We arrived in Bhutan, and after a night in the capital Thimphu, squeezed our bags into the school ute (which was chock a block with resources from Barb’s small school, which had closed down back in Australia) and started the slow journey to Tsirang to visit Leki and Tshering.

On a map it doesn’t look very far! We left at 8am and were heading south through the mountains and valleys, mostly along good bitumen roads, but regularly passing large trucks which would be hurtling towards us on dangerous bends.

When we finally arrived in Wangdue (the regions’ largest town) around midday, Yonten our driver said “Not far now”…it was still three and a half hours over bumpy, narrow, damaged roads!

They are building a huge hydro electric scheme, with assistance from India, and the heavy trucks travel continuously, delivering materials to the site. The road was totally washed away in places, rough tracks had been constructed above the waterline.

It was around 3pm when we reached Tsirang, which is perched high on the mountain. The views are spectacular, when the mist has cleared. The climate is milder than Tang, the flowers are in bloom in the parks and along the shopfronts in town. The new stupa is magnificent. There is also a beautiful old temple shared by Hindus and Buddhists.

Leki and Tshering are wonderful hosts. They had gone to a lot of trouble to prepare a room for us and delicious meals. Barb was not well and needed a trip to the hospital that evening, which was an interesting experience for us all.