Day 5
Thursday October 10, Friday
Thimphu, Bhutan Temperature: Glorious
Druk Hotel
Another glorious day. Today we drove North to visit a special monastery to hang our prayer flags. The drive north was again magnificent. I’m running out of adjectives to describe the beauty of this country. Surprisingly it was a smooth ride. It seems the infrastructure is improving exponentially every year. On the way we stopped to enjoy the scenery and take pictures of the valley dotted with rice fields. We then stopped at a site to see and admire a beautiful painting of Guru Rimpoche on a rock. Next to his painting was a prayer wheel spinning constantly as it was driven by a watermill. Bhutan is rich in water and there is water everywhere. In Japan they say water is purifying. Perhaps that is one of the reasons the country and people are so pure.
The Scenery from the Drive
Guru Rimpoche
We also stopped to get a good view and picture of the Cheri Goemba. This Goemba or monastery was built in 1620 by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal and is where the first monk body was established by him. It was perched at the perfect location to have a monastery.
Cheri Goemba
We then continued our drive to the Tango Goemba which was founded by 12th century lama. However, the present building was built by the Divine Madman-Lama Drukpa Kunley. The Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal visited this Goemba and meditated in a cave nearby. It is currently the resident of an important young lama who is recognized as the seventh reincarnation of the highly respected fourth desi (secular ruler) of Bhutan. We had about a 30 minute hike up to the monastery where on the way we stopped at a chorten and at there we saw a half bee, half butterfly fly by us. It was so beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it . Kunzong did not believe it was a bee but could not tell us what it is. I’ll have to do some research when I get home.
View from the Hike
The Chorten from the hike
It is an ornate yet serene monastery. At the entrance we saw a goat who was rescued by the monks who was very naughty. According to the monk, he constantly eats the beautiful flowers carefully planted by all the monks. In addition, he too was well endowed and had the talent to pee on his face. Margot and I noticed that many of the dogs also happened to be well-endowed. I believe its because the spirit of the Divine Madman is everywhere!
Tango Goemba
The Naughty Goat of Tango
The Entrance to Tango
After we toured the serene monastery, it was time to hang our prayer flags. Kunzang choose a perfect location by a holy rock, called the horse's head and its holy because only and enlightened person can see the horse's head. As I only had two prayer flags it was easy for Kunzang to hang my prayer flags. Next was Margot’s which was longer so Kunzang hiked up a ledge to hang it for her. The last one was Caryn’s which was the longest which took quite an effort by Kunzang but after about an hour we were able to get it all done!
Kunzang Hanging my Prayer Flags, the huge rock to the right is the Horse's Head
While I descended slowly with Kunzang due to my bad knee, he told me the story of Buddha and how it all began which was very touching. Kunzang is so sweet and patient. I appreciated it very much that he took time with me during my slow descent and keep my mind off my knee by telling me some interesting stories.
When we got down to the parking lot and got ready to get back to Thimpu, I saw Kunzang’s face turn pale. He had one more prayer flag in his Gho! He forgot to hang one of Margot’s! But everything turned out OK as we made a stop on the way to Thimphu and Chencho climbed up a cliff in his fancy shiny shoes and hung Margot’s prayer flag which will be overlooking the rice paddies of Thimphu.
Chencho Hanging Margot's Prayer Flag
The View of Margot's "lost" Prayer Flag
We dropped Margot and Caryn to the hotel as they wanted to rest and walk around the town a bit. Originally, Chencho was going to accompany them but since they decided to take a nap instead, Chencho was relieved of his duty or escorting them through their shopping trip. So instead he drove Kunzang and I to the Thimpu Dzong, where I attended the Teschu again.
When we got there, Kunzang took me through the back way which was a very beautiful way of entering the Dzong. We walked along a path with roses on the left and beautiful cedar and willow trees on the right. I look to the right and there is the 5th Kings Palace. Apparently, one is not supposed to even look at the palace…. AND absolutely no photographs! But I did take a peek and it was shaped like a small Dzong on beautiful grounds. I wonder if they are allowed to venture out like regular people as one can go crazy stuck behind walls I believe.
The Back Way to the Dzong
Kunzang was worried as we walked to the courtyard as it looked like many people were leaving. The security guards told him that the dances were over but fortunately he asked one more person and we found out that it indeed was still on and that a blessing was also taking place! We found great seats – 3rd row- facing the abbot and the Lord of Death so had a great view of the blessing and we were also facing the chief abbot of Bhutan. The dance I saw was the deer dance, which seemed very solemn but there were several clowns making a ruckus that made both kids and adults laugh! And of course, the clown were carrying wooden phalli which represent the Divine Madmen and therefore shoo away the evil spirits.
The Je Khenpo – Chief Abbot of Bhutan
The People of Bhutan getting a Blessing from the Lord of Death – he judges which world you go to after you die
Clown with a Wooden Phallus
The Deer Dance
Two Girls who sat Next to Me and kept me and Kunzang company
After about an hour or so, we took off to meet the girls at the hotel. Originally, we were to go to the paper factory but because we were all tired we decided to rest and agreed to meet downstairs in the lobby at 530pm to make our appointment with Lemo for Butter Tea.
We saw Lemo who came straight from a wedding and we were served butter tea and Bhutanese biscuits. It was OK but definitely not something I will order again. Not to be rude, I drank ½ of it while listening to some more fascinating stories about Bhutan and Lemo. In addition to regular tours, she also does study tours for US students and also for women. She told us an interesting story about some US teenagers who were at lost on how to the laundry by hand! The women’s tour also sounded very interesting as one visits nunneries and also learns about the hardships many women have to go through. We also had many interesting discussions about Bhutanese history and culture. Margot was interested in the welfare of dogs in Bhutan so she agreed to set up a meeting with a Bhutanese lady looking after the dogs and also a meeting with her brother who is a monk who studied in Colorado.
We then went back to the hotel for dinner and called it an early nite as we have to check out and go to our next destination!