Finally, a decent nights sleep in
the Damchen Resort in Punakha. Lights out by 9 and fully awake about 7. I was
of course awake several times in the night. The dogs weren't the problem this
night, but the pigeons roosting above my room all night long were quite
tiresome.
After breakfast we headed out at
about 8:30 for a drive to Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten. Well, the drive was
to a bridge over the river, then we had a hike up the side of the mountain to
this beautiful spot.
The walk through the rice patties
brought us to a prayer wheel at the base of the steep climb. This monastery did
not have anything going on, so we got the full tour of all three levels -
water, land, and air - then the view from the roof, spectacular. This is an Indian tantric style monastery,
unlike the previous we'd seen. (Can I keep this all straight? The history, religion and all those Bhutanese
names and words are hard to follow, I'm thinking I need a book for
clarification.)
A girl was home from school, her
sister was sick, and she was playing with three little ones. They had been on
swings up the hill when we first arrived, then they came down the hill just as
we were finishing. Tara grilled the older girl
of course, the boy was digging in the dirt and they were all friendly with
their hellos and goodbyes before we headed out, back down the hill with a stop
to buy fresh guavas from an old woman sitting in the shade of the prayer wheel,
then back across the bridge.
Then it was time for a
"float" downstream all the way back to the hotel. This
"float" was really a level 2 whitewater rafting trip, with an easy 3
we were told. We all got a bit wet, but it was fun and relaxing. We saw
cormorants flying along the river, monks appearing to do laundry, or maybe a
bath, or both, and a wonderful view of mountains and the countryside.
We were dropped at the hotel, which
is right on the beach, before heading off to a picnic lunch in a riverside
campground. This picnic included tables and chairs and tablecloths and oh yes,
begging dogs, which aren't usually in our restaurants.
Lingering over lunch as we did, we
didn't have much time at the Punakha Dzong, we were the last visitors in the
building. After crossing the bridge, taking many pictures along the way, we
ascended the steps to the entrance, two big prayer wheels on either side. The front half is the administration area,
the back, an incredible monastery. It sits at the juncture of two rivers, and
in 19-somewhen recently the entire series of buildings was washed away by
floods. They rebuilt it, as close a replica to the original as possible,
including all the intricate carvings and paintings. Our dear friend Tara
maneuvered us into a picture with a monk, then Tshering staged another photo
with a young monk in a hallway. Our time in the monastery witnessed a monk on
his cell phone right in front of burning candles set up for a ritual for
sometime later that night. It's quite normal, but not our normal stereotypical
view of a Buddhist monastery or even of Bhutan (that is if you ever heard
of the country!). Monks and other Bhutanese
in native dress chatting on cell phones, all a part of breaking down those
preconceived notions.
As we were leaving Tara
asked my question for me in typical fashion, the schools let out late, they
were all walking home as we were leaving.
They all were staying late doing extra activities in preparation for the
4th king’s birthday. It's amazing here how much the entire country is involved
with one thing such as the king’s birthday compared to how little we are
involved as a unified country for anything back in the US.
Our last stop for the evening was to
a nunnery, we had seen it on our drive into the area, at the top of a mountain
ridge. It was dusk and getting dark. We got there after it closed, but were
permitted to wander the property. Nuns were blowing conch shells, the start of
a ritual inside. We got to witness
chanting of their Sanskrit prayers and walk the stupa all by ourselves. But
most spectacular was the full moon rising above the mountaintops. In a quick 5
minutes, the glowing moon had risen.
Back to the hotel for the typically
late dinner then to bed to prepare for a day of travel.
From Hotel
On Drive
Hike up the mountain
