An Earth Tremor in the Night !!!

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Hi again Everyone

We are now back in Thailand, but first I will update you on what has been happening since my last blog.....

As I mentioned previously there had been an earth quake of 6.7 in Eastern Bhutan, and Trashigang, where we were, was right in the centre of the worst effected area. We were staying in a lovely little Guest House run by a family, that had approx 10 rooms plus eating area etc, centered around an open courtyard. There were approx 12 people staying the night (Tourists, guides & drivers) plus around 6 or 7 hotel staff. That night around 10pm after everyone had gone to bed (everything closes up early in Bhutan), I was lying in bed reading, and all of a sudden there was a really loud noise that lasted for about 5 seconds. I had no idea what it was and was about to ignore it, when a few seconds later it came again. This time I thought it sounded a little bit like machine gun fire. Now, having been in Bhutan for almost 2 weeks I knew machine gun fire was something that was so far off the radar, that if I was right, there was a BIG problem. I admit I was a little bit scared, made even more so as it was my turn to have a room to myself.

I jumped out of bed and by this time (no more than 1 minute since the first noise) I could hear a lot of excited voices out in the courtyard. I gingerly opened my door and peered out, to be greeted by Janet coming out of her room saying "Ït's an earth tremor.... get your passport and get out quick". Having grown up in Wellington NZ, Janet is familiar with Earth Tremors, and knew exactly what had just happened.... unlike me. I can't say that I was actually aware of the shake, just a very loud sort of grinding noise like I'd never heard before.

Anyway, I dived back into my room, got my passport, money, track pants (and cigarettes), and rushed out into the courtyard, where by this time most people in the Guest House were standing around in various states of undress. The Guest House staff were clearly freaked, having experienced the earth quake a week earlier, and had very worried looks on their faces. This may all sound a bit over dramatic, but the real concern was that the building would come tumbling down. Not silly considering it was built in the side of a hill (well a mountain really) and the workmanship in any of the smaller towns in Bhutan is suspect at best.

We all stood around for about 30 minutes, and by this time had satisfied ourselves that our building was ok. The owner of the Guest House came back from doing a reccy outside, and reported there didn't appear to be any damage to the surrounding buildings. So slowly everyone started drifting back to their rooms. I lay there for ages waiting for another tremor (the experts say there is often another one soon after) and was just drifting back to sleep when a second, much milder tremor occurred. As most people were asleep by this stage they didn't feel it", and so there wasn't the big drama of earlier. I have to admit I didn't sleep too well all night as I thought every noise was another tremor.

One of the few people who had slept through the first tremor was our guide Karma. Now karma is a guy who likes to be on top of things, and in complete control. So in the morning when we asked him how could he possibly have slept through all the excitement, he responded "I wasn't asleep, but you didn't need me to look after you, Chenchu (our driver) was there !!" We really disn't believe he woke up at all, but of course he wasn't going to admit it!!

The following morning we went for a day trip along more windy roads, and could see a number of new rock falls, but as far as we could understand there was no major damage done. I have to admit I didn't sleep too well the next night , but there was no more tremors.

The following morning (Wednesday 30 Sept) we began the final section of our Bhutan trip, and I felt very sorry for the people of Trashigang. They have lived for over a week now with continual tremors, and many of them are sleeping outside due to concerns over their houses collapsing. They don't know when or how severe the next one will be, and we heard on Wednesday night there had been another quite severe tremor that afternoon, that did cause some damage. This one made the evening Bhutan TV news, so it was clearly more severe than the one I had experienced.

Anyway, the final leg of our trip was to a place called Samdrup Jongkhar (or SJ for short) on the Indian border. We had to leave by 7am, as while it was only 180km, this section of the road is considered to be particularily narrow & windy (there is no other kind in Bhutan), and there was road works along the way (to widen the road). The accepted travelling time with no hold ups or stops is 6 -7 hours, so we were prepared for a very long and bumpy day.

Trashigang is at just over 1,000 m, and as soon as you leave the town the road quickly climbs up to around 2,000m and stays there for most of the trip. The road winds it's way from mountain pass to mountain pass along a very high ridge. You seem to be at the same height as the surrounding mountains, and get a feeling of being at the very top of the world. We were fortunate in that we were travelling on a very clear day with virtually no cloud and a brilliant blue sky, so the views were just magnificient. We even got a last glimpse of the himalayas before crossing over the final pass, and heading down towards SJ and the Indian Plain.

We were pretty lucky and only got held up once by the road works for about 20 minutes, so managed to make it to SJ in 8 hours. However the worst of the roads was saved to last, and it was a very bumpy, windy, dusty, narrow and the last hour very hot. In addition there are big trucks that come up from SJ with supplies from India to Eastern Bhutan, and coming across them on the bends (with sheer drops the other side) was a hairy experience. At least those truck drivers were curteous and would stop and back back. However, the many army trucks we also came across obviously feel they have right of way, and expect you to make room for them.

Arriving in SJ was a mixed blessing, as while we were technically still in Bhutan, the town is a hot, dusty and particularily unappealing Indian style border town. Fortunately we were only staying the night, but boy it was hot, and while the hotel had aircon, it so was hot outside it didn't really work.... memories of the heat in Laos came flooding back !!

Next morning we farewelled, Karma (our guide), and Chenchu (our driver) at the Indian border, after a fabulous 2 weeks in Bhutan. We were then driven the 100km or so to a place called Guwahati, where we were caught a flight to Kolkata (Calcutta) and then onto Bangkok....... However more on that trip in my next blog, as my internet time is about to run out.

Watch for the next blog shortly.

Cheers, Ali xxx

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