Crazy SPICY BHUTANESE FOOD + Buddhist Monastery Hike | Thimphu, Bhutan

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My adventures in Bhutan continued on the morning of my sixth day in the country’s capital city, Thimphu. Join me as I dive even further into the world of crazy spicy Bhutanese food and go on a Buddhist monastery hike in Thimphu, Bhutan!
My day began at Typical Bhutanese Restro & Bar in the center of the city to have a traditional, local breakfast. I met up with my guide from MyBhutan, Tsheten, and entered the small and cozy restaurant.
On the table, I could see some ezay (spicy chili salsa), dried beef, rice, scrambled eggs, and ngaja (milk tea). The dried beef was tough but really nice. I also liked the rice with chilies, which was super spicy! I used the milk tea to calm down the heat. I like it a lot more than the suja, which is traditional butter tea.
The eggs were oily and the heat from the ezay really hit me hard. It was the spiciest ezay I’d had in Bhutan so far! The rice and ngaja helped to cool it down. The trick to getting through the beef is letting it sit in your mouth and letting it soak up your saliva to soften it up.
Then, we packed up some food from the restaurant to have for lunch later, and left to go on our hike! We drove 30 minutes north to Jigme Dorji National Park. Along the way, we saw a huge, beautiful, colorful Buddha that was painted on the side of a huge rock.
Then, we crossed a beautiful wooded bridge over the river, passed a temple, and began our hike up the mountain! It was intense and the path was really rocky. Halfway through out hike, we reached a stupa, which marks the halfway point of the hour-long hike.
We made it to the monastery in just 45 minutes! The monastery was under renovation. In the area, there’s a small hut that’s used as a meditation house.
You can’t film in the temple, but you can film the amazing views over the valley! Near the rooms for the monks were 108 prayer wheels. Further on, we passed the place where the monks were meditating, so we had to be quiet. We continued on up a steep staircase to the very top of the monastery.
Inside the building at the very top is where Ngawang Namgyal, the unifier, meditated for three years, three months, three weeks, and three days. We admired the view of the valley, river, university, meditation huts, and the monastery before taking a quick, 15-minute trip back down the mountain.
From there, we’d drive 3 minutes to a spot along the river for a Bhutanese picnic lunch.
We arrived at a small stupa with a little, covered picnic area by the river. It was super relaxing and had prayer flags fluttering in the wind all around.
We got some rice, ema dashti made from Indian chilies, cabbage, dried beef with squash and chilies, wet beef, and beans. I used some hand sanitizer and dug in with my hands for a more traditional feel.
The beans were light and creamy and the dry red chilies were great but not spicy. Then, I went for the dried beef, which was dry but a little moist on the outside, almost like beef jerky. The wet beef with chilies was a little too tender for me. The chilies weren’t hot at first but I started felt it later. But it was nowhere near as hot as breakfast!
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About Me:
My name is David Hoffmann. For the last 12 years, I have been traveling around the world in search of unique culture, food, and history! Since starting David’s Been Here in 2008, I have traveled to over 1,100 destinations in 77 countries, which I welcome you to check out on my KZbin channel, travel blog, and social media sites.
I focus a great deal on food and historical sites, as you probably have seen! I love to experience the different flavors that each destination has to offer, from casual street food to gourmet restaurant dining. I’m also passionate about learning about the local history and culture.
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