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Published: September 26th 2007
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After breakfast this morning we left Punakha and headed to Wangdue Phodrang Dzongkhag in Wangdi. It is yet another temple but it is right on a cliff above the river…I can imagine if it was sunny how much more beautiful it would look. The location is of course due to an auspicious sign…four ravens were seen at the sight of where the dzong now is flying off in four different directions…north, south, east and west. We walked around the village of Wangdi, which is very picturesque with its wooden shops along one strip. I picked up some candy for the students I will be visiting tomorrow at their school. The town is supposed to be moved down to the valley as there was no plan every really set up for the town. However, there is not enough space for all of the shops so they stopped mid-development, but expect to resume soon. It will be after this year at least since 2006 and 2007 are inauspicious years for this construct!
After this we made the nearly 2 hour drive to Phobjikha Valley (2900 meters). On the way we passed the top of Pele La (3420 meters). Some of these turns
are so blind and have no guardrail…so it is definitely not for the faint of heart…especially at this altitude! We arrived at the beautiful Dewachen Hotel situated just high enough to have a fantastic view of the vast valley below. Dewachen means pure land and I don’t think you can get any more pure than this. There are no rice paddies here and there is no electricity or hot water. Between the hours of 630PM and 930PM a generator is switched on at the hotel. In the meantime I have a mini-wood burning fire place which they have set up several times already since it is freezing here! Definitely don’t have warm enough pants…thinking I will need to pick something up for Tibet cuz my ski stockings and puma leggings aren’t cutting it. I have my fleece and vest and hat but the rest of me…shiver me timbers! Did I just say that?? Oy. Anyway, this is the best hotel so far…it’s set up like a wood lodge and it is so cute and SO peaceful. I am loving the sound of the wood cracking from the fire and when it’s out, the sound of nothing. The views from my
room and the dining room are spectacular. This is the nicest hotel in the area, except for the Amankora Gangtey, which only costs a mere $1,000 USD per night. I guess they have the generator on all day!
After I settled in we went to the Norsang Carpet Factory, just a few hundred yards from the hotel. The fact is, the factory isn’t really much of one…there are no machines and no electricity. The carpets are woven by local women and each one takes one month (some even when two people are working on the same carpet). Afterwards, we went to the Black-Necked Crane Information Centre. Here I learned that I was not going to see any. They migrate here from Tibet in mid-october and stay through march. Bhutanese people believe that the cranes are auspicious, especially the days in which they arrive and depart. Apparently, the cranes are also the reason the government will not allow electricity here…it disturbs the cranes at night…who are only in this valley for five months…what about the other SEVEN?! However, I read the cranes and the people have agreed to live in peaceful co-existence…I’m assuming at the last town meeting?!? But alas,
as a visitor I really don’t mind much. This is a gorgeous place and it’s quite nice to have pitch black and nothing but stars out…mind you the weather has been crappy and kind of drizzly today so I don’t think I will be seeing any. Kind of sad I am only here one night. I really like the hotel and peace!
Im learning more and more about Bhutan and all the places I will not see on this trip and I cant begin to emphasize how much I want to come back here. I’m sad that this is as far east as I am getting. I would come again on this five-month span but the timing won’t work out (at least weather-wise). So I will say I will be back again in the next-five years no doubt.
Some of you know my fondness of Colorado lately and I am feeling sort of reminiscent of it here in Bhutan…I think obviously based on the scenic mountainous landscape, climate, hiking and a few other things. Clearly, it far more primitive but there is still that cozy sense that I find when I’m in CO, whether it be summer or
winter. Anyway, it just makes me happy.
The past ten minutes I have spent running around my room with my lonely planet Bhutan book chasing flies…there were only two but the last thing I need is them in my room buzzing and biting. I nailed a huge motherload of one and a little baby one and then cleaned the back of my book with Purell. Anyway, I was amused.
Bhutan similarity to NYC. In at least two places, Tshultrim has run into friends of his along our way from his home village all the way in the east. Fascinating… alright…its 930…lights out!
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