Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Bhutan Trip. Part 3: Thimpu

This is in continuation of my earlier posts detailing my experience in Bhutan. Thimpu is where we had stayed, and we spent quite some time exploring places around it.

Motithang Takin Preserve

The Takin is a unique endangered animal found in this region. It's the national animal of Bhutan. The Motithang preserve is made specially to showcase the Takin, though it has a few other species of deer. You can feed them, with guidance from the zoo keeper. The Takin looks like a bloated goat. It actually belongs a small family of goat antelopes. If you are familiar with open source software and you imagine its caricature, I'm sure the GNU ( logo would flash in your mind.
The Takin
The locals have a nice story on the evolution of the Takin. Lama Drukpa Kuenlay is one of the favorite saints of Bhutan because of his quirky antics. Once he went about showing off his magical powers as his devotees demanded of him. He procured bones of a whole cow and a goat, who had been eaten in a feast. He then stuck the goats head on the body of the cow. He then performed some magic and the skeleton came to life and ran into the woods. Later people spotted a strange animal which looked like a cow with a goats head and attributed that to the Lama's magic. Thus is the origin of the Takin.

The Radio Tower

This would not surface in any tourist guide of Bhutan. But our driver took us here to show us the places they used to hang around as youngsters. It's a small hill with a radio/TV transmission tower of the BBS (Bhutan Broadcasting Service). One can get a bird's eye view of the city from this place. He showed us the palace of the Bhutan King, and the quarters of the royal ministers from up there. The place was very windy being so high up, and it was difficult to stand still. There was also a sign warning us about the radiations from the transmitting tower. We didn't spend much time there.
Thimpu city viewed from the Radio Tower

Museums and Art Galleries

Thimpu has lots of museums and art galleries highlighting the culture of Bhutan. Handicraft and tourism being one of the major export from Bhutan, the government puts a lot of importance in preserving the Bhutanese culture. Photography is not allowed in many of the museums. 

The folk heritage museum gives a glimpse of the real Bhutanese culture. Tourists are not allowed to go in without a guide. The guides speak fluent english, and do a good job of explaining stuff. The guide took us through a traditional multi-level Bhutanese house with all the equipments of a functioning home. The courtyard in front of the house had place to keep cows, fodder and wood. There is a small oven to make small fire used to burn scented pine leaves that give a nice scent and keep the bugs away. A wooden bath tub with two compartments is used to take bath. One of the compartments is filled with rocks heated in the oven and the person sits in the other compartment while water is filled up in the tub. A painted or wooden male phallus is used as a symbol in Bhutan to protect the house. The houses are made of mud and wood, with up to three floors. Upper floors have large windows while ground floors have very small ones. The clay oven on the ground floor is where the cook their meal. Right above the oven on the first floor is where they sleep under the warmth of the oven. The top most floor is where they dry their chillies and meat.
Courtyard with small fire place Wooden phallus Rice mill
The "National Institute of Art Education" and the "Handicraft Emporium", both close to the "Folk Heritage Museum" are all about Bhutanese art and craft. You can see students being trained there. A store outside sells some of the art and craft created there. The "National Textile Museum" is an exciting place that took us through the evolution of Bhutanese textile and fashion. Most of the museums do not allow any sort of photography. If you visit there, take your time to look around.

The Memorial Chorten

The National Memorial Chorten, a religious stupa, was constructed in the year 1974 by the queen of Bhutan Phuntsho Choden Wangchuck in memory of her royal son, King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck who died in the year 1972. It is a pristine white structure in the middle of a large bounded area. Many devotees can be seen circling the stupa in a clockwise direction. The stupa is home to a huge number of pigeons.
National Memorial Chorten

The Giant Golden Buddha Statue

There is a giant gilded bronze statue of Sakyamuni Buddha being constructed right outside Thimpu. It is really large with a height of 200ft. The base of the statue will house 100,000 smaller statues of the Buddha. At that height, it is even larger than the Statue of Liberty. It was still under construction when we went there and not yet open to the public. But thanks to our resourceful driver, we got an entry into the construction site to have a good look. It will be a pride of Bhutan once it gets completed.
Giant Golden Buddha


There are many monasteries around Thimpu. We went to one of them, I forget which one though. No photography was allowed inside. The bright colors and patterns on the wood were beautiful. The stone plates that you see kept above the row of buddhist kala chakras are used to print the colorful religious flags typically seen in buddhist places of worship.
Thimpu Monastery

108 Dochulla Chortens (Stupas)

These are a cluster of 108 small chortens or stupas built on a small hill little outside Thimpu, around 20km from Thimpu. They are on the way to the Dochulla pass (30km from Thimpu), which offer breathtaking views of the valley below.
The 108 stupas of Dochulla
The Dochulla Chortens were built by Queen Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck. They were built in memory of the soldiers who lost their lives in a fight against anti India terrorists who were holed up in southern Bhutan and were launching attacks on India from inside Bhutan. The small war, fought in 2003, is referred to the as the "Duar War of 2003" and lasted for just a day and half. However a lot of life was lost and the stupas were built after that to bring peace to the region. Each of the small stupa has a unique representation of the Buddha. The centermost stupa is the largest and supposedly houses some remains of the war along with religious material.
Central Stupa of Dochulla

After Thimpu, we headed for Paro. Again with our trusted driver cum guide. More on Paro in the next post.

Back to the beginning of Bhutan Trip.

Posts in this series:


  1. thats an amzing post man,, joined your site too.. ( the e magazine)

  2. Very informative...would love to visit sometime :)

  3. Beautiful pictures ! And a great post. That Deer in the first pic looks so bored :P

  4. @Readitt @Zach Thanks! Glad that you like my posts.

    @Shadows Galore: Thanks. That's a picture of a Takin. And yes, they are sluggish animals. Very unlike deers. :)

  5. Wonderful photographs all through. The posts have me engrossed and envious and waiting for the next.

  6. beautiful post, I am going through all your travel pages.. very well written!

  7. @Subhorup: Thanks. Hope to post the next part soon!

    @sunil deepak: Thanks Sir!

    @Rajyalakshmi: Thanks for reading. Your travelogues are interesting too.

  8. An interesting series on Bhutan, great pictures and easy narrative. Am looking fwd to more on Bhutan!

  9. Have been meaning to visit Bhutan for a long time now. The landscape and architecture seems stunning in your pics

  10. Loved it man...! Makes me want to visit Bhutan.. :)

  11. Never heard of an animal called 'Takin'. Thanx for making me know about this endangered animal......


  12. Bhutan is one of my favorite countries. It's totally unlike other countries in the sense that they're able to preserve their lifestyle for so long.

    Lucky you, no need for a visa to visit Bhutan!

    1. Yes. Being a small landlocked country with harsh terrain, their unique culture and the natural resources are their biggest assets.

      India being Bhutan's neighbor and a close trading partner, Indians do not need no visa for Bhutan. :)


  13. Can U give a rough expense sheet for the trip?


Thank you. I'm all ears!