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The animal the Takin - heard of it? Didn’t think so! This is an animal that is said to have been made by a “Divine Madman” who after devouring a cow and goat used the bones of the said animals to create a new animal that came alive after he uttered a few words and it started to eat in the meadow. This is how the Bhutanese believe the Takin was created and so it is Bhutan’s national animal. And in the flesh it is just as weird but strangely mesmerizing, as it has such a gentle inquisitive personality, as we found out when Sonam, our guide, started attracting its attention with a branch of a tree and it came over the devoured the lot by pulling the leaves expertly off the branches.
After this we made our way further up the hill to get a good view of the whole of Thimpu. The rest of the morning we spent visiting the National Library, a Folk museum, a school where they are learning the 13 different national theories of Bhutanese art, such as textiles, wood carving, weaving.
After lunch we visited a Textiles museum and both of us
were ignorant at the skill, time and effort that is involved to weave a piece of cloth. Their elaborate designs take months to create and then for their national dress of Gho for the men and Kira for the women you need a lot of material.
At 5pm we were allowed into the grounds of the Dzong, home to the King's office, government offices and the monastery. One thing we are noticing with the Bhutanese is that they should not be allowed to leave burning butter lamps, as all the historical buildings we are visiting at the moment have had to be renovated after fires.
Our evening was rounded off with a delicious pizza from The Seasons restaurant over a very interesting and informative conversation with Sonam and Dorje. They are good company and have helped us to have a very good impression of Bhutanese people - when we visited the Blue Poppy Tour Company's office today they even gave us $240 back because our flights had turned out to be cheaper than expected!
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Amy Mendel (from Southern Africa)
non-member comment
I LOVE SEASONS PIZZA!!!
Hey guys, I've been following your blog since I returned home in February anxiously awaiting the Bhutan portion! I hope you enjoyed the Seasons pizza and the apple pie or other tempting desserts. Hope you are having a wonderful last month and enjoying every minute. When I first returned home the transition was definitely tough, but finally after adjusting, I'm excited to be heading to Israel and Jordan at the end of the month for a two week stint (like normal people!). A friend who returned from a year of traveling in April, decided one year wasn't enough and just left for another year of exploration. Anyways hope your transition home is seamless. Enjoy your last few weeks and thanks for sharing all your stories and pictures! Always, Amy (the demi-canadian, demi-american from Boston)