Bhutan: Return to Trongsa

The next morning was the last one where we would awaken in a tent. Outside, one of the many Bhutanese dogs rested. Stray dogs can make a living in Bhutan because most Bhutanese will practice compassion for sentient beings by feeding them. There is a movement for neutering/spaying dogs, but it hasn't really taken hold yet.

Here is one of the orange trees growing at Nimshong. On the roof to the right red chilies are drying.

More onlookers.

In this photo, ponies approach us along the road. Our route down to the Mangde Chu was partially footpaths, and partially this road. The utility of the road has been diminished by Cyclone (hurricane) Alia, which hit the Bay of Bengal last May (2009), and dropped a lot of rain in Bhutan. The bridge across the Mangde Chu for this road, finished just a couple of months before, was completely washed away in the flood, as we will see.

Here we are making progress in our descent to the river. You may notice a small solar panel on the roof of this house. It was not uncommon for us to see an arrangement on this trek whereby a solar panel kept a small battery charged up, which would be enough to run a fluorescent light or two in the dark hours. But modernity is coming to this valley; along part of the route between Korphu and Nimshong a modest (by Western standards) right of way was being trimmed for electrical lines. I don't know how or if the lines will affect the future of the route for the trek, but I'm sure the villagers are looking forward to the juice.

Here we have reached the bottom. An abutment for the previous bridge is visible to the left; until it is rebuilt (higher), a temporary bridge lets us cross.

Joan waves as she crosses.

The air down in the valley was dusty, very dusty, from the road blasting. The finest particles appeared to stay suspended for days, and the foliage had a brown, fuzzy coating. From the river crossing, a wide but still unpaved nouveau road switchbacked up to the paved north-south road. My binoculars, camera case, and glasses all needed a cleaning when we got back to Trongsa.

On gaining the road, Tsewang gave each of us a white scarf to congratulate us on completing the trek.

We had a final trail lunch.

Yes, that's a trail lunch! And then we said goodbye to the trekking crew before heading back to Trongsa.

On the far right is Toh (phonetic spelling), the camp boss, known to all as "the Hammer."

At one spot, where the road had dipped down close to the river, the May floods had left nothing but a huge boulder field. The bus slowly bounced through this zone on a temporary road before regaining the pavement. Although December is off-season for road work, there was the occasional laborer here busting large rocks into a pile of medium-size gravel, by hand.

As we drew closer to Trongsa it became clearer that we would get there too late to see the first day of the multi-day tsechu (festival). We would have all of the next morning to attend the tsechu, so everybody was content to get back to Yangkhil Resort to clean up and to repack yet again, stowing away trekking items and reorganizing the rest.