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Motithang

Top Attractions in Thimphu

Traditional Medicine Institute

medic-institue

The Kingdom of Bhutan puts emphasis on traditional medicine and natural treatments. The use or herbal concoctions for wellness and the treatment of common disease is the practice in Bhutan. The Traditional Medicine Institute attracts many tourists searching for an alternative to Western medicine. Although visitors cannot enter the complex due to hygiene concerns, the institute accepts students for a 3-year diploma course for medicine mixers or a 5-year Bachelor’s degree course.  The institute has a museum that showcases herbal ingredients, minerals, crystals and precious metals with a guide to explain their healing properties. The tourists can go home with special wellness tea and a promise of a healthier lifestyle.

Motithang Takin Preserve

Motithang

The Motithang Takin Preserve is a wildlife reserve for Bhutan’s national anima, the takin. A 15th century legend has it that a “Divine Madman” named Drukpa Kunley was the creator of the tamin.  The preacher devoured a whole cow and a whole goat, and used the bones to conjure the tamin to life. This is how the characteristics of the tamin looks like a cross between the two animals. Tourists can have a glimpse of the odd creatures grazing in the Motithang forest. Barking deer can also be seen in the wildlife preserve.

Royal Thimphu Golf Club

Royal-Thimphu-Golf-Club

For golf enthusiasts, one round of the game would be rare event on a Himalayan setting. The Royal Thimphu Golf Club was built by a resident Indian Brigadier with permission from the kind.  It started with a few holes in the 1960’s and it has expanded through the years. It was only formally inaugurated in1971. The golf course is surrounded by the panoramic views of the city, with the view of the Bhutanese dzong. No golf clubs? That’s not a problem as some hotels offer rentals, as well as arranging a schoolboy caddy.

Weekend Market

weekend-market

The residents of Thimphu are proud of their Weekend Market. It showcases local produce from the capital and its neighboring towns. They arrive in the region on a Friday, and set up stalls all along the banks of Wang Chhu until Sunday night. All through the market path one will see the heart and soul of the Bhutanese culture, with the collection of pungent dried fish, tempting fresh meat of free-range pork, different parts of a chopped up yak, homemade soft cheese, among many other delicatessen. There are also rows of stalls selling incense, aromatic spices, area nuts and betel leaves that the locals chew like mad, tea bricks, and yeast patties used to make barley beer.