Capturing a moment of a flowing river

On day 3 morning, we checked out and left Thimphu for Punakha.  To reach Punakha, we would pass by Dochula Pass, which in itself is a tourist attraction.  The temple and the stupas here were built to honour the service of the Fourth King, who personally led the troops against the insurgents (in the year 2003), as well as the regular Armed Forces of the country.

On a clear weather day, some part of the the Himalaya would be in view.  Like Mt Fuji (twice!), no such luck for me.

First view of Punakha valley as we we left the pass and continued on our way.

Close to noon, we reached the start of the next attraction, Chili Lhakhang.  To reach this temple, one has to trek about 30-40mins through mud paths through farm land.  

15th Century Chili Lhakhang.  Couples come here to pray for fertility and children.  

I don't remember what prompted me to suggest doing jump shots here.  However, while reviewing the photos, I don't really like any of them so I'm not going to show them here.  Then each of us, including Sonam, also did 三连拍。But I selected only one from each of us to do a collage here:

We finally ended the very hot mid day trek and had lunch at a restaurant which had it's own very well maintained vegetable farm.

Betel nut, the chewing gum of the east.  Not only after lunchbreaks, but also throughout the day, these guys ate a lot of them.

After the late lunch, we drove on about an hour, then started another short trek to the Punakha Suspension Bridge (Iron Bridge), and then visited the Punakhadzong. 

One view of Punakhadong, before the start of the trek. 

I spotted a leaf-lookalike butterfly.  

From here onwards, we started having much more of Sonam and Jayong (our driver) in our photos.  Jayong is the same age as Sonam, and they were classmates before.  His english is not as fluent, but with Lili the conversationalist around, we chatted anyway.  As a driver, Jayong do not accompany or interact with tourists as much as he did with us, so I'm sure he will always remember Lili!

On the iron bridge:

Another view of Punakhadzong

Evening, as day 3 drew to an end:

The saying goes "A picture captures a thousand words".  What does this picture below say to you?  I remembered, at the start of crossing the wooden bridge at Punakhadzong, a rather stylish and fit looking senior gentlemen, in sensible tracking outfit, was sitting down on a stone step, with the bridge as a backdrop, to have a photo taken by his friend.  We were impressed for his ability to pose so well.  Lili asked if we should wait for him to finish to take that spot, but I didn't want to.  When we exited at the other end of the bridge, I happened to look back to my right and saw this spot that will have the Mo Chhu (River) as the backdrop. I urged Lili for a photo, and she was really amused when I wanted this pose.  It was afterwards, when I reviewed the photos from the whole tour that I fell in love with this set of photos (I posted the set on IG).  

I have heard of this description, that the camera man is the "invisible man".  He is there at that moment, but he is not in the photo that captures the moment in eternity.  Thank you my young friend for this beautiful photo.  At that moment, I felt joy.  Ever-changing yet Everlasting, a relationship is like the river.

City girls in traditional costumes

On day 2, we visited 3 places of interest in all. In the morning, we attended the tsechu festival at another location, the Tashichhoedzong. In causal terms, I guess this is the government building, where the King and minsters work or have meetings in. Except that in Bhutan, these buildings (one in each major city) has a monastery in it. Tourist and locals will be able access the monastery part of the building but not the parliament side. 

Our tour package provided a set of local traditional costume for us to wear during our trip. We were given our set on our arrival. Still on day 1 evening, we bought our own set at a local shop! After the temple tours and before dinner, we went to the bazaar opposite our hotel. We probably started with the intention to browse or window shop, but eventually couldn't resist the lure of the vibrant fabric and the feminine feel of the traditional costume. So vain-pots-us had 2 sets to choose from for the rest of the trip! We were very excited and we wore the set from the agency to the festival on this (second) day. 

Here are some pictures as we arrived at the dzong and at the square where the ceremony was:

Do the locals get a lot of requests from tourists to be featured in their photos?  Will the girls remember us for many years to come?  Will they chance upon my blog one day?

The locals, such as this family, attended the ceremony for the whole day.  We lasted only 2 hours (till it got hot).  

At the square.  This section facing the entrance is for the king, chief abbot, and VIPs.  

Tourist section, on the left of the entrance.  The clowns, soliciting tips for posing for photos, were the fringe part of the festival, not necessary nor religious, but part tradition and part (probably) for the entertainment of tourists.  

Here are a few pictures of the ceremony going on; songs, dances, prayers, and blessings. 

This was the first picture that we took with Sonam, our guide.  He is young chap, only 26 years old.   A quick mental calculation told us that his mum is probably only a few years old than us?

One of the reasons this trip is memorable to me is due to the cultural exchange that took place.  Lili likes to chat with people, and so on this trip we learned a few things about the country and its people from Sonam.  Like most youngsters, he has anxieties and doubts about the future, about how much opportunities are there in and out of the country, to further develop his career and aspirations.  He's a very attentive guy and took good care of us throughout the trip.    

We left the ceremony at 10+, and toured the dzong.    

Our second stop was a tourist attraction, the Simply Bhutan Museum.  It's a showcase of the Bhutanese village, has a restaurant and few handicraft shops.  There's also the Garden of Phallus.  Here's the origin of the proliferation of the male sexual organ ornaments and drawings in the country: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phallus_paintings_in_Bhutan

And here's a more presentable photo out of the many that we took, ha!

Butter tea and rice cracker.  It's a snack, like a bun or bao that we eat in between meals.  It's what is served (free by organisers) at the festivals where the attendees usually stay the whole day.   

After hanging out at a local cafe till mid afternoon, we still couldn't do any trekking due to the drizzle, thus we visited the textile museum and bought some souvenirs at the stalls outside the museum.  For vain pots like us, the Bhutanese costume in itself is an attraction, and we kept "bio-ing" at pictures of the royal family, and the Queen in particular of course.   

That evening and night, Lili hanged out at Thimphu Square.  She wanted to make friends with the youngsters in Bhutan.  She said that she got a lot of add requests on WeChat from the locals, who were also seeking friends, especially foreigners, using some "nearby" function on the app.

Someone ever commented, that Lili and I are best friends, because other than one being an extrovert and one an introvert we are rather similar in character.  Well, can't say that this assessment is totally right, but we are definitely very comfortable with the others' "openness" and "closeness".   So while she "prowled", I "zen"..  Still, I secretly doubt the satisfaction that she can get from new friends.  The introvert speaking..

A trip to the happiest place on earth

What a waste.  Last year Oct, I went Bhutan with Lili, and it's a very blog worthy trip.  When I came back, I was very inspired to write a short story based on our trip.  I actually started writing, but it was tedious, and my momentum died very soon.  Now, half a year later, I not only don't feel like picking up where I left off, I don't even feel like blogging about it like my usual travel posts.  

So here I am, trying to concentrate on what strike a serious chord in my heart about the trip.  I hope I can express my emotions adequately, to give justice to the effect this country and trip has on me.  


Bhutan is a very unique country.  Could it be that the King saw what urbanisation and industrialisation do to culture and land, that the country's development is purposefully controlled?

View of the country from the aeroplane:

We took up a tour package with one of the largest agency of the country, Drukasia.  Our guide and driver, whom I will write about in the later posts, picked us up at noon, took us to the hotel then lunch.  That late afternoon, we visited the first few of many temples to come.

Statue of Buddha Dordenma atop the hills.

This was also the week of Thimphu Tsheche (religious festival).  Attendees sat in tents to listen to the prayers and lessons.  

 View of Thimphu valley (town) from a photo point on our way down from the hills.

12th Century, oldest temple of the capital of Bhutan

Our hotel was in the city center, where there's a temporary festival market bazaar.  

View of the bazaar from our hotel room

Day 1 ended flatly.  A long day due to the early start at SG.  On our previous trip to Bangkok, Lili and I discussed emotional issues at day 1 dinner; I was expecting that to happen on this trip too, but we didn't.   But of course, there were 6 more days to go...