Today’s ride would take us to the capital city of Thimpu. We followed the river out of town and then headed up a gentle climb with some amazing views of the mountains and valley below. There were lots of pretty houses along the hillsides, with many more being built. It was a very picturesque ride up the steep mountain road, with many locals and tourists alike waving at us as we went past.
The ride into the city was amazing, with houses dotted on either side of a steep valley. It was a fairly hard ride today, with much more vehicle traffic than we expected, so we were glad when everyone made it safely to Thimpu. The Bhutanese news crew followed us along the way and interviewed Bruce on our final descent into the capital city, and we made their national news channel in the evening!
After lunch we split into two groups, with one headed to the Buddha statue overlooking the city. At 52m tall, this is the tallest sitting Buddha in the world. We went inside the Buddha temple and marvelled at all the intricate carvings and thousands of mini golden buddhas inside the big Buddha. The second group visited a nunnery where local nuns were trained with various skills to help local communities.
The evening took us to the Thimbu Dzong, which was even grander than the Dzong we visited in Paro. It is also the seat of government, with many government departments based within the Dzong and adjacent buildings. We received blessings and Sungku (blessed strings) from a monk at the Dzong temple, which was pretty special.
After dinner and drinks we were all ready to have a well deserved sleep.