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Punakha to Trongsa

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  27 th April Morning view from hotel room We left Kuruthang and travelled the newly blacktopped road to Lobesa and on towards Wangdi.   We passed the small village of Rinchengang, stepping its way up the hillside to the lhakhang at the top.   This village is, I believe, the only location in Bhutan where 2 crops of rice can be grown in a year. Sonam told me a little about the lhakhang;   its main relic is a copy of the Koran, which was only recently been identified as such, as it had been wrapped in black cloth.   The lhakhang was built a couple of centuries ago with assistance from a Muslim king, and the Koran presented and blessed by an important lama (I get the names all mixed up!)   An inventory of Bhutan’s relics identified the nature of the relic only relatively recently. Our journey had us crossing 3 new bridges built by the Japanese – as models for work efficiency and engineering for the Indian road builders whose p...
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Flowers and Friends

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Covered bridge over the Mo Chhu at Punakha 26 th April I woke to my 6am alarm and went to use Phub’s bathroom to find that her mother had already risen at 5:30am to put the water heater into a bucket of water – which was already steaming for my morning shower. I enjoyed an early morning coffee and hot mandi bath while Phub was preparing breakfast – shitake-like mushrooms she had harvested from the log just behind her house and the left over asparagus datsi, with rice of course. Me and Phub at Goen Shari Primary School My phone thought I was still in Gasa and told me that it would snow today – if it was snowing in Gasa, it could only be doing the same in Laya.   Again I was thankful that I was not there.   It would have made walking difficult! Phub is very busy getting her young sons ready for the day, as well as herself, and I remembered some material in my notebook that might be useful to her – which she photographs with her phone. ...
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