Sorry we have been incommunicado. No internet service at the last 2 hotels and none here until tonight. I'll get my notes up and hopefully add some pictures later.
Monday 3 Oct
Sorry, no internet connection last night. But we were in a hotel. Better than the rest of the group who were camping for the second night. But let me back up. Tashi picked us up at about 9 for the trip to Punakha. 70 km, but it takes 3 hours. That should tell you something about the road. Those of you who followed last years's trip in Romania and the Ukraine may remember my comments about the potholes in Ukraine and the twisty, winding road - also with potholes - we took from Baie Mare to Sighet. The only east-west road in Bhutan is worse. Think Rt 1 in CA - up down and around, with potholes, washouts, no guard rails, narrow, large trucks coming at you, cows in the road. I tried to take a couple of photos from the back seat, but they don't do it justice. The road was originally built in the 1950s with Nepalese labor. They are in the process of widening it.
Although we were trying to make time, Tashi stopped at the top of the pass to allow us to photograph the 108 stupas and the temple that are there. On a clear day you can also see the Himalayas, but we had some clouds. The woods are strung with thousands of prayer flags.
We caught up with the rest of the group at lunch. It turned out that the hotel's (the one we were forced out of by the wedding) idea of luxury camping did not match ours. Blue nylon tents with cots might have been ok. But the hole in the ground with a camp toilet seat perched over it and a blue nylon enclosure rigged around it was not. I'm still unclear about the showers, but it involved 4 men hauling water and providing towels. So Chimee, our guide, had managed to find 1 hotel room for us to stay in (Yay Chimee) and 2 more that could be used for a couple of hours for showers and charging batteries. (When the hotel said the campsite would have electricity, they meant bare bulbs hanging from the tent peak with no way to turn them on or off.) When we arrived everyone was showering and charging. So we are NOT complaining about the lack of internet.
We spent the afternoon photographing the countryside - these are rice paddies - and the Punakha Dzong. The group had been there in the morning to avoid crowds and photograph the inside. We went back to get better outside shots in the afternoon. I was also able to go inside. We were also lucky to capture the monks performing a ceremony for the future happiness of the king and future queen. Michael got the best shots. I may have to start carrying a heavier camera.
Tuesday 4 Oct
Because of the camping debacle, we cut short our time in Punakha and have moved to our next destination, Trongas, a day early. We did get to spend half a day at the festival - which really was enough. The costumes and dances are interesting, but they are long. The dances by the monks are interspersed with folk dances and songs. It's very difficult to capture the dances with still photos - I finally remembered that I can shoot video with either the G9 or the iPhone and tried on just before we left. We has lunch at the hotel Michael and I stayed at then another hair-raising drive to Trongas. The last hour was dark and we vowed to avoid getting in this late again. The hotel is about 3 km beyond the town, set up on the side of the mountain. Nice rooms, grate dining area. Three stars by Bhutanese standards. The only problem for us was the lack of hot water.
The first photo is from the "black hat" dance. The second from the "hawk and stag" dance.
This is festival time in Bhutan, which is why Brenda plans her trips of this time of year. In addition, there is the royal wedding. So there are a lot of ceremonies going on and a lot of building and sprucing up.
Wednesday 5 October.
We spent the morning at the local dzong. Some great views of the valley and river. We caught the monks on their way to a class. We had lunch at the museum, which is an old watch tower that the Austrian government helped the Bhutanese to set up in 2008. No cameras allowed inside, which is too bad as some of the artifacts are interesting and the view from the top is spectacular. I did grab the camera after lunch and was able to shoot some photos from the grounds. We were actually ready to leave before Chimee - a first, but he and Tandin had been helping the staff serve lunch.
After lunch we set off for Bumthang. We will have 4 nights here - a chance to unpack and do laundry. One of the stops this afternoon is a weaving "factory". We made 1-2 brief stops to photograph a prayer wheel driven by a small stream. There are hundreds of these by the road side. We can't stop for all of them, but this one also had a cow.
The weaving center was interesting because in addition to the expected backstrap loom, there were three 4-shaft floor looms. All counterbalance. These were used to do a different type of weaving than I had seen before. I shot a video and bought a pillow cover as an example. This weaving was done completely in wool, unlike the finer silk and cotton that is done on the backstop looms. They also did some tapestry weaving in wool. Some of the fabrics were made into jackets. Others were made up into purses. Some of the larger pieces were backed and could be used on the floor.
The terrain changed beyond the weaving studio. More agricultural. We went through a small town where we all wanted to stop and walk, but our mantra has become no driving after dark, so we pushed on. We did stop at our highest pass yet - 11,400 ft - to photograph the prayer flags in the failing light. Unfortunately, the ubiquitous power lines got in the way. Prayer flags, both the vertical ones on poles and the square ones on lines are hung where they will blow in the wind - high places and bridges, for example. The power lines tend to go up and over the same hills. We did find one hilarious shot - a local bull eating one one of the prayer flags. We finally got everyone back on the bus and arrived at the hotel at 6:15. Dark, but better than the night before. The ecology changes as you go up and down the passes. We even saw some Spanish moss on the trees in one valley. The roads are so narrow it is hard to find a spot to stop and take pictures. And I think not everyone is interested in the scenic shots.
Thursday, 6 October
This is a really nice hotel in Jakar Village. Brenda was not sure about stopping here as the town had 3 fires last year that destroyed about half of the houses and shops. They are rebuilding. But there was another, smaller, festival she wanted to take us to, so here were are. The rooms are nice, we have hot water, and the food is great. Everyone else claims the are losing weight - I'm gaining. Eggs, buckwheat pancakes, toast. Local honey, local apple juice. Local cheese.
We spent the morning at the festival. This was a smaller, private monastery. They had set up a tent with seating, if you got there early enough. I shot mainly videos. We did gat a chance to go "backstage" and see the monks getting ready for the black hat dance. The costumes are elaborate and they help each other get the head gear on, along with all the other paraphernalia. THe folk dances included male dancers, which the ones at Whang Du did not.
We got a break in the afternoon. Some walked up to the local dozing. I spent time trying to figure out why the morning photos were not what I wanted. Michael has convinced me to shoot raw rather than jpg and until they are processed, they don't look that great. So I've got some work to do before I can post pictures.
Late in the afternoon we had planned to visit a monastery to observe a debate. We got the the monastery, but the weather was threatening and we could not find anyone to let us into the temple. So we went back to town and wandered around a bit. Only internet here is a local cafe. A couple of folks were able to get some things done before the power went out. Apparently this happens 2-3 times a day for 15-20 minutes. It came back on, but went out again just before dinner. Fortunately, dinner had been cooked and we had a romantic dinner by candlelight and LED lanterns. Also fortunately, the power came back on just at the end of dinner so we could finish drying the laundry over the pace heaters.
