Why is bhutan called the land of thunderbolt

He, the precious and glorious ruler, causes dominion to spread,. While his unchanging person abides in consistency,. May the sun and peace of happiness shine on the people. The origins of Buddhism come from India: the prince Siddhartha Gautama was born into a privileged and sheltered existence. It was immediately apparent to some that Prince Siddhartha was more than just a prince, but his parents did not want him to discover this, so he was kept in isolation. A sage predicted that the prince would either become a powerful king or, if he embraced religious life, a great spiritual leader.

When he was finally exposed to the pain and suffering of the outside world, he decided to become an ascetic and wandered the world in an attempt to find a way to end all suffering.

He finally reached enlightenment and became the Buddha while meditating under a banyan tree. The long-standing debate on Buddhism concerns whether it is, technically, a religion. The answer lies in the definition of religion, since Buddhism shares many characteristics with traditional religions, but it neither acknowledges nor denies the existence of a god.

To reach a state in which there is no suffering, one must follow a path. The stages of this path are as follows:.

This school professes that the path to nirvana or enlightenment—the aim of all Buddhists is an individual one. The main cuisine in Bhutan is Datsi Bhutanese word for Cheese curry. You will find all sorts of Datsi here After lunch, we headed to Crocodile Zoo, it was at walking distance.

There was a small temple nearby and we sat their for a while. We then headed back to our hotel. There was another temple, Zangdokparli Temple, beside our hotel.

At evening we strolled along the streets of Phuentsholing and also went to Jaigaon after crossing border to eat some Indian Street food. We stayed the night at the hotel. Early morning we had to complete our immigration before heading out to Thimphu. There was a routine check and verification after which we bought a local sim, Tashi Cell. While T-Mobile is the major network, Tashi Cell offers some competitive prices.

The sim costs us Rs or so for 7 days which included free calls to same network and around GB of data. Next we headed to Thimphu. The roads were in pretty good condition for a mountainous terrain country.

Either side of the road, laid beautiful mountains covered with trees, waterfalls and colourful prayer flags tied to rocks. We stopped near a temple at Gedu for a while. The prayer wheel is an important part of the Buddhist temples. They are cylindrical wheels containing scrolls that are repeatedly inscribed with mantras.

It is believed that the mantras inside are activated and released when you turn the wheel. The mantras are said to purify negativity, generate compassion, remove barriers to enlightenment and bring benefit to all human beings.

The journey to Thimphu from Phuentsholing is around 6 hours, so, you can have lunch at Wangkha Dam View Hotel which is near to Chhukha Hydropower plant. View from the restaurant at Chhukha. We checked in our Hotel at around 7 p. One thing to keep in mind is that all restaurants and shops closes at around 9 p. So, we headed straight to the nearby restaurant and local dish. Its always safe to have chinese dishes alongside. Roti isn't available at many restaurants. Next day, early morning, we went to Thimphu Folk museum.

You can see live preparation of their local wine there and also have a sip. The museum had the usual ancient stuffs like swords, bow and arrow, traditional clothes, a typical bhutanese house made of wood and bamboo, photographs and paintings of the Kings of Bhutan. Camera wasn't allowed inside the museum. Though there were beautiful cherry blossoms outside, where you can shoot photos.

We then headed to Changangkha Lakhang, a monastery in Thimphu. Takin, an unusual looking animal, is the national animal of Bhutan which resembles a crossbreed between a goat and antelope. There are a few other species of the antelope family in the preserve, but if you have less time, you can skip it. But the route along to this zoo offers an amazing view point of the city of Thimphu. Perspective view of City of Thimphu. The statue houses over one hundred thousand smaller Buddha statues, each of which, like the Great Buddha Dordenma itself, are made of bronze and gilded in gold.

The completed work is one of the largest Buddha statues in the world, at feet 52 m and contains , 8-inch-tall and 25, inch-tall gilded bronze Buddhas. Thimphu City. The final destination for the day was Tashichho Dzong in Thimphu, which is the home to the civil government of Bhutan. A flag hoisting ceremony happens everyday at the evening hours. So, if you can reach before that, you can see the ceremony as it happens.

Best time to visit is definitely at evening hours, where you can get this amazing view of the lighted up monastery. Punakha is a district located to the east of Thimphu. Start early morning from Thimphu after you check out from the hotel. The next stoppage is Dochula Pass. Land of the Thunder Dragon. The Red Dragon. The Emerald of the Equator. Land of the Rising Sun. Land of the Blue Sky. North Korea. The Hermit Kingdom. The Pearl of the Orient Seas. South Korea.

Land of the Morning Calm. Sir Lanka. Land of Smiles. Graveyard of Empires. The Holy Land. Switzerland of the Middle East. Burkina Faso. Land of the Upright Men. The Gift of the Nile.