Punakha Valley

Prayer flags are everywhere. The white ones are memorial flags, recognition of the passing of the dead. There seem to be a lot of them. As best I can tell, they are never taken down. Wind, rain and the elements take their toll and they eventually disintegrate ... a powerful metaphor and reminder of how insignificant we are.

Prayer flags are everywhere. The white ones are memorial flags, recognition of the passing of the dead. There seem to be a lot of them. As best I can tell, they are never taken down. Wind, rain and the elements take their toll and they eventually disintegrate ... a powerful metaphor and reminder of how insignificant we are.

I mentioned earlier that red rice was "the" Bhutanese cash crop. Here a farm family harvests the red rice. It seems to be a multi-step process. First the rice is cut down.

I mentioned earlier that red rice was "the" Bhutanese cash crop. Here a farm family harvests the red rice. It seems to be a multi-step process. First the rice is cut down. Next, the rice is picked up and "arranged" so it can be piled into giant "rice stacks."

I mentioned earlier that red rice was "the" Bhutanese cash crop. Here a farm family harvests the red rice. It seems to be a multi-step process. First the rice is cut down. Next, the rice is picked up and "arranged" so it can be piled into giant "rice stacks." Finally, it is piled into these stacks where it will wait until it can be shipped. These are the only "stacks" I've seen in the entire world with pointed tufts at the top. Cool.

As we arrive at the Chimi Lhakhang temple, we see this bell shaped adornment on top. All the temples we have seen have them. This temple is dedicated to Drupka Kinley, one of Bhutan's favorite "saints," known as "the divine mad monk." 500 years ago, this region was his stomping ground and this unconventional character taught Buddhist dharma using a shockingly ribald sense of humor. The landscape is dotted with evidence of his lasting influence (you'll see it in some of the pictures in this gallery) and villagers still tell stories of his exploits.

Inside we saw this guy spinning a giant prayer wheel. As it turned out, he was not a worshipper but rather the prayer wheel maintenance man greasing the bearing at the bottom on which it spins. Or maybe he was both. I'm not sure.

And in the next moment I'm busted. I was standing about 50 feet away using my long lens but he spotted me anyway.

There was also a prayer wheel outside under a gazebo-like roof. This gal was walking around it over and over again, spinning it as she went. She was there when we arrived, and still there still spinning when we left a couple of hours later.

The village we walked through to get to the temple was small, say five or ten farmhouses. One thing I found interesting and that I liked very much was the symbols painted on all the houses. I could have spent a whole day here just photographing them. But I resisted and have selected some of the more interesting ones for you.

The village we walked through to get to the temple was small, say five or ten farmhouses. One thing I found interesting and that I liked very much was the symbols painted on all the houses. I could have spent a whole day here just photographing them. But I resisted and have selected some of the more interesting ones for you.

The village we walked through to get to the temple was small, say five or ten farmhouses. One thing I found interesting and that I liked very much was the symbols painted on all the houses. I could have spent a whole day here just photographing them. But I resisted and have selected some of the more interesting ones for you.

The village we walked through to get to the temple was small, say five or ten farmhouses. One thing I found interesting and that I liked very much was the symbols painted on all the houses. I could have spent a whole day here just photographing them. But I resisted and have selected some of the more interesting ones for you.

It would take a lot of time to paint all the symbols and decoration we see. I choose to see them as people taking pride in what they have ... not a prideful behavior, but pride of ownership, pride in caring for what they have ... whatever is the opposite of neglectful.

We're on the move again. We cross this bridge ...

... passing this store ...

... passing this house and family ...

... encountering wildlife - in this case the Grey Langur monkey ...

This was taken near a riverside restaurant where we had lunch. It is possibly the papilio helenus variety, but I’m not sure. The restaurant had a garden with a walkway lined with the purple flowers you see in the photo. The flowers attracted several dozen butterflies. I boosted the ISO on my camera to 4000, set a moderate aperture, and began pinging away at 1/8000 of a second to try and stop the butterflies’ motion. These little buggers are fast!

There were also lots of these little hummingbird moths. I never once saw them actually land on a flower like the butterflies. Rather they had a long snout (proboscis?) and engaged in "aerial refueling." Neat to watch ... very hard to photograph.

Finally we end the day at a "just okay" hotel situated on this picturesque river.