From Thimphu, we drive through the beautiful Dochu La pass to the Punakha Valley. It seems that not too long ago, Bhutan took in hundreds of refugees from nearby Assam in India. When India demanded they be deported back, Bhutan reluctantly complied, but regretted it. Now Dochu La pass is covered in hundreds of small stupas that they built as a self imposed penance. It’s a really beautiful, if not somber place. After the pass we arrive at my hotel in Wangdue Phodrang, but Punakha is only a few minutes up river, so they’re kind of like Bhutans twin cities. Punakha has one of the most beautiful 16th century forts, which is now a monastery and temple. It’s massive and situated between 2 rivers where they come together. (see the pics above and below) Also nearby is the very peaceful Khuruthang temple.

I also climbed up to the Khumsum Yuelley Namgyal Chorten temple high above the town and got some amazing views of the whole Punakha valley from the roof. I met a nice couple from Switzerland up there who have actually heard of and been to Salt Lake City! Awesome!  

In nearby Metshina is a temple built by Lama Drukpa Kunley, who we read about in my last post, on the spot where he defeated an evil demoness. She had been terrorizing the whole countryside for a long time when, one day, our hero showed up to fight her. She turned herself into a dog and ran down into the valley to get away, but he destroyed her with his “mighty thunderbolt”. Now it’s called Chimi Lhakhang, which means “no dog temple”. Ha! Every temple has some sort of funny story like this about how it came to be. I love this place! On the hike down from Chimi Lhakhang, I was so captivated by the views of the valley and the endless rice patties that my foot slipped off the trail right into a rice pattie. Mud up to my shin, completely filled my shoe and now I have one black sock. Good times! 

Wangdue Phodrang also has a huge monastery that used to be a fort, but it burned down in June, yup, just a few months before my arrival. Now we just get to drive by and look at the remnants from afar. The government is still investigating the cause of the fire and the monks are now temporarily relocated to the nearby army base. I bet it was pretty impressive before the fire, though. Seems like fires are a big problem here. Alot of the monasteries have had to be partially rebuilt at one time or another and there are a lot of ruins of burned out farmhouses, only the stone foundations remain. Some are a few years old, some are hundreds of years old. They just build a new house and farm around the ruins. It sounds bad, but actually it’s quite beautiful and adds a lot of character.

This country continues to fascinate me. On one of our walks, my guide, Thinley, suddenly stops and reaches down and plucks a little branch from a bush on the side of the trail. He hands it to me and says, “Here, marijuana!” I looked at the leaves and sure enough, marijuana. I’ve never seen it in it’s natural state like that before. Apparently, it’s illegal to pick it and smoke it, but it’s allowed to grow wild like any other bush or shrub in the hills. I wouldn’t have even noticed it if Thinley hadn’t pointed it out to me, but now I spot it all over the place. Interesting how every plant I spot has branches broken off, though. Somebody’s being bad! Until next time…

See all the pics from Dochu La and Metshina here

See all the pics from Punakha here

And all the pics from Wangdue Phodrang are right here