Nov 5, 2014, Wednesday Thimphu – Punakha

Today is a very early start as we will be on the road for nearly 3 hours to go the 77 kilometers (46 miles) to Punakha. 

We arrived at Dochu La Pass (10,007 feet) where we had breakfast, enjoyed great views of the Himalayas, walked around the 108 stupas, and visited the temple at the top of the hill.  Great stop. Spectacular views.

There was also a fairly new temple at the top of the hill with exquisite murals and interesting  features.

Cloud reflections in the windows of the temple.

Bhutan is very beautiful and we were able to see a lot of the country on our very long drive from Thimphu to Punakha. 



We also saw a number of monkeys along the road. 


We stopped for some pictures and there was a farmer nearby plowing his fields with oxen.  

Aakriti decided she wanted to give it a try and approached the farmer.  He turned his team of oxen over to her so she could give it a try…was pretty funny as during the first pass she pretty much held the plow above the ground…so it didn’t do much plowing.  The second pass, though, she did a good job.  

Aakriti plowing the fields with oxen.

Once we arrived in Punakha we had lunch and then took a walk through the rice paddies ...


... Arriving at the Chime Lhakhang Monastery.   
The monks were chanting and drumming and it was quite interesting to watch.  There was one little monk about 8 years old who was sitting along the wall inside the monastery nodding off during most of the time we were there. There were actually quite a number of very young monks.  Young boys are often taken by the families to the monasteries to become monks when the family is unable to care for them. 

Chime Lhakhang Monastery

Prayer Flags



Young Monk

View from the Monastery:

On the way back to the car we stopped and gave out school supplies to some children. 

It was rice harvest while we were there and we saw many people working in the fields and  building hay stacks.

The Bhutanese also likes to decorate their buses, just like the Nepalese.

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Bhutan has a number of fertility rituals and traditions.  Consequently, there were some interesting shops and artwork.  (Not for the puritanical.)
















We also stopped to visit Tshering’s grandmother’s house and met her great aunt.  We were given a tour of the home that included one room set aside solely for worship.  After the tour we sat on the balcony overlooking the valley and were served butter tea with crisp rice.  Not bad but not something either of us would want a lot of. 

Visiting Aunt's home

Home Shrine



Butter Tea with Crispy Rice

Ema Datsi - Really Hot!!

The aunt also gave us a cooking demonstration on how to make the national dish, Ema Datsi (hot hot hot chili peppers with cheese).  The fumes were so spicy hot it drove us outside.