Day 4 : Bhutan : Thimphu SightSeeing

 We checked out from hotel and left for our first stop: a local stupa in Thimphu but only for Photo from the compound wall.

                                                

We were driven to Buddha Dordenma/Buddha Point. This statue was made in Copper and Gold. This was built by a Singaporean. It costed around 145 million USD and is 145 feet tall.

                        

 

The Buddha is so gigantic, that we can see this Buddha while travelling downhill during our  tour.The Temple /Meditation Hall under the statue has so many Buddha statues donated by the visitors.Also new paintings were being made on the walls depicting some important scenes in Buddhism and life of Buddha. There are 1 million 8-inch, and 25000 12-inch Gold Gilded Bronze statues inside the temple. Each Buddha statue for donation costs 300 INR.

This Buddha has 1 hand on the ground and 1 pot in other hand, he is the Present Buddha. Past Buddha is Gautam Buddha in meditation pose with Nectar.He is Buddha Dipankara.Future Buddha has 2 hands intertwined as if holding something.

We prayed at the temple and then we had enough time to capture the photos outside the temple in the complex.Entrance ticket for this place costs :500 INR per person.

Next stop was Takin Reserve. The Entrance ticket for this place was:  300 INR.This was a complete surprise to me as I havent read about or seen such an animal before.This Takin is the National animal of Bhutan whose head looks like Goat, Body resembles that of Cow. 

This is the most Endangered species of the world and found only in Bhutan.We saw few Takins, Yak,  deer here. Not much time needed here. It is believed that the Divine Madman of the Fertility Temple joined the skull of the Goat and skeleton of the Cow to create this animal.

We were driven to 2 viewpoints of the whole Thimphu town, we got to see the beautiful valley, fortresses, Courts, river.

All along the way, there are beautiful flowers, scenic nature views.27 of the 49 species of Rhododendrons can be seen in the pass.There are Trimula varieties of flowers too.

We also visited the Paper Factory. Here the whole process of making Paper from the Bark of Daphne Tree can be seen.Entrance ticket for this place costs:50 INR per person.

                           

We had lunch at Heritage Home.This is the place where the famous Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone had visited and 1 of our group members had requested the tour guide to take us here. We had Datchi fry, rice and ting Momos. Lunch costs around 530 INR.

Rent cost for Bhutanese Dress for 1 person costs 300 INR. We had a chance to wear the traditional Bhutanese dress and click pictures near the Paro Fortress.

                                                   

After checkin at the Hotel GOLDEN PADDY FIELDS, we had ample time, we did some walking around exploring the area and also bought some souvenirs. But we later realised Souvenir shopping must be done only in Phuentsholing or even more in Jalpaiguri/Jaygaon in India as it's even cheaper in India.