the valley of black-neck crane & patato

Today we drove to the Phobjikha valley, a journey of around three hours for the 80km over a pass of 3500m and then down to 2600m. The valley is famous for the black-neck crane that arrive in November to spend the winter here before heading to Tibet in spring. A festival is taking place when they arrive so the little village has quite a few accommodations. I get to stay again at the best one, called Dawachen, which means wisdom of true happiness. The night before I was staying at the Hotel with the name of heaven. So from Heaven to Happiness, no wonder I am so in a Hakuna matata mood all the time here in Bhutan. After lunch we took a quick walk up to a monastery, had a quick visit (we couldn’t visit it all since under renovation because of earthquake damage) and then went back to the hotel.
Tomorrow I’ll hike up another pass and drive around this beautiful valley. It is very remote, on the way here we crossed way more cows, dogs and horses on the street the cars. It is also the black mountain valley, the name coming from the dense forest on the top of the mountain. Btw, the amount, that goes to the government, is 65$ and not 200$ like written in the German tourist guide. At the moment tourist from India do not to buy this visa / entry fee per day and the Bhutanese are confronted with a increasing number of Indian tourist which often visit the country on a low bidget. They are afraid of over tourism.Read more