Day 6 Wangdue to Bumthang

About 55 Km from Wangdue we turned into a detour going south to visit Gantey Gompa which is located at the top of a hill overlooking the entire Phobjikha valley.  It is a Nyingma temple founded in 1613 by Gyalse Pema Thinly and the Goemba was built by Tenzing Legpai Dhendup.  It  is consisted of the central goemba and monk’s quarters, meditation centers, schools and a guest house.

The current abbot is Kunzang Pema Namgyal who is the minth reincarnation of Pema Lingpa.

The tsjpkhang (prayer hall) has eight large pillars built in Tibetan style.

If you come here on the 5th to 10th day of the 8th month of the lunar year you can see tsechu.

Nearby here is the border of Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park which is know for the large flock of black-necked cranes that come to this park for the winter. The early ones might arrive in September.  May be we will be lucky if we have the time and they arrive early.

Just north of Gangte Gompa there is the  Gangte Nature Trail which leads downhill from the mani stone wall north of the Goemba to Khewa Lhakhang.  It might be an interesting walk before going back to the car for the rest of the journey.

To break up the long ride we will be stopping at a yethra (textile weaving) factory, where the yethras are designed with patterns unique to Bumthang.  It might be a good place to buy some gifts for our friends at home.  How are we going to know what is the right price?  We will visit the factory to watch some of the weavers at their looms.

We do not have much information on the town Bumpthang.  I do not know what we can do if we arrive early.  I suppose we can always walk around or find an internet cafe to catch up on our communication with the outside world.

Day 7 (next day) seems to be a very busy day.  I wonder if we can visit some of the places today.