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| On pilgrimage to Punakha |
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While escaping from Tibet , in 1616, Ngawang Namgyal had taken with him to Bhutan precious relics from his monastery. Wanting to get those relics back the Tibetans raided Punakha and were ready to attack the Dzong. Using a secret back door, the besieged monks organized a continuous stream of people, thus deceiving the assailants regarding their exact number. Scared, the Tibetans retired on the opposite bank of the river. The Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal then pretended to throw the relics in the stream and the Tibetans immediately jumped in to retrieve them.
Not knowing how to swim, they all drowned...
This small Himalayan Kingdom , sandwiched between India and China , has managed to preserve its traditions and customs, if not full independence, despite its two powerful neighbors.
It is maybe an understanding of the preciousness of its spiritual and artistic heritage that has induced Bhutan not to open its doors to mass tourism whose social damages are evident in neighboring countries. To preserve the uniqueness of its traditions, Bhutan does not grant more than 5000 visa a year to small guided groups of travelers whose itineraries are carefully controlled. Despite the apparently elitist character of such policy, it is on the other hand a way for Bhutan to handle fewer visitors but with all the attention and care of a guest.
From Kipling's jungles to the highest Himalayas, from the very British Darjeeling to the stupendous Dzongs of Paro or Punakha, a trip to Bhutan is a full immersion in the heart of the Tantric Buddhist tradition, with its temples, its deities, peaceful and wrathful, its monks and its rituals, but also its beautiful villages and its amazing and joyfull people.
Calender of Festivals
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