The Golden Buddha of Thimphu

The valley in Thimpu

Our first day in Thimphu Choki and Tashi picked us up from the airport, placing khata on us and then packing us into their van.  I'm sure that we didn't talk much on the way from Paro to Thimphu, our first destination, either because we were too tired or were actually sleeping. After checking into our hotel and have a quick shower/nap we packed back in the van to go to the post office where we had stamps of ourselves made (so cool!). Afterwards we went to eat lunch in a quiet spot off the main streets and then to visit the textiles museum. It was all pretty cool, very chill. There were many different clothes and styles in the museum and descriptions of how to make and wear them as well as accompanying jewelry. As I write this, I can't help but think, I'm getting old. Who gets excited about a textile museum? Probably not my younger self, but I do now. Unfortunately we were asked not to snap pictures, but someone did at some point in time, so you can get an idea of what it looked like. 

After the museum we had a quick drive up to the mountain side to see the Takin, a rather surely looking animal, handsome and muscular. Tashi told us a tale of a man, a magic man, who at many animals in the valley. Then, one day, the people questioned if he was in fact magical. So, gathering the bones of the animals he had eaten, he restored them to life. After all the goats, yaks, etc. walked away there was this beast, the Takin, made up of all the extra parts. 

After getting the Takin to mug for the camera, we were off for our final stop of the day, the great buddha Dordenma. Click the link if you want to read more, but suffice it to say that it is one of the largest buddha statues in the world, adorned and surrounded by gold, silver, bronze and many statues of other deities. Inside intricate paintings surround you on the walls and the alter with alms to buddha as well. Many people had stacked flour, oil, and other food stuffs as gifts and in the corner there was a monk spinning a prayer wheel, chanting, and glancing at his iPhone under the table. He reminded me of many of my students, half heartedly do his work while also being distracted. 

At the end of the day we made it back to the hotel, had dinner at 7 o'clock with some delicious nan, curries, and spicy cheese and chili all washed down with some Druk lager. The end to a tiring, but great first day and about 36 hours of almost uninterrupted waking hours.