Over the Lawala Pass to Gangtey

Punakha, Bhutan - Sunday May 12th

Happy Mothers' Day to all the mothers back there in Australia !!

Even though I have described Bhutan as a veritable Shangri La in the Himalayas there is one aspect of its way of life that is less than perfect. Because of their great resepect for all livining things there is a huge population of wandering dogs that hang around all the places where people live. These dogs do not belong to anyone in particular but are obviously used to being fed by those nearby. During the daytime they mostly lie in the sun sleeping peacefully and it is not uncommon to see a dozen or more just dozing together. They are certainly not wild or aggressive, on the contrary they seem as gentle as the people that feed them. Sometimes they will cotton onto us and follow us along on our bikes, probably hoping that we will give them something to eat.

In Australia the problem would be tackled by rounding them all up and probably destroying them. That would of course never happen here so they go on breeding exponentially. It is only after dark that this sleepy mass of dogs decide to all wake up and start up a nocturnal chorus of biblical proportions. In this town in particular you are serenaded by dozens of dogs all joining in some sort of Himalayan wailing and whining. Each dog seems to know its part and they all play their own part with incredible vigor. What a caucophony !!!! No wonder some books recommend bringing along ear plugs for sleeping. Of course, apart from the dogs, the nights are blissfully peaceful. While I am writing this another huge chorus of dogs has just begun a short distance from this hotel. It will continue for several minutes and then just as suddenly they all stop at the same instant. Weird.

Today we leave Punakha and head back up into the mountains. Within a few hours we will be back up at 3400 metres and a completely different climate. Down here it is much warmer and more humid, that's why it is used as the winter capital. When we are back up over 3000 metres we can say goodbye to the humidity and of course it will be much cooler. As far as the weather we have experienced so far, it has been very comfortable. I suspect that the max temperature during the day would be mid 20s, although the sun does have a strong burn factor in the thin air. At night it is probably about 15C. I have had no need for the thermals that I brought all the way from Australia with me.

Last night we had a birthday party for Gonny Rundell (one of our riders). We even managed to get a beautiful chocolate birthday cake for her. I suspect it will be birthday she will long remember.

Once we leave Punakha we will have no access to the Internet for several days. so this will be my final update until we get back to Paro.Read more