We are going to Bumthang

Previous page - Trongsa Museum and Dzong

 

Breakfast at Puenzhi Hotel

When Jeremy woke up he said he didn’t feel like eating breakfast as he was almost a bit queasy. He is not a breakfast person at the best of times so we left him in bed for a few more minutes and Ian and I headed off to breakfast at 6:30 a.m. Kinga wanted quite an early start today so we wanted to be in the restaurant nice and early to eat. As it was, we were so early there was no one else there at all. Instead of the breakfast food being in the bain marie’s it was brought to our table.

We stared at the fruit bowl on our table wondering what on earth the brown fruit were with the hazy greyish appearance. The passion fruit (laying on top) were quickly identifiable but the grey fruit had us puzzled. When we moved the passion fruit away from the unknowns we realized the unknowns actually were bananas. They were a slightly different shape to those we are accustomed to but they looked totally inedible. They were so ripe they were in fact grey and not brown. We had an interesting and filling breakfast. Before we left we buttered some toast and spread it with a thick cream cheese and wrapped it up for Jeremy in case he got a bit peckish later on. It occurred to us later that maybe Bhutanese people prefer bananas to be very ripe.

 

Dorje’s sparkling clean car

At 7:15 a.m. we clambered into Dorje’s car. He always manages to have it lovely and clean inside and out plus he always has it parked in such a position that it is facing in the correct direction and is immediately ready to go and not blocked in by numerous other tour cars. If it was a hot day we always found he had parked the car in the shade for us. It’s this attention to detail that impresses us with Lhomen Tours. That, plus we have Kinga, the most wonderful guide as well.

 

Heading to Bumthang

We are off early as we have a fair bit of driving to do today. On our way to Bumthang we stopped at a couple of passes but none was as spectacular as Dochula Pass. Kinga told us that Bumthang is a town that has been devastated by fire several times. It is still now in the throes of being re-built from the last big fire in 2010 which killed two people and left 267 people homeless. We could see construction work going on everywhere. We had some post cards needing to be sent so Kinga helped us find a post office. We eventually found it but it was closed –due to a festival at Tamshing Monastery! Kinga took us to a little shop where we paid the lady for some stamps and she promised to post the post cards for us as soon as the post office re-opened. Jeremy bought a little book about Bhutan whilst we were in the shop............Added later: the postcards finally reached the recipients 3 months after they were sent.

 

Tamshingphala Choepa Festival

We headed off to see another festival. We managed to procure quite a good vantage point standing on some wooden steps that went up to the commentator’s area. Well, it was a good spot until a Canadian couple decided to push in with their big camera and tripod.  An American lady approached Kinga and asked him where on earth he obtained his badge of the Royal Couple as she had been searching for one for a while. Kinga simply undid his badge and handed it to her as a gift. What a kind person he is.

 

Me Fam Restaurant

For lunch we were taken to the Me Fam Restaurant. It was fairly quiet there and we spotted the Englishman who we’d spoken to briefly at the Trongsa Museum Restaurant the day before.

We came across an Australian couple who weren’t eating much. The wife said they had both suffered tummy problems so they were only eating boiled rice for the time being. What a pity as we thought the food served was some of the best we’d had in Bhutan. Part of the meal was a large potato rosti which was delicious. This restaurant actually gave us sensible sized quantities of food.  Everywhere else we have been given enormous quantities that mostly don’t get finished. I suppose I shouldn’t complain should I?

 

Next page - Kujua Monastery and the Beer Factory

 

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