Today can rightly be named A day on the Wangdi-Trongsa Highway, as we met this east-west highway a little south of Punakha and thereafter it occupied most of the day before turning south into the Phobjikha Valley and our nights accomodation. To say that this was an interesting road would be an understatement. It winds its way along the steep sides of the valley of the Dang Chhu River, twisting in and out of creek valleys until the village of Nubding where it climbs away from the river heading towards Pele La pass at 3300 meters and then onto to Trongsa. The highway is a small part of what is known as the Lateral Road or PN1 which is the highway that crosses Bhutan on a roughly east-west line.

It was a facinating drive. We got good views of the steep valley and its many villages with their terraced fields for rice and/or vegetable. The forest had some interesting trees, a type of Cypress which is their national tree, large magnolia with their white flowers, and many many tall Rhododendrons. It was a very slow drive, while the surface was generally in good condition the turns were tight and never ending. I could not help myself but dream about what a great, but tiring, motorcycle ride this road would make.

Just before reaching Pele La Pass we made a right turn south onto a much more minor road and soon found ourselves at Lawala pass at 3200 meters where we stopped for a short break. Then descended into the Phobjikha Valley. To our surprise this was a quite wide valley with much more flat or gently sloping farming land than we have seen anywhere else on our travels in Bhutan. It seems that this is the biggest farming area in Bhutan and specializes in potatoes much of which is exported to India.

The valley is also famous as a wintering place for the Black Necked Cranes, they fly in around November after their summer breeding in Tibet.

We stayed the night at Dewachen Resort and Spa, a newish stone building with elaborate traditional Bhutanese decorations even down to the very interesting rain "down-pipes". It is well situated approx 200 meters elevation up the valley side giving great views of the valley.