Bhutan, the Dragon Kingdom

Met at Paro airport and driven to the capital, about an hour and a half away. Just off the road stands Tamchog Lhakhang, the temple of Thangtong Gyalpo, the saint of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries who hung bridges of iron chain across the Himalaya; it still belongs to his descendants.

Further on the road reaches Chuzom, the ‘meeting of the rivers’, where the Paro river joins the Thimphu river. Bhutanese believe evil gathers at such places, so three chortens stand guard here, one each in the Nepali, Tibetan and Bhutanese styles, and your driver registers the car at the checkpoint.

Thimphu runs along its river valley, a capital where the traditional and the modern sit side by side, and where there are still no traffic lights: at the main junction a policeman in white gloves conducts the cars from a painted pavilion. The rest of the day is yours to settle in.

The road out of Thimphu passes Simtokha Dzong, the first fortress the Zhabdrung built, in 1629, then climbs past the checkpoint at Hongtsho to Dochu La, at over 3,000 metres, where 108 chortens crown the pass. On a clear day the whole line of the eastern Himalaya stands along the horizon.

The last stretch runs downhill into the warm Punakha valley, past prayer wheels turned by running water. Punakha is the old capital, and its dzong, at the meeting of the Pho Chhu and the Mo Chhu, is still the winter home of the monk body. A short walk across the fields leads to Chimi Lhakhang, the temple of the Divine Madman, where people come to pray for children. A visit to a farming village, or a longer walk between villages, can be added.

A day among some of the oldest temples in Bhutan. Jambay Lhakhang was built by the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo in the seventh century. Inside are three steps said to stand for the three ages — of the historical Buddha, of Guru Rinpoche, which is ours, and of the age to come — and when all three have sunk into the ground, the world as we know it will end.

At Kurjey Lhakhang three temples stand together: the oldest holds a rock with the print of Guru Rinpoche’s body, the first king built the second and the fourth king’s mother the third, and a spring above them is said to heal. Tamshing was founded in 1501 by the treasure-revealer Pema Lingpa, with the help, it is said, of fairies; on the lower floor is a coat of chain mail he made, and carrying it three times around the temple brings good fortune.

The rest of the day is your choice. Ura, about two hours’ drive away, is a village of cobbled lanes and close-set houses that holds a festival every spring. Or walk from Thangbi Goemba, among buckwheat fields, through blue pine and scrub bamboo towards Ngang Lhakhang, the Swan Temple, built where Lama Namkha Samdrup’s arrow fell. Closer to town are Sey and Chakhar Lhakhang, and Mebar Tsho, the Burning Lake, where Pema Lingpa dived in with a lit butter lamp and came up with a hidden treasure, the lamp still burning.

A long day on the road, so an early start: back past Wangdue Phodrang and over Dochu La to Paro. The Paro valley runs from Jomolhari on the Tibetan border down to Chuzom, where the Paro and Thimphu rivers meet.

In the afternoon, Rinpung Dzong, the ‘fortress on a heap of jewels’, built by the Zhabdrung in 1646, where the district administration and the monk body still share the courtyards. Above it, in the round watchtower of the Ta Dzong, is the National Museum, with its thangkas and the Tshogshing Lhakhang, the temple of the tree of wisdom.

After breakfast, the transfer to Paro airport for your flight onward.