The Tang Chuu is a tributary of the
Mo Chhu
Mo Chhu is a major river in Bhutan. The word "Chhu" means "river" or "water" in Dzongkha, the official national language in Bhutan. The river rises in Gasa Dzongkhag (district) near the border between Bhutan and Tibet. From there, the Mo Chhu flo ...
in western
Bhutan
Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...
.
Course
It originates in the
Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...
near Thowadra Gompa. It receives numerous hill streams, including the Yenyer Chhu. It joins the
Mo Chhu
Mo Chhu is a major river in Bhutan. The word "Chhu" means "river" or "water" in Dzongkha, the official national language in Bhutan. The river rises in Gasa Dzongkhag (district) near the border between Bhutan and Tibet. From there, the Mo Chhu flo ...
, which later takes on the name of
Sankosh, at
Wangdi Phodrang.
Bumthang
There are four major valleys in the
Bumthang region: Chokhor, Tang, Ura and Chhume.
Tang is the most remote of Bumthang’s valleys. It is at a higher altitude than Chokhor. The poor soil does not support much agriculture but people in the valley raise sheep, and higher up the mountains yaks. When
buckwheat
Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum'') or common buckwheat is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. Buckwheat originated around the 6th millennium BCE in the region of what ...
flowers bloom in October, the valley turns bright pink.
Farmhouses are scattered in the valley and on the hills. Gamling is a wealthy village, with wonderful wall paintings. It is well known for yathra weaving, a method of weaving with wool unique to the Bumthang area.
The Burning Lake
A picturesque pool in the Tang Chuu is known as
Membartsho
Membartsho (Dzongkha མེ་འབར་མཚོ།), also known as Mebar Tsho, is a holy site, revered as the place where Pema Lingpa, Bhutan's greatest tertön (treasure revealer), discovered several of Padmasambhava, Guru Rinpoche's Term ...
(Burning Lake).
Pema Lingpa
Pema Lingpa or Padma Lingpa (, 1450–1521) was a Bhutanese saint and siddha of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. He is considered a ''terchen'' or "preeminent tertön" (, discoverer of spiritual treasures) and is considered to be foremos ...
found many of
Guru Rinpoche’s
terma here. He was guided in a dream to the place where the river forms a large pool resembling a lake. On seeing a temple in the water he dived in and returned with a treasure. The next time he came he was followed by a big crowd with many sceptics. Forced to prove himself he took a lighted lamp in his hand and proclaimed that if he was false he would die but if he was true he would return with the lighted lamp. He returned with a statue, a treasure chest and the lamp still burning. The pool came to be known as Membartso or the Burning Lake.
[
]
Fishing
The Tang Chuu is famous for trout
Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...
fishing.[ It is one of the best outdoor fishing spots in the area.]
References
Sources
TANG VALLEY
{{coord missing, Bhutan
Rivers of Bhutan