Yakkity Yak

Hotel Vara, Lobesa: view from my balcony

The bus leaves early, the drive to Trongsa easily 8 hours on a single lane highway handling two way traffic. Rising slowly through deciduous forests along a steeply sloped river, through Wangduephodrang and Chuzomes and Samtengang and Nubding, to the turn at Ngesa where we crest a pass into a coniferous valley of yak and wild boar.

so...we met this guy wearing a yak outfit...

Below lie alpine meadows and sprinkled houses and the Gangtey Monastery.

road leading to Gangtey

We eat lunch in a second floor restaurant, the room dark and low, eating fiddlehead ferns and potato and rice and carrot and kale. Also thousand tiny bones that could kill you if you're not careful chicken, the market ripe for new slaughtering techniques.

entry to Gangtey Monastery

The monastery is another forbidding and courtyarded affair, the perimeter lined with monks quarters and the center occupied by a temple. Young monks scurry about, each intent on their mission, though I did catch two red robed kids gleefully mocking the tourists inside the temple.

On one side, a number of monks on the ground were preparing sacrificial cakes for the ceremonies of the Buddha’s birth the following day, a number of supervising monks standing to the side as if it were a public works project. Inside the temple, the layout resembled the temple of yesterday at Punakha, though smaller and less maintained. Perhaps I was fatigued by too many landmarks, but I left to sit outside the complex, happy to feel the breeze and stare down the valley.

next time you're in Switzerland you can tell them it reminds you a lot of Bhutan...

We climbed back to the main highway and continued the ascent to the pass at Pelela, where a small monument and a smaller crafts stand offered a break.

chortan, incense burner, trinket stand...prayer flags.

At 3390 meters I expected to feel the altitude, but there were no noticeable effects. Downwards now, chatting about our lives in the US and Costa Rica and everywhere else the group is from, we wound past overhanging rockcuts and waterfalls and stream crossings, stopping once for the King and Queen and their entourage. The guides were ecstatic to have encountered both Queen and King on this trip, the karma quotient set almost impossibly high now. The Queen Mother only got two escorts the other day, the King and Queen at least 18 or 20 including personal chef, bodyguards, provincial governors and ministers and a van from BBS, the state broadcasting service. The monarchs had been east apparently, meeting with nomads.

hydroelectric project below Trongsa: more power for India

We reached Trongsa at dusk, winding around the massive hydroelectric project under construction in the narrow valley below, up past the massive fortress and new courthouse, to a hotel besieged by clacking frogs and plagued with lousy internet service. Dinner was delicious. They have this cheese and chiles dish here, a national dish of sorts we've had everywhere, that balances spicy and mellow in the most spectacular way.

the Dzong at Trongsa, from across the valley

Tongsa, Bhutan