Wangchu

     After clubs on Wednesday I took a ride with another teacher to Wangchu, the village at the powerhouse in the valley bottom.  I had seen the village from aboe (dam view) and thought it was a bit of an industrial, planned town.  Although it is a planned town, eerything feels so different.  It is 14 kilometers down a windy road that takes you down the mountian.  You can actually see it from above Tshimilaka.  It is green, lush and the river is beautiful  No fog.  No leeches.  Warm.  Dave from Pakshika brought supper from the Dantak (Indian road building) canteen.  We had a picnic of dosa and samosa. There is also a temple (Lakhang) that was built recetntly on the site of an ancient dzong.  I had been asking about the ruin site, as I found the coolest book  An account with multiple drawings and painting of an expedition into Bhutan in 1783.. In this book there are drawings of the dzong at Chukha and one of the four iron bridges built by a Tibetan monk in the 1700's. One of the bridges is/was around here.  Although none of the bridges are intact, sections of each one are being used elsewhere.  The drawings look as though the iron bridges were made of chain-mail. 

    Update - my new quarter was handed over and the students were supposed to help me clean it today so that I could move in tomorrow, but no one can get their hands on a key yet:)