This is the Punakha Dzong. A dzong (pron. Zong) is a fortress like structure that’s built in a defensible position, such as protected by rivers or on top of a mountain ridge, with massive walls and massive gates, and inside is a complex of courtyards, temples, administrative (government) offices, monks quarters and maybe a monastery. Our guide called this place the Palace of Great Happiness. He said Punakha is not Bhutan’s biggest dzong, but it is Bhutan’s most beautiful dzong. It was built in 1637-1638. It was built without any plans. A dzong is built on the dream of a carpenter or a lama with dimensions based on spiritual inspiration. Punakha is 600 feet long by 240 feet wide with a six story temple in the middle and with a gold domed tower. Punakha sits at the confluence of the Pho Chhu and Mo Chhu Rivers.

Punakha was the capital of Bhutan until 1955 and is still the winter home of Bhutan’s Central Monastic Body. It houses some sacred relics and remains and was also the site of the coronation of the First King of Bhutan in 1907. Perhaps the most amazing part of this whole area is that it has a tropical climate. It’s warm here even in the winter. They grow orange and papaya trees here along with lots of vegetables and red and white rice. One other highlight of this place is that the rivers are teaming with Rainbow Trout. I watched trout regularly jumping out of the river and I would guess that the largest of them were several pounds. The Rainbow Trout were planted here by the British.

The first two photos were taken of the Dzong from the road across the river.

The next photo is the cantilever bridge that we walked across to access the dzong. The bridge was originally built in the 17th century but has been destroyed by floods several times, and then rebuilt to its original form. The following photo is a building next to the dzong that was built prior to the dzong. I think this is a monk’s quarters and maybe a school. I only saw monks entering and leaving this building.

The next photo is the main entrance to the dzong. It was here that we were delayed in entering due to the arrival of the King of Bhutan. He was here for the anniversary of his coronation. He walked right past us without much fanfare. He talked to some other tourists, but we didn’t get a chance to talk to him. His staff asked us not to take photos, so we didn’t. There are actually quite a few more stairs to get up into the dzong than what you see in the photo. The stairs were also quite steep.

The next photo was interesting for several points. First, you can see some of the intricate carving and painting which is on every wall, ceiling, post, and support beam. The dzongs are actually quite colorful and huge amounts of work had to go into all the wood carving and painting. We had just visited this temple and only exited a couple of minutes before I took this photo. I had noticed dozens of glasses of water sitting on the alters inside the temple. I had asked our guide what the glasses of water were for. He said that it’s a tradition and that it’s water for Buddha. Since we were here near the end of the visiting hours, the monks were cleaning up for the day. Evidently, the water for Buddha can be tossed out into the courtyard at the end of the day.

The last photo is simply a photo of the largest of the courtyards, to give you a sense of the size of the dzong. I don’t know what offices are where within the dzong but monks were always coming and going from everywhere within the dzong.