Jakar Festival

Bhutan is basically a bunch of deep valleys that run from north to south. So in order to go from west to east you have to go over a lot of mountains. And since the road is so small that takes a long time. The trip from Gangtey to Jakar takes about 5 hours. Since my visit they have been building a few small airports including one at Jakar that was under construction when I was there. So it may be possible to fly in from Paro and save a lot of travel time.

I was in Jakar for their annual tsechu or festival. The festival is held in the dzong and people come from all around the area to attend. It is mainly a religious event but it’s also a major social occasion. Everyone dresses in their best clothes. I was there for the second and third days of the festival. On day 2 the place was really buzzing with people chatting and catching up with each other. Day 3 was much more solemn. The dancers are very interesting and their costumes are beautiful. There are lots of photos from the festival.