David called out "Wakey Wakey!!" at 4:30 this morning and we gradually emerged for coffee and cookies. Our crew loaded our luggage on the luggage van which had magically appeared during the night, the driver having found the only available part in Bhutan that he needed! 
The Shemgang Dzong
We took off and passed through Shemgang which has a very beautiful Dzong (monastery) and views of snow-capped mountains
The Dzong in the distance
The day started out quite cool, but when the sun rose it quickly became very warm. David said that tourists wearing shorts wasn't improper, so I unzipped the lower part of my long trousers and felt cooler in my shorts. We had breakfast by a lane of prayer flags and a small goemba (self-contained monastery). 
We continued birding on a road that overlooks a deep valley and the Mangde Chhu (Mangde river), until we finally got to our crew who had set up for lunch in a shady corner in the road. We sat there for a couple of hours to relax as the birding was quiet at that time of day.
Wangdi drove us down and down to about 2000' elevation; the vegetation was dry deciduous with Kapok trees that had dropped their capsules of soft fine fiber all over the ground. 
Kapok fiber
We got to our campsite at 5 PM on a turnout on the road which has quite a few large trucks bringing goods and construction material from India. I was feeling pretty hot and grubby and found that a shower tent had been set up! I entered the 4 x 4" stand-up tent which had a small stool to put your clothes on, a plastic bath mat to stand on and a large bucket of warm water with a dipper in it. It was a little bizarre to be standing there pouring water all over myself and hear large trucks lumbering by right next to me!
I felt much better, though, until a termite plume appeared and those of us outside our tents found termites crawling all over us and inside our clothes. Fortunately, termites don't bite, but still having insects inside your clothes is a bit uncomfortable! They had lessened by the time we sat down for dinner at 7:30 - the crew had set up the dining table inside a tent covering, but kindly carried the table out side so we could dine in the cooler air and attract fewer insects. We were served a great platters of delicious deep-fried flat bread covered with sesame seeds, in addition to other goodies.
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