Exploring Punahka

It rained all night into this morning. I was a bit concerned as we were hiking to Khamsum Yueley Chorten, a stupa in the mountains. Fortunately the rain stopped on our drive.

We started with a photo stop of Punakha Dzong, the admin centre for this area before heading to a suspension bridge to begin our hike. A little more challenging building us up for Tigers Nest but still very manageable.

We walked through some rice paddies and Forest for about an hour to arrive to the stupa and had another lesson in Buddhism before climbing the three levels to the roof for 360 views.

Coming back down we headed to a picturesque spot by the river for lunch. A local restaurant catered so tables, chairs and table cloths were set up.

After lunch we headed back to the Dzong for a walk through and learned about Buddha’s life. Then an extended walk back to the hotel. It was really cool walking on another long suspension bridge and along the road.

Before dinner we checked out the vegetable market in town across the river and walked around some of the shops. Nothing touristy but a trove of local alcohol available. I was so fixated on finding hard candy for tomorrow’s ride that I missed the lemongrass oil spray. Oops. Next town :)Read more