'Highway' to Bumtang

This weekend we went to Bumtang for some sight-seeing.  Bumtang is a fertile valley located in central Bhutan.  Jakar is the main town in the Bumtang valley and our final destination.  Thimphu to Jakar is about a 10 hour drive though only 264 miles.  As the guidebook says "Short distance but long journey."  Here are some maps that only Dad and Uncle Pete will look at:

Driving thru the Himalayas is quite the experience.  This 'highway' is actually a narrow road full of big diesel trucks, tight turns, steep drop-offs, rock-slides, huge pot-holes, and areas with no pavement.  You have to go up and around the mountain to get to the bridge at the bottom to cross the river to get to the other mountain to do it all over again.  As I was getting car sick, I designed big bridges and tunnels to spare all this agony-- but there is no such thing, Bhutan just goes with it!  As we go whipping around the bends, we see people casually walking, all sorts of animals, and once we saw someone's furniture on the road.  Mind you there is no shoulder and often there is only room for one car.  Here are some highlights:

Lunch.  Notice the detail.  See the green 'wallpaper' on the back wall?  Oh no, it's all hand painted!

Lunch included a spread of red rice (common in Bhutan), Fiddlehead (the green stuff, a type of fern), fried pumpkin, mixed vegetables (lots of cauliflower), and of course milky tea.

For the record, Mona and I ate 3X this portion

Chorten on side of road

A lady crushing stone into pebbles.  The pebbles are then used to fill the road potholes.

Rhododendrons.  Bhutan has over 700 species of rhododendrons ranging in colors from pink, red, white and yellow.  They are in full bloom now and can be seen at elevations from 4000-15,000 feet!  Mona especially loves them and has quite the photo/video collection.  Family, note your postcard stamp!  Some rhododendrons are bushes but others are moderate size trees.  As we near a mountain pass, the rhododendrons are abundant.  Hot pink flowers all over the Himalayas- lovely!

Our rear view mirror

Guess what is sticking out there

We stayed in Trongsa for the night.  Here is the view from our hotel room:

Trongsa Dzong:

@7000 feet

Not bad! The Trongsa Dzong and our hotel sit atop a gorge with the Black Mountains in the distance.  The views are spectacular and probably my favorite spot so far.  The mountains are huge with sheer drop offs.  Thick forests to the tops of the peaks.  Those low lying clouds.  If you look closely, there is a rice plantation on the side of the mountain.  You can hear the sound of the river below you.

Just in case you're interested about tree lines, I think I'm figuring it out.  Write to me if you think what I'm blogging is a bit off!  Mona and I drive over all sorts of passes having no idea what the elevation is.  When we look out the window, there are many mountains higher than the road.  I have yet to see a bald mountain.  The trees are thick and cover the mountains all the way to the top.  Apparently the tree-line in Bhutan is almost 15,000 feet (we're close to the equator).  Frame of reference, in the Rockies--the highest tree line is at 11,000 feet, East coast ~ 4000 feet. Highest tree-line in the world is in Bolivia at 17,000 feet.  Also the snow line is at 18,000 feet here- Mona and I haven't seen a snow capped mountain top!

Really big mountains but the pictures don't do them justice!

This picture looks like PA, but believe me these mountains are HUGE!

I actually got very car sick which turned into a migraine.  I left my medicine back in Thimphu and thought I was never going to recover.  Before dinner, Mona went up to a bunch of Americans and was able to find someone with Excedrin.  As we were sitting for dinner, the smell of the candle was making me nauseous.  I decided to go back to my room without eating.  Two hours later one of the staff brought me a whole pot of ginger tea!  These people are so nice!  By morning I felt perfect.