September 26: Thimpu
Sorry for the grouchiness in the last post. After 2 liters of water in less than an hour and a full night’s rest, I’m rehydrated and feeling much better. Also, today we resolved our flight dilemma. We’re going to cut a day off of our time in Paro and leave on Thursday. If we don’t get delayed by weather, we’ll have another night in Bangkok and then get back onto our itinerary.
We spent today sightseeing in Thimphu. We visited the queen mother’s stupa in downtown, which she built for her son, the previous king, who died young. We were cautioned not to take any photos inside, which is understandable but regrettable; it was fascinating.
From the stupa, we took a short drive to see a weaving workroom where I bought a gho. A gho is the formal dress of men in Bhutan. It looks like a bathrobe, but it functions as a business suit and is worn during all but the most informal occasions.
We then visited a working temple (no photos allowed inside) and an enormous golden Buddha that is still under construction. The Buddha is on a mountainside above city and isn’t going to be finished for around ten years.
After so much religion, we took a break and visited an animal preserve. They currently have only three kinds of animals in the preserve: barking deer, silent deer, and the national animal, takir.
The animal preserve was followed by lunch at the Bhutan Kitchen restaurant. I tried butter tea, which I didn’t love but didn’t hate, either. It tasted like salt water with milk in it and some mild spice that I couldn’t put my finger on. Because we finished lunch too early get into our next destination, we popped into a handicrafts store where we all bought singing bowls. Then we visited a school where crafting skills are taught. Students learn woodcarving, drawing, painting, weaving, and other crafts that are important to Bhutanese culture. The school is what we might call a vocational school, and the students are, for the most part, those who failed to pass their high school qualifying exams but wanted still to learn a trade. The city is full of art. Practically every wall has hand-painted details, practically every railing is carved, so I’m sure that there is work to be had by all the school’s graduates.
Tashi and Tenzin dropped us off for a brief rest because our final destination for the day was to be the Thimphu fortress, which is a functioning administrative office during the day. Visitors are not allowed until 5:30. We saw some beautiful architecture and then spent some time in the monastery, chanting young monks and all. That is until the lights went out, and Tashi had to lead us from the shrine room by the light of his cell phone.
