Yangtse Gewog

Taktsang Monasteries of Bhutan

Taktsang ("tiger's lair") is a class of cliffside hermitages across Bhutan associated with the meditation of Guru Padmasambhava and his consorts. While Paro Taktsang is the most famous, the network includes Singye Dzong in Lhuentse, Taktsang Pema Tsel in Bumthang and several smaller sites.

Manas River

The Manas River, called Manas Chhu or Drangme Chhu in its upper Bhutanese reaches, is the largest river system of eastern Bhutan, formed by the confluence of the Drangme Chhu, Mangde Chhu and Bumthang Chhu before flowing south into Assam to join the Brahmaputra.

Mongar Regional Referral Hospital

The Mongar Regional Referral Hospital, also known as the Eastern Regional Referral Hospital, is the principal tertiary-care facility for eastern Bhutan, located in Mongar town in Mongar dzongkhag. The 150-bed hospital was constructed with Government of India financial assistance and serves as the apex referral institution for six eastern dzongkhags and parts of Bumthang.

Trashi Yangtse District

Trashi Yangtse District (Dzongkha: བཀྲ་ཤིས་གཡང་རྩེ་རྫོང་ཁག) is a district in northeastern Bhutan, carved out of Trashigang District in 1992. It is renowned for Chorten Kora, one of Bhutan's most sacred Buddhist monuments, and for its thriving tradition of wooden bowl and container craftsmanship.

Trashigang District

Trashigang District (Dzongkha: བཀྲ་ཤིས་སྒང་རྫོང་ཁག) is the largest and most populous district in eastern Bhutan, serving as the political and commercial centre of the eastern region. Home to the historic Trashigang Dzong and a diverse population including the Sharchop people, it is known for its rich cultural traditions, weaving heritage, and dramatic mountain landscapes.

Ashi Kesang Choden Wangchuck

Ashi Kesang Choden Wangchuck (born 21 May 1930) is the Gyalyum (Royal Grandmother) of Bhutan, widow of the Third Druk Gyalpo Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, mother of the Fourth King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, and paternal grandmother of the reigning Fifth King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. A daughter of the Dorji family of Bhutan and Sikkim, she has been a central figure in the Wangchuck dynasty for more than seven decades.

River Systems of Bhutan

Bhutan's river systems rise from Himalayan glaciers and drain through steep forested gorges into the Brahmaputra plain, sustaining the kingdom's agriculture, generating its primary export commodity in hydroelectric power, and posing significant flood risks from glacial lake outbursts and monsoon flooding.

Bhutan Biological Corridors

A comprehensive guide to Bhutan's nine biological corridors connecting the country's protected areas, covering 51.44% of national territory under conservation, with details on each corridor's location, connected parks, and key species.

History of Hydropower Development in Bhutan

Hydropower is the backbone of Bhutan's modern economy and the defining feature of its relationship with India. From the 336 MW Chhukha project commissioned in 1986 to the full commissioning of Punatsangchhu-II in 2025, state-led run-of-river development has transformed state finances while concentrating external debt and export earnings in a single sector and a single buyer.

Bumdeling Wildlife Sanctuary

Bumdeling Wildlife Sanctuary is a 1,545-square-kilometre protected area in northeastern Bhutan, established in 1998 in the districts of Trashi Yangtse and Lhuentse. The sanctuary is best known as one of the last remaining wintering grounds of the globally threatened black-necked crane, and it protects a mosaic of temperate forests, alpine meadows, and the broad Bumdeling Valley wetland.

Thrumshingla Pass

Thrumshingla Pass, at 3,780 metres, is a major mountain pass on the lateral highway connecting central and eastern Bhutan. Located within Thrumshingla National Park, the pass traverses one of Bhutan's most biodiverse old-growth forests and is a key gateway to the culturally distinct eastern districts of the kingdom.

Soksom

Soksom is a traditional Bhutanese javelin-like throwing sport in which competitors hurl bamboo spears at a target. Once widely practiced across the country, soksom has experienced a marked decline in popularity due to urbanisation, safety concerns, and competition from modern sports, making it one of the most endangered traditional athletic traditions in Bhutan.

Chorten Kora

Chorten Kora is a large Buddhist stupa located in the Trashi Yangtse district of eastern Bhutan, modeled after the Boudhanath Stupa in Nepal. Built in 1740 by Lama Ngawang Loday, it is one of the most important pilgrimage sites in eastern Bhutan and the centrepiece of a vibrant annual festival.

Trashigang Town

Trashigang Town is the administrative headquarters of Trashigang District and the largest town in eastern Bhutan. Perched on a hillside above the Drangme Chhu river at an elevation of about 1,100 meters, it serves as the commercial, educational, and administrative hub for the most populous district in eastern Bhutan.

Tsharzo — Bamboo and Cane Work

Tsharzo (Dzongkha: tshar bzo) is the traditional Bhutanese art of bamboo and cane weaving, one of the Zorig Chusum (thirteen traditional arts and crafts). Practitioners produce a wide range of utilitarian and ceremonial objects including baskets, food containers, quivers, bows, wine strainers, and the iconic bangchung — a finely woven lidded basket used for serving rice at meals and festivals. The craft is particularly associated with eastern Bhutan, where abundant bamboo forests supply raw materials.

Traditional Bhutanese House Design

Traditional Bhutanese houses are three-story rammed-earth structures with distinctive regional variations, designed to withstand Himalayan climates while reflecting Buddhist cosmological principles. The ground floor houses livestock, the middle floor serves as the family living space, and the top floor contains a shrine room and grain storage, following a vertical hierarchy from the mundane to the sacred.

Sacred Sites of Phajo Drugom Zhigpo

The Sacred Sites associated with Phajo Drugom Zhigpo and his descendants are a network of seventeen religious sites across western Bhutan, inscribed on UNESCO's Tentative List in 2012. Spanning the districts of Thimphu, Paro, Punakha, and Gasa, these sites include meditation caves, cliff hermitages, temples, and monasteries linked to the 13th-century lama who established the Drukpa Kagyu school in Bhutan.

Maternal Health in Bhutan

Bhutan has achieved a dramatic reduction in maternal mortality, from over 1,000 per 100,000 live births in the 1980s to 53 per 100,000 by the National Health Survey 2023. Free healthcare, trained birth attendants, and universal facility delivery have driven the improvement, though geographic barriers persist in remote districts.

Daga Trashiyangtse Dzong

Daga Trashiyangtse Dzong is a fortress-monastery and the administrative centre of Trashi Yangtse District in the far northeast of Bhutan. Located near the sacred Chorten Kora stupa, the dzong serves as the seat of district governance and monastic life in one of Bhutan's most culturally distinctive eastern regions.

Trashigang Dzong

Trashigang Dzong (Dzongkha: བཀྲ་ཤིས་སྒང་རྫོང), meaning "Fortress of the Auspicious Hill," is the largest and most important dzong in eastern Bhutan. Built in 1659, it served as the seat of power for the governance of eastern Bhutan and remains the administrative centre of Trashigang District, the most populous district in the country.