National Folk Heritage Museum, Thimphu

...perhaps should have done. The National Library was dreary, the School of Traditional Arts had me thinking that 7 years learning how to make a statue and do a bit of embroidery left the students less fitted for the 21st century than a couple of years learning to use a computer and I also had a bit of a giggle at the so-called mini-zoo with a bunch of deer and deer-like critters that had either been too tame to run away when they tried to shut the ...
...I really enjoyed was the National Folk Museum which I thought was probably the best museum we saw in the country. What I particularly enjoyed was the opportunity to see inside an authentic old Bhutanese house and get a picture of how people lived 100 years ago, and indeed how many people still live today especially in the countryside. There's something slightly 'Disney' about the perfection of Bhutanese life that leaves you yearning to peek behind ... more

Many of the attractions we saw in Thimphu, the capital city of Bhutan, didn't really excite or interest me as much as they perhaps should have done. The National Library was dreary, the School of Traditional Arts had me thinking that 7 years learning how to make a statue and do a bit of embroidery left the students less fitted for the 21st century than a couple of years learning to use a computer and I also had a bit of a giggle at the so-called mini-zoo with a bunch of deer and deer-like critters that had either been too tame to run away when they tried to shut the zoo, or - like the three legged reindeer - found it a comfy place to see out their days.

However one of the outstanding attractions which I really enjoyed was the National Folk Museum which I thought was probably the best museum we saw in the country. What I particularly enjoyed was the opportunity to see inside an authentic old Bhutanese house and get a picture of how people lived 100 years ago, and indeed how many people still live today especially in the countryside. There's something slightly 'Disney' about the perfection of Bhutanese life that leaves you yearning to peek behind the perfectly painted windows and see beyond the charming flower beds to understand more about the people beyond.

The highlight of the Folk Museum is the farmhouse. It's over a hundred years old - which isn't THAT old by European standards - but it doesn't need to be older to illustrate a way of life that's been unchanged for many centuries. When you enter the museum you find yourself in a large garden edged by some museum buildings and a small shop. The garden has examples of a water driven grain mill and an millstone for extracting seed oils. There is a small kitchen garden with vegetables and some fruit trees. Passing through a doorway, you reach the farmhouse - a massive many-storied building that at first makes you think it must be the home of a very wealthy man but then you realise that this isn't just a family home - it's where the animals live, where the crops are stored, where your food is cooked, where your gods are worshiped and where your very large family spend the coldest times of the year.

Starting on the ground floor of the house there's a small courtyard with a burner to prepare incense for daily worship. Animals would have been kept in this courtyard which was partially covered. In olden days, the animals would have moved into the house and occupied the ground floor in the freezing winter months but legislation now prevents people from keeping their animals inside the house for health reasons. The courtyard and ground floor had lots of old agricultural implements and storage baskets and bins for keeping crops. Wine was stored in bamboo bottles of similar design to arrow cases used for the national sport of archery.

Heading up the ladder-like stairs, we found a massive grain bin on the first floor for keeping the harvest of grain dry and safe from rats and vermin. Another large room was also given over entirely to food storage. Up on the second floor we found the kitchen - the heart of the home and the only room with a source of heat in the winter months. The kitchen was large with a large range and plenty of pots and serving dishes that wouldn't have looked out of place in a British home, but unlike our cosy lifestyles, the Bhutanese family would have had little choice other than to move into the kitchen to live and sleep through the winter. Across the corridor from the kitchen was the main living room which was decorated with lots of personal effect - bags, and clothes were hanging from pegs around the room.

The final room on this floor was the altar room decorated with Buddhist statues and a small shrine. This room would have been used for worship and to house any visiting monks. That might sound like a strange idea, but most families in Bhutan even in the 21st century still send several of their sons (big families are the norm) to the monastery to become monks. A small bathroom with a 'long drop' toilet was in a tiny room off the side of the altar room and discharged directly outside - probably for the pigs to eat up the mess.

From the second floor we stepped onto a balcony and looked out at the garden. There was a small chorten (a religious building) in the garden as well as a big sunken wooden bath divided into a small and a large part. We were told this was for the traditional 'hot stone bath' and sure enough, next to the bath was a large pile of stones on what looked like a campfire. The bath would be filled with cold water and then stones heated on the fire and dropped into the small part of the bath to heat the water for washing. Another steep ladder led up from the balcony into the roof space where further crops could be stored.

Entry to the museum was 10 Ngultrums (about 12 pence) for locals and 150 Ng (about £2) for tourists. However, this is generally included in your tour cost and not something you'd have to pay for yourself. Disappointingly, photography is NOT allowed inside the farmhouse and you'll probably find a museum employee keeping an eye on you at all times, so don't be tempted to sneak a few pictures.

We particularly enjoyed being the only people in the museum throughout our visit - I think we must have arrived just as it opened after lunch. As we left a large tour group arrived and I was glad to not have to share the place with them, especially with so many steep ladder staircases to get up and down. For that reason, this wouldn't be an attraction for anyone who's not too stable on their feet, but for anyone else, it's a great way to experience a way of life that's very alien to most of us.

 

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