When we got up the toilet tent was on its side, but we were grateful to our crew for coming to our aid in the thick of the storm to make sure our tents were secure. We packed and set off at 5 AM to drive slowly down the mountains to the plain of India. We are seeing different birds at these new elevations. After four hours of birding, we stopped at a colorful Dzong for breakfast.
Black Drongo
Breakfast!
Suddenly we were out of the mountains and on flat agricultural land, and soon in the small border city of Gelephu. We checked into the Hotel Kuku at 11 AM and climbed up two flights of stairs to our large, but pretty basic, room. 
The Hotel Kuku
The shower is in the middle of the bathroom with the toilet at one end and a sink at the other - there is no way to take a shower without the entire room filling with water!! A bizarre design, but it did allow me to clean up and change clothes. 
Mountains of Chilis!,
Tools, and 
Herbs and Dyes
After an Indian lunch downstairs, David A., Nancy, Ben, and I walked a few blocks to the weekend market. We saw piles of veggies, huge bags of chilis, all sorts of melons and squashes - almost everyone typically selling the same thing! At one end of the market we found some tools for sale and some beautiful spices and herbs. We left the market and walked along the streets checking out shoe stores, fabric stores, etc. Everyone was very friendly and didn't object to us taking pictures,but often thanked us!!
I returned to our room, Bob braved the shower, and we joined the others at 4 PM for a ride to the river that flows through town in order to see some shorebirds. The river had been bulldozed in order to channelize the river for the upcoming monsoon, so we didn't see much and returned back to the Kuku for dinner and bed.
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