Who-oah, We're Half Way There

Trongsa is about halfway between Paro (where I arrived) and Tashigang (which is as far east as we will be traveling). Because of this more-or-less middle location, it has historically been a very important place. It is the divide between the two halves of the country. From here, one could be close to every part of the country at once, making it an optimal place to rule from, and a key location to control.

Today we started with a walk around Trongsa Dzong. There were monkeys. Yes, monkeys. Monkeys performing feats that would shame Altair, Faith, . Rooftop-to-rooftop jumps, sliding down pipes, moving sideways along windowsills and jumping from one to the other, all of it.

After being stunned by the monkeys we headed out of the dzong to begin our trek of the day. Remember how I said to get to Trongsa you have to travel aaaaaaaaaalllllll the way around a bunch of mountains? Well, we were going to say to hell with that and walk all the way down to the bottom of the valley, and then all the way back up, thereby eliminating the need for the ridiculous detour. Of course, our driver would still have to drive the car to pick us up. So really nothing would be saved.

It was hard. It took three hours. Two of those hours were going uphill. It was sunny. There was little shade.

After our hike, we headed... where else? Back to Trongsa for lunch. I cursed the foolish road and all of its twists and turns for taking so long to get us back to the city. Or at least, I would have, if I had had enough energy to do so. As it was, I kinda just sat in the car, feeling the breeze on my face, and feeling content with just sitting down.

Once we were fed and rested, we checked out the Ta Dzong, which is a watchtower that I guess if we're keeping the whole Minas Tirith thing, would be like the place that the guy jumped off of when he was on fire, right up at the top.

The day before, Tashi had told me he brought a few cds with him, which he had put in the glove box this morning. Since we were heading out for out next destination and had a long bit of driving ahead of us, I busted them out to find Cross Road by Bon Jovi sitting on top. Without hesitation, I put it into the cd player.

And so, with Livin' on a Prayer providing the soundtrack, we left Trongsa and headed for Bumthang valley.

The drive was spectacular, as all drives here are, and we reached Bumthang around 5:30. Our hotel here, while substantially bigger, more aesthetically pleasing, and with a balcony, has continued the trend of decreasing amenities. This one has a wood-burning furnace in the room. Overall though, I would say it's an improvement over the last place. Not that I'm too picky about hotels. I mean, as long as I have a lock on the door, a bathroom of some kind, and no bed bugs, I'm good. But this place has a nice kind of country retreat feel to it. And it's got an amazing view of the surrounding valley.

As I was sitting having dinner a little while ago, the owner came over and started talking to me about the standard stuff: where I was from, if this was my first time to Bhutan, how I liked it, etc. Then he told me I was very handsome, and asked me how old I was, while glancing over at the girls in the corner. When I told him I was twenty, he responded by shaking his head and saying, "oh, too young." He then turned his head to the two girls and said something in Dzongkha, of which the only word I caught was "twenty." He then explained that one of the girls was his daughter, but that I was too young for her, and it was a shame. Welcome to my life.