Backdate: Bhutan Dec 2024 Day 3

14/12/24 Sat:  Got up at 6.45am. Felt better than yesterday but still light and short sleeps throughout. We had the buffet breakfast at 9am and  I tried the eggs Florentine. Also had a small portion of Thukpa, Bhutanese breakfast. It was chicken with noodles and Thengey pepper. Honestly, the drier one was very salty but when the waitress brought the spicy soup over, I loved that!

Departed Pemako Hotel Thimphu at 9.30am as we made our way to Dochu La pass. It was filled with windy mountain roads and I almost got motion-sickness from it. After 45 minutes, we arrived at Dochu La pass, situated at 3,140m ASL! *The eastern Himalayan mountain ranges that we saw across were unclimbed according to Jamyang and it was pure beauty~* It was 4 degrees Celcius there and the air was very fresh! There were thick clouds passing by but they went away quickly enough so we could take photos with the Himalayan mountain ranges as the backdrop.

Jamyang first brought us up another path, that had no one when we went, to some forested area and a huge meditation space. The 108 stupas were just across.

These were Druk Wangyal Chortens that were built in honour of Bhutanese soldiers that died in the battle against Assam militants/refugees from India. It was the Queen mother, Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck, that commissioned the shrine in 2003 after King Jigme Singye Wangchuck overcame the insurgents. The sun was very glaring but Jamyang did his best to find some good angles to take photos of us there.

Took a short toilet break in the cafe because it was getting very cold outside (and I was not wearing my down jacket yet lol~). *Jamyang pointed out to us the highest peak of 7,570m just across us outside of the cafe. So beautiful.* 

We left the place at 11am and as we descended down towards Punakha, the sight of colourful prayer flags along the way against the mountain ranges was simply stunning. *They are inscribed with sacred emblems and each colour represents a different element. If one raises a flag, the intention should be for all sentient beings to benefit and find happiness.* It's peaceful and beautiful at the same time. Well, some places also made us wonder how the locals climb up and down from their house in the middle of nowhere in the forested mountains to get groceries etc? *Cows were a common sight on the roads...*

At 12pm, Jamyang suggested we take touristy shots across the Punatsang Chu (main river), in which Punakha Dzong was situated behind it. Built in 1637, this was the second Dzong in Bhutan. It is the winter residence of the central monastic body, which is headed by the 70th and current chief abbott Tulku Jigme Chhoeda. Jamyang said they came here a few days ago and many locals would queue to meet and be blessed by them. Also, all kings of Bhutan have to be crowned here before they can take their thrones in Thimphu.

Arrived at andBeyond Punhakha River Lodge at 12.30pm and the team sang a welcome song for us at the entrance! From memory, Rishi’s the manager from India and Rudolf’s the South African chef. I had a certain level of expectation from the five-star resort because I'd see it on National Geographic's channel on Bhutan and was amazed by the tented suite, which we were going to stay at for three nights!

Our tented suite no. 4 out of six (and one river house and a family suite) was one of the closer ones to the main reception building and I liked how we could see mountains in front of our suite! The safari-style tent reminded me a lot of the resort I stayed at Fundu Lagoon on Pemba Island, Tanzania. It was, however, smaller than I thought but I still liked how nature surrounded us. *There was one night when the power kept tripping in the whole resort though.* The bathroom was huge and quite pretty, and we could see moon and stars from there at night! *There was an attached outdoor shower but nah... too cold to shower outside in winter.* 

Headed to the reception building where we had our lunch al fresco at 1.30pm. Rudolf, who said he stays in Sichuan actually, also explained the course lunch shared platter to us briefly. 

The trout teriyaki with shoyu pearls and picked cucumbers was very salty oops but the stacked potato with beer braised onions, caramelised apples and dried onions was nice!

The chicken katsu with nori fried rice, sesame seeds and Tonkotsu sauce was good. The poke bowl with red rice, corn, kimchi, cucumber and green peas was blend compared to others but it helped since most other dishes were heavily seasoned. *They took beef out from the supposedly beef poke bowl because I don’t eat.* 

So Potato ate the beef sliders with potato chutney, potato wedges and gouda. Mine’s eggplant. The dessert was passion fruit and mango cremeaux. It's crunchy puff pastry, mango jelly and chantilly cream... sweet lo.

After an hour of lunch and rest, Jamyang and Yeshi drove us to Punakha Dzong, the palace of happiness. Jamyang also showed us how male commoners wore their white sash over their Gho whenever they go into administration buildings in Bhutan. Then, we crossed a bridge to the conference building and saw a shoal of trouts in the blue river~

There were few pretty sakura trees in Bhutan in December, and it was so peaceful, so we had to take photos. *Love the one where the monk in red robe walked past~* 

After climbing up the steep stairs and stepping into the entrance, Jamyang first explained the painting of the Bhutanese folklore "Four Friends" near the gate to us. Interesting friendship story between the bird, the rabbit, the monkey and the elephant, which taught us the importance of teamwork and communal harmony and due respect to elderlys. 

As we walked to the grounds where the conference hall was, we saw a huge Bodhi tree that's probably over a few hundred years old and many monks. Went into the hall, which resembles a temple because of the many Buddha statues and paintings in there. Quite sure we also saw paintings of Bhavachakra, the wheel of life, which is found at the entrance of monastries and represents the Buddhist concept of samsara (cycle of life) -- a reminder that every action has a consequence. Prayer wheels are also very commonly seen as they represent wisdom and purity. Spinning a prayer wheel clockwise brings people merit and purifies the soul. *I love the sound of them!*

At one point, Jamyang helped us to get a blessing (hence the orange string above) from the monks and we were just standing outside observing monks taking turns to run in and out to throw things into a burning urn, albeit unsure what their actions meant.

We spent 45 minutes in there before being driven over for a surprise at the beach in the late afternoon haha! *Later in the journey, Potato joked whenever we saw this guy in blue Gho, it meant “food” was waiting for us lol.* 

Had some Indian gin on the beach. Shortly after, two other Singaporean ladies, Andrea and Prash who were guests of the resort came too. Andrea's work was related to media relations with the Bhutanese government I think, and so they were invited to Bhutan this time for Bhutan's National day celebration on 17 Dec and staying at Pemako Thimphu Hotel for the party haha. The ladies, who sounded like party animal sorts, also shared they bought cheap kiras from local tailors... nice. *Coincidentally, they were going to be on the same flight back to Singapore as us.*

There were a few stray dogs loitering around at the beach looking for food, presumably. This cute dog sat down near us "just pretending" because he wanted food lol, but that's when we learned the king of Bhutan got his de-suups to feed all stray cats and dogs during Covid-19 pandemic till now.

Back at the lodge at 5.30pm and it was a chilly night~ At 6pm, we attended the short cooking demo class which taught us how to make momo. Meanwhile, there were also other side dishes for us to try like potato and cheese. Their butter milk tea was meh and I still preferred the one I had in Yunnan.

Potato learned to make momo from the young lady chef who looked only about 20 years old. Upon asking, she'd only graduated not too long ago. *似模似样虽然有一个走样了keke~* 

Took photos of the lounge area, the main hall and the dining area before we tucked into our three-course dinner at 6.15pm. I probably liked the starter the most -- carrot and ginger soup with toasted sunflower seeds and crumbles feta because it was thick and quite nice in my opinion. His main, which was the beef, had quite a bit of sinew and he reflected that to Rudolf after the meal.

My grilled Himalayan trout with slow roasted tomatoes, white wine sauce and watercress salad was quite salty too. Ended the dinner with vanilla and chocolate ice-cream at 7.30pm and retreated to our room to rest for the night.