Rinchengang
A village of traditional stone masons, its houses packed up a hillside opposite Wangdue Phodrang Dzong.
Rinchengang is a small village on the slope across the valley from Wangdue Phodrang Dzong, and it looks like nothing else in Bhutan: the houses are built hard against one another straight up the hill, with no gaps and barely a lane between them, so the whole settlement reads as a single stepped mass of stone and whitewash in the green.
Stone masons
The village is known for its masons. Rinchengang's people have long been the builders called on for stone work on dzongs and temples — including, by tradition, the dzong visible directly across the valley — and the craft is the reason the village exists where it does and is built the way it is.
Visiting
It is a short, steep walk up from the road, fifteen or twenty minutes, and the walk is the visit: the alleys between the houses, the terraces, and the view back across to the dzong. This is somebody's home rather than a heritage site, so go with a guide, keep to the paths, and ask before photographing people or interiors.
Rinchengang and the dzong are almost always seen together, on the drive between Thimphu or Punakha and Trongsa.
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