Bhutan - Day 10

We started the day with a visit to the Black Necked Crane center. 

Then we walked the Gangtey Nature trail up the valley. 

Gooseberry covered with lichen

Along the trail we met a local splitting bamboo to make a basket.  He showed us how he splits the bamboo and then got out his prayer wheel and prayed for us.

Towards the end of the trail, we saw an area where some trees were cut.  They mark the trees to be cut with like this.

Hard to see, but there is a circle and number

At the end of the trail some locals were building a fence to keep wild animals out of their fields.  The way this works, is the government sends an engineer who designs the project, the locals can then either do the work themselves or raise money and hire someone to do it.

Versatile tractor - used as plow, cart puller, etc.

Mixing concrete and carrying to the forms

Wood for the concrete forms

I also saw a house being built.  They were using compacted clay walls around the windows and door frames.

We then drove to Trongsa.  At Pele La pass, we saw a bunch of yaks.

We also saw a large solar installation.  One of Bhutan's major exports is power, mostly from dams.  But climate change is affected river flows which is causing some problems.

The Trongsa Dzong is built on a steep hillside, almost a cliff over looking a very, very deep valley.

You enter through a gate and over a bridge.  The insides are very pretty.  Like other Dzongs, it is used for government offices and has a temple for the monks.

They build the interior walls using bamboo for lathe which they then plaster over.

Just outside the Dzong, an archer was practicing for a competition. 

Zoom in to see the target on the right

A few more hours of driving along the National Highway and we reached our hotel in Chumey.

Express bus

One difference in Bhutan is instead of Gideon bibles at hotels, you get Teachings of Buddha.  The second picture is a common snack made of rice that we were offered at most hotels and on the trek.

This is our last long day of driving.  I have a much better appreciation for how hard it is to get around Bhutan and why the speed limit is 50kph (31mph).  The roads are not in good shape, narrow, and very curvy.  Most of them were built with manual labor from India.