This complex is called Tashichhodzong, but our guide referred to it as the “Bhutan White House”. It houses the throne room of the King plus government offices plus the center of Bhutan’s monastic body with temples and monks, sometimes including the country’s central monk. The complex was built in 1641 and rebuilt in 1962. The name means “the fortress of the auspicious religion”. In Bhutan, most important temples or palaces are also forts as they had to be defended to be maintained. We did not get to visit the King’s throne or his offices. We could only visit the monastic parts of the complex. The Buddhist temples were fairly typical. We went inside three different temples. We always had to take our shoes off before entering the temples. We also got to observe a special ceremony with the monks which involved quite a few musical instruments. I’m not sure what the ceremony was about, but we were the only people in attendance besides those involved in the ceremony. The stairs and the ladders going up into the temples were very steep, very old, and very creaky. The alters were very grand with all the statues, colorful cloth, pictures of Buddha, ornate carvings, and the like. There was also always plenty of incense burning. It was interesting that this was perhaps the most important complex in the country and we were told that they had military personnel guarding the place, but security was really not very substantial.

The first picture shows the complex along the bottom of the photo. I chose this photo because it shows the Tashichhodzong but also the area around it. This is the most important complex in Bhutan and sits in the capital of Thimphu. To look at it, however, it seems more like a large temple in a good size Himalayan village.

The next photo is the entrance to the Tashichhodzong complex. This was where we saw the most security. If you look closely you will notice that the building is highly decorative. That was true of all the interior.

The next photo shows several of the temples from the interior courtyard. The following photo just shows a monk climbing the stairs into one of the temples. You can see the sag and wear in the stairs. From there, we climbed up several ladders to get to the upper stories. The ladders were in similar shape to these stairs. You can imagine what I was praying for when in these temples.

The last photo shows Vicky in front of another of the temples that we visited.