Trongsa, situated along a gorge in the heart of the kingdom has a rich history dating back to 16th century. During the year 1541, a saint known as Lam Ngagi Wangchuk built a small retreat house, which was soon followed by many other retreat houses built by his disciples. The surrounding villagers seeing the area turning into a small village, started naming the place as Trongsar meaning, new village. Since then the place was known as Trongsa. It was in 1644 that Chhogyel Minjur Tenpa under the command of Shubdrung Nawang Namgyal built the fortress in its present form. About 300 years later Ugyen Wangchuk was unanimously elected as the hereditary king of Bhutan, during which Trongsa served as the capital of the nation until the 3rd King moved it to Thimphu. Since then Bhutan have enjoyed peace, stability and economic growth.
The local people in this valley celebrate their annual five-day festival after the harvest during the winter. This festival held in the courtyard of the fortress is one of the popular festivals in Bhutan. The festival begins with mask dances and ends with unfurling of huge ancient old Thangkha (Buddhist Religious Scroll) that is hung from a 3-story building.
One can truly appreciate the beauty of Bhutan in winter. There aren’t many tourist in the main areas, the crops are in, village rooftops are bright red with the colours of drying chillis, and the pace of life in the villages is slow as villagers spend most of their time basking in the winter sun. The sky is crystal clear as far as the eye can see with snow-capped mountains forming a backdrop of brilliant white against the azure skies. Jyotsna sent me this card from Trongsa.
