Bhutan 2014: Rafting the Mo Chhu

The view from our window at the Uma Punakha on May 6th was worth studying. The small building in the foreground is the spa, behind it, a river -- the Mo Chhu.

The birds are most active in the morning. This black drongo was staring at me.

Our first activity today is rafting on the Mo Chhu. We'll float from just below our hotel to beyond the Punakha dzong, using the Druk Rafting Service.

We took some pictures on the adjacent suspension bridge while the rafting team inflated their rafts. First, one of Joan and me, taken by Tshering.

Then I took one with Joan and Tshering.

Then we discover that we are not the only pedestrians on the bridge.

The first raft is ready, now for the second one.

Ben in his rafting gear.

Tshering was familiar with my model of camera, so sometimes when he was in the better position he'd take a photo. This one is blurred from the motion of the raft, but I can't pass it up. The white-throated kingfisher is a spectacular bird.

It was along the slower, gentler portions of the river that I felt safe pulling out my camera. Sometimes we glided by buildings close to the waters.

This trip, taken before the summer rains, was comfortable, no more than a class 2 watercourse with just a couple of busy parts.

We see as we approach the Punakha dzong that today the monks are out bathing and washing out their robes.

The dzong is surrounded by the jacaranda trees, which we will admire more in the afternoon.

We passed under the cantilever bridge that connects the dzong to the parking areas.

Tshering in his helmet, with the dzong receding in the background. Joan and the front of the raft are visible in his sunglasses.

At the far end of the dzong the Po Chhu joins the Mo Chhu, and the combined rivers become known as the Puna Tsang Chhu. The waters spread out and we drift with the current towards Khuruthang, a town three kilometers or so downstream. Through a gap in the hills we can see the Sangchhen Dorji Lhuendrup lhakhang (temple) and nunnery, which we'll visit after lunch.

We disembarked from the rafts at a rocky beach in Khuruthang.

There is more description of Khuruthang in the middle of this post about our December 2009 visit.

Bhutan 2014: Dochu La and Serchu Nature Trail

Early this morning, May 5th, a trio of horses trotted past the front of the Zhiwa Ling.

Today our guide Tshering showed his firm grasp of timing. The road between Thimphu and Punakha, which reaches an altitude of 10,200 feet (3116 meters) at Dochula, is undergoing a much-needed widening, and so is closed during certain hours. Tshering has scheduled our departure from Paro with this in mind.

Note: you will encounter spellings of Dochula, Dochu La, and Dochu-la. La is a syllable of many meanings; in this case, it means a pass. It is also an honorific or polite suffix, as in, "Ben-la, please close the door." It can also be used for emphasis, such as "Let's go, la!"

Before leaving the Zhiwa Ling the three of us attended a blessing ceremony to inaugurate our journey, in a shrine room on the third floor presided over by a resident monk. This shrine room has in its bones a history much deeper than the Zhiwa Ling; for example, much of the wood is originally from the Gangtey Gonpa (monastery) and was obtained when it was renovated. Joan and I had visited Gangtey both during (2005) and after (2009) its renovation. The shrine is not a tourist attraction. The blessing ceremony was very moving, even though we understood not a word.

Here is the Zhiwa Ling monk. He usually is full of smiles, but when he agreed to have his picture taken, he became very serious. The windows of the shrine room are visible in the upper left.

The ceremony also blessed a string of prayer flags that we were to put up in the pass of Thrumshing La several days hence. It is important to place them during an auspicious day, so we are to string them on our way out.

The road to Punakha skirts the southern end of Thimphu, the capital, and then starts climbing. We arrived at the end of the line of waiting vehicles only five minutes before the road opened.

The road is none too wide to begin with, but for all practical purposes it's the only way to move between Thimphu and Punakha. It carries heavy truck traffic in addition to passenger vehicles.

The first fifteen or twenty minutes at the pass was a steady rush of vehicles. All the tourist buses pause here to disgorge their chillips (the Bhutanese word for "foreign tourist"), who view the 108 chortens commissioned by the eldest Queen Mother to commemorate the deceased of the 2003 campaign to expel Indian separatists from southern Bhutan. If the weather is good there is also a panorama of the high Himalayas. This happens mostly in winter, and today it was misty.

I took this photo of the pass after the rush, from the steps leading up to the Druk Wangyal Lakhang, a new temple dedicated to the 4th King of Bhutan, the father of the current king.

This image was taken later, from ground level, with a couple of straggler tourist buses in view.

Visitors can walk among the chortens; there is a gate. To be respectful you should walk in a clockwise direction.

Each chorten displays art of carved and painted slate.

The lakhang was locked at first, but the guide for another family found the caretaker monk, who opened the temple for us all to visit. Photography of the interior was not allowed, of course, but I must remark on the contemporary style of its artwork. There are two levels of gallery, and, to quote from a longer article,

the mezzanine gallery, not found in other Bhutanese lhakhangs, depicts the story of the Wangchuck dynasty in aesthetic splendour. A genealogical mirror traces the royal lineage that identifies His Majesty King Jigme Singye Wangchuck as the 18th direct descendant of Pema Lingpa. The gallery draws on scriptures, mythological accounts, historical texts, oral stories, and artistic creativity to narrate the historical details from the time of Jigme Namgyal.

I wish I could have shown this gallery to you.

Here is a panoramic view of the temple exterior, which is set on the top of a rise next to the pass.

Another view of the central section.

After Joan and I visited the lakhang it was time for lunch. Both the restaurant and the temple were new to us on this trip. In this picture, the restaurant is on the right while slightly higher and to the left is a compound with accommodations for the royal family.

The interior of the restaurant was bright and inviting.

After lunch it was time to push on. To work in walking on a day with lots of driving, and to synchronize with road openings east of the pass, Joan, Tshering, and I were walking on the Serchu Nature Trail twenty minutes after leaving Dochula.

The trail began through the caretaker's farm, but then began working its way up and down through several ravines.

There were footbridge crossings.

Joan spotted several birds, but none in a good position for my camera. This jack-in-the-pulpit, however, posed for me. Click to enlarge.

The color of this himalayan birch was an impressive sight for us North Americans, accustomed as we are to paler varieties.

Kaka and the van were waiting for us at the end of the trail, and we drove on to Punakha. We paused for some photos of the dzong, but did not linger. This dzong was the seat of Bhutan's government until the capital was moved to Thimphu in 1955, and continues to be the winter home of the monk body and Bhutan's religious leader, the Je Khenpo.

One of the glories of visiting in May was seeing the jacarandas in bloom.

Punakha dzong sits at the confluence of the rivers Mo Chhu and Po Chhu. We drove up the valley of the Mo Chhu to our hotel for the next two nights, the Uma Punakha.

While checking in we paused for a down-valley view from the terrace.

The pigs traveling with us on this trip, Thelma and Louise, approved of the view from our room.

The room was well appointed but smaller than the one in the Zhiwa Ling.

We were warned by the staff member showing us the room that the thermostat would be deactivated if the power went off. Joan and I didn't think much about this until the power flickered off for ten to twenty seconds several times the first night, necessitating a walk over to the thermostat each time. If this happens while you are asleep, you'll awaken to a stuffy room.

Tomorrow would be another active day, starting with a rafting trip down the Mo Chhu.

Bhutan: Punakha

Our trip from the Phobjika valley to Punakha began with a winding descent to lose over 5,000 feet of altitude. Our first leg-stretch was at the small roadside stop of Nobding, best known for some exuberant wall paintings.

The tourist is supposed to place himself or herself such that the camera sees him or her grasping the item on the left. I did not, but found a nice snapshot of a turquoise-background scene.

We had lunch in Khuruthang, a new town just a handful of miles downstream from the Punakha dzong. After lunch we walked about. Joan and I spent most of the allotted time inspecting a stupa and temple complex, between the main road and the river, that was built through donations of the local community and not royal or monastic support. Here the large stupa is in the Nepali style, with a Bhutanese chorten in the right background. Joan and I circumambulated the stupa (clockwise of course) and spun all the prayer wheels.

Here is the adjacent temple.

And a closeup of one of the front pillars.

Then we drove to the Punakha dzong. Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, the first unifier of Bhutan and designer of the dual system of civil and religious administration, had Punakha Dzong built in 1637. Upon his death, his advisors maintained the fiction that he was alive but in retreat. This was the official story for 54 years, by which time surely nobody believed them. (The Shabdrung's preserved body is kept in Punakha Dzong to this day, attended by two high lamas who are the only persons allowed to see it.) The district governors grew stronger and more independent until the country was reunified under the current monarchy (originating from the governors of Trongsa) in 1907. Punakha was the capital of Bhutan until 1955, when it moved to Thimpu. It is still the winter residence of the main monk body and the religious head, the Je Khenpo.

Punakha is a big deal, in other words. The dzong, whose full name is Pungtang Dechen Photrang Dzong, has been central to the country for hundreds of years. Here is the view as you come around the river to the confluence where it sits.

A closer view shows the dzong and the cantilever bridge giving access to it.

Here's a closeup of the bridge.

The dzong and town have suffered from glacial lake outburst floods -- where pent-up glacial lakes burst free and rush downstream along either the Ma Chu or the Pho Chu -- in 1957, 1960, and 1994. When Joan and I were here in 2005, access was by a temporary suspension bridge, so the cantilever is quite new.

Here's a final closeup of the outside.

Here is the entrance to the main temple within the dzong. I love the artwork panels, including the Wheel of Life. Inside, the hall was a single open area, two stories high, large enough for the main monk body to hold ceremonies. Three walls were covered in illustrations of the life of the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni. The fourth wall was a multi-story shrine whose centerpiece was the Buddha flanked by his two chief disciples, Sariputta and Moggallana (spellings may vary.)

Are you dzonged out yet? Stupa-fied?

Our group left the dzong for a short walk to a very long suspension bridge. On the way we encountered a woman of one of the nomadic tribes, down from the north to trade for supplies. She wanted to sell us some of her jewelry handicraft, but Jen wanted her hat. The one she was wearing. The price was too high with all the beads, but they struck a bargain for the hat with fewer strands of beads. Here the woman is removing the unbought strands.

Jen has taken possession of the hat. Quite jaunty, I think.

Continuing on, we soon reached the suspension bridge.

A view from the start. I especially noticed the anchoring cables that keep the bridge from swaying too much over such a span.

Two older gentlemen came across as our group reassembled before embarking. They were pleased to have their picture taken, and both proud at their longevity and amused at their condition.

At the far end, construction was continuing on a new building.

Part of the construction technique is rammed-earth walls. The damp earth is poured between forms and then pounded. Here, two ladies pound, singing. It is traditional for them to invent lyrics about the passers-by.

We took leave of the construction team and recrossed the suspension bridge, to rejoin Tshering and the bus. Our overnight would be at a hotel just beyond and above Khuruthang.

Now, dear reader, we will dash on to the next morning. On our way out of the Punakha valley we pass by the temple dedicated to the Divine Madman, Drukpa Kunley. According to tradition, he defeated an ogress that was harassing people near Dochu La, and the ogress transformed herself into the form of a dog and fled to this spot, where she disappeared down a hole in the earth. Drukpa Kunley built a chorten on the spot to make sure that she never escaped, and later a full temple was built on the hill. Here is a view from near the main road. To get there, we have a short walk on paths through rice fields and clusters of houses.

One change from 2005 is a new cafe, open but not quite finished, near the start of the path.

Here we are closer and have a good view of the hill entombing the ogress.

Here is an old chorten in front of the temple.

The light was better on the other side of the temple, though.

A ceremony or instruction was going on within the temple, with a lama/teacher and young monks. We were allowed in to view the art on the walls of the temple, particularly the bits relating to the many stories of the life of the Divine Madman, to make any offerings at the shrine, and to receive a blessing from one of the youngsters. As at other shrines, the monk would pour a splash of water from an elegant silver pitcher into your cupped hands. You would pretend to put it to your lips and then rub it in your hair.

After leaving the temple and walking back to the bus, it was time to drive on over Dochu La and have our time in Thimphu.