Paro III

Emily and I were supposed to go to Ha today but Fifa had told us the road was not accessible due to some construction work. We tried to go for Kyichu Lhakhang again only to realize that it's still closed to this day due to the Queen Mother's presence.

We then went to Drukgyel Dzong, which was still closed but there was a temple inside the caves that was dedicated to Tara. Fifa said this temple was known to grant wishes so I made my prayers here. Fifa suggested that we could check out a nearby monastery above the mountains so we opted for that one. Our journey took us high up through zig-zagging roads until we reached the entrance where some cows were. We walked inside the main temple to see that there was an English class being held for the monks there. It was a very interesting experience and we were genuinely curious. We took our seats and were even served some tea and snacks. Emily was all for it and she ended up teaching the monks some English. I sat by one of the monks and he urged me to teach as well, I told him sure and when he called the teacher's attention there was no more backing out for me. I went ahead and taught them future tense and past tense for the verbs on the whiteboard. After class, they all sang these cute nursery rhyme about fruits.

We then went to the Paro Museum where Lisa went off to do her hike while Emily and I checked out the National Museum. It had one of the most interesting layouts I've seen for a museum. An old watch tower for Rinpung Dzong that was converted into a museum. I enjoyed the 3D mandalas as well as the Zambala room where I made some fervent wishes. Emily and I got to learn about plenty of things, the history of the Kings, the traditional clothes, but I was especially fascinated by the Buddhist part of the museum. We met up with Lisa back at the car and drove her to the airport where we said our farewells. And now it was just me and Emily, with one man down it felt a bit lonely. We decided to check out Rinpung Dzong, the biggest dzong in Paro and one that we both missed initially but Lisa had to go see it since she arrived before us. It was a quiet place, free too. There weren't any monks present so we weren't able to access the main temple but we got to overhear some tour guides talking about Samsara. Outside, we also got to do some people-watching as a batch of tourists arrived. We even got to see a bee hive right by the window of the dzong. Fifa said having that was good luck.

Then we went to go for lunch. I was carrying a lot of burdens that kept on piling up as the days went on and I had to confide with Em about my worries, even Fifa picked up something was heavy with our conversations and he put on his earphones to give us some privacy. After talking, I felt a bit lighter. We spent the last night together exploring the Paro Craft Market where I managed to get a cypress bracelet, completing the third bracelet I was collecting for the four Vajrayana Buddhist countries.

Emily and I spent the night at the hotel doing the accounting and preparing for the final day ahead. She was leaving early in the morning while I was still flying in the afternoon.Read more