Bhutan 2014: Tharpaling Monastery to Jakar

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.