Bhutan - Lindsay Brown [99]
Gyeltshen Tailor Shop (Map) has a selection of mounted thangkas, Bhutanese flags and T-shirts and Buddhist accoutrements.
Zhayden Nagtsho Traditional Boot Unit (Map; 272345) is the place for a pair of traditional handmade Bhutanese boots, retailing around US$60.
Vajrayana Art Gallery (Map; chhidorj@hotmail.com) features art by self-taught Bhutanese artist Chimmi Dorje, who incorporates Buddhist themes such as prayer flags and mandala motifs into his abstract art. There’s also some fine photography by his brother. The gallery is often closed out of high season.
Getting There & Away
Paro airport is 7km from Paro town and 53km from Thimphu. If you have not arranged for a vehicle to meet your flight, you can book a taxi at the tea stall outside the airport. The cost is Nu 300 to Paro or Nu 800 to Thimphu.
Daily buses to Thimphu and Phuentsholing leave from a temporary stand by Dawa Transport at the northwest end of town.
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AROUND PARO
Upper Paro Valley
Though the Paro valley extends west all the way to the peaks on the Tibetan border, the road only goes as far as Drukgyel Dzong, 11km beyond Paro. En route it passes half a dozen resorts, some lovely rural scenery and some of Bhutan’s most famous sights. Beyond the dzong a side valley leads to the Tremo La, the 5000m pass that was once an important trade route to Tibet and also the route of several Tibetan invasions.
There are several options if you are interested in a day hiking in the Paro valley. Southeast of Kyichu Lhakhang in the direction of Paro is Kenchu Goemba and Drongja Goemba, both of which can provide an excuse for a short hike. From here you could continue back to Paro via Loma Lhakhang, just above Paro town, which is visited by Bhutanese whose children are ill. More ambitious is the cardio day hike up to Dorena Goemba, high on the ridge behind the Olathang Hotel.
KYICHU LHAKHANG
A short drive from Paro is Kyichu Lhakhang, one of Bhutan’s oldest and most beautiful temples. This temple is popularly believed to have been built in 659 by King Songtsen Gampo of Tibet, to pin down the left foot of an giant ogress who was thwarting the establishment of Buddhism into Tibet (boxed text). Additional buildings and a golden roof were constructed in 1839 by the penlop of Paro and the 25th Je Khenpo.
As you enter the intimate inner courtyard you’ll see a mural of King Gesar of Ling, the popular Tibetan warrior-king, whose epic poem is said to be the world’s longest. Pride of place in the courtyard is a pile of iron links forged by the famous bridge builder Thangtong Gyalpo (Click here). Outside the courtyard, a band of pilgrims almost as old as the temple itself haul away on ropes and pulleys that are rigged up to turn prayer wheels.
The queen mother, Ashi Kesang Wangchuck, sponsored the construction of the Guru Lhakhang in 1968. It contains a 5m-high statue of Guru Rinpoche and another of Kurukulla (Red Tara), holding a bow and arrow made of flowers. Also here is a chorten containing the ashes of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, a revered Nyingma Buddhist master and spiritual teacher of the queen mother who passed away in 1992 and was cremated nearby. There is a statue of him here, as well as some old photos of the queen grandmother and the first king of Bhutan.
The inner hall of the main Jowo Lhakhang conceals the valley’s greatest treasure, an original 7th-century statue of Jowo Sakyamuni, said to have been cast at the same time as the famous statue in Lhasa. In front of the statue you can feel the grooves that generations of prostrators have worn into the wooden floor. King Songtsen Gampo himself lurks up in the upper niche. Lovely metal plaques line the floor and the main door is superbly gilded. The former quarters of Dilgo Khyentse to the left are closed to visitors. The outer hall has a large statue of Chenresig with 11 heads and 1000 hands.
Further north, outside the temple and up a side road by the huge Zhiwa Ling hotel, is