Gasa Village Immersion: Ritsha Ha & the Valley of the Divine Madman
Destination: Phobjikha Valley
Duration: 4 days / 3 nights
Difficulty: Easy
Best season: Year-round
Price: from 2,600 USD per guest
Four unhurried days in the Gasa valley, staying with farming families, learning to weave with the Women's Association, and walking to a monastery of monks and mermaids.
Highlights
Two nights with a farming family in Ritsha Ha village
Weaving with the Gasa women's cooperative
Sangchhen Dorji Lhundrup Lhakhang and its kirtimukha murals
The legend of Drukpa Kunley, told by the valley itself
What is included
Licensed guide from the Gasa valley
Private vehicle and driver for all four days
Two nights in a family farmhouse and one in a valley hotel
All breakfasts, lunches and dinners
All permits, SDF and entry fees
Weaving session with the Ritsha Ha Women's Association
Hot stone bath on the final afternoon
Day-by-day itinerary
Day 01 — Paro to Phobjikha and up into Gasa Drive from Paro over the Dochula Pass, down into the Phobjikha valley and then up the road to Gasa, the valley of Drukpa Kunley and the guide to the Black Mountain. Arrive in the late afternoon, with the walk to the village of Ritsha Ha easy and worth doing in the last of the light.
Day 02 — A day in Ritsha Ha village Wake in a family farmhouse and spend the day in the village: breakfast with the household, the walk to the fields and the water mill, and the afternoon with the women's weaving cooperative, whose textiles carry the name of Ritsha Ha. Dinner is whatever the kitchen garden gave, which is the point.
Day 03 — Sangchhen Dorji Lhundrup Lhakhang and the Madman's trail Walk to Sangchhen Dorji Lhundrup Lhakhang, whose murals include one of the finest kirtimukha — the snarling gateway motif — in the country, and follow the route the Divine Madman used into the valley. Evening with a family who will tell you, at length and with feeling, what Drukpa Kunley actually m…
Day 04 — The hot stone bath and the drive back to Paro A final morning and a traditional herbal hot stone bath on the way down, laid out on the riverbank, before the return drive over the Dochula to Paro and the flight home. Four days is a short introduction to Gasa; it is enough to understand that this valley is the source of much of what Bhutan belie…