Top of the world (well almost) - Bhutan Day 3

We left bright and early on our third day as our guide had invited us to her house as her family was having a ceremony to change the house prayer flags. Due to our itineary we were unable to stay til the actual ceremony was conducted but we were invited to eat some traditional food, visit their altar room (apparently ALL houses in Bhutan has an altar room) and watch cable tv from India since that is the nearest country and the two countries have a close relationship.

We found out that popcorn is considered a traditional food which is offered during religious ceremonies (which also explained why we kept seeing them in temples!) and we finally got served butter tea, which tastes of salt and sugar at the same time. We also had porridge which is quite similar to what we have in Singapore. The monks were all already in the altar room when we visited, I was intrigued to learn that even at home in their own altar room the Bhutanese are expected to observe their national dress code, thus our guide has a rachu (narrow scarf for women to wear with their kira) hanging just outside the altar room which they can just throw over their left shoulder as they entered the room.

popcorn for offerings, and also for eating!

After filling our stomachs, we headed off to Dochula Pass which is 3100m above sea level. The pass is popular as on a good day there's supposed to be panoramic views of the Himlayas, however it was pretty cloudy on the day we were there so we didn't get the views we were expecting, even then it was pretty amazing to be there. 

Other than the famous views, Dochula Pass is also well-known as the Queen Mother built 108 chortens (stupas) as a memorial in honour of the Bhutanese soldiers who were killed in the December 2003 battle against Assamese insurgents from India.

just some of the 108 chortens around

look at that clear blue sky!

We spent quite a long time there taking photographs and just admiring the views. In the end our guide had to gently shoo us to get going!

one last glimpse before head off to Punakha

From there, we headed off to Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten. It was built by the Queen Mother to bring peace in the world in general, and to clear obstacles for the country of Bhutan. In order to get to the chorten, we had to cross an iron suspension bridge and then take a short trek up , walking past some farmlands on our way up. It was quite a lovely easy trek honestly, and we even had a cute little dog which accompanied us on our way up. 

view as we were walking up to Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten

There was absolutely no one at the chorten when we finally reached, except for one monk who was the caregiver who kindly opened the temple door for us. Same as the Jangtsa Dumtseg Lhakhang, the Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten had 3 levels but the difference was that it was lit with electricity so we could have a proper look at the murals and deities. Another difference is that we could go up to the rooftop so that was pretty fantastic. 

We then had to rush off to Punakha Dzong before it closed, and again on our way down there was a dog which accompanied us. It was the beginning of a trend though as we later realised that whenever we trekked to a lhakhang or dzong, there will be a dog following us. 

There are a few interesting facts about Punakha Dzong. One is that it sits at the confluence of two rivers. The faster flowing one is known as the 'father' river while the more gentle river is the 'mother' river naturally. The other is that it was the venue for the wedding between Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, King of Bhutan, and Jetsun Pema in October 2011. Lastly it is the second oldest dzong in Bhutan. It was really picturesque and we enjoyed exploring the grounds of the dzong. 

view of Punakha Dzong as we bid farewell to it

With a last glimpse of Punakha Dzong, we set off for our hotel for an early night's rest in preparation for our long drive to Bumthang the next day. 

Glimpse of Royalty - Bhutan Day 2

The next day, we woke up early and headed off to Neyphug Monastery which was founded in the 1550s. It's not in the list of the usual places that tourists visit but as we later found out, our guide was related to the Rinpoche there thus I guess that's why it was added into our itinerary. 

During the long drive to the monastery, our guide told us that the Rinpoche of Neyphug Monastery was her uncle. Apparently her uncle is the 9th reincarnation of Neyphug Trulku Rinpoche, one of the 25 disciples of the Lotus-born Buddha or Guru Padmasambhava, who brought Buddhism to Tibet and Bhutan. I found that rather mind-boggling when she told us, I'm not a Buddhist but I do believe in reincarnation and even then when she told us about it I found it honestly quite unbelievable. Unfortunately for us H.E. Neyphug Trulku Rinpoche was in Singapore lecturing while we were there so we didn't manage to see him. We did enter the temple and saw the monks doing their daily chanting. 

The monastery is currently undergoing a huge restoration after an earthquake in 2011 thus the buildings were mainly makeshift and there were loads of construction materials lying around. As is the same of temples in Bangkok there were many dogs and cats around the monastery. 

hanging out in the cold

One of the monks invited us to stay for tea and biscuits and we found a kitten hiding in the room. The cat was smarter than the dogs for sure cos it was really chilly outside. While the monk went to get tea and biscuits for us, he switched on the television and I was really fascinated by the type of advertisements they have. I saw advertisements for carpenters etc and there was a  Bhutan version of American Idol but where they sang traditional songs. 

smart kitty who decided to stay warm in the room

After a quick lunch at the hotel, we headed off to Kyichu Lhakhang, which is one of the oldest temples in Bhutan. Unfortunately while we were there, we learnt that the Queen Mother was going to visit the temple thus we could only walk around the temple but not enter it. I did find it unusual that we were allowed to hang around the temple while she visited as I had assumed that all visitors had to leave. In any case we managed to catch a glimpse of her as she entered the temple. Her entourage was rather small for royalty which I found unexpected. 

walkway to Kyichu Lhakhang

As we were unable to even visit the museum at Kyichu Lhakhang due to the royal visit, our guide decided to bring us to Jangtsa Dumtseg Lhakhang instead. It is in the form of a stupa which is uncommon in Bhutan. There are three storeys in total but as we visited fairly late and no electricity is allowed in the temple, we only climbed up to the second storey and did not attempt the third storey. It's not exactly on the tourist itineary so we more or less had the place to ourselves. Though we couldn't have a good look at the murals on the walls, it was still a fairly fascinating experience. I've never been in a temple where the only source of light was from oil lamps, while we could use the torchlight function on our phones it was still fairly dark. It was quite an atmospheric experience and I don't think I'll ever experience it again elsewhere. And with that, we ended our second day in Bhutan. 

Always Expect the Unexpected - Bhutan Day 1

We were originally supposed to go New Zealand with a group of friends however in the end the best laid plans tend to go awry. The trip had been about one year in the making but alas Cyclone Gita decided to strike just a few days before our planned trip so all our plans were scuppered. The travel insurance agency that we got our policy from informed us that if we cancelled we would be able to claim any cancellation fees that were incurred, however if we chose to go on the holiday and  got into an accident then we would not be able to claim for them so obviously we chose to cancel the holiday.

Having decided to cancel our New Zealand trip, we still wanted to go somewhere but at such short notice and not enough time to plan we were kind of at a loss as to where to go. In the end we thought we could go to Bhutan since that has always been on our list of places to visit and it is the one place you can't travel independently unless you are an Indian or Bangladeshi or Maldivian passport holder which we are obviously not. With 2 days to go before our planned holiday, I decided to go down to the tour operator in Singapore to enquire about the possibility of booking a tour but they told us that all the rooms were fully booked, and that there was no way of going. I was rather disappointed but in the end things worked out cos CS had a friend who had a friend who owns a hotel in Bhutan and after CS gave him a call he said he would settle everything for us, from applying for the visa as well as arranging the tour. In addition, there were also still seats available on the Druk Air flight so everything worked out in the end. The funny thing was that because everything was so last minute, in the end we only got our itinerary the day before we flew off. I was telling CS we would be giving all these money to someone we have never even met before. 

As luck would have it our flight was rescheduled the morning of our flight. We were supposed to reconfirm our seats but didn't do so, thus we decided to go as per the original timing to ensure that we got a seat on the plane. The plane was a rather small Airbus 319 and we managed to get the window seat on the left side of the plane which is supposedly the side where you can see the Himalayas when it lands in Bhutan. The flight itself was uneventful, there was no inflight entertainment so I passed the time reading while CS watched videos that he downloaded earlier. After a short stopover at Kolkata we were finally on our way to Bhutan. Sadly there were too many clouds that day so we only got a glimpse of the Himalayas when we landed.

When we landed we were greeted by our guide and driver. Our tour guide was a really sweet young girl and our driver was a nice boy who turned out to be the same age as my younger brother. We were brought straight to our hotel where we hungrily gulped down our lunch. 

view from our room

After a quick lunch, we went to the National Museum and Paro Rinpung Dzong. No photos are allowed inside the museum but there was a marvellous display of the masks that the Bhutanese wear during their festivals. There was also a video on loop which showed the various dances during the various Bhutanese festivals so it was a good opportunity for us to see what happens even though the Paro festival season was already over by the time we were there.

There were other exhibits as well which touched upon Bhutan's flora and fauna. There were even some stuffed animals as well which freaked me out a little. 

Paro Dzong

While Bhutan has been opened to tourism for a long time, it is still highly regulated and tourists like ourselves are not really allowed to wander around freely. With most tourist attractions closed by 5pm there really wasn't much we could do, so after a short stroll around town we headed back to our hotel for an early dinner and rest.