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of acquiring for himself some of these wonderful and effective garments should avoid the very extensive Men's Underwear Department on the ground floor of the Queen's Road Central branch; they can only be found in the Ladies' Underwear Department on the second floor.)
The fourth day (only the fourth ??) did indeed start early and we managed to leave the hotel on time at 7:00 a.m. Our briefing notes told us that there were 'splendid views' to be had from the hotel. And that may well have been the case - there were even little balconies attached to each room from which one could have enjoyed the panorama, from the comfort of a garden chair. But we arrived after dark and left fifteen minutes before the sun breached the high tops of the valley wall. When daylight once again returned, we appreciated that 'sub-tropical' was not an unfair description. The season seemed to be more advanced here. The paddy fields were green. The early morning mist was hanging low. In a word, it was beautiful. My camera trigger finger was itching, but I would have felt very uncomfortable asking for a photo stop only five minutes into the journey. So I had to sit and admire.
I have never been on a specific photography holiday, but perhaps I should try some day. As it was, I was left reflecting on whether we should simply observe and enjoy, or worry about the best viewpoint from which to preserve the scene for .... Well, for what?
Better late than never
Whilst still reflecting I found that we had arrived at Wangdiphodrang, a delightful little roadside village where all the buildings seemed to be half the normal size. The sun was coming up, the shops were open, and smiling faces were everywhere. Set back from the main row of buildings was an important-looking office - the Flood Warning Station. Not much of a problem up here, I thought to myself, as we had climbed a good 1,000 feet up the valley from Punakha. But of course, the whole point of a warning station is to warn people, and in the case of flooding the people who would most appreciate being warned would be those 1,000 feet further down the hill where the river is. In fact, there was a bridge down there at the bottom of the climb. This one was built in 1962, to replace its predecessor which had been built, so we were told, 1,277 years earlier but which had been destroyed in a flood. At a guess, I would say the warning station had first been
202
of acquiring for himself some of these wonderful and effective garments should avoid the very extensive Men's Underwear Department on the ground floor of the Queen's Road Central branch; they can only be found in the Ladies' Underwear Department on the second floor.)
The fourth day (only the fourth ??) did indeed start early and we managed to leave the hotel on time at 7:00 a.m. Our briefing notes told us that there were 'splendid views' to be had from the hotel. And that may well have been the case - there were even little balconies attached to each room from which one could have enjoyed the panorama, from the comfort of a garden chair. But we arrived after dark and left fifteen minutes before the sun breached the high tops of the valley wall. When daylight once again returned, we appreciated that 'sub-tropical' was not an unfair description. The season seemed to be more advanced here. The paddy fields were green. The early morning mist was hanging low. In a word, it was beautiful. My camera trigger finger was itching, but I would have felt very uncomfortable asking for a photo stop only five minutes into the journey. So I had to sit and admire.
I have never been on a specific photography holiday, but perhaps I should try some day. As it was, I was left reflecting on whether we should simply observe and enjoy, or worry about the best viewpoint from which to preserve the scene for .... Well, for what?
Better late than never
Whilst still reflecting I found that we had arrived at Wangdiphodrang, a delightful little roadside village where all the buildings seemed to be half the normal size. The sun was coming up, the shops were open, and smiling faces were everywhere. Set back from the main row of buildings was an important-looking office - the Flood Warning Station. Not much of a problem up here, I thought to myself, as we had climbed a good 1,000 feet up the valley from Punakha. But of course, the whole point of a warning station is to warn people, and in the case of flooding the people who would most appreciate being warned would be those 1,000 feet further down the hill where the river is. In fact, there was a bridge down there at the bottom of the climb. This one was built in 1962, to replace its predecessor which had been built, so we were told, 1,277 years earlier but which had been destroyed in a flood. At a guess, I would say the warning station had first been
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