Day Twelve In Bhutan
National Museum of Bhutan in Paro Watchtower
A beautiful morning in Punakha once the sun came up although still a bit cloudy. Got ready for the day and had my breakfast before checking out of the hotel and setting out for the day. The days started with the drive from Punakha to Paro which is only about 60 miles or so but given the roads it was going to take all of the morning. We set out and once we got back to the main highway started climbing up out of the the valley to the pass to Thimpu. About 1.5 hours later we got up to the pass. It got quite cold just as we reached the pass so I reached for my hoodie as I got out of the car. We went over to the cafe for a toilet break and had a cup of tea while everyone stood around the large wood-fired stove in the middle of the room. I enjoyed the warm tea as the cool air had chilled me pretty quickly when I got out of the car. We also had a vegetable samosa as a snack as well. There was an optional hike I could have done to hike up to a temple on the peak but decided to skip it. Unfortunately, it was quite cloudy so we didn’t get to see the Northern peaks of Bhutan. Good thing I took lots of pictures and we saw them on our outward bound trip on day three.
After the brief stop at the pass we started out descent down into Thimpu. We wound our way down for what was a lot shorted descent into Thimpu since it is at a much higher elevation than Punakha valley. When we got to Thimpu we stopped by Tsering’s apartment to drop off the holy water for his mother in law. It was at the same restaurant we had lunch at on day one. After a quick toilet break we drove on to Paro. I napped a bit as we drove but it was hard on the narrow twisty roads. We were soon pulling into the city of Paro. We were a bit early for lunch so we stopped in the town. I wanted to buy a set of prayer flags to put on my balcony so we went to a store that sells religious items. I found a set and bought them. I will take them up to the Tiger’s Nest temple tomorrow to be blessed by a monk. We also went to a bookstore but it was closed.
Lunch was at a small hotel just out of town. The lunch was very good and I particularly enjoyed the dahl. I did some catching up on e-mails after lunch and finished my coffee. I also met Tsering’s son and daughter in law as they hotel is owned and run by them. After lunch we drove a short ways further out of town to a temple. This one was built in the 7th century and is a matching one with the old one we visited in Bumthang and had been built by the same Tibetan monk. There was a small inner temple that dated all the way back to the 7th century and still had some of the original wall paintings and statues. We also saw a monk making butter sculptures for offerings. The toilet just outside the temple ground was very clean and had an attendant there collecting a small fee for using it. Tsering took care of it before I could.
Next stop was back in town to the watchtower which has been converted to the National Museum of Bhutan. We had to leave our phones in lockers outside as we went into the tower. There was a snaking pathway through the tower going up and then back down through all the exhibits. It was well done and I enjoyed looking at the various things they had on display. As usual for a museum I moved through it pretty quickly only stopping occasionally to read the information. After retrieving our phones we walked down the hill to the Dzong. We walked past it but didn’t go in. Tsering said it was nothing special. We continued down the hill to the pedestrian bridge and back into town where our driver was waiting for us.
As there was nothing else I wanted to do we headed up to the hotel which is on the hillside above town. On arrival I had a hot cup of tea in the lobby bar area before heading to my room. Made my way down to the cottage where my room was. The room was very cozy warm and had lovely wood paneling on the walls. There view from the small balcony was back into the valley and town below. Dinner didn’t start off very well with a very over cooked roasted chicken leg piece that was cooked to a crisp. I did the best I could but only got a bit of meat off it. The rest of the meal was okay with more traditional local dishes. I didn’t sleep very well tossing and turning most of the night. This morning I am moving a bit quicker as we are leaving earlier this morning to go to the Tiger’s Nest temple.