September 27: Punakha

Today, we said goodbye to Thimphu and headed to Punakha. The road crosses the mountains through Donchula Pass, which is marked with a temple and 108 stupas–a memorial to the Bhutanese troops who fought to expel rebels from Assam, India who had illegally set up camps in southwestern Bhutan in 2003. From the pass we could see the Himalayas, though on a clearer day, the view is even more spectacular.

The road itself is extremely rough and winding. It is far more vomit-inducing than the road that Mark and I took from San José to Manuel Antonio in Costa Rica, but it’s probably not quite as bad as the road to Hana in Hawaii. I was motion sick on the road to Hana, but I got through to Punakha just fine–well I may have a mild case of whiplash.

We passed through the Punakha Valley and into the Wangdi Valley to visit the Wangdiphodrang Fortress, where young men were practicing their performance for the upcoming wedding of the king.

We had a tasty lunch in town, then hiked 25 minutes to visit the Temple of the Divine Madman. Surrounded by rice paddies and wide open land, the Temple of the Divine Madman is serene and restful. The sun was out all day, so the walk to it really recharged all of our batteries.

Finally, we headed for Punakha Fortress. On the way there, we were delayed briefly while road crews cleared away a landslide. We were reminded once again that people are people all over the world; a taxi pulled up to the small line of traffic and promptly ditched all of us so he could be first through the reopened road, and all the passengers in the buses behind us piled out to snoop. We arrived at the fortress with no further drama.

The Punakha Fortress is the largest we’ve seen by far. It’s at the convergence of two rivers in an unbelievable pastoral setting. The earthquake in Nepal last week damaged part of the fortress (among other buildings in the country, including the national museum in Paro). You’ll see a partially collapsed stupa among the photos below.

We checked into our hotel–again, a lovely view–and at dinner, Tashi bought us a bottle of whiskey partly to celebrate my birthday and partly to celebrate the birth of his second child, a daughter, born today at 6:10 p.m.