Adventure in the Himalayas

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Sunday, 1 September 2019 - Explored Thimphu, Bhutan, beginning with the Memorial Stupa honoring the third Druk Gyalpo. Highlights included the Great Buddha Dordenma, an enormous 169-foot statue housing over 100,000 smaller gilded Buddhas we also visited Tashichho Dzong, the Buddhist monastery and government seat, with its impressive architecture, courtyards, gardens, and symbolic decorations like fierce lions, peacocks, and harmonious animals.

Memorial Stupa was built in 1974 to honor the third Druk Gyalpo.

india2019 — This stupa is unlike others as it does not enshrine human remains. Only the Druk Gyalpo's photo in a ceremonial dress adorns a hall in the first floor.

india2019 — Once more, a fierce lion

india2019 — There were a group of devotees near the large prayer wheels. This man was turning a small prayer wheel.

india2019 — We drove up a hill toward the mountains looking over Thimphu - the Great Buddha Dordenma (a Shakyamuni Buddha) dominates the skyline.

india2019 — Construction began in 2006 and finished 25 September 2015. The completed work is one of the largest Buddha statues in the world, at 169 feet and contains 100,000 8-inch-tall and 25,000 12-inch-tall gilded bronze Buddhas in the temple below the Great Buddha.

india2019 — Many photo opps in the complex. Even great headshots.

india2019 — The statue houses over one hundred thousand smaller Buddha statues each like the Great Buddha Dordenma, are made of bronze and gilded in gold.

india2019 — An odd painting of a peacock with the head of a man.

india2019 — A dragon on the corner of the roof.

india2019 — The statue was constructed at a cost of $47 million by Aerosun Corporation of Nanjing, China, while the total cost of the entire project is well over $100 million.

india2019 — It was a cloudy day so no blue skies.

india2019 — A lion - again in a fierce pose.

india2019 — A peacock.

india2019 — There were many of these statues around the base of the Great Buddha - our guide said they were angels.

india2019 — The upper entrance to the Great Buddha complex - there is a way to climb up through a lower entrance.

india2019 — Thimphu from high up on the Great Buddha.

india2019 — Next stop was Tashichho Dzong a Buddhist monastery and fortress and seat of the government of Bhutan.

india2019 — Guard house and guard at the palace.

india2019 — Beautiful windows of the fortress.

india2019 — A rose garden runs the length of the Tashichho Dzong.

india2019 — Across the Thimphu River is the National Assembly building.

india2019 — A statue on entry to the palace with nine snakes providing protection.

india2019 — A totem pole like effigy on the corner of a palace building.

india2019 — A fierce god at the entrance to the Tashichho Dzong.

india2019 — Decoration on the ceiling of the Tashichho Dzong at the entrance.

india2019 — The four harmonious animals.

The scene refers to a legend which tells that four animals were trying to find out who was the oldest. The elephant said that the tree was already fully grown when he was young, the monkey that the tree was small when he was young, the hare that he saw the tree as a sapling when he was young and the bird claimed that he had excreted the seed from which the tree grew. So the bird was recognized by the other animals as the oldest, and the four animals lived together in co-dependence and cooperation, helping each other to enjoy the fruits of the tree. After the story is finished, it is revealed the partridge was the Buddha in a previous life.

The story was meant as an illustration of cooperation and respect for seniority, and was told by the Buddha after some of his students had failed to pay due respect to a senior disciple.

india2019 — The entrance to the assembly hall of the temple in the palace grounds.

india2019 — The interior courtyard of the palace.

india2019 — Wall painting outside the temple.

india2019 — A bench outside the temple.

india2019 — A monk coming down the steps of a religious building.

india2019 — Part of the administration wing of the palace.

india2019 — Pagoda like top of a palace building.

india2019 — Way up at the top of a building were a series of animals looking down on us. This tiger was just under the eaves.

india2019 — The entrance to one of the administrative buildings in the palace where half the complex is the seat of the head of religion and the other half for the government offices.

india2019 — Palace building.

india2019 — The religious section of the palace.

india2019 — Palace temple.

india2019 — Virginia Ann at the four harmonious animals. We would see this scene many times on our trip and it became one of our all-time favorites.

india2019 — A fierce god at the palace entrance.

india2019 — This is not a painting but a wooden sculpture.

india2019 — We drove to Motithang Takin Preserve a national park where the national animal, the Takin, lives a protected life. They were hard to get a good picture of - I had to hike quite a way to get a good angle on the herd.

india2019 — Virginia Ann watching me scamper about.

india2019 — Archery is Bhutan national sport - there are archery fields in every town. We stopped and watched a match for a while.

india2019 — Clock Tower in the square in the middle of town.

india2019 — A line of prayer wheels off the central stair.

india2019 — An animated traffic cop takes the place of a traffic light in downtown Thimphu.

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