Today we travelled from Thimphu to Punakha via the Dochula Pass and along the way got a lesson in Bhutan History both modern and not so modern. The Drochula Pass is the site of Druk Wangyal Chortens which is a monument consisting of 108 chortens or stupas. These stupas were built to honour the fourth King of Bhutan and the soldiers he led during operation All Clear between December 2003 and Jan 2004 to remove from Bhutan soil a number of insurgent groups from India that were using Bhutanese territory as a safe haven from the Indian Authorities. Now this little bit of history brought up a number of questions.

Such as, "how many kings have there been". The current King is the fifth since the country was unified under the Wangchuck dynasty in 1907, see this link. At that time Punakha was the capital of Bhutan and the first King of the Wangchuck dynasty was crowned in the Dzong (fort) in Punakha - but more of that tomorrow.

Before the 1907 unification Bhutan had been ruled, for an extensive period, under a so called "dual system of government" where power was split between a secular ruler and a religious ruler.

The drive over Dochula Pass to Punakha was spectacular, a tight twisty road, through small villages with great examples of terraced rice fields. We caused the poor driver to stop many times for photos.

A rest break along the way at a road side "cafe" gave me a chance to try Masala tea with chocolate biscuits. So I now have an additional temptation to get in the way of my weight control program.

We lunched in the small village of Lobeysa and after eating we walked through local rice fields and vegetable gardens to a monastry called Chhimi Lhakhang, which is seen by Buddhists as a fertility shrine and is visited by childless couples from around the world. In support of this reputation the local village has on display hundreds of carved or painted quite life like phalluses which the visitor can buy. The origin of the of the monastry is connected to a religious story involving demons in Dochula Pass turning into black dogs, one of which is said to be burried under the stupa at Chhimi Lhankhang. The details are in the link above.

Note the first photo is of last nights hotel and the next two are prints/paintings hanging on the walls of the reception area at last nights hotel. And yes that is a tiger wrapped around a penis.

Punakha is a little up the valley of the Puntashang Chhu from Chhimi Lhankhang at the point where the rivers Mo and Pho come together to form the Puntashang. On the point of land right at the river junction sits the Punakha Dzong a hugh stone and timber fort which will form tomorrows story I don't doubt.

Our accomodation for the night was the Zhingkham resort and Spa which sits about 200m altitude up the western side of the river valley and provides a very spectacular view of the valley and the Dzong.