The Royal Bhutan

Travel Itenary To The Royal Bhutan and my story :)

12th May from Bangalore to Delhi
Air Asia

13th May
Delhi to Paro
The scenic view starts from the moment you land in the airport. The Bhutanese culture and tradition is reflected right from the building, the traditional attire, the mountains, the snow caps, the fresh air, cool breeze...!!! Heaven on earth..

From the airport we arrived at the pre-booked resort: Paro-Metta Resort and Spa. Room No 106
Beautiful resort. Pleasant view. The food was average but that is the best we could get in Paro. For a decent eater... simple menu will cost about ₹500/-.

Afternoon we all went to the centre of the town to have lunch....But we had not even half lunch at Hotel Root :(
Bhutan is a very small country with overall population of 7L. They are not used to serving big groups. They gauge the quantity wrong. The system they follow is very weird. They take orders for one group at a time. They go down to the grocery store and buy the raw material for cooking ....including the vegetables. We were a big group of 27 and we had to wait for at least 3hrs....
Suggestion- order smart like momos, curd rice. Order in advance. By the way...this is the system in almost all hotels.
You need not order mineral water anywhere in this country. The water is naturally pure and soothingly tasty. The weather is cool...room temperature water is already cold enough. The country does not grow any crop on large scale. Its all imported from India. They don't use fertilisers. There is no contamination at all!!!!

14th May 2016
Tiger's Nest
Trek to Tiger's Nest. I can pen a big beautiful descriptive story on this trek. To keep it brief...
Its about 3000ft from the base valley of Paro. It is at least 15kms of trek and then a series of stairs to climb. It almost looks endless. I never thought I could have done it...but what the heck I DID IT!!!!
I am not very athletic in nature and haven't been on treks much....It took 4hrs one way to reach the Tiger's Nest. But I think a little preparation can help you trek in 3hrs.

Generally people start early and reach the temple before 1 PM and rush through the premises. Before 1 PM the place is crowded. My suggestion is start by around 10 AM so that you can reach by 2 PM. The temple is closed between 1 pm to 2pm. Post that, there is less crowd and you can go around in peace. If you are wearing sleeves clothing, carry a shrug or a jacket. Else they don't let you inside the temple. Carry a good pair of socks. The floor inside the temple in some places are extremely COLD!!

While climbing up, there is a Cafeteria midway. We didn't spend time here....it is better you carry some stuff to hog and don't kill time in the Cafeteria. The place closes by 3 pm.
Carry a bottle of water. Keep sipping so that you don't dehydrate. Glucose/ Energy Bars/ Almonds are great help on the way up. The weather was favourable when we trekked. Unlike the cold places like Himalayas, you don't run out of oxygen. There is greenery and fresh cool breeze blowing to keep you recharged.

The temple closes by 5 PM but start by at least 3-3:30 PM. It starts to get dark by 6:30 PM and even earlier if it is raining. One group was stuck up till 2 AM due to heavy rains. The path can get slippery to trek down. We were lucky we reached by 7 PM

Now some muft gyan ;)
All said...its a beautiful and spiritually enriched temple. Every effort to reach was worth it. There are many stories about this place...here are few that I collected and found interesting

Buddhist teacher Guru Rimpoche Lord Padmasambhava is believed to have meditated for 3yrs in this place.
Epic narrated:
Guru Rimpoche conquered Bhutan and the King back then offered his Queen to him. The Queen turned into a Tigress. Lord Padmasambhava rode on her back and flew to the top of the cliff. He fought the evils in this place and destroyed the demons. Ironically the structure of the mountain also looks like a tiger.

My understanding on symbolic message;
Guru Padmasambhava conquered Bhutan Spiritually. The King offered/permitted his Queen as Guru Rimpoche's disciple. The Queen must have been a aggressive disciple in spreading the teachings of her Guru and she is symbolized as turning into a Tigress.
The Tiger's Nest has 8 temples of Lord Padmasambhava. These are believed to be 8 incarnations of the Great one. It is probable that these are 8 aspects of Guru Padmasambhava similar to Asta Lakshmi: 8 aspects of Goddess Lakshmi. Every aspect is worth studying.
The Spiritual energy is deep and the mind quietens automatically. If you are a spiritual person and wish to do some meditation....you will love the experience. The Cave where the Great Rimpoche meditated can be seen from the top (Its triangular in shape). This according to me is the most important part of the temple. The silence, peace and blissful energies are loud and mesmerising here. We did some chantings around this. It is closed for entry. It was told to us that there is also an entry door to this cave. It is opened once a year and selected few are allowed to enter during some ceremony.

After a blissful time at the temple we recharged our healing crystals in the premises and started our way back by 3:15 PM. I felt it was relatively easier to come down though we eventually took 4hrs to come down. It was getting quite darker and there is always a fear of the animals who tend to come out in the dark. Well...we reached safe....Body completely exhausted.....Mind completely rejuvinated... I could hear my nerves sing and could probably count each of them!! hahah
Day ends with a brief dinner and deep sleep.

15 May 2016
Ha Valley and Chechela Pass
Most of us were tired after the trek...we woke up late...had breakfast...change in the plan...No treks for the day. We drove to a view point through the Ha Valley and reached Chechela Pass. It is about 4000ft from the Valley. The weather didn't let us have any view. It was mostly fog. The temperature was about 4-5 deg. Carry a good jacket. With clear weather you should be able see the Himalayan ranges.

16 May 2016
Dochula Pass and the 108 Stupas of victory:
Bhutanese army lead by the King (3rd and 4th) won the war against the Maoist Assamee terrorists attack on Bhutan. 108 memorial chortens or stupas known as "Druk Wangyal Chortens" have been built by Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuk, the eldest Queen Mother wife of the 4th King. The stupas are considered to be good luck signifying their victory. When the weather is clear you can see the Himalayas bordering with China.

Druk Wangyel Cafeteria at Dochula pass. Its a beautiful cafe with limited space and food is good though a little expensive. Butter tea tasted very good.

Night we reached Punkha Hotel (Meri Puensum Resort)

17 May 2016
Bhutan has 36 districts. Each marked by a major river. 36 major rivers for 36 districts.
Punaha River in Punakha

The weather was cold here. This place is supposed to be warmer than Paro....but Bhutann weather is very upredictable. It was constantly drizzling and temperature was varying. I felt it was much colder than Paro. Here we went to a beautiful Fortris and river raftig.

Punakha Fortris has a river on either side. Male river and the female river. As the name suggests the male river is supposed to be more aggressive in flow. The male river has a hydrostation setup for the electricity production. The Fortris is built in 2 structures
Monastery part
Here the monks of Punakha district stay. When the people need to perform ceremonies, they approach these monks. The monks go down to the town, host the ceremonies and return to the Fortris

Administrative part
In the olden days, the administrative and the Spiritual hierarchies resided in this Fortris. The first courtyard is where the King was crowned

2nd Courtyard is a sacred courtyard. It is believed that Guru PadmaSambhava would dance here. The evil snakes and dragons would come down to watch and get mesmerised. Guru Rimpoche then captured them and destroyed. Very symbolic...isnt it? Could be the evil within nus...Could be the uncontrolled sex energy symbolised by the snakes and dragons...Dance helps in the sublimation. Could this also be similar to the Lord Krishna's dance and Kaliya mardhana?

The 3rd courtyard has 2 entrance:
The one on the right side is where the Unifier Body was buried
Here only the king is permitted to enter and seek blessings.The intense Ray1 energy was evident even at the entrance of this building

The other where was the Monk's prayer hall.
Here the public entry is permitted.

In the centre is the statue of Shakyamuni, Left is Guru Padmasambhava and Right Side is the Unifier Shabdung Rimpoche.
Front of Shakyamunni are his 2 disciples: Sariputra and Matha Kalyana. Beside Shakyamuni are: Lord maitreya on the right side and Deepena Buddha on the left side. Deepena Buddha was the previous Buddha. The Buddha previous to Buddha Shakyamuni.
The 2 disciples beside the Unifier are called Heart Sons. There is also a smaller statue called Dorge Jung. This is in front of the Unifier Buddha statue. He is also called the Infinte Buddha.
To the extreme left of Buddha Shkyamuni (Future Buddha) is again Gautama Buddha (earth bound Buddha). Both of these statues are Buddha Shakyamuni. Based on the mudra, one is called the future buddha and the other is called the earth bound buddha. That's a lot of information revealed and needs to ponder.
After the Unifier left his body, there were governors and spiritual monks who carried forward the work of the Unifier (Shabdung Rimpoche).

Story of the Unifier:
An Indian saint came to Bhutan in search of a medicine for his ill mom. He would work as yak herd and helped the farmers in the day time and in the nights he meditated. During his meditation, he saw a stone that appeared in front of him. It was in the shape of a frog. He broke this rock and built this Fortris in accordance with the information he received during his meditation as a healing for his mother.
Later after many years, the Unifier appeared as an elephant with 7 trunks and built a bigger fortris that is present today.

Thats a very symbolic story. I guess I am not allowed to illustrate it on this public website but definitely worth meditating on..!!!
Nothing much to narrate after this....So I will just rush through...

What I had to skip:
River rafting in the female river
Feedback from friends that it was anyway not worth it :P

18 May 2016
Mad Man's temple of fertility
One group went to Gangtey Valley
I travelled to Thimpu with the other group. On the way we stopped at Dochela pass again for lunch.

19 May 2016
Hotel River View Thimpu

Rest for the rest of the day and night.........zzzzzzzzzzzz............

20-21-22
Wesak celebration at YDF (Youth Development Federation) Basketball court
This was a basketball court decked up as a meditation hall beautifully....

22 May 2016
Post lunch:
Buddha Point
Meditation in the temple
This place was simply amazing. I have no words to describe the intensity of the meditation we did in this place. Acharya Co was a true blessing on us. The meditation hall entrance can be seen in the pic below. Its right under the Buddha statue. The interiors are stunning.  There is a statue of Buddha Shakyamuni, surrounded by his four disciples. The statues are huge and with the serene smile and peaceful eyes. I am truly blessed to have been there.

23 May 2016:
Post Office stamp printing
Museum
Cafe
Shopping

24 May 2016
Morning Paro airport to Delhi
Flying visit to the Himalayas....We had breakfast on Everest and some tea on Kanchanjunga. hahahah!!!! ;)

Flight view of Mount Everest:

Carol Bagh Shopping
Night reached Bangalore