Mongar

Mongar is the first town of eastern Bhutan and the point where the lateral road, having climbed and dropped for two days from Bumthang, finally reaches settled country again. Its dzong is one of the newest in Bhutan, built in the nineteen thirties but entirely in the traditional way without nails or written plans. The town itself is small and functional, strung along a ridge. What people remember is the drive in, which crosses the Thrumshing La at nearly four thousand metres and then falls three thousand metres in a single descent. The road is the reason to come, not the town.