Thimphu is home to the revered Bhutanese Royal family, the royal government, and several foreign missions.
On arrival we went straight for lunch . Smack in the center of the town at a cute little round-about with a police hut, our eating place is right on top.
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| police roundabout |
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| CHILLI CHEESE |
the town of Thimphu is unusually busy now because of the Thimphu Festival which is Oct 3 - 5th and all Bhutanese and tourists come all over to witness this event.
and of course, all tourists MUST GO to the GENERAL POST OFFICE ! Bhutan has one of the best stamps in the world, and truly is. We spent almost an hour in there , of course . . .
and also made our very own stamps of ourselves.
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| INSIDE THE G.P.O. |
and a little bit of window-shopping...
and of course those waiting outside patiently are the NON-SHOPPERS. . .
and off we go to the NATIONAL MEMORIAL CHORTEN. The Chorten was consecrated in the memory of the third King of Bhutan, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck on July 1974. Visitors will find a lot of elderly Bhutanese people circumambulating the Chorten thoughout the day, in a clockwise direction.
Chorten literally means the "Seat of faith" and Buddhist often call such monuments , the "Mind of Buddha".
The Chorten is an extraodinary example of the Buddhist architecture and artwork with its intricate sculptures and paintings. The Chorten is a large white structure crowned with a golden spire.
The memorial in the heart of the city is designed as a Tibetan style chorten, patterned on the design of a stupa, with a pyramidal pillar crowned by a crescent moon and sun.
The feature that is distinct here is the outward flaring of the rounded part, to give the shape of a vase ( pyramidal shape ) unlike the dome shape.
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| Lhawang & me in front of Chorten |
and inside ,
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| offering prayers |
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| happy faces |
as they circumambulating clockwise reciting prayers and whirling the large red prayer wheels. |
| getting hungry ?? |
and before we call it a day, BUDDHA POINT, located at Kuensel Phrodang, the 169 ft bronze statue of Buddha Dordenma. It is still under construction . We drove all the way up to this point and the view of THIMPHU VALLEY is SPECTACULAR !
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| THIMPHU VALLEY |
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| almost sunset ....spectacular view ! |
And the next morning in front of our Norbuling Hotel, is the ARCHERY FIELD.
In Bhutan, archery is not only the national sport, it is also a celebration of the way of life and an expression of their rich culture and heritage.
When they play archery, the players have to participate in singing and dancing especially when the player hits the target !
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| dancing and singing after hitting the target ! |