the land of slides

golden monkeys

cute kids in tigbiri

we did not end up going on our trek to dur because of a landslide blocking the way so we headed south for gelphu going through zhemgang and getting hot springs in both zhemgang and gelphu. we got through to zhemgang and headed out for our hike to the hot spring. it was about an hour down and two and a half straight up. we got there late enough that we did the last half hour in the dark. things were still up in the air about where we were going to stay so we ended up in a guest house in tigbiri (? i'm not sure if thats the right name) the next day we were to head for gelphu and get to the hot spring that was just on the side of the road. however a huge landslide was in the way and the only way around it was a path above the slide.

 sonam volunteered to go over the slide and hire a car on the other end to take him to the spring. he saved the day! we waited by the slide and watched the construction for 3 hours. while we were waiting we heard a radio program thats set up by the royal thimpu college students and we heard students from wheaton that are abroad there! after sonam got back we headed for tigbiri crossing a few more cleared slides. we came to one where the rocks had made uneven wheel wells so we all hopped out of the car and filled to uneven side and went on our way. then we came to a slide that went aroud a corner, as we came around we saw trees and larger rocks/ boulders in the middle of the road, at this point the sun was already down and we could see flashes of lightening. the three guys got out and told me not to help because rocks were falling every once in a while and i'm not sure if they thought it was such a good idea to be out there. so they moved the stuff and drove over while prof evans and i ran to the other side and met the car on solid ground. we all laughed and were relieved that was over but of course as soon as we start joking about it we come around another corner and there is one larger boulder in the way. the three of them try to move it then the four of us try to move it we use sticks and a hammer and the car but it wont budge. we then drove back a few hundred meters to a house with a big scooper thing and ask them to help, they come out without the scooper and the three of them and sonam and tsring finaly scoot it off the edge. thankfully that was the last one of the day and we all relaxed and had a late dinner when we got back.

the next day we were feeling good, we could take  our time and get to trongsa so we did some bird watching from the car and saw a black eagle and some monkeys.

and then we ran into a huge actively sliding landslide that was impossible to cross, by the end of the day people had started running across in between small debrie flows. but i was not about to get hit by a rock an die. so we returned to zhemgang and started looking for a place to stay. luckily sonams brother is in charge of the health of the district and is bff's with the lama in charge of the district. hes is a short man and his feet don't touch the ground when he sits on a chair. he had us to his chamber for dinner and his monks served us and it was amazing. he really only knew how to say fuck and shit and he was cussing at his monks and all the little monks were giggling it was funny.

the next day we got up and headed to the slide to see if we could cross. sonam got a call from the lama and was told that he comanded the engineers to finish so that we could get through. so then next day we were waiting at our view point and sonam came walking down and said that we were ready to go.  so now that i told you we made it out alive here is a video and some pictures of the slide.

the noise in the background is the sound the landslide made.