Day two in Timphu, May 3, 2026

Our first visit today, in Timphu, Bhutan, was to the National Memorial Chorten constructed in 1974, which, like most things in this country commemorates something having to do with one of the last five revered kings. Note: the current king is 44 and has one wife. His father, the previous king who abdicated in favor of his son, is 70 and has four wives. It is a Buddhist temple with beautiful prayer wheels and many, many faithful with rosary beads walking clockwise around the monument/temple. Our next stop was the Buddha Dordenma, also known as the Big Buddha, the biggest sitting Buddha in the world. It is an astonishing temple that cost $300 million to build, is 169 ft tall, painted bronze, made elsewhere and assembled on site. 100,000 eight inch brass Buddhas inside along with 25,000 12 inch brass Buddhas. Incredible interior which we were not allowed to photograph. Had a pleasant conversation with a body-builder and a bicyclist from Bangalore, India. A hike up and around the hill above the Big Buddha for very good views of the valley below, the Big Buddha, blue pine trees, and red flowered rhododendrons. Hike followed by a catered picnic lunch that was rather fun. Our last visit for the day was an odd visit to a Buddhist monk astrologer who provided the basic astrologic information for each of our birth years. One funny note was a small banner for Lions Club International on the wall of the room probably from Graz, Austria. The monk and our guide thought it was a banner for a soccer team. The second funny item was watching part of a Bhutan archery competition on the monk's TV. The teams were hilariously teasing their opponents while female cheerleaders were actively working to distract the archers. Archery is the national sport of Bhutan. For dinner we were dressed up in traditional Bhutan clothes of a gho for men and a kira for women by hotel staff. Kinda fun! At dinner we were joined by an equal number of local school children who had good English skills. Mine was 12 yr old Rigzin. Anna had five year old Muksa. Extremely bright kids in the group. Very impressive in terms of English and gracious courtesy. Sad to say that many Bhutanese are emigrating. The kind of government here does not provide for economic opportunity but for a small minority.Read more