Haa Haa!

---

The road from Paro to Haa is over a switchback pass called Cheli La. As we climbed up through the forest, we started to find snow along the edges of the road and then on the road making us very pleased we were in a 4 wheel drive. We knew that we were supposed to do a walk near to a nunnery but didn't realise this meant turning off the paved road and onto a very bumpy unpaved road with more sharp bends until we arrived just below the small nunnery, Kila Goempa. Dendup wasn't sure whether it would be ok to do the walk as it was through the trees and possible that there was still quite a lot of snow. We were happy to try if he was but first he decided we should have an early picnic lunch as he didn't think there would be anywhere comfortable to stop on the way. We set off up the steps to the nunnery and both suddenly realised that we were quite a lot higher than we had been so far - Dendup said around 3,500m which is a big jump from Paro at less than 2,300m. It was tough just to get to the nunnery where we had a quick look around then ate a small lunch before setting off. There was snow on the path but mostly not too deep although the path was very narrow in parts. However, there wasn't a lot of climbing and we made steady progress across the side of the mountain. There was one rather tricky point where a small stream had just frozen into a huge block of ice across the path and we had to find another way around but apart from that it wasn't too bad. After about an hour, we broke out of the trees to an open area full of prayer flags and amazing views back down the valley. The sun was shining and we sat for a while contemplating the mountains. We still had a little way to go though and we spent another half an hour or so climbing our way, through ever deeper snow, to get to the top of the pass which was covered with more prayer flags and gave stunning views. We could even see Jomolhari, the second highest mountain in Bhutan. The sign at the top of the pass says that it is 3,980m but H's phone and other things we had read suggested it is only around 3,850m - still the highest I've trekked for many years!

We had a welcome cuppa in the sun at the top before getting back in the car to travel down into Haa. The Haa valley has a very large Bhutanese/Indian army base and was only opened to visitors relatively recently so doesn't get many tourists yet. We were staying in a converted farmhouse which had Dendup had described as a 5 star hotel so we were rather looking forward to it. We were led up a muddy track by the owners daughter and her husband insisting on carrying our packs and had to take our shoes off to enter. While the renovations look lovely, we were the only people staying there and there had obviously been no heating on for some time so it was rather chilly! There were shared showers and toilets, both of which were icy, and we were wearing many layers by early evening. We then discovered that there was water pouring through the ceiling on the landing onto the top of the stairs so went over to find the owners. The girl came rushing over and scrambled up a ladder to look in the roof space - she told us that a pipe had frozen and burst but she would get a friend to fix it. However, she would have to turn off the water for the showers....thank goodness we had already used them.

Dinner was across the courtyard in what had been the barn which was distinctly warmer than our room. The food was not bad though and we felt much better when we went back to our slightly warmer room for another game of Scrabble (for H to get his revenge).

Breakfast included pancakes and real coffee which was better than in Paro so we were well set up for the longish drive to Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan.....but more of that next time.



S + H x

---

Comments

[Tony Painter]

You were right!
I see from today's news that there is a new crown prince in Bhutan, let national happiness be unconfined! Great pix of the prayer flags in the snow.