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The spectacular Wangdue monastery
Soon after taking a taxi from Metshina and cruising along the river Punak Tsang, the dramatic Wangdue Phodrang Monastery came into view, draped along the end of a ridge above the river. A police and immigration check-post scanned our Special Areas Permit and let us cross the river and ascend to the little town of Wangdue (pronounced as Wangdi – वांग्डी). Just like Punakha-Khuruthang, they are building a ‘new Wangdue’ town, complete with impersonal grid like structure on an arid plateau next to the river. In our taxi was a little boy suffering from acute food poisoning and the taxi dropped him to a government hospital in the new town.
Perched on the hilltop commanding a view of the valley, the scenic Wangdue monastery
The monastery was founded in 1638 and sits atop a high ridge between the Punak Tsang Chhu and the Dang Chhu (chhu=river). The site offers a commanding view of the flat region below. Wangdi was the secondary capital of Bhutan centuries ago. The dzong’s position gave it a control of the routes between western and eastern Bhutan.
The monastery courtyard
The dzong has a complex shape and follows 3 separate narrow structures that follow the contours of the hill. It looks very interesting and intriguing especially because lot of the monastery is still unrestored after a fire and earthquake.
A very tall prayer pole (darchen) and a flag staff at the entrance tower.
There is only one entrance marked by the tall darchen (prayer pole) as seen in the picture and a large prayer wheel. Cacti were planted on the hill slopes to discourage invaders from climbing the slopes. There are two docheys (courtyards) and one utse (tower). Walking along the walls and peering through arrow slits into the valley is definitely recommended.
The administrative courtyard. A teacher gave us chewing gum and said that he was sorry to hear about Mumbai attacks
Factual information: Wangdue Phodrang dzong is located about 21 km from Punakha or 75 km from Thimphu. There are buses from Thimphu at 8:00 and 14:00, but shared taxis run all day. I took the Thimphu-Punakha-Wangdue-Thimphu route and it was very good. There is no particular reason to stay here overnight unless you are visiting the autumn Tsechu festival. There are couple of local eating places around the bus stand serving thupka, momo and also north Indian fare like aaloo paratha and daal.
The main temple and assembly hall. See the students inside
The main temple features depictions of past, present and future Buddhas. There were several students studying there and their chanting reverberating in the large assembly hall felt very exotic.
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The colours in the monastery looks stunning. Any Buddhist monastery I’ve been too is always well presented, neat and beautifully painted. The pride shows through.
Thanks for the comment Mark. I agree, all the Buddhist monasteries I saw had an exotic flavor to them and the worship areas were very intricately decorated. But the most distinguishing feature to me is the cozyness of the temple and ofcourse the tolerance of the religion.
Very colorful – the temples.
Thanks Shantanu!
When I read 1683 I immediately tried to imagine how life would have been then? Some of these places are so remote (I am thinking of Ladakh and Spiti here) and yet people established monasteries in 1400s. Amazing things we the people do!
I know, crazy eh! And the monasteries are never on a flat accessible ground next to the river – they are built in most difficult terrains and usually at a height.
Amazing!
Beautiful pics! Did they allow you to take pictures inside?
Thanks Amit. Unfortunately no, taking pictures inside the actual temple was not allowed but everything outside was okay.
Beautiful images, I love the autumn skies in your pictures.
I love your Bhutan series – almost feels like I visited it through your blog.
That’s a huge compliment Vamsee!
Lovely pics of that enchanting place!
Thanks Gopinath
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amazed at the colours..did you see any performances or dances ?
Hi Lakshmi,
Unfortunately there were no performances at this time. There is a festival in Autumn though.
Again very interesting and very cool and colorful images.
Thanku thanku
absolutely love the clouds play in the first (scenic Wangdue) and third pic (tall prayer pole)
Oh thanks very much snow! It was lucky to get that in the picture, I like clouds too. I usually play a game guessing the shape – over the dzong it looks like a tornado or something
Brilliant colors in your photographs!
Thanku thank u! The weather was very good as you can see. Colors in a picture depend a lot on the sky and fortunately it was all good.