Deeper into Bhutan...

  Trongsa, Bhutan
Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Day 5 - Bhutan (Thimpu - Trongsa):    
So, after having to get up super early, we set out to Trongsa - a 6 hour drive from Thimpu. The drive itself was beautiful, but excruitiatingly long!  Luckily for us, the climate in Bhutan is fairly cool so we were ok without AC.



CELEBRITY SIGHTING #3: On the drive to Trongsa, we were passed by a blue Range Rover - that's right - the 4th king was headed in the same direction as us!  It was very exciting for us, but more so for our guide and driver!  I actually missed it - was on the phone with some antique-store lady who wanted to confirm that she had mailed the stuff we bought the previous day.  All I heard was some excited voices around me and then I saw the back of the car - face it, not very exciting even though you know there is a king inside (plus I have no intentions on being a queen - hence even less exciting...) 

Basically, our full day was spent driving.  When we finally did arrive in Trongsa, we checked into our guesthouse that was run by the ex-Governor of Trongsa (CELEBRITY SIGHTING #4) and then headed into the town, but we forgot our camera, so you'll just have to use your imagination.  It started to rain shortly thereafter, so we came back, ate dinner, and read books... 




Day 6 Bhutan (Trongsa - Punakha): 
We got up and had breakfast at 8am so that we could get a headstart on the day.  Our plan was to visit the Trongsa Dzong and then to head to Punakha in the afternoon.  It was somewhat cloudy that morning, but our hotel was overlooking the valley, so once it cleared up, we took some pictures from our balcony - rather nice view...







The Trongsa Dzong, built in 1644, used to be the seat of power of the Wangchuck dynasty before it became rulers of Bhutan in 1907. The only road connecting eastern and western Bhutan (the precursor to the modern Lateral Road), passed through the courtyard of the dzong. At the command of the ruler, the massive doors could be shut, dividing the country in two.




After visiting the dzong, we walked 2 hours to the viewing platform.  Our car and driver were planning on meeting us there so that we could do this beautiful hike!  (It was actually a hike into the valley, over a bridge, and back up the valley on the other side - 'viewing platform' is another good description though...  :)  Other than the 2 leeches that attached themselves to Oliver, the hike was really nice.  We crossed over a river using the newly built bridge (of which Oliver decided to not post a picture).

We got back in the car and headed over the Pele-La pass into the Pobjekha Valley.  Here, the people were restoring a monastery. We were able to see all the work being done - it's amazing how manually intensive it all is - AND - this town had NO electricity.  So, they were basically doing everything by hand - no machines... 


The rest of the drive proved to be very exciting as we were joined by the grey and white langurs (monkeys).  This was my favorite part of the drive - they were everywhere!  Our driver tried to get one to come closer to us by throwing it a cookie, but it had the opposite result - the monkey fled - probably thought it was a rock or something...  When we finally arrived in Punakha, we were exhausted and slept very well that evening!