Day 11
Thursday October 16, 2008
Mongar and Trashigang, Bhutan
Bhutan Temperature: Glorious hot/dry in Trashigang
Hotel: Druk Doejong Hotel, Trashigang
I woke up again early 530am or so and got ready to enjoy another glorious day. Caryn was sound asleep so I silently went to out the room to the outdoor balcony and enjoyed the glorious sunrise. The air was crisp and clean so I spent the morning writing my diary and getting my photos organized.
Sunrise at Mongar
Before long, Margot came by as she also is an early bird and had thought she lost her diary which would have been a disaster but after looking around the dining area and again in her room she found it in underneath her covers!
After breakfast, it was time to get on the road again for our 3 hour drive to Trashigang! Chencho was dressed impeccably again and the car was cleaned and smelled like lemon grass.
About one hour into our drive, we saw monkeys! And these were monkeys native to Bhutan, the grey languor. There was a whole family and we saw the mother which was huge! They were swinging from one tree to another and having a lot of fun. We were very lucky to have seen them as they are very shy and when other tourists bus came over, they were gone. Kunzang says that monkeys are good karma. So again we were lucky!
The Monkey!
On this drive we drove through the Kuri-la pass which is at an altitude of 2700 meters. The air was cool and crisp and the mountains were still majestic and beautiful. After Kuri-la we passed a cute small town called Yadi. The conversation in the van again turned to food. The first conversation was on mushrooms as Bhutan exports Matsutake mushrooms to Japan! Apparently they are found high in the mountains and since the Bhutanese don’t eat it they export it to Japan. So of course, I ask Kunzang if we can try some but he was not sure where one can buy it since the local people do not eat it. It was then that he mentioned my eating the pork fat with chile cheese and started laughing as I guess he was shocked that I would take huge servings and just eat it since he did not know of any foreigner that would try such a thing. He started laughing pretty hard when I admitted I thought it was potato! It was then he told us of a saying that if the chef’s chile cheese is very hot – the chef is hot tempered.
We then ended at the bottom of a beautiful valley where we stopped to by some guavas (5 for 50NG about one dollar) and also saw a gizmo where you can make lemon grass oil. Kunzang then pointed out to us that we were surrounded with lemon grass oil. Chencho the gentleman jumped up the hill and pulled a very long lemon grass and crushed it so that we could smell the beautiful aroma. Margot and I noticed it was not the same kind that we see in markets. Its either because in cooking they use the roots or it’s a different variety. We’ll have to do some research on that.
Kuri-la
View of the 6000-7000 meter high peaks of the Himalayas
Wild Lemon Grass
Guavas
Back in the car as the temperature was getting warmer, Margot went to look for her sunscreen and realized her sunscreen was actually hair conditioner!! We got a good laugh at that!
We then went over a cute bridge and by a small town called Rolong which we learned from Kunzang that was haunted a long time ago. Legend has it that dead people would come and terrorize the local people. Therefore, most of the houses have very low entrances as dead people cannot bend down. So by having low front doors the dead people cannot enter the house. “Ro” means the body of the dead people and “long” means to wake up.
Pretty soon after driving the windy road up the mountain and down again we saw a fast moving but beautiful river and ended up in an immigration check point. Kunzang very much wanted to take us to an important temple founded by Guru Rimpoche. He was not sure he could get us in but because he is the best guide in the world, he got us the permission! We drove the 12 kilometers on a bumpy, windy road and ended up at our first destination the Gom Kora which was founded in the 6th century by Guru Rimpoche.
What a special place! Its located next to a river surrounded by rice fields. I truly felt I was in Shangri-la. It was even more special as we had our picnic lunch there. And again, it was a gourmet lunch of rice, chile cheese, ginger pork, noodles, potato and carrots and spinach. Everything was delicious! Even the pork which had NO fat was delicious. While eating lunch, the dogs which were sound asleep suddenly came awake and we were surrounded by them. I did find them to be rather well behaved but one dog was particularly naughty. She went after other dogs if they came too close to us and was sneaking to get closer and closer to us by crawling until finally her head was underneath our mat. After lunch we walked around the temple slowly three times as there was much foliage to admire including a beautiful Bodhi tree while Kunzang and Chencho cleaned up and gave the leftovers to the dogs.
Gom Kora – the location was absolutely stunning
Chencho trying to eat his lunch in peace surrounded by dogs
After we walked around 3 times, Kunzang gave took us to the inside courtyard where there is a huge rock. The rock is sacred and if one can climb up to the top it is said that the person would enter Guru Rimpoche’s paradise. Many of the guides tried to climb it but it was difficult. Next to it was a small rock of about 50kgs and it is said that if you carry that rock around the big rock all of your sins will be washed away. I did not even attempt to lift it!
Gom Kora Temple
An old man and cat at Gom Kora
The stone that weighs 50 kg
Kunzong's attempt to climb the rock
As we walked around the rock clockwise, Kunzang pointed out to another attached rock that is shaped like a snake. Going further around the rock he pointed to a hole in the rock where water flows on full moon and auspicious days. The water comes from inside the rock! We then saw a cave in the rock which is the original cave that Guru Rimpoche meditated in. There is a hole inside the cave where legend has it that a snake came out from the whole which made Guru Rimpoche levitate and left an imprint of his head and torch. It is also the rock where Guru Rimpoche became the Garuda and defeated a demon that lived in the rock. When one looks at the rock, one can see the imprints of the wings. There is also an imprint of a sea snake!
Imprint of the Snake
The whole in the rock where water flows on full moon and auspicious days
The cave that has Guru Rimpoche's imprint
Since we had time to go inside the temple ( the caretaker was on lunch break), Margot and I ventured to where the monks lived and where the toilets are since I had to go to the bathroom. On the way to the path of the toilets, all of sudden like in a Steven Spielberg movie, grasshopper like creatures but with butterfly wings started jumping away from me. Margot saw them too and they left us wondering what they were. The toilets were interesting as basically there is a narrow aqueduct like ditch with water flowing that you do your thing in. I assume it goes to the river and thus we have been told not to drink the water! While walking back we met a young monk who invited us to see the young monks do their after lunch prayers. It was a very cute sight and I have to say some of them were naughty as they were laughing and not focusing! Outside we were fortunate because we met the head monk who was dressed in very shabby western clothes and looked very old but very regal.
The monks reciting the prayers
We then met up with Caryn and Kunzang to go inside the temple as the caretaker finished his lunch. Inside was not only beautiful statues of Guru Rimpoche by the altar but also stones with footprints of the following:
• the hoof of Guru Rimpoche’s horse
• Egg of the Garuda
• A huge Buddhist equivalent of a host
• Treasure from a Dakini (fairy)
• Hand drum of Guru Rimpoche
• Footprint of Guru Rimpoche
• Footprint of the 8year old consort of Guru Rimpoche from Tibet
• The phallus of Pema Limpa which was huge and is used as a blessing for infertile women
We got our blessing from the monk by drinking the special holy water and dabbing the rest on our head and got ready to go to our next destination the Tashigang Dzong which was built by the iron bridge builder.
On the way to the Dzong, Kunzang told us a story where long time ago, Tibet was going to invade Tashigang and a boatload of soldiers sailed down the river. But when they saw how high the Dzong was perched on the cliff, they thought the Dzong was in heaven so headed back!
The Dzong was under renovation when we visitied so entering was a bit scary when we saw pieces of wood,dirt and concrete fall from the roof. Nevertheless, we went in and got a treat! We saw again the young monks practice their prayers but they too were naughty as they were throwing things at each other discretely and also making gestures to us. Then we saw monks make the “batter” for the butter drolma (offerings) . There seemed to be a 5 year old monk making the batter too and he was so cute. We walked further along in the Dzong (I felt like I was in a Harry Potter movie) and then saw the young monks actually mold the batter. It was a beautiful site.
The Trashigang Dzong
The making of Tormas
We visited several of the temples inside the Dzong that was beautiful and got blessed again but the best temple was where a sacred statue is kept in a safe by order of the 4th King. The statue was found by a woman who was working by the iron bridge. Her name was Ishio Seldon. When she was cutting grass the sickle scratched the face of the statue and the statue cried “ouch!” She then brought the statue to the temple where it is kept now and when on display, the statue which by the way is self created, always looks toward the river.
All of the temples were beautiful but what made this Dzong special in addition to the statue were the old murals of the disciples and also a very big , beautiful and colorful torma (offering made of butter) on one of the altars.
Hallway of the Dzong lined with prayer wheels
We then headed back to the hotel but before returning we were fortunate enough to see an archery game go on which is the national sport of Bhutan. People were having fun as they were cheering . We were perched on a hill looking down at the game and I saw an interesting thing - one of the archers turned toward me and started peeing! He did not see me though as I was on a cliff. Very funny.
The target is small and is 150 meters away!
We then headed to our hotel which was very very cute. It reminded me of camp in Shikoku when I was young in Japan. We all agreed tonite is camping nite but instead of sharing showers and toilets we had our own albeit very very old.
Dinner was a fun and delicious event. The food at the hotel is supposed to be one of the best in Bhutan and it lived up to the reputation. I was bad tonite where I ordered 2 bottles of wine which Caryn and I finished! We had to share a table with the rest of the guests in the hotel which was fun. I had a good conversation with a couple from Spain. His wife was a hoot and is Spanish and her husband is German. They met on the mountain, got married and she convinced him to move to Spain which they did. They were very interested in visiting Japan so I gave them so hints on where to go. They did the Johmahari trek and are going to the border to catch a flight to New Dehli and then back to Spain. They said the trek itself was easy as the terrain wasn’t bad but the altitude does affect one. As a matter of fact, a German lady died from altitude sickness the day after they went through the 5000 meter pass. Apparently there were a lot of Indian police and Bhutanese working on getting her body down. Since I told them Japan was expensive we discussed alternative places to go to and I suggested the Trans Siberian railroad which got them interested. We also talked a lot about trekking as they have trekked all over the world. She did get me interested in Annapurna though as my friend Eunice said its also a good trek. The Spanish lady said that its as good as Torres del Paine so I’ll have to do some research on that.
Margot turned in early and Caryn and I finished the wine and turned in late 930pm! I had some tea and drank a lot of water as I knew we would have a hangover and also because we had to leave at 8am tomorrow!
Sunset at Trashigang