Part 53 - Chendebi - Trongsa Road: halt and rhododendron observations

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SUMMARY:
Notes from Chendebi on the Trongsa Road record plant observations and collections, plans to stay two days, and mention of H.H.'s 'kazana' caravan of 200 loads passing through. The writer recalls a very wet visit in 1933 with comic hardships, and on 12 May notes more rain and identifies Rhododendron griffithianum as common just below Chendebi.

CONTENT:
Chendebi - Trongsa Road R. arboreum 3017, R. virgatum 3021, Enkianthus deflexus 3020, Gaultheria griffithiana 3019
Chendebi. R. rhaedoforum 3035 Berberis 3034

...takes its place & is very common just below Chendebi. A few Rhod. edgeworthii too were seen. We will stay here two days. In any case that would be necessary, as H.H.'s 'kazana' - his lakh of rupees & many other things - 200 coolie loads - are just in Chendebi this evening, & they have to go on tomorrow.

My recollections of Chendebi in 1933 are amusing but not very pleasant. We never saw more than 100 yards or so in any direction owing to the thick mist. It rained hard all the time we were here, & dinner in our bamboo village was comic. Rain came in through the roof everywhere, & a young torrent found its way to the dining room. We all sat on the table with our feet on the chairs like that. I also remember a plate of soup being brought in with a leech on the edge of it. It has started to rain this evening, but I don't think will be very much.

12th May. Halt Chendebi. Some rain yesterday evening, & more again this evening. Went out in the morning, & picked up a few flowers. The fine rhod. we found yesterday is Rhod. griffithianum. It is a beauty & very common just below Chendebi, but seems to stop abruptly here. Also one shrub of another red rhododendron, which...