Bhutan - Lindsay Brown [145]
Dolma Hotel (Map; 641508; d Nu 500) A clean and modern place in a shopping plaza, with a balcony and private bathrooms.
There are numerous small local-style hotels in Mongar because the Trashigang–Thimphu bus stops here on the first night of its three-day journey. The only place occasionally used by foreigners is the overpriced Druk Kuenden Guest House (Map; 641240; r Nu 400-900), though there’s also the Hotel Tashiling (Map; 641207) and Samling Hotel (Map; 641111), both with rooms from Nu 250 to 350.
Eating
Almost everyone eats in their hotel. Both the Druk Kuenden Guest House ( 641127) and the Samling Hotel ( 641111) have cosy lodge-style restaurants, as does the nearby Hotel Newlee (Map; 621240). The Phuensom Bakery (Map; 641143) is the place to load up for the following day’s picnic lunch. The entire town closes by 8pm.
Getting There & Away
Buses run daily to Trashigang (6am) and Lhuentse (1pm), and on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday to Thimphu (two days, 6am) and Samdrup Jongkhar (6.30am).
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LHUENTSE DZONGKHAG
Formerly known as Kurtoe, the isolated district of Lhuentse is the ancestral home of Bhutan’s royal family. Although geographically in the east, it was culturally identified with central Bhutan, and the high route over Rodang La was a major trade route until the road to Mongar was completed. Many Lhuentse women have looms at home and Khoma is especially famous for its kushuthara (brocade) weaving.
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MONGAR TO LHUENTSE (76KM)
Lhuentse is 63km from the junction at Gangola and a three-hour drive from Mongar. It’s a dramatic trip, frequently taking you alongside cliffs high above the river valley, but it’s a comfortable ride if there have not been any recent landslides.
Mongar to Autsho
38km / 1¼ hours
It is 12km down the hill from Mongar to the junction of the Lhuentse road at Gangola (1110m). The Lhuentse road winds around the hill to Chali and passes the few houses of Palangphu and then the new suspension bridge to Banjor village (the previous bridge further upstream was washed away when a glacial lake burst, sending floodwaters surging down the valley). The road descends through an unstable slide area to the banks of the Kuri Chhu and the two shops that make up the village of Rewan. Passing a large Tibetan-style brick chorten surrounded by 108 smaller chortens, the road reaches the extensive cornfields and impressive riverside location of Autsho (920m). Near the river you may be able to spot rhesus monkeys playing on stones, and black cormorants looking for fish.
Autsho to Tangmachu
26km / 1 hour
The road passes towering cliffs, half hidden in the mist, en route to Fawan. The road switchbacks 100m above the river to the scruffy roadside settlement of Gorgan opposite the large valley of the Noyurgang Chhu, which enters from the west. Near this part of the road, in Umling, are said to be the remains of an ancient underground stone castle built by Bangtsho Gyalpo in about 1500 BC.
After a while the Kuri Chhu valley begins to widen. Beyond a large white chorten the road crosses to the west bank of the river on a suspension bridge. On the hillside high above the bridge locals are building a 41m-high statue of Guru Rinpoche, above the improbably located settlement of Tangmachu (known locally as Darkila). The statue will be one of the world’s tallest and will cost 100 million ngultrum. A rough unpaved road leads 10km up to the village and high school, 600m above the road, but the road is often impassable if it’s been raining.
Tangmachu to Lhuentse
13km / 30 mins
The road traverses the foot of the Tangmachu valley for about 6km, passing a road construction camp and a hydrology station at Sumpa. Rounding