The mountains in the rain are misty, and cool, but generally make for gray pictures. After breakfast we left Thimphu to a 3 hour drive to the first capital of Bhutan, Punakha. Since Bhutan has been quite isolated, roads between cities are usually rough and few. However, Bhutan was isolated for so long, infrastructure is not yet caught up with the 21st century. While this adds to the charm, it does make travel a little more difficult. While the road between Paro and Thimphu has been newly constructed, generally roads between cities in Bhutan are windy, bumpy, dusty, mountainous roads which few are paved. However, Bhutan working on widening and paving their roads between cities, but for now we get the worst of both worlds. Bumpy, mostly unpaved, twisty, mountain roads with constant construction going on.

While bumpy, the countryside was beautiful, and we did get some snow as we went over the 10,000 foot Dolchula pass. Normally you can see the distant Himalayan peaks, but with the bad weather, visibility was limited. We stopped at a tea house for a break, but we were finally happy when we arrived to our hotel.

We were staying at the Dragon’s Nest Resort, in Wangdue Phodrang, which is about 20 minutes from Punakha. The grounds were very nice, and the room was good for the region we were in. Actually it was better than we anticipated, and it gave us a nice view of the river from outside our room.

After lunch at the hotel we drove into Punakha to see the very impressive Punakha Dzong. Officially called the Pungtang Dechen Photrang Dzong (or palace of great happiness) was constructed in the 1600s and was the seat of the Government of Bhutan until 1955, when the capital was moved to Thimphu. There are many dzongs which dot the countryside of Bhutan, and they were essentially fortresses of the various lords of the different regions across the country, before it was unified in 1906. Today, the Punakha Dzong holds many relics of a specific sect of Tibetan Buddhism and was the location of the coronation of the current King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck.

We were dropped off a ways from the Dzong to enjoy a hike, which included crossing a long swinging bridge across the Pho Chhu river (it was a lot of fun). The bridge is used by locals to easily cross the river. The walk was pleasant, although the weather was misty and rainy. The dzong was large, impressive, and interesting to walk through.

After the visit, we returned to the hotel to unwind and have dinner.

Tomorrow, we will visit some of the main sites in the Punakha area, and Michael will go rafting down the Mo Chhu (mother) River.