Chimi Lhakhang

A fertility temple built in honor of Lama Drukpa Kuenley, the 'Divine Madman,' reached by a walk through rice paddies and a small village.

The temple was built in 1499 by Ngawang Chogyel on the hillock where Drukpa Kunley is said to have subdued a demoness, and couples who have not been able to conceive come to be blessed with a wooden phallus and an ivory bow kept on the altar. Families return later to have the child named here. The walk in from the road at Sopsokha takes twenty minutes across paddy, past houses painted with the phallus motif that Kunley's legend turned into a protective symbol. It lies on the road between Thimphu and Punakha.