Rinpung Dzong

Straight out of the airport Ello kicked into gear. We sort of had expected they would just take us to our hotel but instead he asked “would you like to see the National Museum and old fort”. Why yes we would, so we went directly there.

The museum was a quick stop, not much to see except for the amazing mask room in which you couldn’t take pictures. As you’ll see in a later post the masks are worn to emulate a variety of dragons and gods. So we moved on to the incredible Rinpung Dzong, or fort.

Ello led the way.

The fort was built in 1644 to protect the Paro valley against marauding Tibetans. Yes, they used to maraud. Unfortunately the fort burned to the ground in 1907.

While built out of stone, the interior is entirely made of wood.

I’d like to take a moment to point out that this is now peak tourist season in Bhutan. Count the tourists in the picture above. That’s the hidden value in the high barrier to entry.

Ello led us through the fort, all the while educating us about the structure.

The wood carving was tremendous.

It was incredibly quiet too, there were just a few other visitors.

We really enjoyed some of the wall paintings, very colorful and detailed.

This one also stood out.

Naturally there were prayer wheels scattered throughout. There is something very soothing about turning a prayer wheel.

Then as you leave you’re presented with some amazing views of the valley below. We walked down to the bridge you see down there. Looks like Switzerland, doesn’t it?

Ello (as are all guides) specially trained to answer questions and provide history and context about every thing we saw, including this bridge.

From here we went to our hotel to get ready for our planned Bhutanese meal at a place in the mountains called Bukari.