Bhutan - Lindsay Brown [150]
Pema Bakery (Map; 521196) Next-door to the Druk Deothjung Hotel, this bakery serves bread and pastries, as well as a good range of imported goodies from Pringles to Coffee Mate.
TT Restaurant (Map; 521184) For a quick meal of rice, ema datse (chillies with cheese) and meat try this busy place, downstairs in the back of the Hotel Seldon.
Entertainment
The garden of the Druk Deothjung Hotel is a favourite place to savour a cold beer. If you prefer something more Bhutanese in flavour, try the Karmapa Restaurant and Bar (Map) but drink quickly, because the entire town starts to close at 8pm.
Shopping
The small handicrafts shop at the Druk Deothjung Hotel is your last place to load up on souvenirs.
The Rural Handicrafts Sales Centre (Map; 521150; 9am-1pm & 2-5pm, Mon-Fri) is a showroom for Khaling’s National Handloom Development Project, so is the place to pick up woven kiras, table runners and scarves, particularly if you can’t make it to the weaving centre in Khaling (Click here). Kiras aren’t cheap (Nu 4000 to 16,000) but bear in mind that an elaborate piece can take up to six months to weave.
Getting There & Away
From Trashigang it’s 281km to Bumthang, 349km to Trongsa and 551km to Thimphu.
The local jeep drivers that wait at the bus stand say that if you leave Trashigang at 3.30am, you can reach Thimphu at 8.30pm, a total of 17 hours’ gruelling driving.
There are daily local buses to Thimphu, Samdrup Jongkhar and Radhi, as well as less-frequent services to Mongar (Monday to Saturday), Trashi Yangtse (Wednesday and Saturday) and Phongme (Wednesday, Friday and Sunday). On many of these services the ‘bus’ is actually a converted truck, which provides a very bumpy and dusty ride.
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FAR EASTERN BHUTAN
The paved road east from Trashigang travels up the valley of the Gamri Chhu to Rangjung, and then continues as a dirt track to Radi and Phongme. This is the end of the line, as far east as you can go in Bhutan. If you’re short on time, you won’t miss much by skipping this route.
Trashigang to Rangjung
16km / 45 mins
The road descends from Trashigang, weaving in and out of side valleys to the banks of the Gamri Chhu at 820m. A side road crosses the river here and leads 19km uphill in great zigzagging gashes to the town and goemba at Bartsam. The Rangjung road stays on the south side of the river, passing through an area affected by flooding in 2005 (the chorten in the middle of the plain that protects against floods didn’t do a very good job…). Shortly afterwards is the village of Lungtenzampa.
After traversing fields for 6km, past the large Vocational Training Institute at Buna, the road crosses the small Kharti Chhu and makes a short climb to Rangjung at 1120m. Beyond the high school an elaborate chorten dominates the pleasant centre of town. The weekly vegetable market is sheltered by a huge mango tree. The new road layout for a planned expansion is in place just to the north of the village.
Above the town is the Rangjung Woesel Chholing Monastery, a large Nyingma goemba founded in 1990 by Garub Rinpoche. The main chapel has some impressive torma (sculptures of barley and butter), including one depicting the five senses, with eyeballs, earlobes, nostrils, a tongue and skin. The lower courtyard hosts cham dancing at the end of a 10-day drup (festival) in the 12th month.
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MIGOI – THE BHUTANESE YETI
Naturally, Bhutanese yetis have different characteristics from yetis found (or not found) in Tibet and other Himalayan regions. The Bhutanese name for a yeti is migoi (strong man) and they are believed to exist throughout northern and northeastern Bhutan, particularly in Sakten Wildlife Sanctuary.
The migoi is covered in hair that may be anything from reddish-brown to black, but its face is hairless, almost human. It is similar to the yetis of Nepal and Tibet in that the breasts of the female are large and sagging, and both sexes have an extremely unpleasant smell. But Bhutanese