At large in Thimphu
Got up a bit earlier to sit on my balcony, have a cup of tea
and update my blog. Sadly, it was time
to wash all the oil out of my hair from the phenomenal massage yesterday before
heading down to breakfast. The food was
a bit better today but the man on the Egg Station must have been extremely
bored cos I was asked if I wanted eggs at least 8 times!!! No, thank you, I don’t want eggs. No, I still don’t want eggs, thank you. Nope, still good. (repeat several times). I’ve already eaten my way round half the
world with a gastronomically schizophrenic breakfast (indian chickpea curry and
indian pancakes teamed up with herbed potatoes, chicken sausage (bad move) and
baked beans with a croissant and doughnut chaser. Washed down with watermelon juice and
coffee. Add eggs into that mix and God
only knows what’ll happen to my guts (which have been remarkably well behaved
during this trip, I’m sure you’ll be relieved to know).
Today was going to be a mixture of sightseeing and shopping
(yey!) – the first stop was at a local temple in town, the Changangkha
Lhakhang. Here’s what my itinerary says
about it:
Changangkha lhakhang
The Chagkha Lhakahng temple is a early medieval Buddhist
temple in the capital city Thimphu. The temple is situated on a ridge
overlooking the city, near Mohitang on the outskirts of Thimphu. The temple is
the oldest temple in Thimphu and was constructed by Lama Phajo Drukgom Zhigpo
in the 12 century AD. Lama Phajo Drukgom Zhigpo is also the founder of the
Drukpa Kaygo School of Buddhism. The Lhakhang’s central deity is Chenirizig.
There is a large statue of Chenrizig, the 11 headed, thousand arm manifestation
of Avolokiteshwara. The prayer books in the temple are larger in size compared
to the usual Buddhist texts. There are also large prayer wheels and paintings
in the walls of the temple. The temple offers an excellent view of the city of
Thimphu from its courtyard.
It was here I realized just how lucky I’d been in my visits
to all the previous monasteries and temples, as this one was packed with
tourists, mainly Korean. It was a
completely different atmosphere to the one I’d got used to experiencing – for
one thing, they were taking pictures!!!
TAKING PICTURES!!! One of the
things EVERYONE should know that is completely forbidden inside the temple
(along with wearing shoes). I guess
their tour guide hadn’t briefed them well enough and eventually Michael
mentioned it to one of the monks inside and they told them to stop. DURRR.
Though I would never have broken the rules like that, I was a little
envious, as they’d got some great pictures of a monk reading from an enormous
prayer book – apparently the largest in Bhutan.
Ah well. Another thing that was different was that I
wasn’t allowed into one of the shrines as it was men only – apparently every
temple has a particular area that’s just for men, but I hadn’t come across that
discrimination before, so it was a little surprising but pointless being
annoyed. Its just the way it is. Despite not being let into the shrine,
though, I did receive yet another blessing – this time, being struck over the
head with a dorj, which is supposed
to banish demons (and what the Guru Rinpoche used to subdue the demons at
Tiger’s Nest – but more on that later!).
Next stop after the less than reverential temple, was the
first shopping opportunity of the day – the Jungshi Handmade Paper
factory! It was VERY smelly but
fascinating to see how the paper was made - here’s what my itinerary says about
it:
Jungshi Handmade
Paper Factory
The Jungshi Handmade Paper Factory is a small paper factory
located in Thimphu that produces paper using traditional Bhutanese methods. The
paper products produced at the factory are made from Daphne or Mulberry plant
bark. On you visit to the factory you will see the process from the beginning
to the end. The process starts with people pulling the bark off the plant to
the process of cooking to create wood pulp to the creation of the final
product. There is a small shop at the factory that sells a variety of paper and
stationary that is produced from paper made here.
The small shop proved to be a bonanza and I picked up a load
of stuff here. Hand painted paper
scrolls, hand made paper and envelopes plus a fantastic photo album with a hand
painted picture of the Bhutanese Thunder Dragon on the front that will be
perfect for my favourite pictures of the trip.
After the paper factory, it was time to recover from the
smell with a nice cup of tea. Not sure
why we stopped for mid-morning tea today (we haven’t been usually) but I’ll
never say no to the chance for a good old cuppa, so it was a nice stop. Bizarrely enough, since coming to Bhutan,
I’ve been taking both my tea and coffee black and sweetened with a couple of
lumps of sugar. Sugar!! I never take sugar in my drinks – what is
going on? But somehow it feels right to
drink hot, black sweet tea here.
Strange.
After tea, back into the car and drive out of town a little
bit to this viewpoint with an incredible view overlooking the Thimphu
valley. Despite being here over a week
now, I haven’t tired of the views yet and they remain unbelievably
spectacular.
Then it was time for a trip to the Tapin zoo – a reserve
housing the national animal of Bhutan, the Tapin. My guide described them as lazy and ugly
(sounds like a couple of my ex’s) but actually they were kinda cute in their
weird goat head, cow body cloven-hooved oddness. One of them seemed to take an interest so we
communed for a bit before he got bored and wandered off, presumably to compare
pedicures with his fellow inmates. There
were some deer there too, but no-one really payed them much attention, cos they
looked normal rather than their Beelzebubesque neighbours.
On the way to lunch, the drive took us past the impressive
National Parliament buildings and the somewhat less impressive, quite modest in
size, Royal Palace. We took piccies from
a distance as its not allowed to take photos up close. Duly noted and on goes the zoom lens…
Lunch was at the fabtastic Bhutan kitchen again, although
today, I think there was extra chili in the Chili and Cheese cos it was fooking
hot. But other than that, the rest of
the food was excellent – especially the fresh spinach thing and cabbage. Yum.
As a post-lunch digestif, it was time to Hit the Huts, the
row of 50 traditional craft huts that line the street just directly behind the
Tashi Taj. Here you could buy all the
authentic Bhutanese souvenirs your heart desired (plus a sizeable number that
are made in India and imported in!) – lots of textiles, woven fabrics for the
traditional dress and embroidered silks, masks a’plenty, all manner of fabric
bags, purses, scarves, little wine bottle covers fashioned into ghos, lots of paintings of Mr B. and
friends as well as prayer flags, embroidered alter decorations and a couple
other choices for the pennant hanging thing I’d seen yesterday.
After much careful deliberation, I ended up buying a yak
bell (as you do) as well as a wall hanging and some other various odds and
Bhutanese sods. We then went back into
town (right next to where we’d had lunch) to buy the canopy thing I’d seen the
previous day (it was bigger and, although the wrong colour, was embroidered
with a cool kick ass Thunder Dragon). We
had to call the lady to come open the shop (which she actually did –
amazeballs!) but when she got there, she realized she didn’t have her keys with
her so her poor son had to then come running with them to let us in!! So after all that, I didn’t really feel as if
I couldn’t buy the canopy! I also ended
up buying some incense and some prayer flags for Loopy, so it was definitely
worth her while to open up the store!!
We were running a little behind schedule after that, so our
final two stops were pretty quick. One
was just a very quick scoot round the National Institute of Traditional
medicine. For some reason, photography
was not allowed, so it was a quick whizz round looking at various dried herbs
and unidentifiable plant materials, with rather uninformative narrative labels,
so I was only in there for less than 10 minutes. Here’s what my itinerary says about it (it
will take longer to read this description than I actually spent in the place):
National Institute of
Traditional Medicine services
The National Institute of Traditional Medicine or the
Institute of Traditional Medicine Services is located in the capital city
Thimphu. The Institute is situated on a hilltop above the Traditional Arts
Center and the National Library of Bhutan. The King directed the Bhutanese
Department of Health to establish a traditional medicine system for the welfare
of the people of Bhutan and preserve the traditional Bhutanese methods of
treatment. An “ Indigenous Dispensary” was opened on 28 June 1968 at
Dechencholing in Thimphu, staffed by doctors who were trained in Tibet, which
later relocated to present location in Thimphu. The relocated “Indigenous
Dispensary” was renamed the National Indigenous Hospital and then later the
National Institute of Traditional Medicine. Finally in 1998 the institute was
upgraded the Institute of Traditional Medicine Services (ITMS).
Traditional Medicine in Bhutan dates back to the 17th
Century to the times of Shabdrung Nagwang Namgyal. Traditional medicine in
Bhutan can trace its roots back to Tibet, but ever since it came to Bhutan,
Bhutanese traditional medicine evolved and developed completely independent of
its Tibetan Ancestors.
The institute produces tradition remedies in laboratories
from minerals, animal parts, precious metals, gems and plants. Over 40,000
patients are treated annually at the hospital.
The institute has a training wing that trains people in traditional
medicine. There is a 5 year bachelor’s degree course for people who want to
become physicians and a three year course in nursing.
Traditional Arts School
After the somewhat underwhelming Trad Med place, it was time
to turn our attention to the Traditional Arts, with a visit to the school where
they teach all the traditional methods of painting, sculpting, embroidery,
woodworking, weaving etc. Basically, all
the skills that are needed to make the houses and buildings I’ve been enjoying
since I arrived look completely fab. It
was really interesting to go round the school and its numbered classrooms (you
start off in Woodwork I, then progress to Woodwork II after a year, then
Woodwork III etc until you graduate from Woodwork V, five years later!) Its fascinating as absolutely everything they
were doing or learning was Buddhist in nature – not one secular piece of arts
or crafts in the whole place. It just
goes to remind you how different this world is.
After the Arts Institute, we headed back to the hotel, so I
was back by 3.30pm. As we pulled up, a
member of the royal family was just leaving in big black SUV which proudly
displayed the license plates BHUTAN-2. Fantastic. I guess its probably not a huge stretch of
the imagination to figure out who has the plates BHUTAN-1?
Following yesterday’s bliss-fest, I’d decided to leave nothing to chance, so had actually booked another wrap and massage at the spa (I’d actually booked another package which included a facial but they said no, two facials in a row was not recommended), so I had to content myself with a mere 2hrs of pampering instead.
So this time, I went for another scrub/wrap followed by a
massage. Here’s the blurb:
PRITHVI MRIT Earth’s
Nectar: This rich detoxifying and firming wrap is made from 22 exotic
Indian herbs and clay. Its therapeutic properties tighten the skin and leave it
with a radiant, youthful glow. Excellent for all skin types.
VISHRĀM Relaxation
Massage: A full-body relaxing massage to melt away your stress. Alternating
palm and thumb strokes, skilled hands gently work on your tired and sore
muscles. Fragrant signature oil blends with the richness of Kewda, Frankincense
and Brahmi, infused in Sandalwood and Sesame are used for this massage to
release tension, bringing ease and tranquility to your entire system.
So the wrap was lovely but I pretty much smelt like a
chicken jalfrezi, all wrapped up in the special blend of Indian herbs and
spices. All I could think about, though,
as she massaged the scrub into my body was how desperately I needed a pedicure
and how ridiculously long and lethal my toenails had become. I kept trying to point my foot downwards, so
as to do my best to avoid stabbing her with my big toe talon, but all I could
think about were the headlines “Therapist Killed in Freak Toenail Incident” and
how I’d never get bail for such a heinous crime and end up spending the rest of
my days in a (very nicely painted, no doubt) Bhutanese hell-hole prison. Funny where your mind takes you when you’re
completely immobile, smelling like curry, wearing a paper thong and trying not
to fart. Yes, I spoke too soon. My guts had just decided, moments before
heading down to the spa, to potentially think about starting to misbehave. I think my schizophrenic breakfast was coming
back to exact its revenge.
Anyway, I didn’t stab my therapist to death by accident with
my toenails, so all was well and the rest of the treatment was lovely
(especially the shower where I had to wash off the scrub, so managed to
concurrently deflate just a little…).
After my treatments, it was time for dinner, so this time I went to the
authentic local Bhutanese restaurant at the Taj. When I got there, I was the only person in
there so, despite it being very stylish, it was a little lacking in
atmosphere! A couple other folk turned
up, and got chatting to this couple from India and the guy was celebrating his
50th birthday. 
The food was OK, better than in the main restaurant, but
still not brilliant (I plumped for Set menu 2). My waitress started off by pouring me a cup
of Himalayan gooseberry tea from a very ornate teapot followed by a little amuse
bouche dish of local puffed rice mixed with butter and sugar. Crunch alert!! Those little suckers were tasty but tough on
the teeth! Also on the menu was riverweed
and pulled beef soup – god only knows what riverweed is, but it tasted like the
same type of seaweedy stuff you get in miso soup, so I’m sure it was doing me
good. 
Did a bit more blogging sitting out on the terrace after
dinner – the Minister of Agriculture was there, on the patio below having a
party. Everyone seemed to be having a
good time with lots of singing and dancing – it was very reminiscent of a Scottish
ceileidgh, but with less violence and swearing.
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