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Published: January 28th 2014
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Bhutan was the next holiday destination for me along with two of my friends. We decided on this country for 2 major reasons. One, it is located very close to India and second, the country follows Buddhism. My recent interest in the Buddhist culture has made me visit similar countries in the past. Many few people know that Bhutan was voted as one of the happiest countries in the world. Its capital and the largest city is Thimphu. This is where we kick started our trip. Travelling in from different cities in India, we all met at Paro international airport. This is located around 70 kms from Thimphu. We hired a car from the airport and reached our hotel in less than 2 hours. We had a lot to catch up on and the beautiful drive was the perfect opportunity to do so.
The town of Thimphu is modern when it comes to facilities, but the culture of the country is intact in its capital. It looks similar to India in many ways, but when you communicate with the locals, you realize how different it is. We asked our cab driver to take us around that day. So we kept
our luggage at the hotel and left for sightseeing. Our first stop was at the Trashi Chhoe Dzong. It is a Buddhist monastery on the northern edge of the city. The original fortress, however, was built on the top of the hill that is behind the current one. This was made to accommodate the civil officials as the one on the hill was for the monks. A few decades later, the monks and the civil officials were both shifted to this building and it was expanded to fit everyone. The original monastery was abandoned after it was destroyed in a fire. You can witness some amazing architecture of the country. Everywhere, including the ceiling, you can see paintings, wooden architecture, Buddha statues and the thrones of the present as well as past Kings. The local festival of tsechu is also held at this sacred monastery every year.
We spent almost 4 hours at this place. For lunch, we had some delicious Bhutanese cuisine. We tried the national dish of Bhutan, Ema Datshi along with the traditional red and white rice. This however, might to be to the liking of many Indians, as it is made with pork and beef.
Next, we visited the library, the National Library, to be exact. The place was full of the history of Bhutan, its culture, its heritage, Buddhist manuscripts and paintings. The library also has an institute where the children undergo a 6 year training in which they learn all 13 traditional arts and crafts of Bhutan. The next day, we went for a tour of the city, which was suggested by our hotel staff. This tour included the Buddha View Point, Simtokha Dzong, Textile Museum and Takin Mini Zoo. The Buddha View Point has the most beautiful views of the Thimphu valley and the Buddha statue. People come here to offer their prayers to Lord Buddha. Simtokha Dzong is a monastery that houses the Institute for Language and Cultural Studies. It was built in the early 1600s. The textile museum was the best part of the tour and is a must visit for anyone travelling to Bhutan. You can get a glimpse of the national art of weaving of Bhutan. We were blown away by the beautiful pieces that the men and women had weaved.
The next morning we traveled to Punakha, which is 75 kms away from Thimphu. Our driver
stopped on the way at a place called Dochula. We could see the beautiful Himalayas from this place. It has 108 stupas that were built in 2004 to honour the King and to celebrate the progress he has brought to the country. Once we reached Punakha, we went to Punakha Dzong. This is a fortress that rests on an island between the Pho Chhu and Mo Chhu rivers. The view of this monument is breathtaking. We had to walk on a wooden bridge to get to the fort, as that is the only thing that connects it to land. We then went to Chimi Lhakhang, which is also called as the fertility temple. It is believed that women who do not have children should take the blessings of the saint who lives in this temple and they will truly be blessed with a child. We reached the temple after a half an hour walk. The walk back to the car was a bit tiring as we were exhausted. For dinner, we had yummy Jasha Maru and Jasha Tshoem, both these dishes are made with chicken.
That is how we concluded our Bhutan trip. We woke up late the next morning and travelled to Paro to board our flights. We all had late evening flights and so we could leave late even though the drive from Punakha to Paro was 4 hours. In fact we even made a few stops on the way at Kyichu Lhakhang, a temple and Rinpung Dzong, a Buddhist monastery. The entire trip was amazing and what I loved the most was the beautiful Himalayas and the traditional arts and crafts of Bhutan. This unexplored country is definitely worth a visit.
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