A couple of days ago, we left the capital of Thimphu and headed for Phuentsholing, a small Bhutanese border town adjacent to Jaigon in West Bengal, India. Like our other journey across the Himalayan terrain, this one took considerable time to travel a relatively short distance - 170 km in 6 hours. Our travelling companions were Bhutanese and Indians and without a constant stream of fresh air, we were overwhelmed with the smell of masala, betelnut and a coat of human grease that a cold bucket of washing water is ill-equiped to remove.
The roads were just as meandering and narrow as our first trip, except this time they were under considerably more construction and riddled wth rocks and pot-holes. The only direction available for widening a road which winds around a near-vertical cliff is in. This is done with dynamite, excavators, giant pneumatic drills, handpicks and shovels.
Roads are littered with huge piles of rubble, covered with dusty Indians pain-stakingly picking over and separating the debris into piles based on rock size. Gravel and rocks are moved by shovelling loads onto a tarp and then carting it to another area. Progress is molluscan-like with conditions harsh and resources limited. Without large excavation machinery, the time and effort it would have taken to initially construct these roads, which stretch hundreds of kilometres, is mind-bending.
We are staying here with a friend and have already seen the highlights of Phuentsholing: a small temple, a vegetable market and a crocodile breeding farm. Tomorrow we are hoping to enter India, picnic in a park and do some boating.
