After the adventures of climbing to the Tigers Nest Monastery, today was set to be a little easier on the feet. We drove up out of Paro and headed to the Chele La pass (actually La is pass in Dzongka the native language, so its like saying Chele pass pass).
Chele La pass
The pass sits at ~3820m and I point this out because the sign on top says otherwise, yet GPS and every other tool suggests otherwise. It’s a long drive up to the pass close to 36km of winding road. On the way up we saw the Kila nunnery clinging to the side of the mountain. It is an option to visit on a trek down, however we’d had enough long hilly walks for this trip. After the pass, we headed down into the Haa valley, with an Indian military base in it plus a lovely little town, with people who rarely see a tourist. The valley hasn’t been opened for tourists for that long, so it was a nice change of pace. The locals seemed curious yet clearly some were unsure as well. There is a large Indian community and school in the valley so lunch had a more Indian feel to it.
Haa Dzong
We headed back up and over the pass and back to Paro. I took on our guide Tenzin and driver Ganga in a game of Bhutanese archery and darts. Both games I missed the tiny target, but apparently I was quite good for a tourist, missing narrowly several times and not having any issue with using a bow.
I look like an archer, but don’t shoot like one!
So that brings to an end almost the trip to Bhutan, we have a half day tomorrow, before flying back to Bangkok, where I’ll stay for 4 nights and Noel is off to visit Africa.