Advantages: Educational visit Disadvantages: It's not exactly Disney Land
...proclaiming itself to be the Jungshi Handmade Paper Factory. This was no touristic organised tour with guides in uniforms showing you the wonders of industry - instead the two of us and Rinzin, our guide, just wandered in and mooched about the building being pretty much ignored by the staff which was just fine by us.
A group of ladies sat pulling bits of woody fibrous 'stuff' apart whilst chatting and gossiping. Looking at this material we still ... ...Rinzin took us outside to see a large metal pot built into a sort of boiler where the woody stuff was cooked to soften the fibres. We saw a large vat of the material both before and after cooking and still had no idea what it was. Back inside the factory, we watched the paper makers dipping metal mesh frames into large sinks of sludgy water. They scooped water onto the frames, swooshed it back and forth until the bulk of the water drained and then ...
Advantages: Offers insights into the daily worship of Bhutanese Buddhists Disadvantages: There's not REALLY all that much to see
...with their religious surroundings. The National Memorial Chorten was one big exception to this pattern
We arrived in Thimphu, the country's capital city, after dark and so had no idea what to expect when we opened the curtains of our hotel room the next morning. Directly in front of us was a river and then beyond the river lay a pristine city with the streets laid out in neat rows. One building caught my eye for its glistening golden spire and this ... ...of Thimphu. It was the National Memorial Chorten or as I'll refer to it for this review, the NMC.
In major cities there's often a particular church, mosque or other place of worship that serves as a magnet to the worship and devotion of the locals. In the case of Thimphu, it's the NMC that attracts worshippers more than any of the many temples. You see the problem with Bhutanese temples is they are all too often stuck way up on top of hills with ...
Advantages: It's a beautiful iconic image of Bhutan Disadvantages: It's a long hard walk to get there
...not assume you already know. Taktshang is the most famous of Bhutan's many monasteries - and I'm not exaggerating when I say 'many'. Bhutan does monasteries like the UK does Starbucks coffee shops; there's one on every corner. The monastery got its nickname ' The Tiger's Nest' from the belief that the Guru Padmasambhava (the man who brought Buddhism to Bhutan) visited the site of the temple on the back of a flying tigress in the 8th century. He stayed ... ...The first sanctuary at Taktshang was built by Nyingmapa lamas (note lama as in religious chap not llama as in south American cameloid) in the 14th century and the temple was rebuilt in the 17th century, restored in the 19th and 20th and devastated in 1998. The most recent renovation and rebuilding has been completed and the Tiger's Nest is once again open to the public.
Getting There
Our driver dropped us at the car park at the base of the ...
Advantages: Keep this in mind next time an evil tortoise threatens YOUR village Disadvantages: Not one for the big tour groups - this place is tiny inside
I don't think that Dungtse Temple was supposed to be on our itinerary for sightseeing in Paro, Bhutan, so we were lucky to get to see it as a quick 'fill-in' on an already very busy day. Bhutanese tourism isn't known for its flexibility - in fact it's so regimented that there are military campaigns and major government initiatives which require less paperwork and forward planning than a day out in Bhutan. I believe we went because the National Museum ... ...spread of Buddhism. At Dungtse we discovered that 800 years later, the ogress had gone but Paro Valley was in the thrall of a tortoise-shaped demon. Well that's OK then - that's obviously a good reason to pop up a temple. In the 15th century the Paro Valley was having a rough time of it. The crops kept failing and lots of the locals were having bad luck. Rather than blame the weather (the natural tendency of the British, we blame the weather for ...
Advantages: One of the most important small temples in Bhutan Disadvantages: Make sure your paperwork is in order or you won't get in
Kyichu Lhakhang - or Kyichu Temple - is one of the most significant temples in the Paro area of Bhutan and can be found about 2 or 3 miles outside the town. Legend says that Bhutan and much of the Himalaya range had been besieged by a giant ogress who was lying across the area to prevent the spread of Buddhism. In the 7th Century the Tibetan king gave orders to his people to build temples at key points on the ogress's body to sap her evil powers ... ...with the evil ogress and Kyichu was our first experience of a Bhutanese Lhakang.
We arrived and parked our vehicle outside the temple walls and entered a pretty garden with neat grass, beautiful flowers and lots of dragonflies. In the first section of the garden we were introduced to the typical prayer wheels lining the walls. These must always be turned with the right hand in a clockwise direction, in the same way that all temples, chortens and ...
Ciao Deutschland
- 
Ciao France
- 
Ciao Italia
- 
Ciao España
- 
Ciao Nederland
- 
Ciao Sverige
Style, performance, handling, price (*)