From Gangtey to Punakha

Yesterday Lenny and I made miniature stupas out of clay as an Aman activity.  You are supposed to put these in a lucky spot, often in memory of a recently departed person.  So today when the minivan climbed out of the valley and stopped at the 10,000 foot mountain pass that was the high point of our trip, we placed our stupas alongside many others.  I declared that one of ours was in memory of Steve Jobs, since I believe he was a Buddhist, and the other in memory of our friend Judy who passed away recently.  I think Judy would be amused to be keeping company with Steve on a high pass in Bhutan overlooking a spectacular valley. 

We traveled back through the same treacherous road we had travelled before.  I was very happy to get this part of the trip behind us.  It is hard to believe that they could build a road hugging the side of the mountain as they did, and to see two trucks pass each other is almost heart stopping. 

Aman Punakha has a unusual entrance.  You park on one side of the river, then walk over a narrow, swinging bridge.  Golf-cart-like vehicles wait at the other side to take you quite a bit further to the lodge.  There is no other road to the lodge!  We kept wondering how they could possibly provision this place.  Everything has to come over the swinging bridge on somebody’s back?  All the food?  Shampoo?  What about the washing machine?  Perhaps they have a barge for that stuff?  We never figured it out.  But it makes for a unique setting.

The lodge here is designed around a 50-year-old farmhouse which has been renovated into the central area.  The rooms are identical to those at Paro.  We ate a delicious lunch in the central court, outside, with a lovely view down the river valley.

The guests at the Amans are from all over.  We have met Germans, an Austrian who lives in Bangkok, some Brits who live in Singapore, some Americans who live in London, two Spaniards from Madrid, and our Canadian every-other-day friend, Jeff.  In the smaller lodges, like here and Gangtey, the meal seating is communal, which is a nice way to get to meet the other travelers and compare notes.   Then we see each other around the same tourist spots, calling out “hola”, or “guten tag” as appropriate.

After lunch, we went on a hike up to a very fancy stupa/temple complex.  We had to cross another swinging bridge to start the hike.  They often pick high spots for these temples, so again this was a trudge uphill.  Fortunately we are now at a much lower elevation, which made it a bit easier.  My favorite thing about this hike is that it was through the rice paddies.  The paddies are just being harvested now, so some sections are dried and yellow, whereas others are vibrant green, creating a patchwork pattern of multiple shades of colors along the hillsides and in the valley.  We were able to climb to the very top of the stupa, which had an extraordinary view down the river valley, full of rice paddies and small villages, with mountains behind in every direction.  It certainly is a beautiful spot.

We’ve heard that our internet connection will not be great here, so we may not be able to post many photos until we are back in Paro in a few days.

-- Donna