Bhutan, Land of the Thunder Dragon

In honour of his father’s 70th birthday the king declared a 4 day national holiday. Did not get to the museum as it was closed but did get a good look around the massive Trongsa Dzong.

Founded in 1647 it is the largest dzong in Bhutan. It once stood as the seat of power in central and eastern Bhutan ruled by the Wangchuck dynasty. When Bhutan was unified in 1907 it became the administrative centre for the Trongsa district. The heir apparent to the throne is given the title of Penlop (governor) of Trongsa before ascending to the throne – kind of like the Prince of Wales I guess.

We have seen a number of dzongs so far but they never get boring.

I was zonked post-dzong so had a snooze on the bus on the way up to Yutong La pass – I contemplated spending the day there – the bus not the pass. We pulled over to unload the bikes about 500 m from the top where there were toilets so I grabbed my bike and went ahead of the others. This was the hardest stretch of riding on the trip so far – at 3425m with a still stuffy head.

My reward was the best descent of the trip! Roads were good wth not so many hairpin turns to start.

There were lots of evergreen trees, sawmills and landslides.

At a textile shop stop it was natural dyed wool and some antique-y stuff.

I scored my treasure of the trip: a printing block for prayer flags!

We had to go up again before we went down for the day so a quick stupa stop.

It got cold and twisty towards the end of the ride – was very happy to make it to the hotel in Jakar! …at 2580m

Distance: 39.42 km

Elevation gain: 287m

Elevation descent: -845m

Calories: 1239