Cheri & Tango Monasteries: After breakfast, we met up with Pema the driver to visit two important teaching monasteries, Chheri and Tango, located several miles outside of town. Each monk follows the instruction of their individual teacher from the time they enter the monkhood. Once their basic education is complete, those that are to follow a more intellectual path move to Chheri or Tango to further their studies. These two monasteries are similar to the secular equivalent of a college or university. On the way to the monasteries, we stopped to see a large image of Guru Rinpoche on a rock overlooking the road.
The only way to see the monasteries up close is to hike up the mountainside. We decided to visit Cheri and, after crossing one of Bhutan’s traditional bridges, began our ascent through the cloud covered mountains, continuing until we reached the monastery 40 minutes later. We passed some of the isolation huts, being quite so as not to disturb the meditating monks, and took a well-deserved rest before heading back down.
On the way back to town, Peep and I had Pema drop us off in front of Denchencholing Palace, or the Queen Mother’s Palace, about the halfway point, so we could continue on foot.
Hiking Thimpu: The hike back was relatively easy. We stuck to the road, which followed the river all the way back into town. From the road, we were able to get a good view of the central government dzong, the Tashichho Dzong. In the picture above, the corner tower at the front left of the dzong is the King's offices and includes his throne room. At one time, all the governments offices were housed here, but as the government grew many of the ministries moved to other buildings located throughout Thimpu and only a couple remain here. The courtyard in the middle of this dzong is also the location where Thimpu's religious festivals are held.
Movies: We arrived back home one hour, forty minutes later, had a late lunch, and then spent the rest of the rainy day watching dvds on Bhutan. The first movie we saw documented the soccer match between Bhutan and Montserrat, the two lowest FIFA ranked soccer teams in 2002, entitled “The Other Final”. The second movie dealt with many aspects of the country, and finally, the third one told the story of a teacher traveling to a remote section of the country to start educating the children there, and the struggles he went through. It made for a very entertaining afternoon and evening.