Shaped like a ‘vessel of holy water’, hence its name, Bumthang in central Bhutan is the meeting point of four valleys, Chume to the west, Chokor and Tang joining from the north and Ura to the east. As you cross the Yotong pass fluttering with prayer flags, you know you are approaching a special place.
Winding down through feathery blue pines, the road reaches a bucolic valley sprinkled with willows and apple trees, and villages where women weave the traditional woollen cloth known as yathra. Farmers toil in the fields and in their houses draped in sunflowers, wooden phalluses hang from the four corners of the roofs to ensure healthy children and good crops. There are monasteries and temples, an old summer palace and two-storey water prayer wheels tinkling from morning to night.
In the 15th century, a saint named Pema Lingpa was born in a remote village in the Tang valley. He built monasteries and wrote holy texts, discovered ancient religious treasures and created sacred dances which first appeared in his visions. His descendants include an ancestor of the royal family.
Jakar Town in Central Bhutan
In the Chokor valley, Jakar Town is a convenient base to explore this area and a bustling trading centre where one man shops sell Bhutanese crafts, Tibetan goods, ‘fancy gifts’ and chillies and cheese from the local Swiss factory. The river tumbles, clear and cool, over the white stones and along the bridge, Buddhist flags send prayers to the wind.
The traditional dzong, or fortified monastery, gleams on a knoll above the town. It’s named after a ‘white bird’ who landed on this auspicious site in the 16th century. Boy monks practise ritual dances in the courtyard or gaze at the stunning panorama framed by marigolds and cypress trees. The whole valley is dotted with Buddhist sites but most impressive is Kurjey Lhakhang with its sacred rock and 101 stupas.
Bumthang Cultural Trek and Popular Festivals
Not so far from town is the start of the Bumthang Cultural Trek where a popular trail winds through meadows and forests, past villages and temples, to climb over the Phephe La pass. There are prayer walls and chortens, rushing streams, grazing yaks, wild boars and occasionally you might meet a black bear. It takes three days to complete the trek.
However, if you have only a few hours to spare, a pleasant stroll up valley will lead you to the famous Thangbi Lhakhang where during the Fire Festival, believers of all ages run through burning hay to purify their soul. A nearby village holds its famous Naked Dance in November when men celebrate their manhood by revealing all, watched by bemused crowds.
Ura, Highest Valley in Bumthang
At 3100 metres over the Sheltang pass, Ura is the highest of the Bumthang valleys, a land of open pastures and fields rich in potatoes and reddish buckwheat nodding in the sun. Tiny blue flowers dot the slopes, goats roam on the edge of the road and magpies follow the ox-driven ploughs, hoping for food in the furrows.
Ura village meanders through a maze of cobbled lanes, a lively little place where wide-eyed children mingle with carpenters and women heading home with armfuls of freshly-picked spinach. Men fix the stones on the roofs, ready for the fierce winter wind, while red-billed choughs circle auspiciously above the temple. Life is peaceful Bhutan's central valleys.
Solange Hando - I am a travel writer, editor and photographer, contributing to a range of publications in the UK and worldwide.
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