Election Day

 

Me in my "buddy helmet"

After the picnic

Great day

     Today was the election for National Council.  There will be 2 more elections, one in June and one later.  So everything is closed. Towns are like ghost towns and there is very little traffic, except for tourists.   

     Dave and I decided to go to Chelela pass, the 3,988 metre high pass between Paro and Ha.  We went on his motorcycle.  A 180 cc Bajaj dirt bike.  I really was not sure how that would be, but one never travels any faster than 35 km per hour so it was more than pleasant.  I loved it. The views were spectacular although it was a cloudy day.  Unfortunately we did not have any views of Jomlohari.  The road is a little road that winds up through changing forests and soil.  The soil starts as bright red clay and changes colour.  At the top it is black. The road reminded me a bit of the Idaho Peak road, except well surfaced all of the way.
     At the pass there was a group of men from India taking pictures and we became the focal point - perhaps it was the bike.  We were not carrying cameras so the photos were taken on my tiny cell phone.    We wandered to the prayer flags and were invited to what appeared to be a Bhutanese picnic.  It was in fact a group from the Paro College of Teacher education.  One of the lecturers had lost his father or grandfather and a group of his students were there to erect 80 to 90 prayer flags.  They fed us lunch and tried to feed us ara and beer.  

Posing with and for the tourists from India, my Bhutan socks from Aunt Linda as mitts 

     
  We ended up checking back into the Gangtey Palace as we were tired and did not want to travel.  Walked through Paro thinking of eating a cheaper supper, but everything was closed.  We went out after dinner for some evening photos.

Dzong at night