Suitcase and World: Rinpung Dzong.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Rinpung Dzong.

I'm officially dzonged out and as beautiful as Rinpung Dzong is, I'm saving my last bit of interest in the monasteries for Tiger's Nest which we get to visit tomorrow.  At least that's what I thought before I visited Rinpung Dzong.

From the National Museum of Bhutan, we took a very short ride down the hill to Rinpung Dzong. 

Far more modest in size and decoration than the Punakha Dzong, Rinpung Dzong is still quite impressive.

By now, I had the dzong architecture pretty much nailed down.  Climb up the steep front stairs and step inside an entryway with a beautiful mural painted on its walls.           
                         
Admire the walls as I walk towards the doorway that I know will open up into a courtyard that will simply take my breath away. 

The courtyard of Rinpung Dzong does not disappoint.  It was the ornate building decoration that I had grown used to seeing except here, there were sections of walls painted in a shade of mustard yellow....which is color I love to see on walls.   Evidence?  It's the color of my kitchen cabinets and all the exterior trim on my house :-)

Such a wonderful feast for the artistic eyes.  Even though I had seen countless Bhutanese buildings by now, I still marveled at the fact that all surfaces are hand painted and hand carved.  It's just so amazing to me the painstaking care the Bhutanese take to decorate their buildings.




As with the other dzongs we had visited, there were several interconnected courtyards.....some connected by stairs.  Off some of the courtyards were small chanting halls where we would take our shoes off before entering.















Yes, I may have been dzonged out when I arrived at the Rinpung Dzong but that all went away once I got inside.  I was as mesmerized by this beautiful little dzong as I was with all the others.  I think I could keep coming to visit this place and with every visit, I would see something that I had not previously noticed.  No, I've changed my mind.  I won't ever tire of visiting a dzong or of filming my visit to one :-)