Today, May 11th, was a long road trip from Jakar to Mongar including the pass of Thrumshing La, the second highest pass in Bhutan at 12,400' (almost 3800m). This snapshot from Google Maps shows Jakar at upper left and Mongar at lower right (click to enlarge).
We had been so pleased with yesterday's lunch at Noryang restaurant that Tshering, our guide, chose them to supply a hot travel lunch. We would picnic on the road to Mongar.
As we left the Bumthang area the villages and farms thinned out. The national highway took us along the edge of the Ura valley, one of the four valleys of Bumthang. Shortly after 10:00 there was a brief stop,
for cattle being taken to higher pastures for the summer. Note how the truck coming at us almost fills the road; this is common and one reason why I'm never going to drive myself in Bhutan. Joan and I felt we were safe with Kaka at the wheel.
Inside Thrumshingla National Park the soil takes on a whiter hue and sandy texture, as revealed by these road cuts.
We arrived at Thrumshingla just before 11:00.
One of our first tasks was to add our string of prayer flags, blessed by the monk at the Zhiwaling in Paro six days before. Tshering and Kaka did most of the work, but Joan and I helped. The straight, not-yet-drooping string of flags on top is ours.
Tshering took a photo of Joan and me standing in front of the flags. The black pouch on my belt is my camera holder.
Also one with Kaka included, looking impressive in his sunglasses.
We reciprocated with a photo of Tshering (on left) and Kaka at the pass marker.
Then we shoved off and started downhill.
Soon we could see the town of Sengor below and ahead. It's about 700 meters (2300') below the pass.
Bird sightings picked up almost immediately. Here is a cooperative white-capped water redstart.
Joan and I had hoped to see rhododendron in bloom, and we passed through the right climate zone on our way down to Sengor. This species grows tall.
We passed through Sengor and Tshering and Kaka found our lunch spot, up a short but steep driveway to a communications tower. They pulled folding chairs and a table out of the van and assembled a dining room.
It's amazing there was room in the van for the picnic equipment along with everyone's luggage.
A chorten is in the middle of the highway where the driveway splits off.
Tshering suggested that Joan and I take a stroll down the road while he and Kaka cleaned up. Right away we spotted a jack-in-the-pulpit with a striped/spotted stalk.
The stalk identifies it as the species Arisaema Nepenthoides; the yellowed color of the hood indicates that the bloom is rapidly aging.
Some avian teasers played hide-and-seek with us, but nothing that I could photograph. Soon the van came down the road and picked us up.
This was one of the best waterfalls along this section of the highway. During the monsoon (July-September) its flow must be intimidating.
By 2:30 Kaka needed a break (I would have been exhausted). He relaxed with a snack at this roadside restaurant, while Joan and I took another short road walk.
Joan and I think this picture is of a red-vented bulbul, although it took a while to reach a conclusion because of the backlighting and viewing from below.
We eventually reached the Kuri Chhu (river), and crossed the Kuri Zampa bridge at an altitude of 561 meters (1840'), having lost over 10,000' of altitude from Thrumshing La. Then it was back to up to the town of Mongar, at 1600 meters (5250'). Such a number is somewhat arbitrary because Mongar sprawls along and up a mountainside.
We stayed for the next two nights at the Wangchuk Hotel (not Hotel Wangchuk, an outfit in Thimphu). This was the view from our room.
The satellite dish and the large prayer wheel, visited at all hours, are a typical Bhutanese juxtaposition.
Joan and I spent a while at the corner of the hotel terrace watching a kuru (lawn darts) match. Several of the hotel staff were taking it in as well.
The Wangchuk is structured around an open-air interior courtyard. The dining room is on the ground level.
GeoEx had warned us that accommodations would become more and more basic the further east we went in Bhutan. Wangchuk Hotel was therefore a pleasant surprise. I can't speak for all the rooms in the hotel; however, ours was basic but clean and comfortable. There was one ten or fifteen minute power outage during our first dinner, for which the staff was prepared with portable battery powered lights, and they served the same tasteless "vegetable soup" starter as the Yu Gharling in Jakar, but overall it exceeded our expectations.
Tomorrow, a visit to Lhuentse and Khoma.
The next morning (May 10th) was misty, so we again pulled on our rain jackets, but the weather gradually improved. Tshering took us on a walk that began at Tamshing Lhakhang (temple), established by the terton (treasure finder) Pema Lingpa in 1501. As always, photos of the interior are not allowed. Tamshing is on the west side of the Bumthang Chhu (river) on a narrow road.
In the above photo, taken from the rear of Tamshing, there are two other major temples, on the far side of the river at the foot of the hills. We'll visit them later. The Bumthang region is in many ways the ancient seat of Buddhism in Bhutan.
A closer view of Tamshing. One of the relics inside is a coat of iron chain mail made by Pema Lingpa himself. If you wear it for three circumambulations of the interior of the temple, it will burn off your bad karma (absolve you of your sins). I was unaware of the three-circuit requirement, and trod it only once, as did Joan. So I have unfinished business here ...
Inside, all the statues are smiling except for the usual wrathful deities. Guru Rinpoche has a surprised and delighted expression we haven't seen anywhere else.
I'll digress for a moment to point out that Tamshing is a monastery of the Nyingma school of Tibetan/Himalayan Buddhism, while the Drukpa Kagyu school, a Bhutanese sub-school of the Kagyu lineage, is the state-supported religion of Bhutan. Thus Kagyu temples, monasteries, and nunneries have state sponsorship, while Nyingma institutions do not.
Fifteen minutes down the road we froze to admire this verditer flycatcher. Thank goodness my point-and-shoot camera has a 20x zoom.
A footpath that split from the road was our route further upstream. This moved us much closer to the river, and around the bend on the far right is a footbridge.
It's not far across the river at this point.
From the far side I was able to zoom in on the Konchogsum Lhakhang, a temple dating from either 7th or 8th Century, and the new school and monastic housing surrounding it. The small white building is the temple itself.
Tamshing Lhakhang is just a stone's throw from Konchogsum, and the two temples are associated.
Not far down the road we came to Kurje Lhakhang, constructed in the 8th Century, and to borrow a description,
Kurje is one of the most sacred sites in Bhutan as Guru Rinpoche meditated here and left the imprint (je) of his body (ku) on a rock.
There were some vendors outside the main courtyard, including a woman who, in addition to her religious and artistic objects, had some cordyceps to sell. This parasitic fungus is widely sought after for Asian medicine, commanding as much as 1,000,000 ngultrum (US$16,500) per kilogram some years. Bhutan has been forced to limit the number of harvesters, giving priority to traditional rural inhabitants, and reducing the number of harvesters per household from three to one. Otherwise the mountains would be stripped of cordyceps. The vendor let us take a photo of one piece.
Tshering talked this monk passing by into pausing so that we could take a picture of the fabulous torma, an altar offering made mostly of flour and butter.
Joan and I were startled and entranced when we saw this prehistoric-looking bird, a hoopoe.
The Kurje Lhakhang has three main buildings, constructed in the 8th Century, 1900, and 1990. The oldest building is on the right in this photo. Interior photos, as always, aren't allowed, so I refer you to the previous link.
Representations of Guru Rinpoche are everywhere, from a ten-meter (33') statue in the shrine of the 1900 building to this exterior carving. It references an 8th Century event where Guru Rinpoche, in the form of a garuda bird, subdued the local deity Shelging Karpo, in the form of a white lion. Shelging Karpo had been afflicting the health of the king of Bumthang, but was converted to Buddhism and the well-being of the king was restored.
Across the grounds is another temple, first designed in 1998, and consecrated in 2008 by the Royal Grandmother Ashi Kesang Choeden Wangchuck (not to be confused with other royalty with the same or similar name).
From here it was a kilometer's walk past farm fields to our next stop, the Jampa/Jampey Lhakhang, a 7th Century temple that precedes Guru Rinpoche's arrival in the 8th Century. This lakhang is dedicated to Maitreya, the future Buddha. It is said to be the first of 108 built throughout the Himalayas by King Songtsen Gampo of Tibet, to pin down a giant ogress/demoness. Jampa Lhakhang is holding down her right knee; Tshering forwarded this image of a poster depicting the 108 locations holding down the ogress.
I don't have any photos of the interior, but this exterior photo is illuminating. The trays of pebbles are counting mechanisms, so that the devout who frequently perform a kora, or circumambulation, of the temple can keep track of their merit. Jampa is the only temple where we've noticed these.
Nearby we got a good look at another hoopoe.
Kaka picked us up here, and we drove to our lunch stop, a small second-floor restaurant called Noryang Restaurant and Bar. It was fabulous. Bhutanese home cooking, served family style. Of course, as chillips (foreign tourists), we needed to be careful with the ema datshi (chili with cheese), Bhutan's national dish, which ranges from spicy to explosive.
After lunch Joan and I were dropped off in the center of Jakar for some window shopping and general poking around, after which it would be a short-ish walk back to the Yu Gharling.
This photo shows the main street of the business district, with the dzong perched on the hill behind. Jakar has suffered three fires in this area since October 2010, but appears to have bounced back.
We wandered up one side and down the other, and then one street over where there was a farmer's market. We bought a couple of postcards and stamps, in two different shops. I had to take a picture of this business' sign.
This is how the Yu Gharling looks when you drive or walk up to the front.
Here is zoomed-in view from our room. Farm fields and development, all in the same place. That's indicative of Bhutan today, where statistics say 63% of the population lives in rural areas, compared to 93% forty years ago. Would this scene be considered rural? If not, is it urban?
Tomorrow Kaka would drive us over Thrumshingla Pass, 12,400', and then to Mongar in eastern Bhutan.
After lunch at the Chumey Nature Resort, Kaka drove Tshering, Joan, and me up a winding gravel road to the Tharpaling monastery, located at 3,600m (11,800').
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Tharpaling is a multi-tiered complex high up the ridge, with Domkhar village and the Chumey valley below; this image was taken looking back after we had started our hike (click on the photo to enlarge).
With binoculars you can make out the palace grounds and Domkhar village peeking over the trees.
Another building is being constructed, high in the monastery grounds. This is where we climbed out of our van.
This afternoon's hike was to gain 800', to 12,600', and then descend the far side of the mountain to the main town of the Bumthang region, Jakar (sometimes spelled Chamkar or Chamkhar). This was our view up to the pass.
The terrain was easy enough, but the altitude had us breathing deeply.
Because we were here in the spring, there were flowers to enjoy, enticing us to make short breathe-and-look stops. This is some species of primula -- I can't decide between bracteosa and bhutanica.
On this festival day many people were visiting the monastery and walking the ridgetop, where there were prayer flags and a Buddha statue. As happens with many a mountain pass, at the top the wind was howling. These prayer flags are horizontal. Note how the trees flourish on the lee side.
Joan and I approached the Buddha but did not linger. Horizontal raindrops had started to fly.
The hike down was long but uneventful. We passed through climate zones with different species of trees, but always with trees. Light showers came and went, and surefooted Bhutanese zoomed past us. Joan and I, and our knees, were glad for our hiking poles. Near the end of our hike Joan spotted a rufous-fronted tit feeding three or more babies in a well-hidden nest.
If you start this hike in Jakar, there's a sign near the trailhead.
Kaka was waiting for us with the van near the Renewable Natural Resources Research Centre, on the outskirts of Jakar. From there we drove to our hotel, the Yu Gharling, to clean up and have dinner. We would be in Jakar twice, this time and on returning from Mongar, for two nights each time. We were to stay in each of three very different rooms at the Yu Gharling, but that's looking ahead to the second stay. Here is a photo of our room for this stay.
This was the view from our balcony, looking up the valley towards the center of Jakar.
In most Bhutanese hotels dinners and breakfasts are a buffet, and range from OK to excellent. The competitive item this year was to have a custom omelet station at breakfast.
At Yu Gharling dinner included an optional "vegetable soup" starter that we consistently encountered in central and eastern Bhutan. It was devoid of taste and had no visible vegetables ... the best way I can describe it is milk of veggie soup with the veggies strained out. We, including our guide Tshering, learned to skip it.
Tshering had an ace up his sleeve for eating in Jakar, however, which we would discover tomorrow.
