Part 48 - Lhuntse Dzong camp and bridge observations in Bhutan

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SUMMARY:
Notes describe intense heat in lowland Bhutan and a fine bridge over the Kuru Chu, followed by return to camp at Lhuntse Dzong. Yundru requests medicine for syphilis, mentioning prior injections by Kapo. The Tinnymu Bridge is described in detail, with no notable flowers observed.

CONTENT:
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places, the lowest part of Bhutan. They won't ask questions, perhaps because they know they won't get a very good answer. But it can't be helped, one must fill in these two days as best we can. The Dzong here is very well worth looking at, I should say old. There is a fine bridge over the Kuru Chu about 1 mile downstream - one of the finest I've seen in Bhutan, a bit bigger than the Trashigangsi Chu bridge by a good bit. I would certainly not like to live down here. It is very hot indeed. But the Bhutanese say there is no fever. Yundru, our new slave, has just come to ask for medicine for syphilis. I'm sorry he has that, though nearly all seem to have some kind of V.D. He tells me Kapo injected him three times a year ago, but with no result. He says it was done one in each shoulder or in the vein of the forearm, and that it hurts a great deal. I don't wonder.

14th May. Lhuntse Dzong. Back again here, but this time camped in a nice quiet place beneath some cypresses above the Dzong, rather shut in, but pleasant. Ludlow and I must have been here in 1933. We were in by 8:30 this morning. Very wet last night, and cloudy this morning, but just fine. I had a very disturbed night, with water fleas in my pyjamas which I couldn't catch. They come in off the coolies' clothes, when he is carrying the bedding, or so I imagine. The Tinnymu Bridge is a fine one, 42 yards from built up pier to pier, with at each end 4 cantilevers. It is quite recently built, only 6-7 years ago, the last one having been washed away in a flood. Nothing interesting in the flower line.