DAY 8, MARCH 29, THIMPHUI

THIMPHU

In this little mountain town
We had a look around.
No one's in a hurry.
About crime you need not worry.
It's here they keep the crown.

We saw the memorial to King Three
And some marvelous archery,
The fortress and the takin
And, while in our stockin's walkin',
The Buddhist nunnery.

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The weather this morning was perfect, absolutely gorgeous. But it clouded up in the afternoon.

We had a wonderful day touring in and around Thimphu from 9 AM till about 4 PM with our guide Phub Dorji and our driver Karma. Then Helen and I napped until the 6 PM gathering for beer and cheese in the Opsahl's room and dinner at 6:30.

We had lunch in the Karma Coffee shop, and they offer free wireless. So I came back in the evening with my computer. But their system wasn't working this evening. So I just sent a short message from the wireless place next door to our hotel which I used last evening.

The stops we made before lunch on our tour were the Memorial Chorten; a house wall painting involving the “male figure;” an observation point high above the city; the Motithang Takin Preserve; an observation point overlooking the fortress, the parliament building, and the palace; the Buddhist nunnery; and an archery match. After lunch we visited the farmer's market and the miscellaneous goods market; and the Handicraft Emporium. Then we had an hour for shopping downtown. I will discourse on each of these.

“Chorten” is a Bhutanese word. The English word for it is “stupa.” This memorial was built in 1974 by the mother of the Third King, who died of a heart attack in 1972 at age 44. It is actually a temple with several buildings. The king's ashes are in the ornate main building. Particularly since it was Sunday, a day of rest but not of special religious significance, in addition to tourists like us, there were devout Buddhists who had come to pray while, in many cases, walking round and round the main building, usually with a prayer wheel or rosaries.

The “male figure” is actually a stylized penis-with-scrotum. In this case a dragon was wrapped around the penis. There is a folk story behind its origin. It is used to protect the house from misfortune.

We drove up and up a winding narrow paved road up through the sometimes scattered, sometimes more dense pine trees almost to the top where we had a wonderful view of the valley and city below. Colorful Buddhist “flags” were strung all over. This place is a favorite for the flags because it has “a good wind flow.” We walked at least half a mile down to the taking preserve.

On the way up we made a quick stop to see many little objects whose name I don't know. The dead are cremated. The ashes are thrown in the river. But there are bits of bones among the ashes which haven't burned. If these are not disposed of properly the soul cannot be released to its proper destination. The bone bits are ground into a powder. The powder is mixed with clay which is shaped something like a little upside down funnel about 2 inches wide and high. This is allowed to dry, painted with the person's color, and placed on a natural ledge on a hillside.

The takin is a strange wild animal found in this part of the world. It's also the national animal of Bhutan. It's a puzzle to biologists and so has a category all its own. There is a folk story about its origin. It's sort of a goat-antelope. The body looks rather like a cow's body but a bit smaller. The head looks rather like that of a goat and likewise the horns. Yet, from the side the face looks a little like that of a moose. There are some takins roaming the hills of Bhutan. There are eleven takins, including a calf, in the preserve, and we got a good look at some of them through the fence. The preserve was once a zoo with a variety of animals. The king decided some 15 years ago to free the animals because denying them their freedom is contrary to Buddhist ethics. But the Takins didn't adapt back to the wild. They came down to the city to look for food. So they were put back in the zoo. Also there are some deer in the zoo, but we didn't see any. The deer in the zoo are animals saved after being found injured.

Coming out of the woods we passed a large walled residential area in construction. These nice homes are to be for the members of parliament when parliament is in session.

The Fortress is a magnificent building complex. One half houses hi-level government officials. The other half houses high-level monks. The government of Bhutan is and has been two-fold: the king, and the abbot. (But now three-fold with the parliament and prime minister.)

The parliament building, not as big or colorful, has been in existence for some time but has just in the past months become the parliament building.

We were at quite a distance from these buildings. So we couldn't get a good look at the palace. It is actually two buildings. My impression is that it is small and very modest for a palace – for the residence of the king and his family.

Across the road from this observation point, we walked up the drive into the nunnery. About 60 nuns live there, but we didn't meet any, only saw one at a distance sweeping a walkway. The nunnery and its temple have an aged appearance. Dorji explained “rebirth” and “reincarnation.” Ordinary people are reborn as various animals several times and eventually are reincarnated again as humans. But “masters” (outstanding monks) are reincarnated directly again as humans over and over without going through intervening lives as animals.

There was an informal archery match in progress on rough land belonging to a school (and therefor to the government). I didn't count them, but there were maybe six or eight on each team. Dorji explained that probably one team was from Thimphu and the other from another town – well, one of the archers told me he works at the airport in Paro. I got my picture taken with him. They were all wearing the traditional costume. The bows were “simple” wooden bows (not compound bows with telescope sights). I had the opportunity to pull one of the bows, and it was quite stiff. The very light arrows are bamboo with feathers from a particular wild bird and a conical metal tip. One of the archers told me the string actually comes from the USA, but he didn't know what it's made of. They shoot at a target 145 meters away! The bull's eye looks to be about eight inches in diameter. They didn't often hit the bull's eye, but the fact that they regularly came so close absolutely blew my mind.

The substantial facility for the farmer's market was only about a year old. It was all vegetables. (No meats.) Pretty much like any farmer's market. Peppers are a very big item in the Bhutanese diet. So we saw a lot of heaps of peppers for sale.

The other more makeshift market was across the street and over a picturesque covered foot bridge strewn with Buddhist flags. One half offered hard items of brick-a-brack of every description. Prayer wheels were common. The other half was clothing.

The Handicrafts Emporium is a government-owned store built about 1971. Lots of nice goods for sale. I bought some post cards. It seems you can only get post cards there and at the post office, which we will visit tomorrow.

We had planned to visit the Weaving Center, but it was closed since it is Sunday.

We next visited some shops in town. Dick Opsahl patronized the liquor store. Several of us spent time in a clothing store, and a few bought some clothing items.

Before making this trip I had read that Bhutan is very expensive. My experience is quite to the contrary. Maybe it depends on what you buy and where you buy it.

Bernie :-)