13/12/24 Fri: Both of us did not have the best of sleep on the first night at higher altitude. I still could not sleep by 2.45am and had weird dreams and light sleep throughout the night before waking up at 6+am and also had bit of difficulty in breathing normally. Potato felt hot and cold, had a fever of 37.2 degrees Celcius and mild headache.
Still, I stepped out to our balcony at 7.30am and took a photo of the cold and beautiful surrounding before a quick buffet breakfast at the Western restaurant again.
Met Jamyang and Yeshi at 9.30am and it was a 10-minute drive over to the National Memorial Chorten. The four-storey well-known landmark was built in memory of Bhutan’s third king Jigme Dorji Wangchuk, the father of modern Bhutan. It serves as an important place of worship for residents in Thimphu and devotees from other parts of the country. Jamyang told us locals would walk miles here just to go round the stupa.We lighted some butter lamps to give blessings not just to ourselves and our love ones, but also to all living being. There were many people walking clockwise around the stupa, which has a buddha statue up in it and thousands of scriptures, and we walked three rounds around it too.
I was also stunned by how fat the pigeons were in Bhutan because we'd never seen such plump ones in Singapore before lol. They were obviously well taken care of by the locals. Jamyang explained that as a Buddhist nation, they abstain from killing in Bhutan whenever possible, so most meats people eat in the country were imported from India or Thailand, and hence I guess they will not be as fresh. For example, we saw many trouts in the rivers but people are banned from fishing them. But, although the government disallow killing of animals for food, there are also some hotels that get live ones from approved farmed sources in Bhutan.
Stray dogs are very common in Bhutan and we arrived at Buddha Dordenma at 10.15am. As we were walking into Buddha Dordenma, we saw a group of De-suup, the country's voluntary orange army, being briefed to help replace the prayer flags in the area that morning. Apparently, the King's army were also instructed to go around to feed stray animals during COVID-19 to make sure they don't starve. 真的很有慈悲心的国家~
I was in awe with the gigantic 51.5m-tall Shakyamuni Buddha statue. It is one of the tallest Buddha statues in the world, and it fulfils an ancient prophecy dating back to 8th century BC, revealed by Terton Pema Lingpa, the religious treasure discoverer then, and is said to bring peace and happiness to the entire world. The air there was crisp and clear, the area very peaceful too. We also visited the temple there, but according to Jamyang, as long as shoes were off, we are not allowed to take photos. The interiors were filled with Buddha statues and intricate sculptures and paintings. There were also offerings like butter lamp etc that monks would change and replenish often.
We left at 11am and drove half an hour to Royal Takin Preserve to see Bhutan's national animal. Potato was feeling unwell, so he stayed in the car while I walked to the Preserve with Jamyang. *was panting as we walked up the slope...* Folklore has it that the takin was created by the Divine Madman, Drupa Kunley. The preserve was originally a zoo, but the fourth king decided to disband it since keeping animals in cages did not align with Bhutan's environmental and religious beliefs, so they release them. But, the takins were too tame to survive and wandered the streets of Thimphu, so now they are kept in these large enclosures for travellers to observe them. There were 15 to 18 takins according to Jamyang and we easily saw many of them lazing around. Did not see boars, which were supposedly there due to injury, so they could have been released back to the wild once they recovered. There were also two types of deer in the Preserve. Jamyang patted one deer and I did too... his fur was very stiff lol. I also fed him with herbal plant that Jamyang picked from nearby. Spent half an hour there and we went to the Royal Textile Academy. *Jamyang explained along the way red roofs we saw were government buildings while green ones were private houses. He also shared about meditation in their lives and that he meditates twice daily since young.* Thagzo or the art of weaving is big part of their culture and tradition. The academy was inaugurated in 2001 to educate young students in textiles, fabric designs and museum studies.
After watching a short video, Jamyang brought us into the exhibition hall and we saw different kira. Some designs are pretty but it's a long and tedious process to manually make one though, so it's no wonder kira can be very costly. He continued to bring us to see the Gho and traditional costumes of the rest of the minor ethnicities in Bhutan, albeit we could not take photos in the museum actually haha. They pay great attention to their national costumes and accessories, and like commoners only wear white sash while royal family members wear yellow sash etc. We were showed their jewelleries etc but Jamyang said locals do not wear a ring when they get married. And because of their Buddhist beliefs, spiritual ceremonies are done a few times in a year in the families, which can cost quite a bit, and each household also has their own prayer room. Oh, and death was also an important event too. We were back in our hotel at 1pm to have an early rest since Potato was still feeling unwell with the mild headache. *They brought the big humidifier in which helped.* Jamyang suggested we avoid local lunch outside and so we paid for lunch in the hotel. He had beef burger (750nu) which was meh and myAglio olio (750nu) was so-so too. Paid 1,800nu including service charge. He napped at 2pm while I just lazed around at the balcony haha. Tshering brought in the electrolyte drinks and panadol bought by Jamyang to us at 2.45pm. I liked them, especially the apple-flavoured one. The thoughtful-ness of the staff were also shown in the way they paid attention to the small details (or just OCD haha~) like placing my facial products on top of a silk towel and the luggage onto the luggage stand instead of lying it on the floor which I did lol.
They also passed this thermal hot bottle packs to us after sending the humidifier! It was so warm in the cold room and I used it for eye massage too haha.
At 6.30pm, Tshering and her colleague came to help us dress up before our Bhutanese dinner. *Jamyang said it takes him five minutes to wear as he had been wearing since young but otherwise, it’s not easy for people to wear it.* It took longer to wear his Gho than my Kira. *His big pocket haha~ they could dump many things inside!* I think we look good in their traditional costumes!
We had a reservation at their Bhutanese restaurant, Chig Ja Gye, at 7pm. There were another group of Chinese tourists inside before us. The dishes were served to us almost one by one, albeit it was a set menu we'd already chose the courses. *They also re-printed the menu to show our selections.* First up was the cucumber salad, then three types of chilli and the left one was the hottest while the right one was mildest. The vegetable cheese momo was okay but the chicken cheese momo was dry.
My favourite dish there was the Shamu Ngo Ngou, which was char-grilled wild forest mushroom. He said the yak meat tasted like beef jerky. Then, there's the Kakur Jaju, which was local Pumpkin soup which had the after taste of孜然粉that I dislike. The local red rice, Kharang corn rice were both bland and the noodle was tough. The dried white chilli was super hot for me but he found Ema Datshi (chilli cheese) hot. The Phaksha Baysum (braised pork Bhutanese-style) got too jelak after a while.The bok choy was a bit bitter. The Jasha Maroo, minced chicken stew with butter garlic and spring onion was okay. Dessert was very sweet. We were very full from the dinner. On hindsight, food is not something you'd go Bhutan for.
Anyway, Tshering was very sweet. She'd asked me for a photo of us during our stay and I kept thinking she needed it maybe for Pemako Hotel's advertisement use, but tonight, she came to our room and gave a personalised photo frame to us as another wedding anniversary momento because she said she won’t be on duty when we check out on Saturday! I didn’t expect her to make a frame using a photo I sent her~ the hospitality from her and her colleagues were excellent during our two-night stay here, even if the room was not the best among the hotels we stayed there. *Later then I know Pemako Hotel in Thimphu was actually where the King would have his guests stay at during their National Day celebration a few days later~ surely they do not need more "advertising" lol.*
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