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Textiles are the most important art form. A National Textile Museum exists in the capital. There women clad in kira and sitting on the floor demonstrated their techniques.
The one sign of public campaign against drinking which I noticed was in the odd form of a message on a yellow bag in English: “Quit alcohol and lengthen your life span.” The sign was hanging low on a pole on the side of the road we took.
The flag called mandihar is flown for a deceased person, unusually in batches of the auspicious number 108. They are and placed at high points overlooking a river. This was the type of flag we saw on the Dochula Pass as we drove from Thimphu to Punakha.
Much of the written records on Bhutan’s Buddhist history have been destroyed in the fires and earthquakes of the 19th century. What is left is mostly in the National Library. Tourists are taken to the Library, however, to see the “world’s largest book.” On display in the lobby...
... this is simply a book of pictures of Bhutan taken by a group of Americans. The sign in the same lobby strikes a more modest note: it estimates the population of the country at “barely 650,000".
This does not prevent Bhutan from boasting about having 13 types of traditional arts and crafts. They are showcased in Zorig Chusum, a new school established to train young artisans, with the goal of preserving that tradition. There were both men and women in the stone carving class. They labored on intricate designs.
The main attraction in Thimphu, however, is the National Memorial Chorten. This is in fact a memorial to the memory of one individual, the Third King, built by his son, the Fourth King, in 1974. Its location is rather unique because chortens (literally receptacles for offerings and containing religious relics) are commonly constructed in places deemed inauspicious, such as mountain passes and river junctions, for the purpose of warding off evil.
The many statutes and paintings on display at the Memorial were additional symbolic references to Bhutanese Buddhism. On this day several pilgrims were circling the chorten.
A Tibetan-style chorten, the National Memorial is in the form of ancient Indian stupas. Each of the five elements of its architecture has a symbolic meaning: “The square base was the symbol of earth, he hemispherical dome was water, the conical spire was fire, a crescent moon and a sun on the top were air, and the spike symbolized the light of the Buddha,” our guide said.
... the main one in the city with the most population at about 100,000. That is Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan.
Some products were special to Bhutanese cuisine: dried yellow cow skin which is eaten as a snack, and dried yak cheese as well as dates, a cheese used in many dishes. A woman was selling beetle nut powder...
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