Punakha, the ancient capital of Bhutan.
One of the first things that surprised our senses in Punakha was the Fertility temple! Imagine crossing lush paddy fields and entering a simple looking village with not so simple images of the decorated male Penis everywhere! Even the shop windows have lots of replicas of the male Penis, of all kinds of shapes, sizes and colour. The welcome board was also in the shape of a penis!
As we climbed up a small hill and admired the view of the mountains around us, I wondered what this temple had in store for us. It was a monastery which was dedicated to a ‘divine madman’ who defied local traditions by indulging in wine and women and killed an evil demoness here who was in the form of a dog!
Childless couples come here for blessings to conceive successfully. We had to bow near the priest who put a huge wooden phallus with a silver handle on our heads and I did not know whether to smile or be shocked!
Lunch was at a nice place where we were served by one of the cutest looking short Bhutanese man that I met on this trip. The simple pure energy in his smiling face is something that I will always remember… That was one one the highlights of this trip, the extremely good nature and attitude of the local people which I think the world should replicate to increase their happiness quotient.
The next stop was the temple of Great Happiness or Punakha Dzong. The drive next to the river was great but we just had to stop at the first view of the Dzong on the confluence of the Pho Chhu and the Mo Chhuu rivers.
Our family men were sent back to the hotel to cover themselves fully, and along with my daughter I spent an extra half an hour on the cute wooden bridge, admiring the calm female river and the rough male river in the distance!
We entered the main temple building entrance by a long flight of steps, with 3 partitions, the middle one was used earlier only for important people who had collected lots of contributions from society. Now it is only reserved for royalty. It is hard to believe that such a fascinatingly beautiful structure was completed in just 2 years from1637-38.
The coronation and marriage of important royal family members happens in this monastery. The sacred remains of the founders of this place is kept in a private enclosure.
This Dzong was partially destroyed by fire or floods but was rebuilt again to its present magnificent glory. The detailing of the paintings and woodwork on the exterior and interior was amazing.
Our guide explained in detail the stories behind every idol at the alter, the present Sakyamani Buddha, the past Gurus, and the future Goddess of compassion and protection. Even the hand postures are different for the different idols.
The painting of the wheel of life on the exterior gave a fascinating message of the philosophy of different stages of life which I found common in Hinduism also.
We then went to the longest suspension bridge and were greeted with amazing natural sights of hills, fields, river waters, sky, clouds, and huge dual rainbows.. Really blessed for this miracle of nature! And when a fat cow came to join us on the narrow bridge, we all scampered to one side for safety!
At night we enjoyed the dinner at the resort restaurant along with the company of the local cat blackie, who happily enjoyed the dishes on our table!
Time for some more singing and board games and family bonding before retiring for the lazy night at the small sleepy town of Punakha.
I just had to have some me time at dawn. I enjoyed admiring the views in our resort which was on the river bank. Few moments spent in gratitude meditation on the riverbank gave me childlike fresh energy throughout the day.
Our family was up and awake and out by 7.30 am for our white water rafting experience at the calmer Mo Chhu river. We started from a point under a lone small golden temple in a hill, with lots of safety instructions from the guide.
As our red raft was taken to the waters,and we donned our life jackets, we adjusted the family weight to get the best possible result. As our family went up and down in the calm and troubled waters we surrendered completely to the rapid changing instructions of our guide seated behind.
The first rapid took us by surprise as a huge gush of water drenched us and our boat. Slowly we got the hang of rowing forwards or backwards or holding to the side position. At the end of it, our family’s well coordinated team rowing effort was appreciated by the guide too!
Compared to the earlier rough river rafting that I had done in India, this experience was much calmer with more relaxed breaks to enjoy the amazing natural scenery of mountains and fields and temples around us. I was in a state of intense gratitude and prayed that every family work like this as a team in the up and down flow of life too!
Seeing that small temple again in the distance, I realised that we had rafted 11 kms on the river amidst the scenic view along the Punakha Valley, with 10 rapids of class 2-2+.
We were hungry for a good breakfast at the Hotel and had one more stop before we left Punakha. My son had left his wallet at a supermarket the previous evening and we were so thrilled to get it back! With such good people of Bhutan, there was no stress at all of losing the phone, we were so sure of the goodness of this country of happy people.
So in 2018, do notice these simple smiling moments.Have a smiling year!
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