Six Hours – 200k
East West Highway – Punakha to Trongsa
In England we may well have ‘four seasons in one day’, but this drive takes you through four climatic zones in one day! Add to that the excitement of the road conditions and what may appear to be set for long and tedious turns into a National Geographic experience.
The main route through Bhutan is the East West Highway. At times this resembled, well, little more than a farm track. It was an interesting day.
leaving Punakha and our guide Tenzin Sherpa, yes really, said we were taking a bit of a short cut before the Highway. This involved negotiating our way around cattle. Because of the Buddhist belief in preservation of life animals are not ‘hounded’ off the road in anyway. Even on the narrowest stretch, by the most precipitous drop a cow will continue to feed her calf and chew the cud, while the driver inches his bus past with the wheels somehow clinging on.
Cows appeased, the road continued, hugging the river side through sheer necessity of the valley being little wider than the river bed. Paddy fields continued for a while with a barely sustainable acreage cling on, with tiny houses. Life follows the highway and at any opportunity more than the size of a stamp, a house or shop is built to take advantage of what passing traffic there is. Satellites incongruously perched wherever best to get that all important signal.
Himalayan pines dominated the vista, but at times the rather too present threat of landslides was a touch distracting. Some of the almost shanty type houses house a permanent government paid workforce due to a continuing need to clear the road of debris. There is even a quarry with shops and houses to keep things ticking along.
Altitude increased, pines became thinner, air became colder and the road became, well a little more ‘exciting’. Though no matter how exposed I felt in a bus, there were some modes of transport I would happily have declined.
The high Himalayas, with their ever present snow, a reminder that we really were not very high at all, though we were almost at 3000m.
Air plants started to decorate the trees in the absence of prayer flags. The thinning trees looking monumental against the blue.
Pele La, the top of the pass, had a general store. At 3400m it must be one of the highest in the world. And, of course, a place to obtain the tourist dollar. Anyone who can bring goods up to that height and remote altitude deserves all they have. The public ‘facilities’ were en plain air, decorated with prayer flags.
The descent is quicker in a wide valley. Each valley has its own micro climate. Suddenly the tall trees disappeared giving way to scrub and grass. Small farms were dotted about with enclosures of root vegetables and small hump backed cattle wandering the grasslands.
Within an hour a river had appeared and tall trees infiltrated along its course. The sides of the valley closed in and the forest advanced to a thick impenetrable fortress. The road skirts the Black Mountain. An uninhabited area of deep, dark forest holding magical powers and demons. In truth one of the last habitations of tigers. The demons have at least kept this place pristine and a place of safety for these wonderful cats and it is now one of the many national parks of Bhutan. Even driving along the edge it has a mysterious aura. The valley becomes so narrow there is the feeling the two sides are trying to meet and push away the road. Tall trees rise above the canopy in strange and unusual shapes trying to out do each other in their prowess over the forest.
As the road steadfastly moves down the forest relinquishes its hold on nature and the cicadas announce the warm air of the lower valley floors. Trongsa is visible across a large valley fold. Tradition has it that travellers approaching Trongsa would signal at first sight, on arrival food would be ready. Our signal was by mobile phone.
Trongsa Dzong is huge and a visit was mandatory. All the local administrative facilities, including the court rooms are here and sit amicably amongst the monks. Though now being used to local dogs, cats and even goats wandering freely, the proximity of the Black Mountain means more unusual visitors, and monkeys are added to the list of those rubbing shoulders with Buddha.
200k, six hours and a different world.
More pictures here
