The road from Thimphu to Punakha is quite nice till Dochula, but it then starts getting narrower, and is not made of tar. This significantly compromises the time you take to reach Punakha. But if you leave early in the morning, you should be there by lunch.
Dochula
This is a beautiful spot on the way to Punakha. There are 108 stupas bang in the middle of the road.
The Stupas stand on lush green grass scattered with tiny yellow flowers. You can spot the Himalayas from here on a clear day.
We could hardly make it out of the car as we were caught in heavy rains right from the time we left Thimphu. It was freezing. We then went to the restaurant right at this scenic spot. The restaurant has a huge furnace in the middle of the seating area. It’s perfect to warm your hands and feet as you sip some coffee and take in the beautiful road and mountains from the windows.
Chimi Lhakhang
Chimi Lhakhang is more popularly known as the temple of fertility. Once again, the location is incredible.
But this term doesn’t do justice to the idea behind this temple and the crazy wise man whom it’s built for. Here’s a little about the temple.
This temple is on a small hillock and you have to walk through the lush green fields, and a tiny village to reach there. It’s a great walk.
There’s a shop called Phallus handicrafts right at the beginning of the walk, and this area has several phallic drawings. Take a look here.
Punakha Dzong
Punakha Dzong (Punakha’s administrave office) has got to be the most impressive dzong in Bhutan. It’s a little outside the town right by the river. This is where the royal wedding took place. The structure is spread out quite a bit. It’s difficult to get an idea of how large it is from the outside. But once you get in, you keep passing by one section after another.
There’s a beautiful foot bridge to reach there, and the river and the dzong look spectacular from there. The dzong is lined with incredibly beautiful trees in a full purple bloom.
The ground under these trees is colored completely purple as the trees shed the flowers. I don’t know the name of the flowers. Can anyone ID it please?
Bhutanesque 
Lovely journaling! Im still reading it and I am having such a great time. I couldn’t move ahead without sharing the name of the purple flowered trees. I think they are Jacaranda.. Dehradun is in such bloom these days.. Purple Jacaranda at such beautiful apt spots, surprising you each time even though now you expect them. I wish I could share a picture here. Don’t know how to do that.
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Oh is it? Thank you!! There were so many flowers there, and I just felt so bad not knowing the names. I don’t know if I need to enable some settings for you to be able to upload the pic. Let me check.
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Buddhism seems like a religion with wide variance in its interpretation and practices depending on the context of the civilization it is in. Korea too was largely Buddhist before people started moving towards Christianity and images of the Boddhisattva are all over their temples. Don’t think Boddhisattva is a prominent figure in Sri Lanka. And I did not encounter any phallus too.
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Exactly! I wasn’t aware of this. But my mother-in-law is very well read on the topic and she said that the phallus in mainly part of Vajrayana tradition (tantric), which became more popular at a later point. It also involved some weird esoteric practices.
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Yeah. It appears to be richer than the five fold path of Buddha that we were taught in school. Guess because it would always play second fiddle to Hinduism in India.
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I know!! But you’d think that because of the path of moderation, the people wouldn’t be superstitious. Unfortunately, there is quite a bit of it.
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