Ogyen Choling (Tang Ugyen Choling)
Ogyen Choling is a manor house at the head of the Tang valley, about an hour from Jakar. The family who built it still own it, and they run it as a museum of their own household — furniture, tools, religious objects and the ordinary equipment of a Bhutanese estate, kept where it was used. Allow an hour and a half to two hours including the drive. Ask us before you go: nobody publishes its opening hours.
What makes it different from a national museum
Bhutan’s public museums are collections assembled from many places. This one is a house that was never emptied.
The family decided to turn their ancestral home into a museum rather than sell its contents or move them, so what you walk through is a single household’s belongings in the rooms they belonged to — kitchen equipment, storage, weaving gear, the shrine room, the things a noble family in central Bhutan actually lived with. It is quieter and much more specific than a national collection, and it explains more.
It is also still private property, and worth treating as somebody’s home, because it is.
When to go, and how it fits your day
It is the last stop of a Tang valley day, after Mebartsho, Ta Rimochen and Pema Choeling Nunnery — about an hour from Jakar at the head of the valley, then a walk up to the manor from where the vehicle stops. March to May and September to November for the road.
Ask us first. A privately run museum an hour up a valley road does not keep museum hours, and there is no published schedule to check. Your guide arranges it; a guest who drives up unannounced may find nobody there. See things to do in Bumthang for how the Tang day compares with the others.
There is a guesthouse on the estate if you would rather stay than drive back.
The family, and the writer
The site’s religious history begins with a visit to Tang by Longchen Rabjam (1308–1363) — the same figure behind Tharpaling over in Chumey. At the end of the 14th century the terton Dorje Lingpa settled here, and the family descends from him.
The manor you see is mid-19th century, built by Tshokye Dorje, Trongsa Penlop — the fifteenth of Dorje Lingpa’s blood descendants to be born on this site. It was badly damaged in the 1897 earthquake and largely rebuilt at the start of the twentieth century by his grandson, Jakar Dzongpon Ugyen Dorje.
The family member most visitors will have heard of is Kunzang Choden, born in Tang in 1952. Her novel The Circle of Karma, published in 2005, is the first English-language novel written by a Bhutanese woman, and she has also published collections of Bhutanese folk tales. If you want to read one thing before coming to Bumthang, that is the one.
Tours that visit Bumthang
Frequently asked questions
Is Ogyen Choling open to visitors?
It is run as a museum by the family who own it, and it is still their private property. No opening hours are published anywhere. Ask us — we check before you drive an hour to the head of the Tang valley, which is exactly the kind of thing worth checking.
What is Ogyen Choling?
A manor house at the head of the Tang valley, built in the mid-19th century by Tshokye Dorje, Trongsa Penlop, on a site the family has held since the 14th century. It is now a private museum of the household and the estate.
Who is Kunzang Choden?
A member of the family, born in Tang in 1952, and the author of The Circle of Karma (2005) — the first English-language novel written by a Bhutanese woman. She has also published collections of Bhutanese folk tales and short stories.
How old is the family at Ogyen Choling?
The religious history of the site begins with a visit by Longchen Rabjam (1308–1363); at the end of the 14th century the terton Dorje Lingpa settled here, and the family descends from him. Tshokye Dorje, who built the present manor, was the fifteenth of his blood descendants to be born on the site.
Can you stay at Ogyen Choling?
There is a guesthouse on the estate. Ask us if you want a night at the head of the Tang valley rather than a stop on the way back to Jakar.
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