On this day, we spent about three hours driving up and over 10,000 foot high Dochula Pass. Our guide said that the Germans had done a study of the road and determined that it had a curve every 10 seconds. It was a long ride. But then again, Bhutan does not have any straight roads.

On top of the pass, there’s a “Glorious Victory” Park with 108 stupas called Drukwangyal – for the Dragon Victory from a military battle somewhere back in time. You can see some of the 108 stupas in the first photo. Some people were walking around the stupa park.

On the top of the victory park is a large stupa which Vicky is standing next to in the next photo. The Drukwangyal Temple is in the background. Below the largest stupa are concentric circles of stupas around the mountain top. You can see some of them in these photos but never all of them at once.

We also experienced some wind on the top of Dochula Pass. One thing you can count on seeing in Bhutan is prayer flags and that is never more true than in a windy location.

In the background of the next photo is Bhutan’s northern Himalayan border with Tibet. The last photo is just down the road from the victory park. At that point, our guide said that while it had been about two hours since we had visited a bathroom, it would be another 90 minutes until we reached another one. At this stop, last photo, he suggested to the women that they find a tree to their liking. The women looked a bit surprised, but of course, Vicky led the charge saying “How often do you get an opportunity to pee in the Himalayas?” Vicky took this photo to celebrate the occasion: a bathroom with a view – and prayer flags flying nearby to boot.