We just arrived in Thimpu after leaving it yesterday morning. We spent last night in the town of Wangdue which is close to Punahka town where we attended the festival.
The festival was pretty interesting; highlights include mask dances, a renactment of the failed invasion of the Tibetans, phallic symbols everywhere and safe sex demonstrations (more about that later).
The festivals are for the Bhutanese people of the town in which they occur. The celebration takes place in the Dzong of the town; Dzongs are town centers that look something like fortresses where the monastic and government bodies of the town live and work. There is a courtyard in the center of the Dzong where demonstrations and festivals take place.
Last night after our first day at the festival we drove to Wangdue to spend the night in a resort. The resort faced the Wandue river and was quite lovely and peaceful.
In the morning we drove back to Punahka for our 2nd day of the festival and the first day of a typical Teschu. It was today that we witnessed the mask dances.
After the festival and lunch we took a walk through some rice, corn, mustard, wheat, garlic and onion fields and made our way to the Temple of the Divine Madman, another heroic figure of Bhutanese lore. This particular temple is known as a fertility temple; people visit it if they wish to have childern and after a child is born they come to this temple to receive a name for the child. People in Bhutan only have a given name, no family name and their names are all Buddhist terms. For example, our guide whos is absolutely delightful is named Karma and our driver is named Lakee which means 'luck'.
Bhutan is indeed a fascinating place where there is no shortage of the fantastical.
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