Bhutan – Trek to Laya - October 23 to 31, 2002

Our wonderful toilet tent – a hole in the ground provided for all of our needs! Below: Bill at the gates to Laya.

This is a typical breakfast – this with Don, a friend from the West Coast who we met along the trail. Below: Laya – above treeline at almost 4000 meters.

L Layap girls all wear the conical bamboo hat. Below: Dorji, our guide and friend, at the highest point we made in Bhutan – about 4000 meters, at the monastery above town.

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Some facilities are pretty primitive on trek, like the toilet tent, and others are much more refined. Our meals were all very good, and the cook position is considered essentially equivalent to that of the guide. We had a cook, and assistant cook, the guide, and the horseman with us for our 9 day trek – along with 6 or 7 horses. It is considered very rude to trek alone or to carry your own gear – you are essentially taking work away from the local people. Bill is standing under the gate to Laya. Legend has it that as the Tibetans were about to enter Laya, all the rocks around the gate turned into soldiers and warriors and drove the Tibetans back into the hills. Laya has bout 1200 people, and is a prosperous town, due to a good deal of illegal trading with Tibet and China . The women wear much more jewelry here, and the conical hats are worn with pride by any girl over 5 or 6 years old.

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