We started the day with a hike to the Gangte Monastery. This monastery was founded by the reincarnation of a 15th century monk (long story) who is regarded by the Bhutanese as the “second Buddha”. His statue appears in many temples here.

Along the way, we passed through rice fields at various stages of harvest.

We stopped on our way to lunch to sit in a field and admire the view of the valley, keeping a respectful distance from a recumbent yak. Here we all are (that’s the yak behind us).

Here’s the view.

The view from our lunch stop 

After lunch we hiked to the Chimi Lhakhang monastery, also known as the “Fertility Temple”.

There’s no way around this so I’ll just say it: the temple, and especially the shops in the surrounding area, feature penises of every size and material, some purely decorative, others engineered for various practical purposes (penis spatulas, penis paper towel holders, that sort of thing).

But back to the temple.

Women and couples come here for rituals that will help them become pregnant. Families bring newborn babies to be blessed. When we were there we saw two families arrive with their babies, carrying bags filled with food, wine and other gifts for the Temple gods.

Today we learned that some of the paintings featured at the entrance to monasteries and dzongs (fortresses) are the same in every case. Artists replicate these images, all of which are associated with particular themes or stories. The wheel of life, for example. And this image, which we saw everywhere:

Several interpretations here, but the short and simple one is about all creatures living  in harmony. The elephant supports the monkey, the monkey supports the rabbit, the bird sits on top of them all.

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