Travel Blog Posts
May 10th 2011
We were sorry to leave the Dang Chhu and the beauty of Hotel Kichu. Nonetheless, many hours of driving were ahead of us as we moved into the final 2 days of our Bhutan experience. After driving all morning through the endless beauty of Bhutan's mountainous landscape, we arrived in Thimphu for last minute shopping and lunch. We then continued on to Paro where we visited the very moving former home of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, the revered teacher of the 14th Dalai Lama, who left his body in 1991. A Tibetan who fled the Chinese invasion, he eventually made Paro, Bhutan his home, and was greatly honored there. His home felt very personal with lots of photos and personal effects. Next door was his monastery which had some of the finest statues of Padmasambhava we've seen. ... read more
May 10th 2011
Saturday morning, we visited Punakha Dzong, one of the most important and, indeed, beautiful in Bhutan. We all felt so fortunate to be in Bhutan this time of year as the dzong was surrounded by mature blooming jacaranda trees whose soft petaled purple blossoms were utterly magical. We arrived to witness a slew of monks, with their robes up to their knees, using a fire hose to wash off the very high wooden steps leading into the main entrance into the dzong. Not something you see everyday! One reason that the stairs needed cleaning was the presence of several enormous bee hives, larger than any we've ever seen, suspended from the eaves of the dzong entrance. Apparently, as the bees naturally die off, they essentially litter the steps with their bodies, thousands of little bee corpses ... read more
May 10th 2011
We left Bumthang by 9am Friday morning, anticipating an all day drive. We stopped for lunch at the same chorten fashioned after the one in Kathmandu. In this idyllic spot next to a beautiful river, Holly witnessed a local man empty his trash basket into the river from the pedestrian bridge leading to the chorten. It was upsetting. A dialogue with Rinchen on the matter resulted in Rinchen speaking with the man. Rinchen assured Holly that there is still a great lack of education in these matters in Bhutan, especially with the older generation, but it is changing with the young people. It brought up the difficult line between remaining as observer in a foreign culture, and interfering with the culture. When we heard there was a major road improvement project ahead that would result in ... read more
May 5th 2011
Thursday morning, Rinchen spoke with us about the 10 rules to be born as a human. The guidelines were quite similar to the 10 commandments. Tobgay helped with the translations as Rinchen's English still sometimes eludes us. After his talk, we meditated together. It was easy to go deep in such a conducive environment. Finally, we had the opportunity to place objects on the altar for blessing. We placed our 2 red marble pieces that Tshering gave us on Wednesday as we hiked up to Kuenzangdak Gompa. We had stopped by a water-powered prayer wheel halfway up the mountain and Tshering found the marble in the stream. In the blessing, Rinchen read prayers, three rice, poured holy water along the altar, then distributed rice to each of us. At his cue, we repeatedly tossed rice upon ... read more
May 5th 2011
Wednesday morning, we set out for Kuenzangdak Gompa, reportedly the most challenging of our hikes. Less than half the group elected to go. We had seen the gompa while visiting the nunnery a few days ago. It was across the valley and high above the nunnery, so we had a preview of the vertical climb. Indeed, even those hearty souls, thus far, found this climb to be quite a challenge. We brought up the rear of the group with our now well-practiced "slow and steady" approach, with plenty of stops to recover and drink lots of water. After about 2 and a half hours with increasingly spectacular views of snow-capped peaks, we caught sight of the gompa clinging to the rock face. Even more impressive than Tharpaling in construction, it seems a miracle that any structure ... read more
May 5th 2011
Tuesday morning, we drove an hour along windy roads through a beautiful mix of mountains and valleys filled with farms growing wheat and potatoes. A long climb up a dirt track of hairpin turns, quite muddy in some spots, made us greatly appreciative of our 4-wheel drive vehicles. Water-powered prayer wheels dotted the track all the way up to a tiny village where we left the cars. From there, under a light rain, a steep but short hike brought us up to Tharpaling Monastery, a very small monastery of a dozen or so monks, including several boys. This site is one of the special meditation places of Padmasambhava and his consort, Yeshe Tsogyel. There are images in many temples we've visited of Padmasambhava riding on the back of Yeshe Tsogyel, in the incarnation of a flying ... read more
May 2nd 2011
Monday morning, we set out to Mebar Tsho, popularly known as "the lake", though it is actually a fast running river. The lake part is a very deep area between high narrow cliffs where the water appears to move slowly, but actually is full of eddys and whirlpools that swirl out of sight into a cave area under the cliff face. The site is a sacred place as it is where one of the sacred "terma" (religious treasures of understanding buried by bygone gurus to enlighten the world in a later time) was found. Prayer flags are everywhere, and a holy man sits in a shallow cave along the trail leading to the water, chanting and burning incense. Tiny chortens abound. The rocks above and by the water are slippery and there are no guardrails. Our ... read more
May 1st 2011
Sunday, May 1st marked traveling for over a month. We began our morning with some group time in a simple meditation space here at our hotel. With all the traveling we've been doing, this was the first opportunity to have some group process. After a quick tea break, we spent the mid-day walking from the hotel through pastoral dirt farm roads, over hill and dale. Happily, no steep climbs today. Just ambling through cow and horse pastures, over streams, and enjoying several encounters with local children. Our paths led us to the important Kurjay Monastery where Padmasambhava meditated in a cave and left his body imprint in the rock. That cave is now enclosed within the temple which was empty of monks as they all arrive from Trongsa tomorrow for the summer months. Behind the monastery ... read more
May 1st 2011
Trongsa Dzong is the largest of all the dzongs in Bhutan, and still retains importance as a center for government administration. In fact, before becoming king, the son of the king must serve as governor of Trongsa first, in what sounds to be similar to the concept of the Prince of Wales. The secular offices are contained in one end of the dzong, while about 300-400 monks occupy the other end. The structure has lots of fortress-style arrow-shooting vantage points, vestiges of the days when Trongsa Dzong was a critical fortress in fending off maurading invaders from other valleys before the separate regions were unifed in the late 19th century. Also, Trongsa Dzong is where the annual (December) techu festival takes place where the gigantic thangka is unveiled and the ritual dances are performed. We had ... read more
May 1st 2011
Friday morning, we took a beautiful hike through Phobjika Valley which is very wide, and where the cows and the one black necked crane graze together. The expanse of the valley is unusual as most valleys are narrow and steep. The idea was considered to build an airport in the valley which is understandable beacuse of its flat width. But, true to Bhutanese sensibilities, once it was realized that this valley is vital to the endangered black necked cranes, the idea was canned. After crossing the valley floor, the trail rose into the far mountains and continued up the valley through a lovely woodland with great views of the valley. The walking was cool and easy for Bhutan. Eventually, we arrived at the top of the valley and began a steep ascent up a high hill ... read more
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