Dochu-La

A couple of weekends ago, Emily and I went with a group from RTC to Dochu-La, which is a high mountain pass that separates the dzongkhags [districts] of Thimphu and Punakha. When it is clear, Dochu-La offers a commanding view of the high Himalayas, including the over-24,000 foot Jomolhari ["Mountain of the Goddess"] – the sacred mountain of Bhutan. Unfortunately, the day we went to Dochu-La was socked in with clouds. Oh well, that's life in the Himalayas...

Dochu-La is the home of the Druk Wangyel Chortens, featuring 108 stupas (the most auspicious number in Buddhism). The chortens were built by Her Majesty Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuk (the eldest Queen Mother) to honor the Fourth King. We started our day there. 

From the chortens we walked up the Lungchu Tsey Pilgrimage trail, which ends at the Lungchu Tsey monastery. The trail was a bit long for the amount of time we had, so only went about an hour down the trail and then an hour back to have lunch at the Dochu-La Resort down the road from the chortens. The Lungchu Tsey trail was a lovely and low-stress trail along huge rododendrons (famous in Bhutan) and birch, cedar, and coniferous trees covered in moss to take advantage of the fog and clouds that often shroud the pass. (This reminded me of all of the weekend hikes in the Santa Cruz mountains near Stanford, where most of the flora had evolved to capture moisture in the air from the Pacific fog rolling over.) Along the trail, we also encountered a heard of yaks that were both fascinating and a little bit intimidating. 

The chortens at Druk Wangyel. 

This picture captures all of the clouds that were rolling around.
To the upper left of the picture is the temple at Dochu-La. 

Clouds where the Himalayas should have been. Still a cool effect, though. 

This is what the view is like from Dochu-La on a clear day. (I didn't take this picture, I found it on the internet.)

Starting up the Lunchu Tsey trail, this is a wider view of all the chortens. 

Beautiful flora abounds. 

Yaks sit directly in the trail. We gingerly made our way around them – those long horns are intimidating! 

The beautiful forests of Bhutan. 

Hello, big guy.
This yak would not budge from the trail and looked kind of ornery, so we went around him by going in the woods. 

This is my favorite yak (as evidenced by my Facebook profile). Love the earrings!