After breakfast, we drove along a scenic valley to the Punakha Dzong Fortress. It was the second dzong built by the founder of Bhutan back in the 16th century, and one of the most impressive in Bhutan. One of the buildings houses a relic of the Buddha,a piece of backbone of the ancient founder. At the temple, we were able to sit in while the monks were chanting.
Ten of the thirteen of us were dropped at the river Mo Chu for our rafting trip. As we drove along the river, it seemed pretty tame, so we decided to decline the optional wet weather gear and just go with life jackets and helmets. Turned out to be a bad move. It was only a class one or two river, but we still all got soaked. But we laughed all the way down. It was great fun. We're hoping to find another rafting trip in Nepal. When we met up with our van at the end of the ride, we had to have our bags unloaded so we could all change. We couldn't very well ride the four hours back to Paro soaking wet.
The ride back to Paro seemed shorter than going (maybe it seemed that way because I was able to doze off a bit), and Augie went with the truck that was carrying our bags so he could pick up another geocache. We reached our hotel, the Khangku Resort, around 6:00 pm. Our rooms are huge and have a spectacular view of the airport.
Tomorrow we get to visit the highlight of Bhutan, the Tiger's Nest. If you've ever seen pictures of Bhutan, this is probably what you've seen.
I am most intrigued by your narrative & the photos. I never imagined Bhutan to be what you are showing me. Keep it up looking forward to each post.
ReplyDeleteKhangku is a nice hotel. I have stayed there a couple of times. Did you notice that there were no runway lights at the airport. Hahaha. Probably one of the in the world with no ligjts!
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