A Hike Through the Phobjika Valley

 Life in the country.

 Karma, the injured black-necked crane.

 The valley floor.

 Saturday, a monk's day off.

 The money temple, where people walk around, clockwise, hoping for cures to financial woes.

 Pre-electricity, people cooked and heated with wood inside, hence the blackened roof.

 Gangtey Temple inside the monastery.

 The façade above the entrance.

 Other decorations on the temple.

 Our picnic.

 Walking back through the forest...

 and across the valley.

The monastery built by the Queen Mother.

Me and Chimi, our incredible guide.

Saturday, April 21^st.

Happy Birthday Daniel!

I woke up early and had breakfast before everyone else. There was muesli! I had that and a fried egg on toast.

When everyone was ready at 9:00 Chimi led us on our hike through the valley. Gangtey is a stunning area of Bhutan surrounded by the Black Mountain range and the glacial Phobjika Valley. This valley is one of the last regions in Bhutan to get electricity and all that goes with it, TV and the internet. As a result, the villagers continue to live a traditional Bhutanese rural lifestyle. This area is also one of the sites where black-necked cranes visit in their hundreds in November each year after spending the summer in Tibet. There is a black-necked crane information centre here which we visited and they had a crane there named Karma, which has a damaged wing that they think was caused by a feral dog.

Then we hiked up a hill, which is difficult at 3000m, and visited Gangtey Gompa, which is one of Bhutan’s oldest temples and monasteries which has recently been extensively renovated. The temple was beautiful from the outside, but, as it was Saturday, it was closed and we could not go inside. The monastery houses 70 young monks who live and study here. The Gangtey Monastery is an important centre for the Nyingma branch of Buddhism, the oldest form of Tibetan Buddhism based on the very first translations of Buddha's teachings from Sanskrit into Old Tibetan in the 8th Century CE - interestingly, written Tibetan was created specifically for this purpose! The monastery is also the site of the remarkable migration of black-necked cranes, which arrive from Tibet to roost during October before returning in early spring - on their arrival and return they are commonly observed to circle the monastery three times. Their arrival is marked with a special festival at the monastery.

When we left the monastery, we walked a short distance where we met Sherba, who had brought us a picnic lunch in our van. We ate amidst a few dried cow paddies and surrounded by a couple of dogs and numerous crows looking for scraps and leftovers.

Then we began our back to the hotel via the Gangtey Nature Trail. This was a path through the forest back down to the valley floor. It was wonderful to be walking in a forest with virtually no noise except the wind in the trees. Eventually we crossed the valley and bog area that the cranes love and up the other side to the hotel. When we got there, I had a cup of tea with Chimi and had her help me with a few details for my blog.

I went back to the room and finally got all caught up with the blog. We met up for dinner at 7:00 and then headed off to bed as we have an early start tomorrow. I Skyped my son on his birthday.