Bhutan - Lindsay Brown [148]
Drametse Goemba
Drametse is the biggest and most important monastery in eastern Bhutan. It’s an 18km, hour-long detour on a dirt track off the main road, gaining 1350m, and you’ll need a 4WD vehicle if it’s been raining.
There are about 60 gomchen (lay or married Nyingma monks) at Drametse. The monastery was founded in 1511 by the great-granddaughter of Pema Lingpa, Ani Chhoeten Zangmo, and her husband, Yeshe Gyalpo, in a place she named Drametse, which means ‘the peak where there is no enemy’.
The monastery is famous as the home of the Nga Cham drum dance that features in many tsechus and which was proclaimed a masterpiece of oral and intangible heritage by Unesco in 2005.
The murals of the guardian kings in the entryway were painted in the 1950s and repainted in 1982. In the main chapel, to the right of a central Guru Rinpoche, is the gold chorten of Chhoeten Zangmo, next to a statue of her great-grandfather.
The middle floor has chapels dedicated to the protectors Palden Lhamo (Sri Devi) and the ‘horse-necked’ Tamdrin (Hayagriva). The upstairs Goenkhang Chenmo (Great Protector Chapel) is jam-packed with weapons, a stuffed lynx, a dead flying fox (that looks like it’s been blown up with a foot pump), lots of arrows and the three local protector deities of Gyelpo, Drametse and Tsong Tsoma. Make an offering and you’ll be blessed with a sacred thread. The next-door Tseringma Lhakhang houses the black hats used in the annual tsechu in September/October (Click here), as well as five versions of Tseringma, all riding different mythological beasts. Finally the Kanjur Lhakhang houses a box of sacred relics, including bowls and drilbu (Tantric bells).
This is wonderful potato-growing country. In the autumn there are huge piles of potatoes waiting for trucks to carry them down to the market for eventual sale in India and Bangladesh. In the distance to the southeast you can see the college at Kanglung (Click here).
Thungdari to Chazam
11km / 30 mins
Back down on the main road you’ll catch glimpses of Trashigang Dzong high above the south bank of the Drangme Chhu. Much of the hillside beside the road is made up of loose alluvial deposits. Boulders embedded in the sand often break loose during rainstorms and fall onto the road, causing delays while road crews scramble to remove them.
After passing a PWD camp at Rolong, the road reaches a new 90m-long bridge at Chazam (710m). This place was named after the original chain-link bridge here, said to have been built by the Tibetan bridge builder Thangtong Gyalpo (boxed text) in the 15th century (cha means ‘iron’, zam means ‘bridge’). The large building that formed the abutment of the old bridge has been partially restored and can be seen a short distance upstream of the new bridge. Look for the ruins of watchtowers on the ridge above the old bridge.
Chazam to Trashigang
9km / 15 mins
On the south side of the bridge is an immigration checkpoint where police inspect your travel permit. The road north from here follows the Kulong Chhu valley and then climbs to Trashi Yangtse.
The road switchbacks up through cornfields towards Trashigang, passing a turn-off that leads down to the small settlement of Chenary. The Druk Seed Corporation here produces seeds for subtropical fruit.
At the top of the hill is a collection of motor workshops and a road junction. The road to southern Bhutan leads to the right. The left fork leads to Trashigang, 3km away. Go round a bend where there’s a good view of Trashigang Dzong, then follow the road into Trashigang, which is well hidden in a wooded valley.
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TRASHIGANG
04 / elev 1070m
Trashigang is one of Bhutan’s more interesting