Bhutan Day 2: A Trip To Know More About Bhutan

It was a very good and comfort sleep for us last night. We still unable to believe that we woke up in another new country. Yesterday morning we woke up in Kathmandu of Nepal, and this morning, we woke up in the Kingdom of Bhutan. Wondering where will we wake up to on the next morning? Perhaps, another new country again. What an early daydreaming I should say.

#1: All hotels booked for us come with complimentary breakfast.

While waiting for our tour guide to pick us up from the hotel, we went out and explored within vicinity on our own first. Our hotel ideally sits in the heart of business and shopping district of Thimphu and the most interesting sight that caught our attention is where the policeman stood in the booth on intersection using hand signals to direct traffic. Only to find out from our tour guide that Bhutan is one of the two countries in the world that doesn't have any traffic lights in its capital city. 

#2: Thimphu's traffic booth cause Bhutan is said to be one of only two countries in the world without any traffic lights in its capital city.

Our tour guide and the driver came to pick us up from the hotel at the agreed time. It seems like almost all Bhutanese are always dress up in their traditional clothing made from Bhutanese textiles. Earlier on when we went out on our own, hardly for us to see any of the local wearing T-shirts and jeans. Majority of the men are wearing gho, a long robe which similar to the Tibetan chuba. This applies to our tour guide and driver too. Whereas for the ladies, they wear a long floor-length dress known as kira. You will get to see these traditional clothing in this particular post.

National Memorial Chorten 
Also known as Thimphu Chorten or Memorial Stupa, it is one of the tallest monuments in the capital city of Bhutan. Built in 1974 by Her Majesty, Queen Phuntsho Choden Wangchuck in honour of Her Royal Son the Third Druk Gyalpho, King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck. He was the third king of Bhutan and the father of modern Bhutan. Due to its elegant and stunning architecture, this whitewashed stupa with its golden spires and bells attracts a large number of tourists to visit here and making it to be a prominent landmark in the city.

#3: National Memorial Chorten

#4: Built in honour the third king of Bhutan and also the father of modern Bhutan


#5: Chorten is an ideal place that would give you an insight into Buddhism through its great artwork

Great Buddha Dordenma

We then were brought to atop on a hill of Thimpu to visit the Great Buddha Dordenma. By the time we arrived there, we can see that some of the area haven't completely complete yet but glad that the 51m-tall and gigantic steel of Shakyamuni Buddha statue was fully built. According to our guide, once it is completed, it will be one of the largest statues of Buddha in the world. 

#6: Great Buddha Dordenma, built on top of Thimphu hills


#7: A photo with our tour guide. And he's wearing gho which I mentioned earlier. 

For the following visit, both of our tour guide and driver brought us to few places around Thimphu in order for us to understand and know more about the nation's culture, history and tradition too. 

#8: Centenary Farmers Market - the largest domestic market for farmers. The market is open all days of the week, from 7am to 7pm except Mondays.

Built in two-storey with more than 400 stalls, Centenary Farmers Market provides farmers the opportunity to displace their produce and people a chance to support the local agriculture. While most vegetables in the market are seasonal, the dried chilies are the only permanent produce throughout the year. Therefore, in almost all the restaurants and eateries, you will get to see lots of chilies on their food. Another fun fact of Bhutan is that besides chilies, Bhutanese love to eat rice and cheese. So while venturing around the market, we saw a wide variety of rice. 

#9: Archery in Bhutan is the national sport of the Kingdom.

Frankly speaking, I'm not really into museum but it's not harm to visit at least one when in Bhutan. Our tour continued by visiting Simply Bhutan - an interactive living museum resembling a Bhutanese village, featuring traditional cuisines, performances and cultures. We're greeted and served with a shot of rice wine which they produced and harvest locally (unfortunately we declined cause both of us don't drink) and then, we're given opportunity to dress in their traditional costume. I can say this is one of the activities I always looking forward when visiting a new country. 

#10: Simply Bhutan - a living museum to give a quick introduction to various aspects of traditional life in Bhutan. 

#11: Dressed up in traditional costume

We continued by going to Motithang Takin Preserve. And wondering what's Takin? Takin is the national animal of Bhutan. We were lucky to spot two or three takins during our visit and to our surprise, takins are indeed one interesting creature we ever came across. They have interesting and fascinating features where it's combination of goad's head with cow's body. Now I understood why the Bhutanese is proud with this animal. 

#12: Takin, the national animal of Bhutan. It's the combination of goat's head with cow's body. Only can be found in Eastern Himalayas.

Before our tour guide and driver dropped us back to the hotel, we were brought for a short hike in order to train us and also a little bit of stretching and warming up before getting ready for a relatively hard and tough  hike on the next day. Can you guess where is our next destination to hike up?