Weekend in Punakha

Just got home from a weekend trip to Punakha.  Punakha is west of Thimphu and about a 3-4 hour drive thru the Himalaya's.  Mona and I made the trip in about 6 hours as there is a lot to see from the road.  The Himalayan road is exactly how you would picture it--narrow and obviously windy.  Gets a little close at times.  The Thimphu side (~2300M) of the Himalayas is cooler and more arid.  Once you drop down to Panuka (~1350M), though, the landscape is more lush.  I saw my first rice plantations as well as yaks and monkeys!  We spent the night near Punakha at a really neat 'resort'.  I'll let the pictures do the talking:



Below is the present Kings (King Wangchuck) dzong or rest area?  I'll have to find out exactly.  Before the dzong was erected, 108 stupas (little white temples) were built--stupas go in years earlier to purify the land.  The stupas were placed ~2005; the dzong 2008.   '108' is an important number in Buddhism-- something about 100 and the 8 to fill up the arrows???   What impressed me was the quality of work that is still happening today.  I thought these structures, buildings, and art were ancient-- but they were built just a few years ago.  In Thimphu there is a an art school where the ancient arts are still taught.  I posted about it earlier.  If a child around 10th grade test score's are lacking, they are sent to this art school.  The school program is 6 years and graduates receive a certificate of art.  These artisans can either sell their art independently or work for Bhutan by maintaining existing pieces or doing newer works.  I toured the school a few days before and was impressed.  The paintings are done very exact and I'm noticing some similar formats done in slightly different colors only.  I might try and capture all the different scenes as I continue on this trip.

You can't take pictures inside and as assumed is extremely beautiful and ornate.  On the inside of each dzong is a large room with a large statue of Buddha in the center of the back wall, usually facing the door.  Next to him is often a king.  In this dzong, the thrones sit facing the Buddha.  There are 2 thrones and I asked if they are for the queen and king.  No, for the king and the lead religious man.  Inside is where some government decisions are made.  On top of a large mountain, facing Buddha, with their version of the pope.  A very different life here!


Side of the road food stop.  Behind her are little gardens where she grows food like Fiddlehead.  We bought some with my intention to cook it.  Instead I just gave it to Wangchuck....

Typical house in Bhutan:  Prayer flags, rocks on shingled roof (can't see here), Airy attic-allows air to flow thru and a place to dry chili's, ornate wooden windows, painted penis on wall (zoom in).

A wooden phallus with a sword thru it--wards off evil

Water prayer wheel:

Other Prayer Wheels:

The Divine Madman's Dzong:

Reason their is a thing for phallus' in Bhutan.  The madman felt the stiffness of the clergy wasn't always true teaching of Buddha.  He meditated on wine and women. ...

The Betel plant.  The Bhutanese chew something called doma; similar to our tobacco in that you chew and spit it.  It's made up of this leaf (or it's seed/nut???), lime, and areca (a brown nut).  Cannibalism was practiced centuries ago until Guru Rinopoche encouraged doma to be chewed instead as it looks like blood.  It is the reason people's teeth around here are stained red.  This red spit is all over the place and I can smell it on the street.  An ER doc told me it can cause problematic gastritis.  {Gastritis is big around here from doma and all the hot chili peppers}  The other day I had a 26 year old female patient who could barely open her mouth.  Apparently chewing the betel nut can causes fibrosis of the mucosa- something that is only seen by people who chew the nut.  Even with paralysis, she had very limited mouth opening!

Punakha Dzong

Punakha was Bhutan's capital before Thimphu.  This dzong sits at the confluence of two rivers and is known as one of the most impressive dzongs in Bhutan.  The two rivers are known as the male and female rivers.  The male river is rougher water while the female river is calm.


Inside the dzong:

The guy who brought McDonalds to China

Meri Puensum Resort, where we stayed Saturday night.  Very nice and relaxing.  Lush landscape with blooming flowers.  This gazebo here had Wi-Fi so most guests would sit outside.  I brought my light MAC laptop with me.  A man in Gho asked how much it weighed.  Me:  'I don't know, here feel it.'
He then checked his email for 10 minutes!  Found out later he was the medical director at our hospital.

Yaks!

A monkey!

Simtokha Dzong

Oldest in Bhutan