Bhutan: Religious capital (3/4)

After heading over the pass, we arrived into another (and much warmer) valley where Punaka is located.  Thimpu is the political capital of Bhutan but Punaka is the religious capital.  We were able to see the Dzong (fort/ administrative offices?) where the young royal king got married just six months previously.  There were lots of pictures all over the country of this very handsome couple.  The Dzong, located where two rivers converge, was just stunning.  We were able to explore all over (except for some parts where only some high religious folks were able to go).  The building had been built in some mind-boggling long ago time (13th century, maybe?).  It was hard for me to concentrate too much on all the interesting little details from Dorji, our guide, while keeping an eye on four little ones.

Punaka Dzong in the background.  We're standing where two
beautiful rivers meet.

Dzong where current (young) king married his wife
just six months before our visit.

On the windy bridge to the dzong!

More really steep stairs.

Yikes!

Anna and Mere playing Follow the Leader

Mere playing Follow the Leader with a pigeon.  People
loved watching this as the bird let Mere follow her
for quite a while!

Dhorji and Meredith.  Dhorji is wearing the "gho" which is the
traditional men's Bhutanese outfit.  The white scarf is worn
only inside religious and government buildings to show respect

Inside were probably 50-60 monks doing a chant.  The teenaged
monks looked about like what you would expect teenagers to have to
sit and do chanting to look like - they looked *very* bored!

Regan *really* did not like these steep stairs.  She made
it down but burst into tears at the bottom.

Visiting an all female monastery. These monks are all girls/ women
with shaved heads.  The location of their monastery was stunning.  It
was on a promontory with views from three sides.

Lots of fun throwing leaves into the river

Oww!!!

Look closely at the paintings on the side of this store.  Yes, they
are what you think they are!

And, yes, the same pictures are on regular houses around
the country.  From what I understand, evil spirits
don't like to look at these, so they paint them on their
houses to keep evil spirits away!

Yaks moving from their winter to their summer grazing lands.  Caused
quite a traffic jam on the national highway!