Monk's temple, which was quite small and simple, took a look inside. back to the 4WD, then, after a little confusion about our destination, onto our accomodation for 2 nights, the Punatshangchuu Cottages, Wangdi. It looks quite new, and we found our way inside for hot drinks and savoury biscuits with a view over the Punakha River.