Bhutan Trip - Day 5 - Thimphu/ Paro

The day started off on a not so great note, with my daughter and wife both down with food poisioning symptoms. The pharmacies nearby were closed, so we commenced our journey after a light breakfast.

First up, we went to the National Handicrafts emporium to browse through the work of the local artists. While generally costlier than what you would find in the town markets, we still spent a few tourist dollars on some items. Clothing items were too costly for our liking though.















Next, we went to the Painting School, where they teach the local students 13 artistic skills, and give them a stipend while they study that typically is for 6 years. There they are taught a wide range of skills, including drawing, painting, sculpting, stitching, designing etc, and the stipend accrued over the learning years can be used to start a small business upon graduation. This also acts as a means of keeping the at-risk youth engaged in meaningful work.

We made a hurried trip to the National Postal Museum, which we had to abort halfway through following another vomiting episode for my daughter. But, the highlight of the place is that they print customized stamps with your own photo.

Instead of the Folk Heritage centre that was on the agenda, our guide recommended that we visit a more general museum called Simply Bhutan. There, they had their own guides explain to us the Bhutanese way of life, from the way they build their houses without nails!, the tools they use at home both in the past and the present, how their houses look like and the life history of the Kings. We could also try our hands at archery (and no one could hit the target from 5 feet :P) and toss some coins into the Wishing Well. The whole experience was so engaging that my daughter forgot her illness for a while. My son didn't want to leave the grain grinder and taking coins out of the wishing well with a magnetic stick. Given the hour long journey to Paro, we decided to have lunch inside Simply Bhutan itself, where they treated us to a sumptuous spread along with a nice live dancing performance.

Tired from the morning sojourns, both the kids slept off on the journey to Paro. Paro is another lovely city in  beautiful valley, cut through by the river Pa Chu. The main town is effectively made up of two main parallel streets. However, there are a lot of houses and other attractions higher up the mountains surrounding the valley, which is mainly used for farming.

First, we went to the National Museum, situated in a building that used to be a watch tower for the Paro Dzong some distance below. On the way, we passed through a wooden bridge without any nails that can carry cars and trucks. The National Museum comprises of 4 galleries, including one with various masks used in the folklore as part of the Tsechu and their significance, one gallery on old paintings, one describing the flora and fauna of Bhutan, and the final one with statues. It was a compact but interesting museum. Unfortunately, they dont allow cameras inside.


Next up was the Rinpung Dzong below, which was no different to any of the other Dzongs visited earlier. Paro was one of the most powerful Penlops earlier, which is one of the only three Dzongs in the country to have a separate watch tower.

Afterwards, we went to the Kichu Lhakhang, the oldest temple in town built in the 7th century. It comprises of the old temple with a relatively newer annex built in 19th century by the Queen Mother. The old temple has a blessed orange tree which is believed to be blessed in the past and bears fruit all through the year, in an area where orange trees do not grow much at all due to the weather conditions. One of the Indian grannies visiting started praying to the tree in front of us and an orange fell at her feet, creating a bit of a flutter. Bhutanese are highly spiritual and superstitious, so everyone around the old lady got excited. They said the oranges from the tree dont fall down even in very high winds, so they felt that this was a divine blessing to the old lady. The lady in her 70s was a bit flustered by all the attention, saying she was just praying for the well being of all people.

We finally made our way to Dewachen Resort, in a fairly remote hillside outside central Paro, but with beautiful views of the snow capped mountains and a star filled nightsky. We had a light dinner with a busy day coming up, with probably the biggest test of our stamina.