Sunday to Chamkar

 This  morning I really did NOt want to leave this beautiful valley to go to Chamkar. It was nice out and had not rained in the night. There were patches of blue sky above the mountains at the head of the valley on my morning walk. I was much more interested in a long walk up the valley, than a bumpy ride to town. 

However, that was the plan and a teacher and her husband had put aside the day to take us. I felt a bit better because we had hiked up the hill behind the guest house to the prayer flags yesterday afternoon. We walked along the "plain" on the top of the ridge, more like a meadow that had been cleared for grazing cows, and came down behind the Rimochen Lakhang down the road from here. The views were stunning. Later that evening we were treated to Bhutanese movie at the multi-purpose hall. Will all of the students and most of the villagers.  A romantic comedy we were told. Shakespeare and the Greeks could have learned a lot about tragedy from the Bhutanese.

So the adventure to town started fairly calmly. I noticed hos dry the roads were, with no rain for about 30 hours. In town we were served momos and did a bit of shopping before going to the Dzong.  It was "closed" for Sunday, meaning all of the government offences were closed. There were 2 young officers on duty and Sonam (Rinchen's husband) knows everyone so we were invited to go down to see the underground water source they were checking on. There was a sort of walled space with staircase after steep staircase winding down the back of the very steep hill the Dzongkha is perched on.  After many steps we went into a tower like building down a half dozen sets of stairs. Fortunately, these had been renovated and were no longer the steps cut out of logs pictured below.  It was a great adventure, with no power and only one cellphone to light our way, bats and slimy steps. I loved it. 

Later while we were having lunch a violent thunderstorm rolled through the valley.  A real Bhutanese storm.  On the drive home there was a tree across the road that had to be removed. Evidence of a lot of wind, with many trees down and the creeks and rivers were running very brown, with several areas of flooding, including one corner of the road. 

Just when things felt calm and the routine felt like a routine, everything changes.  We returned to beautiful blue skies here in the Tang valley, and I will now go for a walk albeit not all the way to the end of the valley.