Once a year a Dzong or an important village may hold a religious festival called a Tsechu. Villagers from the nearby villagest come for several days of religious observances and socializing while contributing auspicious offerings to the monastery of the festival.
Introduction to Bhutan
Bhutan is a small landlocked country in the Eastern Himalayas bordered by China in the North and India on the other 3 sides. It has a total land area of 38,394 square kilometers and measures approximately 150 kilometers North to South and 300 kilometers East to West. The landscape is characterized by rugged terrain and steep mountain valleys ranging from 150 meters in the sub-tropical valleys in the southern foothills, through temperate zone to heights exceeding 7000 meters in the alpine regions of the mountains.
2010 Paro Tshechu Begins
Under a warm spring sun, and dressed in their finest ghos and kiras, Parops, pilgrims, and an almost equal number of tourists, celebrated the first day of Paro Tsechu, witnessing sacred dances performed in the cobble-stoned courtyard of the Paro Rinpung Dzong.
Highways in Bhutan
Bhutan, most tourist guidebooks say, is a country of short distances but long journeys. It’s another way of saying that traveling around Bhutan can take a comparatively longer time than elsewhere.
Year of the Tiger
As we welcome the year of the Tiger, the new year is not about roaring celebration. It instead calls for more conservation actions.
Climbing Chomolhari in 1970
“What’s your problem?’ Dorjee Lhatoo shouted in Tibetan, “We’ll all die if we carry on pushing towards the summit,” Lieutenant Chachu replied. The two men were a hundred feet below the summit of Mount Jhomolhari (Chomolhari – 24,000 ft) making their final assault to the summit.
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