We slept very comfortably in our king-size bed and joined the others at Aum Leki's restaurant for a grand breakfast of buckwheat pancakes, crepes with local jam, and baked potatoes
stuffed with tomatoes and cheese and tied with a strand of green onion. Quite something!
Our bus took off at 7 and we drove out of town through farm land and forest. A by-pass road has been built that runs along the valley floor but we took the old highway (a wide one-lane road) that winds through the mountains above the valleys. The day started out clear but somewhat hazy. We still haven't had a good view of of the Himalayas or even the nearby hills - we would certainly call them mountains, but Bhutanese only name something a mountain when it has a permanent glacier on it!
By ten it clouded in but we managed to spot some birds and some interesting flowers. At one point a Monal Pheasant walked along the road and we all got good view of this blue iridescent
bird. As we drove higher, beautiful rhododendrons once again appeared providing flashes of red in the dark green forest. (After seeing all the dead and dying trees suffering from the California drought, it's a pleasure to see such a healthy forest!)
We caught up with our crew who had our table set up on the side of the road and served us a delicious pizza for lunch! (Along with, of course, rice, several veggies, soup, and cabbage with meat - one could really gain weight on this trip if one were not careful!)
We drove over Thrumshing La (pass) at 11,000' and entered eastern Bhutan. It started to rain as we descended into a valley and the village of Sengor. We drove through it and came upon our crew who had set up our tents. By some miracle a restaurant has suddenly appeared at our campsite since last year. The person in charge let us use the semi-finished dining room - pretty bare except for tables, chairs and a warm pot-bellied stove all fired up! It stared to pour and thank God we didn't have to spend the next several hours in a cold damp tent! '
We had cookies and tea and chatted until 6:30 when our crew produced spaghetti and other dishes which they were able to cook in the unused kitchen rather then squatting by a camp stove! I had a rum and coke and Bob had beer. By the time we picked our way through the mud to our tents, it was clear. Maybe we'll have better weather tomorrow!!
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