Bhutan Trip Day 20 - 12 July 2015 Phuentsholing - RIGSS, Kharbandi Goemba, CST, Milarepa Tower, RIGSS Coronation Hostel, NPPF Colony :)

Indian food lunch with Sithar, Palden, and Lachee - 12 Jul 15 :)

Morning time we spent time nearby the area and we had lunch together - Indian food :)

RIGSS - Phuentsholing, Bhutan

After lunch, Sithar, who worked at the RIGSS (The Royal Institute for Governance and Strategic Studies), gave me a tour around the area.

"Envisioned by His Majesty the King, this place is built to provide a forum to train both incumbent and potential leaders in all major areas of nation building. RIGSS provides high quality education and discourse on governance, public policy, and leadership, aided by result-oriented reserach to influence and shape real-life public policy decisions." - Source: RIGSS website. 

You can check the link of the website above for more info. According to Sithar, many good speakers, trainers, Professors, leaders, civil servants, etc. from both local and overseas were invited to give the teaching. A very well-equipped class was provided to facilitate the teaching. There was even a Royal Suite inside for the King to stay.

Kharbandi Goemba - Phuentsholing, Bhutan

It was raining heavily in the afternoon. A while later, once it stopped, we continued our visit. This time, to the Kharbandi Goemba, built in 1967 by the Royal Grandmother, Ashi Phuntsho Choedron. It was a beautiful temple with many stupas outside. From there you could see the view of Phuentsholing town and the plain of West Bengal lying side by side. Inside, we prayed to Lord Buddha, Guru Rinpoche, and Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal.

CST (College of Science and Technology) - Phuentsholing, Bhutan

We continued our journey to CST (College of Science and Technology), the only institute in Bhutan offering undergraduate degree programs in engineering. Currently it offered Bachelor degree in Civil Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering and Information Technology. It was located not far from the above place. It was where some of our Bhutanese bloggers studying. However, it was holiday when I went there so not many students were seen. But I was glad finally being there as I now knew how the school looked like :)

A nine-storey tower dedicated to Milarepa - Phuentsholing, Bhutan

We also visited the under construction buildings above - a nine-storey tower dedicated to Milarepa, the Tibetan medieval poet-yogi, famous for his journey from revenge motivated witchcraft to enlightenment (1052-1135). The building was called Sangye Migyur Ling Lhakhang. 

RIGSS Coronation Hostel - Phuentsholing, Bhutan

We visited the RIGSS Coronation Hostel located separated from the RIGSS building. It's to accommodate those scholarship candidates that selected for the Senior Executive Leadership Program (SELP) and Military Leaders Strategic Studies Seminar (MLS) program.

Phuentsholing - Jaigon border (Bhutan Gate)

We had plenty of time before heading to Tandin's house for dinner. Therefore, Sithar brought me around the Phuentsholing town to take a look. There, we stopped to take photos of Gol (round) building, the landmark building of Phuentsholing town, together with the artificial elephant statue located across the road. Amrith Sir ever wrote the post about his visual recollection of Phuentsholing town when he visited in his very young age, so I thought of taking the photo as to let him know that statue was still there standing strong :)

From top of Phuentsholing town :)

Sithar also brought me to upper side of the town where there were some factories like Pepsi and Bhutan Milk and Agro. From there we could see the beautiful view of the Phuentsholing town from above.

NPPF Colony Mani Dungkhor - Phuentsholing, Bhutan

After that we went to NPPF Colony. I finally saw the Mani Dungkhor (big wheel prayer) that was initiated by Acho Tshering in real!!! He mentioned it to me when it was built. Lots of donation money required to build that. Finally it was inaugurated in January 2014 with a blessing and prayer done by H.H. Namkhai Nyingpo Rinpoche.

Dinner at mathang's house :D

Finally we had our dinner at Tandin's house. Thank you for your invitation la Acho and Mathang :) We started it with potato chips as changpa plus drink of our preference hehehe... I had Raven vodka with Sprite but then decided to change to Druk 11000 as it was too sweet for me :) Then we continued with delicious dinner prepared by both of them. I really enjoyed the dinner la!! Thank you so much Sithar, Palden, Acho Tshering and Tandin for your time and effort and your kind hospitality for my visit there in Phuentsholing. I felt like I had browsed almost the whole town just in a day hehehe... Thank you, thank you, and thank you!!! :)