Gaselo Eco Lodge: great local food and a bonus monastery visit

For our second night in the Punakha area, our travel company booked us at Gaselo Eco Lodge. It was a bit unexpected as our first night, at Aum Leki Farmstay seemed closer to the main sights, but I’m sure glad we made the trek out to Gaselo, about an hour away from Punakha Fortress, in a different district even, Wangdue Phodrang.

We left Punakha at our picnic site along calm waters of the “female river” or Pho Chhu just north of Punakha Dzong (fortress).

As we drove south, the sun started setting, and the river became wider.

We passed by the imposing Wangdue Phodrang Dzong, set atop a sheer ridge.

As we made our way south, and higher in elevation, the hillsides and ridges became sheer cliffs.

Finally, we seemed to be at the same level as the clouds, with a steep drop to the river below.

As our Toyota Hiace bounced up and down an unpaved road full of holes, I could see that the proprietor of Gaselo Eco Lodge was waiting for us at the entrance.

Sangay turned out to be an impeccable host - and the only person we came across during our stay.

He invited us to tea at an outdoor deck, overlooking his rice fields.

And I have to say, this puffed rice was so toasty and fragrant … and not stale … unlike some of the other puffed rice we had had before.

It seemed like we had gone from a happy place by Punakha Dzong, to a dark side that was much more sinister…

…which made the Gaselo Eco Lodge feel even more warm.

We were happy to find in our room - half of a standalone building - a bathroom with a shower curtain!

And a wood-paneled room with tall ceilings. It was highly fragrant with the pine wood floors.

And here’s what the room looked like in the morning. I loved the built-in window seat!

With nice views of course.

For dinner, we went to the common space. First up, a pumpkin soup was served.

Then, Sangay laid out a row of 6 dishes plus rice in a buffet line. But this was far from the normal buffet!

There was ema datshi, chili cheese. And thankfully it was with the hard cheese and firm, not the pasteurized cheese and soupy.

Then there were these delightfully tiny cross sections of bitter gourd. Very flavorful!

Then there was kohlrabi and cheese.

And a bitter leafy green with cheese, which I really liked.

Then there were green beans… no cheese in this one.

And then an egg with cheese, kind of like a scramble but made very firm with that datshi cheese. Very nice!

And then there was red rice, grown in his own fields.

I loved this meal. Such a wonderful variety of vegetables - and completely vegetarian.

For dessert, we had apples.

That evening, Sangay told us that the monks in the monastery directly across from us started their morning prayers at 6:30am, so if we went to the entrance around 6:15 or 6:20 he would show us the way. So we got up early…

…and headed to the monastery.

It involved scrambling down a muddy path, and then crossing over this “bridge.” Our guide Keshab told us that it wasn’t a bridge, but rather a way to keep animals out of the monastery grounds.

Dogs seemed to cross over very easily though!

At first, we weren’t sure if we could enter the temple.

But a monk, maybe an older teen in age, came to us and smiled, motioning us in.

We observed the monks, many very young, chanting and playing their instruments. I also have to say that their temple has amazing views over the valley!

After around half an hour, we came back to eat breakfast.

Here’s the dining room in the day time.

Once again, we sat on the deck, where we were accompanied by a cat.

Our breakfast included toast, served with fresh cow butter.

Red rice.

Individually fried eggs. I could see Sangay flipping these in a frying pan in the kitchen.

A squash “curry.” I realize now that they call dishes “curries.” This seemed to have been cooked mainly with garlic and butter and water.

When we asked for chili sauce, he gave us some of the chili cheese that he had prepared for the guides! This went well with all of the other dishes.

We finished off with some bananas.

While having breakfast, we were visited by this bird, looking cool with its mohawk.

With a combination of a dramatic, windy setting high up in a mountain with a steep drop to the river below, beautiful and fragrant rooms, and some of the best food of this trip, Gaselo Eco Lodge was a place that I would have loved to stay longer.

And by the way, Sangay was a welcoming and warm host. He kept a lot of traditional Bhutanese everyday objects and textiles in the lodge. We learned about bowls, sieves, religious artifacts.