The land of the thunder dragon,Druk Yul! #nearindia

We then proceeded to freshen up and we headed to Paro town,that had a small street filled with shops full of trinkets and souvenirs.

We then headed to a Buddhist temple, Kichu Lakhang.
The colours and the architecture here simply amazed me. The prayer wheels located around the temple are for those who aren't literate and hence cannot recite prayers from the scriptures. It is believed that by turning the prayer wheels one has the same effect as that of chanting prayers out loud.

We then stopped by a small restaurant opened within a house for a traditional Bhutanese Lunch, after which we went back to the hotel and had fun in Paro Chu, (the river that flows through Paro) for a while.

This was the day we did the famous Tiger's nest trek, Paro Taktsang. It took us around 3 hours to climb up and 2 hours to climb down. There is a small break point half way that has a cafe with an indoor as well as outdoor dining area. It serves bread,coffee,tea ,rice along with mashed potatoes and soup.

The monastery consists of around six temples which each worship different forms of Buddha. The best part was the butter lamp room. The monastery has in the past caught fire twice due to butter lamps left unattended,which is when they decided to build a separate butter lamp room for all the lamps. In the midst of the cold,chilly winds, entering this warm, bright room truly feels as though you are entering heaven.

After completing this trek,we visited the Drugyel Dzong,( dzong translates to fort)which was unfortunately under restoration hence we couldn't see it in all it's glory.

This day began with us visiting Rinpung Dzong. This houses the district monastic body and the administrative offices of Paro. It was so quiet we wondered whether we had come on a holiday,to which our guide laughed and said "no no see its crowded outside the courtroom". We turned around to see exactly 2 people standing outside the court.
Fun fact : Population of Bhutan 8 lakhs
                   Population of Bangalore 1.23 crores.
We got a chance to enter the small monastery within the Dzong during a prayer session which was an experience I will never forget. I never knew chants in a different language that I don't even understand could make one feel so spiritual.
We then took a  walk across the Nyamai Zam, a wooden bridge rebuilt after being washed away by a flood in 1969 that is built across Paro Chu.

We then visited the museum , that was coincidentally celebrating 50 years of friendship between India and Bhutan! There was a strict no camera policy in the museum,but it mainly consisted of displays of the different masks,and how each mask expressed a different vice, that we humans must strive to get rid of.

After this we drove down from Paro to Thimpu and on the way stopped by the famous iron bridge that is several centuries old. It is said that the flags of different colors represent different elements such as Sun,Water,Earth,Sky etc. The flags tied spread Goodwill of people across all lands through the wind.

We reached Thimpu by lunch and had traditional Bhutanese momos for lunch at the Thimpu Clock tower square. We then went to the Thimpu post office that is known for creating stamps with a picture of your choice on it!
We further roamed around the Thimpu trade market  and then headed to the Tashi Cho Dzong- the house of the Secretariat, the king's Throne and other administrative offices.

This was our last day in Bhutan. We headed out first thing in the morning to visit the Great Buddha Statue.
It stands tall at a whopping 169 ft surrounded by various forms of Tara ( a representation of the various forms of Buddhist values).

Our next stop was at Simply Bhutan. An interactive set up to experience Bhutanese culture and to explain the history of Bhutan.

We ended our day by visiting the Changangkha Lakhang , a fertility temple as well as a temple where babies are brought to be named or even to just pray for their good health and long life.