Bhutan: Two Days to Trongsa

A five-cent summary of our itinerary in Bhutan would be: get quickly to Trongsa, have the six-day/five-night trek, and then visit most of the bypassed sites on the way back (Phobjika, Punakha, Thimphu, Paro). This post will be the story of getting to Trongsa. (Side note: transliterating Dzongkha, the national language, to English is imprecise. You may see the name 'Tongsa' as well as 'Trongsa', for example, if you go on to read more about Bhutan.)

Now, an observation about my reporting. It's difficult to provide a "just right" amount of information, and some places or events may fall by the wayside, especially if I don't have any photos to accompany them. For example, we paid a brief visit to Kyichu Lhakhang (a 7th Century temple) in Paro, but I didn't mention it in the previous post. Overall, I'll be providing plenty for you to read.

We left Paro after some brief AM activities -- shopping/browsing for most of us. Jim and Jillian went to Kyichu Lhakhang to light candles and engage the resident monk to perform prayers for a friend of theirs in ill health.

The 'lateral road' that connects Bhutan west-to-east was expanded to two full lanes between Paro and the capital, Thimphu, in time for the coronation of the 5th king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. (It was a generous single lane with pullouts, like the rest of the lateral road, in our 2005 visit.) We paused at Tachog Lahkhang, a temple established by the iron-bridge building monk of the 15th Century, Thangtong Gyalpo. At this spot is one of his iron bridges, restored with original links from other iron bridges he constructed in Bhutan.

The temple is private, maintained by descendents of Thangtong Gyalpo. It was on the other side of the river as well, so we did not visit.

We drove on past Thimphu, and our skillful driver Tshering soon had us at Dochu La, the pass between the valley of Thimphu and that of Punakha. (La means pass in Dzongkha, Chu means river.) This pass, at 10,000 feet, has a long history. Today there are 108 chortens, erected either to commemorate the expulsion of Assamese rebels from Bhutanese soil by the 4th king Jigme Singye Wangchuck and the Royal Bhutan Army, or to speed the passage of the souls lost in that action, depending on the emphasis of your source of information. The high peaks were clouded in this day, but the view was still spectacular.

Here's a closer view of one of the chortens.

To the uphill side, a forest of prayer flags fluttered and whipped in the breeze.

At the edge of the road, a wall of prayer flags.

Here are our intrepid trekkers. From left, we have Jen (Jennifer), Joan, Ben, Jillian, and Jim. I felt the odd man out, being the only one whose name didn't start with 'J'.

This was also our first trip in which we were the oldest participants; usually we have been contemporary with or younger than the majority. A sign of things to come?

Heading down from Dochu La to the town of Wangdiphodrang (or Wangdue Phodrang) meant the loss of over a vertical mile, one curve at a time. The dzong and old town (matchbox town) of Wangdiphodrang sit on a bluff overlooking the river. After some years of planning and wrangling, the town is being moved to a less perilous location upstream. We stopped for a leg-stretch and perusal of the shops jammed between the roadway and the cliff. Here, we see two girls having a tea party with the river below.

 There's only one place to park in the old town.

Then we went on to our hotel for the night, the riverside Chuzomsa Resort. The rooms have a balcony overlooking the Dang Chu. Here's a shot from ours:

A view of the balconies ...

The dining hall ...

Joan and I were the 'birders' on this trip. I put the word 'birders' in quotes because we aren't fanatic ... no life list, for instance, and inadequate memories. But we did carry binoculars, and I managed to get a few pictures now and then (when they would hold still). Here's a Little Forktail looking for dinner outside our room.

The next day we began our drive to Pele La, the next pass, 11,000' high. Not far from the top we got a good view of some of the high Himalayan peaks (those below 20,000' feet may not even be named!).

Zooming in ...

Looking back on the road.

And then we arrived at Pele La, and another opportunity for a stroll. Here the stupa is in the Tibetan style.

Looking ahead, down into the valley and across to the mountains.

Not long after beginning our descent, we passed some yaks who had come down to the "low" altitudes for the winter. This photo was taken either from the bus door or through the bus window; the yak are supposed to be skittish.

One feature of the Bhutanese landscape appears to be demons and demonesses and the temples and stupas that were used to pin these beings down if they could not be converted to the Buddhist teachings. Here is a view of Rukubji, where the temple holds down the head of a snake demon.

A little further down the road is Chendebji Chorten, another demon subduer. This demon had been terrorizing travelers and pilgrims passing between Trongsa and points west, until the chorten was built (in the Nepali style) in the early 1900s.

Chendebji also has a mani wall and Bhutanese style stupa.

In mid-afternoon our goal, Trongsa and its famous dzong, were in sight from a viewpoint. With the winding mountain roads, we were still 20km from the dzong, but we knew we didn't have much further to go.

A zoomed image ...

We could also see our lodgings for the night across the river valley, the Yangkhil Resort. (Resort gets used interchangeably with Hotel in Bhutan.)

Our two days of journeying were over, and there was enough time left in the afternoon to dump our stuff at the hotel and then tour the dzong, ahead of the Trongsa Tsechu (festival) that would begin next week.

But I think you've had enough for now! Touring the dzong and the start of the trek will be the next post.