Across the Rainbow Bridge

Today we had a late start. And by late, I mean breakfast at 8:30. We loaded up the car and departed Thimphu along a winding mountain road riddled with sheer 500-foot drops, hairpin bends, and questionable paving. Oh, and like most of the other roads in Bhutan, there's only room for one and a half cars. And by cars I mean passenger vehicles, not the big flatbed trucks that are the more common sight in between towns.

We were headed to Punakha and Wangduephodrang, in what is, comparatively, the lowlands. As we crested the mountain range that separated Thimphu valley from Punakha valley, we stopped at the 108 stupa meant to bring good luck to those who pass by. Tashi said that later in the year, when the weather was clearer, you could see the Himalayas going on forever. As it was, there was fog obscuring even the bottom of the valley from view. I didn't mind too much, as this also made for some awesome pictures.





From there, we descended into the valley, and made our way to Chimi Lakhang, a fertility temple, where women who cannot bear children come to pray for help conceiving. It is said that if they sleep there overnight, they will be able to bear a child afterward.

Next we headed to Punakha Dzong, which had the biggest and most awesome interior I have seen yet. Sorry, no pictures allowed. There were statues inside that rose three stories up, and there was intricate detail on every single available surface, including the beams holding the roof up, which were adorned with dragons. There was seating for dozens of monks. Tashi told me that this was where the center of the monastic community came to live during the winters, when it grew colder in Thimphu. Because of the lower elevation, it was substantially warmer here. In Thimphu, I had worn my jacket when I wasn't hiking up somewhere, but down here I was wishing I had worn my shorts.

Finally, we hiked up to a massive stupa constructed at the time of the current king's birth.



When the king was born, it was prophesied that the country would face tremendous hardship at some point during his reign unless a large stupa was constructed in this area, so in his name, it was built.

When we first arrived, we found the door to be locked, so Tashi pulled out his cell and called the number listed on a sign outside. It turned out the monk was in the middle of performing a ritual, and we couldn't come in just now. We waited a few minutes for him to finish, and he unbolted the door for us. I'm still always a little taken aback when I see a monk using a cell phone or drinking a Sprite. We made our way up to the top floor and outside onto the roof. The hike was definitely worth it. We had a spectacular view of the entire valley.




I mentioned how cool I thought the farms here were, being carved out in tiers from the hillside. I explained what farms were like back home, and we stood around talking about the differences between our two countries for a while. That's kind of become the way things go. Tashi teaches me something about Bhutan, and I tell him how different it is from home. He grew up here in Bhutan, so he doesn't find the method of farming that exciting, but when I told him that my mom grew up on a farm that was nearly 100 acres large, he was fascinated. He teaches me about Bhutan, and I teach him about Canada.

After a while, the monk came up to find us, wondering what we were doing up there that was taking so long, I'm sure. We had been up on the roof for near twenty minutes just talking and taking pictures. We made our way out and hiked along the river for a while back to our car. We passed a house where, when the four kids who lived there noticed me, started yelling "bye!" over and over and waving. I suppose they haven't gotten to learning "hi" yet. Or maybe bye is easier for them to pronounce. I'm not sure. Either way, I smiled, waved back, and said bye to them, but they didn't stop. They kept calling out to us until we were out of sight. Tashi and I looked at each other and laughed and carried on with our hike.

We eventually crossed a bridge covered with more prayer flags than I had seen on any bridge so far. It was quite a sight with all of the colors mixed in together and flying in the wind.



We drove to the hotel, ate dinner, and then collapsed, content with a day full of breathtaking views, beautiful sites, and the fact that we hadn't been killed in a head-on collision due to the fog.