Day 20

Wednesday 17 Oct 2018


Today is auspicious in the Bhutanese calendar as it is the 8th day lunar month and in spite of some early cloud, we were treated to some blue sky and continued views of ‘Table Mountain’.


The track up the wide Pho Chu valley soon turned to sand and we arrived at a lone Gompa, two men dressed in their ghos had lit juniper and as we continued many more people were drawn to it carrying a flask- not with tea but melted butter as an offering for the butter lamps in the monastery. 


A cave adorned with prayer flags looked down on the Gompa, this is where Guru Rinpoche (who brought Buddhism to Bhutan) had meditated. Many of the people we had met in Lunana greet you with hands out stretched, palm upwards, it looks like begging but is simply a sign of welcome. This is accompanied by the usual ‘kuzuzangpo la’ meaning hello. We crossed the Pho Chu for the last time and arrived in Thanza, the biggest village in Lunana. In 2016 the King had walked this route to find the monastery derelict, since it is where the highest protective deity resides the King immediately commissioned its repair and we were visiting it in it’s first year of reconstruction. A ceremony by 2 lay monks was well under way when we arrived with the constant rhythm of drum and symbols punctuated by the murmurs of prayers and blast of Tibetan horn. Villagers were busy completing as many koras (circumambulations) as possible to gain merit on this auspicious day.




Above this village are 2 glacial lakes that have, on occasions, burst their moraine walls and caused some destruction and even death. Not wanting to rely on faith alone, the King paid for the restoration of the gompa to keep the protective deity happy at the same time as secured funding from the Australian Government for a flood warning system with plans to increase the drainage of the lakes and reduce the potential impact of a repeat disaster. This monastery has also great significance because when the British East India Company was trying to invade Bhutan, the first king’s father saw a raven fly over and mark the position of the British leader, with Bhutanese accuracy (which we have witnessed) an arrow was fired and the leader was killed, thus thwarting the invasion.


This Gompa was located in memory of the event and the Raven became Bhutan’s National bird.

Leaving Thanza we climbed steeply South East allowing our yaks and horses to pass. We were a short way up when there was a commotion in the yak pack. One beast had decided enough was enough and came charging back down the track, the horses started to u-turn as well but the swift action of our team prevented further loss. We watched the disgruntled yak trot down to Thanza thankful that he was not carrying any of our bags! A traverse into a pretty side valley brought us to a yak herders camp site at about 4600m, an ideal vantage point for our next pass and the final stages of the trek as we now head South.


Distance: 11km 7 hrs

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