Bhutan, the hidden Himalaya paradise

The temple is located on a place where Guru Rinpoche, who introduced Buddhism to Bhutan, defeated a local diety (manifested as a white lion) that had sapped the life force of the local King. The white lion diety agreed to protect Buddhism, and to seal the deal, Guru Rinpoche drove his walking stick into the ground. The walking stick since grew into a large cyprus overlooking the Lhakhang. Despite their agreement, statues of Guru Rinpoche often show him crushing a white lion with his foot. While meditating before defeating the white lion, Guru Rinpoche left a bodily imprint in a rock. Seeing the bodily imprint is quite an experience. The temple is relatively large, maybe 30 ft by 20 ft with three large statues of Guru Rinpoche and 1000 statues of the Guru lining the walls, along with his Tibetan and Nepali wives and his eight manifestations. The meditation cave shows the imprint the Guru left in a rock while meditating.

Soccer is a kind of sport, Bhutanese people enjoy since a long time. Bhutan has a soccer community. Once I saw that Bhutan invited the soccer team from Montserrat for a soccer game. It was the most funny game I have ever seen and I think every body liked to see it very much. Its wasn't important who is winning, it was insured that everybody has his fun, everybody from Bhutan and everybody from Montserrat - and this is most important! The rest of the world is still very far away to get this in its mind.

A small clean little town very aside the common tour places. Mongar is the fastest developing dzongkhag (district) in eastern Bhutan. A regional hospital is under construction and the region is bustling with many economic activities. Mongar is noted with its lemon grass,a plant that can be used to produce an essential oil.It also has a hydropower plant on the Kuri Chhu river.

We spent a whole day walking many kilometers all the way to Jampay Lhakhang and Kuerjey monastery. Jampay Lhakhang was built in 659 AD by the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo, the same year as Kyichu Lhakhang in Paro and Jokhang Temple in Lhasa.

The people often protrude their tongue as a sign of happiness, gladness, gratification and show to welcome you. The meaning is quite different than those in Western customs.

No more words to say about our warm feeling when we met the local kids, always happy despite the cold and heavy rain.

Coming from Paro 270 km, from Thimphu 200 km. Going to Tashigang another 352 km and to the Indian border Sandrup Jongkhar 470 km

Trongsa is one of the districts of Bhutan. It is the most central district of Bhutan and the geographic centre of Bhutan is located within it. We reached the Djendebji pass (2565 m).

The name is said to have been given by the Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal who was searching for the best location for a dzong to prevent incursions from the south. At the chosen spot the Shabdrung encountered a boy named Wangdi playing beside the river and hence named the dzong “Wangdi’s Palace”. A terrible fire destroyed the Dzong on 24th of June 2012 Photo from Bhutanese News Paper "Kuensel" Bhutanese Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley has promised that the historic 17th Century Wangdue Phodrang temple - destroyed by fire over the weekend - will be rebuilt. Mr Thinley said the destruction of the temple "had pierced our hearts". Most of the temple's artefacts were saved however, reports say. It is not known what caused the blaze which has reduced the temple to ashes. Wangdue Phodrang is regarded as an important gateway to the remote districts of eastern Bhutan. Built in 1639, it is perched on a 1,350m ridge at the confluence of two rivers. The prime minister said that the temple would be rebuilt in the same way that the Tiger's Lair temple - destroyed by fire in 1998 - was rebuilt five years later. "We the people of Bhutan have not lost but gained another opportunity to renew and further enrich our proud heritage," Mr Thinley said in his message on Monday. When the fire broke out on Sunday, hundreds of people rushed to the scene of the blaze and watched in tears as it went up in flames. The height of the building and its cliff-top location - despite its proximity to the two rivers - made it difficult to get enough water to the site to extinguish the flames. Kuensel newspaper reported that 14 fire engines had attended the blaze. Parts of the building were still smouldering late on Monday night. Officials say the fire may have started from an electrical short circuit. Another theory is that it may have been caused by candle-lit lamps used throughout the temple - which is located in a notoriously windy area. Kuensel editor Phuntsho Wangdi told the BBC that most of the priceless Buddhist artefacts at the temple were rescued by the emergency services and members of the public.

The Tang Chhu (chhu means river) is floating into the Mo Chhu at the Wangdue Phodrang Dzong.

like singing bells and bowls, coins, prayer wheels, spiritual knifes, thunderbolt act. The people offer their handicraft products beside the path we walked back to the highway. But buying religious requisites does not make any sense due the Bhutanese law which does not allow to export such goods out of the country without special permission by the Bhutanese Authorities.

We had to pass several checkpoints to let control our permits.

From left to the right: Wolfgang myself, my wife Salama, Magdalena fromm Munich and wfie from Hans-Juergen, Oliver our son, Albin our Swiss friend and teacher, Ruedi Swiss friend and teacher, Hans-Juergen from Munich and Too our Thai friend from Bangkok.

Könchogsum Lhakhang likely dates to the 6th or 7th centuries and was restored in the 1500s by Pema Lingpa and also in 1995. (The Bhutanese lady in front we met in this temple and got a friendship relation until the present. She went for her study to Gangtok/Sikkim and had to terminate her study due a turmoil of Mao terrorists. Now she opened a tourist office in Punakha and organizes Bhutan tours. Thank you, dear Yeshee, for keeping in touch with us a such a long time.)

The Temple is famous for its bell, which bears an inscription from the eighth century.