BHUTAN VISIT - 9/19/07-10/1/07
2007
December
November
96
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January
Introduction
In June, my sister Susan sent me an e-mail saying she always wanted to visit Bhutan and now was the...
Nov 17th
Bhutanese Buildings
Bhutanese buildings are extremely picturesque, built in the traditional style, by royal decree. ...
Nov 17th
Typical house
Nov 17th
Detail of painted woodwork
Nov 17th
Typical store in Bhutan with paintings on whitewashed walls...
Nov 17th
Traffic cop in downtown Thimpu, the capital of Bhutan. ...
Nov 17th
The phallus of the “Devine Madman” Durkpa Kun-le...
Nov 17th
Our hotel in Bumthang burned cypress branches in incense...
Nov 17th
Typical farm house with drying chilies on roof
Nov 17th
House ruins - compacted mud walls still standing
Nov 17th
Traditional Dress
Bhutanese have a traditional style of clothing which they wear most of the time. The men wear a...
Nov 17th
Jigme, our guide, and Ugyen, our driver, in traditional...
Nov 17th
Longjohns are worn under gho in cold weather.
Nov 17th
Men wear kabne (ceremonial scarf) over their gho when...
Nov 17th
Families wear their best traditional clothing to attend the...
Nov 17th
Kira with ceremonial scarf worn when visiting governmen...
Nov 17th
Grandfather and granddaughter visiting temple
Nov 17th
Dzongs
One of the main tourist attractions in Bhutanare therir dzongs (pronouced “zong”), the...
Nov 17th
Paro dzong, sits on hill overlooking Paro town and rice...
Nov 17th
Paro dzong courtyard
Nov 17th
Locals waiting outside the Royal Court of Justice in the...
Nov 17th
Thimpu dzong and valley
Nov 17th
Punakha dzong, built in 1637, was the capital for 300...
Nov 17th
Wangdu dzong, built in 1638, sits on a cliff overlooking the...
Nov 17th
Wangdu dzong courtyard
Nov 17th
Still life in Wangdu dzong
Nov 17th
Trongsa dzong, built in 1647, is strategically located on...
Nov 17th
Trongsa dzong in morning mist
Nov 17th
Trongsa Dzong monastery courtyard, with central tower (utse)
Nov 16th
Jakar Dzong, Bumthang Valley
Nov 16th
Wall Murals
The entrance to many dzongs and temples have large painted murals. These are painted on canvas...
Nov 15th
Wheel of Rebirth
Nov 15th
Hell on the Wheel of Rebirth
Nov 15th
Four Nobel Friends
Nov 15th
Four Nobel Friends on gate leading out of Bumthang
Nov 15th
Six Symbols of Long Life
Nov 15th
Four Friends and Six Symbols painted on store front
Nov 15th
Prayer Wheels
Prayer wheels contain 1000’s of mantras, so turning a prayer wheel (always clockwise) is like...
Nov 15th
Our driver circumnavigating the temple, turning every prayer...
Nov 15th
Temple prayer wheels
Nov 15th
Large prayer wheels at entrance of every temple.
Nov 15th
Prayer wheels next to door of store. One can offer up...
Nov 15th
Water prayer wheel, turning by water power, continuously...
Nov 15th
Old woman swinging her prayer wheel
Nov 15th
Prayer Flags
One sees strings of prayer flags strung everywhere, next to temples, stupas, over streams, bridges,...
Nov 15th
Master monk about to perform a ceremony to consecrate prayer...
Nov 15th
Prayer flags waiting to be blessed in Dochu La
Nov 15th
Tourists bought a string of prayer flags which were blessed...
Nov 15th
Prayer flags next to farm house in Bumthang
Nov 15th
Stupas
We saw many, many stupas in Bhutan. They represent the Buddha’s mind and are erected in...
Nov 15th
Memorial stupa in Thimpu built in 1974 to commemorate the...
Nov 15th
108 stupas built in 2005 at top of Dochu la (pass) in...
Nov 15th
Nepalese style stupa with all seeing eyes of Buddha
Nov 15th
Tibetan stupa in middle of road
Nov 15th
Bhutanese stupa in middle of fields
Nov 15th
Bhutanese Roads
The roads in Bhutan are narrow, one lane roads that are the main path for everyone, cows, children...
Nov 15th
View of one of the many narrow curvy roads we drove in the...
Nov 15th
Indian road workers - many of them women - pounding big...
Nov 15th
Children walking from school
Nov 15th
Children walking to school
Nov 15th
Trucks decorated with pictures of their deities or buddha...
Nov 15th
A “Power Tiller” - looks like a tractor engine...
Nov 15th
Cows everywhere
Nov 15th
Yak on Mountain Road
Nov 15th
Monks Debating
At the Khurchu Dratsang Monastery in Bumthang, we watched the monks debate each other. One sits on...
Nov 15th
Nov 15th
Nov 15th
Thimpu Festival - September 20, 2007
Festivals are one of the main tourist attractions. Each regional dzong holds an annual tsechu (10th...
Nov 15th
Courtyard of Thimpu Dzong, monks and dignitaries on...
Nov 15th
Dance of the Black Hats - dancers driving out evil spirits...
Nov 15th
Kyecham Dance - dancers in animal masks
Nov 15th
Clowns joking with stags
Nov 15th
Hunters servant praying to red phallic symbols before the...
Nov 15th
Thangbi Festival - September 26, 2007
This was our second temple festival, held in a small monastery, about 15 minutes north of the end of...
Nov 15th
Monks chanting and playing horns and cymbals
Nov 15th
Dieties dancing around 2 haystacks
Nov 15th
Crowd running through two burning haystacks to cleanse their...
Nov 15th
Black Hat Dance - dancers stamping out evil spirits
Nov 15th
Everywhere in the crowd were young boys carrying toy guns...
Nov 15th
Dance of the Fearson Deities - killing evil spirits with...
Nov 15th
Female clown hitting male clown holding red phallus
Nov 15th
Bhutanese Archery
Archery is the national sport. We saw two contests on the municipal archery field in Paro and...
Nov 14th
Archers using modern bow
Nov 14th
Target is so far away one can barely see it
Nov 14th
Team mates dancing after target is hit
Nov 14th
Bhutanese Darts
We visited a Nunnery in the hills above Bumthang. By chance, we came on the day they were...
Nov 14th
Nuns celebrate with a dart game
Nov 14th
Team mates dancing after they hit the target
Nov 14th
Taktshang Monastery - October 1, 2007
Our last day, we hiked 6 hours up to the Taktshang Monastery (“Tiger’s Nest”), a...
Nov 14th
Taktshang Monastery built on sheer cliffs 900 m....
Nov 14th
433 steps down, past the waterfall and meditation cave, and...
Nov 14th
Susan and I rest on the way back from Taktshang Monastery
Nov 14th
Tocloban City, Leyte, Philippines
After our trip to Bhutan, we visited Laura and Christian for a few days in Tacloban City. The city...
Nov 14th
Hotel Alejandro, Tacloban City, celebrates the return of...
Nov 14th
Lobby of Hotel Alejandro, Tacloban City, Philippines
Nov 14th
Memorial to the landing of General MacArthur on Oct. 20,...
Nov 14th