Dochula Pass

27 May 2008 (Day 12) - Takin, One Weird Animal
Today we went to Bhutan School of Arts & Craft and Folk Heritage Museum in Thimphu. It was nice to see that Bhutanese try to preserve their traditional art and craft works through their younger generation. At the museum, we saw the traditional Bhutanese house and we learnt their culture from their point of view. Surprisingly, all Bhutanese houses/buildings (even now) have penis sculpture/painting (see below) outside the house/building esp above the window. They believe it'll ward off evil/bad things.Then we proceed to the zoo (not again!!!). We were not really interested to go to the zoo but since Raj told us that we can only see the 'special' animal ONLY in Bhutan, so we decided to go and see what's so special about the animal. It turn out that the animal is really special. It called Takin and ONLY can be seen in the Himalayan region esp in Bhutan. It's also Bhutan National animal and if anyone get caught killed this animal, they'll get life sentenced in prison. Takin looks like a mixture of sheep (head), yak (horn & fur) and cow (see below). We never seen it before and it's quite interesting to see it live in front of us. According to the legend, during the 15th century, Lama Drukpa Kuenlay or the infamous "Divine Madman" asked to perform a miracle. He demanded a whole cow and a goat for him to eat. After he finished everything, he stuck the goat's head on the bones of the cow and Viola!! Takin starts running around and grazing the grass. This same Madman had a power to ward off the devils with his strong and extra long penis. That's the reason why most Bhutanese houses have penis sculpture.

After that we proceed to Thimphu town for lunch even the Gas Station look unique (see above). The lunch was not good this time and I complained to Raj about it. After that, we stopped at Thimphu market coz I wanted to buy a Gho. Gho is a Bhutanese traditional men costume. Bhutanese are compulsory to wear it everyday either to school, university, work (private & government) etc except during their leisure time (even then they'll still wear it). In the spirit of being in Bhutan, I wanna wear it while I'm in Bhutan (see below). After that, we proceed to Punakha (1,300m) the former capital city of Bhutan. Along the way, we stopped at Dochula Pass (3,200m) where the impressive 108 stupas were built overlooking the northern mountain chains. In Buddhism, stupa is the place for them to keep the ashes (kinda like a graveyard for us). The reason they built 108 stupas were for the remembrance of the war between Assamese (Indian state) and Bhutanese militant. It was not their intention to kill the Assamese militant who were their allies and protected in Bhutan but due to pressure from Indian government. I don't really remember the exact year it happened but it was not too long time ago around 2003 kot. That's why Bhutanese government built the 108 stupas for the Assamese soldiers soul to rest in peace. The history of Assamese militant in Bhutan was another long story to tell so I decided not to dwell on it so much here.
We arrived in Punakha around 5 pm and check in at Meri Puensum Hotel. It was a nice resort on top of the hill overlooking Punakha town (see above). We hit Punakha town afterwards but it's just a very small town with nothing to see or buy. After a while we went back to hotel for dinner. After dinner, we chatted with other tourists there while having a drink at hotel bar. It was really nice to share our experience and heard theirs. We chatted until around 12am before we called it a day. Overall, we really enjoy our Bhutan trip so far.