Bhutan - Arts - VAST

After the picnic by the river ( the same river I was told that holds a monster), we headed up to a village in the mountains high about the Punakha Valley.

Chugging alone - one truck, one van - on a winding one lane dirt road we came to the scene above: roadwork.

What is significant here is that the villagers are doing the work rather than a crew sent from elsewhere.  Seems there needed to be better drainage on the hillside so the ditch was dug.

The van was already struggling.  The alternate route, involving a return to the start of the road, was even steeper so those of us who would choose to walk the rest of the way while the van returned to the base.  The  truck  pressed on to the longer, more arduous route.

Once, near the village, when the road gave out we all walked the last half mile or so.

Walking from village to village, walking long distances, is the norm in Bhutan.  The villages are often well isolated and connected only by trails.  Roads to villages like this one are a relative new thing.