05 – punaka |

05 - punaka

Today departure for punakha

A first stop at the exit of Thimphu where a huge bronze Buddha measuring almost 50m was built

On the way we take a meditative break and lunch at the Dochula pass where there is a temple and nearly 108 stupas built in homage to the victims of a war waged by the Bhutanese in 1999 against terrorists.

Punaka#039; is the ancient capital of Bhutan.

It was the 3rd king of Bhutan who decided to move the capital to Thimphu

There is a magnificent dzong (fortress) from the 17th century here. With as in all dzongs of temples and administrations

Here we learn the history of the Bhutanese national dress. Extremely elegant, it is obligatory in certain places for Bhutanese citizens, for both men and women without any distinction of class.

The sleeves are rolled up (see photos). At the time of the wars with Tibet in the 17th century, a very precious relic was taken from Tibet by the unifier. The Tibetans wanted to get it back, this explains the reason for the war.nbsp; Understanding that the war was due to this relic, the unifier pretended to throw it into the water (a false copy) and hid the real relic in his rolled up sleeve. This is the history of Bhutanese national clothing.

Still during the visit to the dzong, in a temple which houses 3 gigantic statues: that of Shakyamuni Buddha, that of Guru Rinpoche (padmasambhava) and that of the unifier, we sit down for a short meditative session. During the session we were joined by other visitors in our practice. A very precious moment!

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The photos will probably take a long time to come, the wifi is very sluggish this evening..