Into Central Bhutan

A Tata truck - they are everywhere

We left Thimphu at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday before the 8 a.m. start to pedestrian day - no cars are allowed within the cities. Lines of walkers, clutches of police, and yellow tape delineated the no car zone. Buses and taxis (taxis with odd numbered and even numbered plates alternate weeks.) are allowed in. The unanticipated consequences (such as, Wednesday traffic jams) may doom the three week old policy.

We began the day with a noodle soup unique to the region and  available only in the morning. The noodles were solid wheat nuggets in a spicy broth. With our tummies warmed we headed out for a leisurely journey, stopping at what interested us.  First stop, the Royal Botanical Garden (too late in the year to witness the large collection of rhododendrons in bloom) – although schools were on holiday we were the only visitors. Our take away fact - over 25% of Bhutan's land is in nature reserves. Low numbers of visitors and minimal development should allow native species to thrive and delight trekkers

The last rhododendron of the season.

Lake at the Royal Botanical Garden

Next we stopped at a spring ("holy water") for Rattu to take a sip and wet his head. People stop at springs to sip the water, fill water jugs, and take sponge baths. We also used the stop to buy a juicy cucumber - much larger than the long, skinny varieties we are used to.

Our visit to Wangdue was poignant. Wangdue is Rattu's home district. Here Rattu's parents took their infant son to the monks to ask his name. (At a local temple he showed us the image for Rattu.) The dzong, built in 1638, burnt to the ground on 24 June. In Paro we had visited a dzong destroyed by fire in the 1950's. Later we stopped in town which lost its market to fire in 2011. (We started looking for evidence of smoke detectors and extinguishers at the various hotels or at least made sure there was a reasonable escape route.) Fund-raisers for the dzong are taking place throughout the country, and local communities are being asked to pledge funds for the dzong's restoration. 

A haunting survivor

In addition to losing a spiritual home the fire destroyed all the monks' bedding and robes and local government records were totally destroyed. We found the loss of the latter as unimaginable. At least the future of new and rebuilt dzongs may be brighter, The prime minister promised a rebuilt dzong that is earthquake and fire resistant and a model for designing future dzongs.

Rebuilding underway - plan is to keep traditional design
but use less lumber

Meeting of government officials asked to pledge local

funds to  rebuild the dzong. White scarves

are worn by civil servants. Not pictured were members of judiciary

red scarf and village heads purple scarfs

Rattu asked if I would like to live in a rural area. My immediate answer was "no." Fortunately he ignored my ungracious answer and drove on. We stopped at Chhuzomsa to see a cable car system that carries down logs from the forest - 45 minutes each way. At one time it made two trips to carry tourists - I wasn't disappointed  that it has been discontinued.

We drove to the Phobjikha Valley, home of the black neck cranes. During the summer monks leave their  Wangdu and Punakha  for the valley. As the monks return to winter quarters they are replaced by cranes. (Hence we did not see one crane.) More often than not instead of enjoying the scenery I kept my eyes on the road. It was narrow with a continuous curves. (Another ignored advice - bring Dramamine.) Honking to announce a car's approach was the rule for this part of the day. In addition it was road construction season - land slides (""shooting rocks") and a broken road beds marked our path. Of course, we encountered to occasional truck to add to the "excitement." 

An hour's wait for road construction

We went to the hilltop to enjoy the scenery and start inquiring about guest houses. We spotted our first and only yak (said to be quite common in lower areas of the country during the winter).

Boys on the road

A developing nation with modern communications

This is why we were often reminded of Ireland

The end of the day at the top of the world

At our guest house Yo La Ki Guest House

That night in the guest house we learned that the valley was only fully electrified in 2011. Another guest was an environmental consultant. He was meeting with the community to discuss a pilot project that would ask travel agents to contribute to a fund that would be turned over to the communities to maintain their way of life.

The bottom line - the Phobjikha Valley was utterly peaceful and relaxing. We hated to leave and it is first on our itinerary for a return to Bhutan,