The town of Punakha set in the Punakha valley is a very pleasant town surrounded by fertile land which is mainly given over to growing rice. Also grown are mandarins ( the best I've tasted) guava and bananas. We visited the market place today where local produce also featured, chilis, egg plant, potatoes, red onions and tomatoes. The life here is simple, of course, but relatively prosperous and happy. On our journey down here we stopped off at a fertility temple dedicated to Lama Drukpa Kuenley who unified the country in15 th. cent. He dramatized his teachings with outrageous behavior and humor and therefore became known as the divine madman. When we left the hotel for town this morning we stopped to watch some local boys playing darts. this being Saturday was a day off and this is what they do. The darts are about 3 or 4 times bigger than ours, blunter, and thrown at the opposing teams little post on the ground at the other end of the pitch. When they get a hit they do a little celebratory dance and are given a coloured flag which they tuck into their trousers. They were having a great time. We then went off to Punakha Dzongkha afortress monastery where we saw both novice and older monks in a chant that had started at 5.00 this morning and would continue for12 hrs! The discipline monk walked round everyone with a whip incase they fell asleep. Personally I think the boys with the darts had the right idea. The Dzong however was certainly interesting and the stories painted into the walls of the monastery told us a lot more about the history of Buddhism......interpreted with the help of Tachi.