Day 2

Saturday 29 Sept 218

Today we gained height slowly as we continued along the river through a magnificent forest of pine and spruce, mixed with oak, birch and maple. The autumn colours of the leaves contrasts with the Pale Spanish moss (old man's beard) which festoons many of the trees.

The weather remained dry and sunny. There were several small ups and downs as we followed the river north and after crossing a bridge at 3560m, we made a short steep climb to reach a junction of two valleys, marked by a large chorten. There is a bridge here from where we caught our first sight of Jomolhari at the head of the valley. Our trail stayed on the west bank of the Paro Chu all the way to our camp at Soi Thangka (3650m)

A one year old electricity line followed us up this valley. Bhutan gets all of it’s power from hydro plants built and largely funded by India, only a fraction is used by Bhutan, so the rest provides them with about 20% of their government revenue each year. This energy is free in rural areas but a charge of about 7 USD per month to those in the bigger towns. Every house, no matter how remote is provided with their own line for electricity - this has massively reduced the use of wood/trees for cooking and heating.
Distance 8km 5hrs

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