Bhutan: Beauty Untamed – Punakha

The drive from Thimpu to Punakha takes almost 3 hours if you go non-stop but we were in for a surprise.

Our bus had a small accident after Dochula Pass and we spent almost 3 hours waiting for the formalities to be completed. Fortunately, no one was injured badly the accident and we continued our journey to Punakha.

The road condition till Dochula Pass was good but from there on to Punakha was bad since there was road work going on.Few minutes after we left Thimpu, we came to Dochula Pass.

Dochula Pass has 108 Druk Wangyal Chortens (Stupas) beautifully built by the order of the eldest Queen mother in memory of the 108 Bhutanese soldiers who were killed in 2003 battle against Indian rebels during “Operation All Clear” by Royal Bhutan Army.

There is a small temple Druk Wangyal Lakhang near the Pass. As with all temples photography is strictly prohibited inside the temple. The pass also offers a 360-degree view of the magnificent East Himalayas. We were lucky to view almost all the peaks due to a crystal clear weather. The place also has a nice little cozy restaurant which has a central heating furnace, some refreshing tea and clean toilets.Enroute to Punakha (The East Himalayas view from Dochula Pass)

Like Thimpu, Punakha is also built between valleys and a river running through it. The river is a confluence of male and female river, Po Chu and Mo Chu. One of them is the calm while the other is the agitated one.

Prior to 1960s, Punakha was the capital of Bhutan and not Thimpu.

Even though it was quite late for us in the evening to visit Punakha Dzong, me and hubby decided to venture out on our own to visit a rarely known Monastery Chimi Lakhang (Temple of the Divine Madman).The temple is located off the road on a small hill top and one has to cross paddy fields and do a small hike to get to the temple. Short of time, we literally ran our way to the hill top.

For an outsider it seems a little bit of a quirky place but since the explorer that I am, I had to see this one too. History says that the Divine Madman, a Buddhist master, had sex, drank and danced along the hills. He was particularly known for his phallus with which he used to fight demons.

The homes in villages near the temple and few in Punakha, have explicit drawings of the phallus painted on walls and on roof tops and near to doors to keep the demons at bay. Couples who wish for a child can go to seek blessings in this temple and are blessed with a giant phallus made from elephant tusk which belonged to the Divine Madman.

After the visit to the temple and some photography, we stopped at the local food market to get a glimpse of the food there and also savored some more momos 🙂

The next day, we visited the beautiful Punakha Dzong. The first word which comes to your mouth when you see it is “Wow”. Located at the rivers confluence, it is a huge structure with trees running through the sides and a wooden bridge which takes you to it, across the river. Personally, I could not stop myself from clicking, covering almost anything I could click.

nce you enter, you see big hives on the Dzong ceiling and loads of bees swarming around the hives and the flowers on the trees.A flight of steep wooden stairs, leads to the Dzong entrance, has huge tree inside with a nice big shade. Don’t forget to observe the color, paintings, murals and the beautiful temple interiors. The Dzong has monks of all ages, who start at around 8 years to learn and lead the monastic life.