Tashigang town

The topography of Tashigang town, built on a spur and backing on to the side of a mountain, defies any precise description. The commercial district is immediately at the back of the spur where the dzong stands, while the school, the hospital and the tourist guesthouse have been built somewhat higher and more to the north, in a kind of small cirque.
There are three social gathering places in Tashigang that you should know about: the Ugyen Newly, a small, typically Bhutanese, hotel-restaurant; the Punsum, a small restaurant-bar run by the enterprising Karma who always knows how many 'mud puppies' (sweet tea and rum) you have drunk and how much fried rice you have gobbled up (this is the unofficial headquarters for the volunteer teachers, mostly Canadians, who have taken up their abode in Eastern Bhutan); and finally the Norkhyil Bar which is on the road leading to the dzong. Since Tashigang is the centre of a region where several international development projects are under way, including a big irrigation project, do not be too surprised to encounter quite a lot of Western faces.