Trashigang is as far east as the highway goes in Bhutan, and it feels like it. The town clings to a steep hillside above the Gamri river, with its whitewashed dzong, a fortress-monastery from the seventeenth century, perched on a spur overlooking the valley, and houses stacked on the slopes in terraces. It is the administrative centre of one of the largest districts in the country, and the market on weekends draws people from the surrounding villages, many wearing the distinctive dress of their communities.
Beyond the town lie some of the most remote parts of Bhutan. To the north, the highway to Trashi Yangtse follows a river into forest country, and to the east, the road to Sakteng and the Brokpa people leads to a semi-nomadic yak herding culture with its own language and customs, in an area that was closed to outsiders until fairly recently. Further south, the road drops from the mountains toward the Indian border at Samdrup Jongkhar, descending from cool pine forest to steamy lowlands in a single day.
The ride in from the west is the real adventure. The East-West Highway crosses a series of high passes, from Thrumshing La, over three thousand metres, which marks a frontier between climates and ecosystems, and then plunges through rhododendron and bamboo forests to Mongar and onward. The road is paved but narrow, with hairpins, sheer drops and little in the way of crash barriers, and landslides can block it for hours or days in the monsoon. Fog is common, and the air is thin. Allow far more time than the distance suggests, and do not expect to maintain more than a modest pace.
As elsewhere in Bhutan, foreign visitors, including riders, travel under strict rules, usually with a tour operator, and independent riding is not normally possible, so check current regulations before setting plans.
Trashigang is small, with under a thousand people in the core, so the services are modest. There is a fuel station, a few guesthouses and basic restaurants, and the next places of any size are Mongar to the west and Samdrup Jongkhar far to the south. Fill up before you go on, and carry water and snacks.
Early morning, with mist in the valley and the dzong catching the first light, is the best time to see the town.