Day 9 (Continued) - Blogabond

A long day of driving, beginning with a stop at the Swiss hotel to buy some cheese which Ellery pronounced as wonderful and then much retracing of steps. We stopped again at the weavers at Chhume where Palden selected many items to sell in Thimphu. We crossed Kiki La and Yo Tang La before arriving again at Tongsa. We made a quick stop at the bank and a second attempt to get a photo with the dzong in the background. Lunch was at the same "nowhere" restaurant, where we ran into the Italian/Spanish couple we shared the hotel with and another Italian couple whose path we have crossed before, and who will most likely be our companions for the remainder of the trip.

Eventually we arrived at the Phobjikha Valley and Gangtey Goemba, a very old monastery undergoing renovation. This offered us an amazing opportunity to see all the handiwork that goes into such an effort -- the woodworking, metal craft, etc. We also saw some women practicing a traditional dance and, best of all, an ancient ceremony in the goemba. Again, no photos allowed, and words can't accurately describe the sight of the elderly women lining the walls in the darkened temple, chanting and spinning their prayer wheels, while the monks banged the drums, clapped the cymbals and blew their long trumpets. (I did get audio through my video camera). The ceremony ended with with throwing of rice by all participants and a cacophony of sound.

We then made it to our hotel and after a short rest relaxed in a hot stone bath, a unique experience in which stones are heated in a fire and placed into a small section of a wooden bathtub, which then heats the water in the larger section of the tub. Movement of any kind brings more hot water into the main section. Overall, it was a very relaxing way to end the day.

written by

shoshtrvls on August 29, 2006 from Gangtey Gonpa, Bhutan

from the travel blog: Bhutan and India (2006)

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