Royal Mountain Travel Magazine Royal Mountain Travel Magazine Issue 2 | Page 8

Alternative Bhutan: Land of the Thunder Dragon

Alternative Bhutan: Land of the Thunder Dragon

remarkable collection of buildings has recently
been restored after a fire and is built on and into a
900m rock face. There are several other interesting
monasteries and ruins in the area.

Thimpu. Photo: M Heredge.

Paro Dzong (fortress monastery), the museum, the
covered bridge over the Paro River, and the delights
of the town including produce markets and tiny
shops selling small quantities of life’s necessities.
There are some interesting quality souvenirs to be
found, including artwork, traditional toys/games
such as spinning tops, bows and arrows and heavily
weighted darts, as well as the beautiful hand loomed
silk and cotton fabrics. The town is basically one
wide main street lined with colourful wooden two
storey buildings, many with interesting “protective”
artwork, symbols such as the lotus and the now less
popular phallus.
The lovely hike up through pine forests to the 17th
century Thaktsang (Tigers Nest) Gompa, founded by
the Guru Rinpoche, takes about three hours. This

A day trip to Thimpu, the capital, is highly
recommended. Expanding at a frightening pace
with large areas of former farmland now covered
with blocks of apartments, Thimpu nevertheless is
a charming capital city.
The Royal Family, much
revered, reside here and there are many wonderful
public buildings and monuments of interest – the
enormous Thimphu Dzong, the National Library,
and Simtokha Dzong, the first to be built in 1629, by
the prolific builder Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal,
to name just a few.
The twin highlights of my trip though, were a visit to
the Haa Valley and a night spent in a monastery. The
Haa Valley has recently opened to tourists and the
sealed road climbs steeply via many hairpin bends to
the Chele La (pass) at 3,810m. The scenery is picture
postcard: vistas of terraced rice fields, swathes of
multi-coloured wildflowers, hamlets of traditional
dark timber and white daubed houses, cliff hanging
monasteries, pine forests and foraging domestic
animals. The Chele La is covered in hundreds of
Buddhist prayer flag poles and is an ideal place to
stop for a cup of tea (bring your own) and take in
the 360 degree view. The road descends in similar
winding fashion to the town of Haa, now home to
a sizeable number of Indian military personnel.
There is a dzong (used by the Indian military), the
Black Chapel, White Chapel and pretty farmhouses.

No traffic lights in Thimphu. Photo: M Heredge.

Near the Lakhang Nagpo (Black Chapel) are several
rammed earth buildings of a style now not built in
Bhutan. Cafes are basic, but hosts friendly. My driver,
guide and I enjoyed a picnic lunch beside the river,
my hostess having provided traditional red rice, ema
datse (chillies in cheese sauce which is a Bhutanese
favourite), beef and potatoes, boiled eggs, mangoes
and tea. On this day a visiting high lama had the
townspeople very excited and most residents had
congregated under an enormous marquee erected
for the occasion.
A relatively new “thing to do” in Bhutan is to spend
a night in a monastery and I was taken to Donkala
Monastery, some 20 kilometers uphill from Shaba
near Paro. We were a party of 4 – me, my hostess,
guide and driver. A jeep was required to negotiate
22 kilometers of uphill clay road which, after heavy
rain in the night had become a quagmire. A lot of
stops were required to shovel dry earth on to a
sticky road surface before we slid to a halt within
sight of the monastery. Help was at hand and we,
vehicle included, were hauled to the door by a large
earthmoving machine!
Donkala is at about 4,000 meters above sea level. I
was told the view is usually amazing but it was raining

heavily on this particular day. Modernity has come to
Donkala and they had solar hot water though! The
monks were extremely hospitable and took us on a tour
of the buildings including the main temple which had
suffered severe damage in the 2011 earthquake. The
treasures include an entire set of handwritten books of
the teachings of Buddha and exquisite figurines, now
housed in a timber and corrugated iron building which
serves as their main prayer chapel. We had a comfy
room in an adjacent building and the four of us were
served a substantial dinner of rice, vegetables, lentils
and pickles. The head lama and other monks were
very friendly. We slept on thin mattresses on the floor
and were warm and very comfortable. Two cats shared
my sleeping bag!!
Next day we were invited to listen to the early
morning prayers which were very moving. Even
without translation it is difficult not to be moved. It
was still showering at lunchtime and we had to leave
the vehicle behind and slide down the mountain. It
was hard work but such a lot of fun. It was a very
joyous two days and at no time did I feel I had
intruded on daily monastic life. Rather, I had been
welcomed sincerely and I felt blessed. Of course,
when we reached Paro again the sun appeared!

Shop in Paro. Photo: M Heredge.

8

www.royalmt.com.np

May 2014

ROYAL

www.royalmt.com.np

9