So I finally made it to Thimpu last weekend. Quite hilarious after all the stories I´ve heard here in Paro of 'how crowded and bustling' it is. There are basically two main streets, with cops directing traffic at the two main traffic circles. All I can say is they must get very tired shoulders...
One of the students at my college actually ended up driving me into Thimpu, very early on Saturday morning since the trick to making a quick trip is to go before they start closing the road for hour and a half periods to work on widening the road for all the coming festivities in 2008 (The start of Deomcracy, crowing the 5th king, 100th celebration of the kingdom of Bhutan..). So we got to Thimpu before most of the shops even opened. So I convinced him to take me up to a nearby pass, since it almost always clouds over in the afternoon. We wound our way up through ever changing forests, to a pass that I was in no way prepared for. We came around the corner to 108 chortens established by one of the queens a couple of years ago, and a mountain view that is insane.
The pics don´t do the view justice - there was a whole range of snowy mountains of every size and shape. And all around us, rhododendrons bursting into bloom - red, white, pink - bushes as well as trees!
My ´guide´ Sangay
Opposite the chortens, the hillside was absolutely laced with prayer flags.
The juxtaposition between the beautiful Buddhist architecture, and the power pole also makes me laugh.
1 comment:
I've never seen this temple.... I really should have more time next August :-)
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