Onwards the next morning on a long mountainous minibus journey to, eventually, Jakar in the Bumthang District. We surmounted four high passes over 10,000ft amsl en-route; Lonala, Pelela, Yongtougla and Kikila and passed the town of Trongsa. More up and down and hairpin bends all skilfully negotiated by our indefatigable driver Tensin. Below: some views on the way.
Left: A typical valley and there were yaks and cows dotted around in the fields below. In fact the cows, of various colour and description, were everywhere (including in the forests and on the streets in towns and villages) and frequently on the roads at all altitudes. They had owners, often elderly women it seemed, who somehow managed to wander about to round them up. I rather forgot to take pics of the cows. There was an awful lot of cow dung around.
Right: Although I did get some photos of yaks. We passed this couple on the road. I believe they are used as pack animals and their abundant wool is used in clothing. Warm furry 'yackets' perhaps?
Left: Another different coloured hairy yak.
We passed this large solar panel array (right). As well as solar power Bhutan is blessed with many large glacial rivers which provide a substantial amount of hydro-electricity. In fact hydro-electricity is one of their chief and financially rewarding exports to India.
Left: There was much agriculture in the countryside. The main crops were rice, wheat, potatoes and other vegetables and spices such as chilli. The chilli being encountered in the previously mentioned and notoriously breath-taking 'chilli cheese' served at most meals.
Right: A typical Bhutanese dog. They seemed to spend all day comatose and all night barking. I'm not sure what use they were put to and didn't appear to be pets. Maybe they guarded the livestock and crops at night (hence knackered by morning) from marauding packs of wild boar which, I was told, caused much damage. The locals spend a lot of time and effort building wire fences (sometimes electrified) and walls to protect their crops from these swine.
We stopped for a coffee and break at the Willing Waterfall café. There was a decent waterfall....
Right: ....and a café with a wool and weaving shop attached; The Chumey Yathra Weaving Centre. The proprietress gave us a long and detailed lecture and demo on how various dyes were produced and how the weaving worked. I became rather baffled by the complexity of it all.
Then over the Kikila pass into the district of Bumthang where we stopped, near Jakar, at a 'homestay' house for lunch. I was rather disoriented as to exactly where we were. Left: Our lunch.
A cup of tea after lunch which, as always, featured a drop of saki. Those hats? They are traditional and more often have conical tops. Not much good in a wind.
Right: A traditional conical Bhutanese hat.
After lunch we adjourned to the garden where we were introduced to two of Bhutan's major sports; archery and darts. The normal archery ranges are about 145 metres long and the darts range is up to about 35 metres. We were playing on a much reduced distance (it was just an intro!). As it happens Sonam was, some time ago, in the Bhutan National Archery team which won the silver medal in a championship competition in Thailand.
Left: Sonam showed us how to do it. The range was only about 15 metres.
We each had three arrows to fire. Full of confidence, I took aim and missed every time. I nearly scored with my final shot. I don't think the others did any better! See below my pathetic efforts.
We then tried the darts. These are not like darts in a British pub. They are much larger and weigh a couple of pounds. Again, over a short distance, about 10 metres, we all missed the target. More practice needed.
Then on by bus and a short (by previous standards) hike to the Kurjey Monastery (right) built in the 17th century and further added on to in the 20th century. This is one of Bhutan's most sacred pilgrimage sites. It is famous for containing a rock cave where Guru Rinpoche (the legendary 8th century reincarnation of Buddha) meditated leaving an imprint of his body. As you shall discover he spent an awful lot of his life meditating. It also serves as the final resting place for Bhutan's first three kings.
It contains three interconnecting temples. We visited two of them. It was Sunday and the monks were celebrating their Sunday Thanksgiving ritual. I snuck a couple of illegal photos.
Left: Sitting uncomfortably on the floor again.
Right: There was a constant murmur of monks chanting prayers. Interestingly the chief monk sitting on the chair led the prayers and chanted in a very weird low pitched growling voice. Apparently it takes a lot of practice to use your voice in this way. It sounded very eery and supernatural.
Left: The wall surrounding this compound had 108 small stupas/chortens on it. That magic number '108' again. You might just make them out of you enlarge this photo.
We had not yet had our fill of monasteries! As an afterthought we were taken to another, even older, but smaller, 15th century monastery nearby (which seemed devoid of monks) but contained some highly regarded and treasured murals painted by a famous artist in the 15th century (forgotten who). Unfortunately these wall paintings were very faded and peeling and apparently could not be restored.
That was it for the day. Phew, a long distance had been covered and so now to our hotel, outside Jakar, for supper and the night. This was the Mountain Resort Hotel complex (right) and it was again a very comfortable hostelry with impeccable service.
PS. Just a mention of the weather in these parts. It is very variable, as you might expect in mountainous terrain. It ranged from blue skies and moderately warm, to low cloud and hazy, to rain showers and quite chilly at altitude. There was also the frequent rumbling of thunder (that Thunder Dragon again) and occasional hail storms. The paths got quite muddy at times and we always carried a waterproof jacket. So far we had not experienced any prolonged bad weather.
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