Kanglung College

Sherubtse College, located in Kanglung in the district of Trashigang in east Bhutan, is one of the oldest and largest colleges in the Royal University of Bhutan. The college was established as a Public School in 1968 and became a Junior College in 1976. It became a constituent college of the Royal University of Bhutan in 2003. Spread over a sprawling lush green campus with an authentic rural flavour, Sherubtse College is only 10 minutes drive from the Yongphula airport.

Sherubtse College is a multidisciplinary institution and offers a wide range of undergraduate programmes in the arts, humanities, social science, physical and biological sciences. It has ten subject departments — Computer Science and Mathematics, English, Geography and Planning, Botany, Dzongkha, Environmental Studies, Economics, History, Chemistry, Physics, Zoology and Political Science. The college will soon introduce Master’s programmes English studies, Economics and Mathematics. The programmes are taught by qualified and committed local and international faculty.

Sherubtse College has an active research culture. It continually promotes research and innovation through the college annual college research fund administered in three categories — College Research Grant, School Research Grant, and Director’s Research Grant. To support research and generation of knowledge in areas of population studies and climate change, the college has two research centres — Centre for Population and Development Studies and Centre for Climate Change and Spatial Information. The college publishes an academic journal called Sherub Doenme.

Sherubtse College offers a unique learning opportunity for local as well as international students. It has excellent boarding facilities, guest rooms, IT labs, cafeteria, modern lecture theatre, student support service, convenience shops, and a rich network of community relationships.

Khaling National Handloom

Khaling National Handloom is located at Khaling on Trashigang – Samdrupjongkhar highway. One can visit this handloom and learn & experiences the weaving culture of eastern Bhutan. We can also see the natural coloring and dying is used for the textiles in Bhutan. It is a good option for shopping authentic Bhutanese textiles created with age-old indigenous techniques of dyeing and weaving.

There are different types of patterns for Bhutanese Textiles of Weavings. They are:

Plain Weaves: Plain weave textiles are usually woven in patterns with stripes and plaids.

  • Martha: Plaid weave usually with red or maroon as the dominant color.
  • Sertha: Plaid weave usually with yellow or orange as the dominate color.
  • Thara: Woven only for production of horizontal striped Kira with white as the dominate color.
  • Kamtham Jardrima: Striped weave incorporating the colors of the rainbow.

Wrap Pattern Weaves: Warp is the yarn that runs lengthwise on the loom. The warp pattern designs are characterized by their supplementary warp floating technique that forms bands of repeated motifs on ground. The different warp pattern designs are differentiated with their color schemes. The number of legs or cross hatches in each supplementary warp pattern band is one indicator of the superiority of the textile. The textile is even more priced when the weaver includes weft pattern designs.

  • Mentsi Martha: Alternate yellow warp bands with plain weave red ground.
  • Lungserma: Alternate green red on yellow ground.
  • Dromchuchem: Literally means ‘with little boxes’ pattern bands are woven in threes.
  • Mentha: Narrow white warp bands on black ground. It is the one pattern which is worn solely by women.

Weft Pattern Weaves: Weft patterns are popularly referred to as Sapma continuous weft patterns and Tigma discontinuous weft patterns in Bhutan. The continuous weft patterns are very similar to those featured in other textile throughout South and Southeast Asia. The weft yarn is inserted between intervals of the warp yarn to create continuous weft patterns. The discontinuous weft patterns motifs resemble embroidery are indigenous to Bhutan. Colored pattern yarns are knotted individually to the weft yarns to create geometric motifs which are usually combination of multiple pattern motifs.

    • Sapma: Continuous weft pattern designs.
    • Tingma: Discontinuous weft pattern designs. Textile experts often mistake the supplementary weft pattern designs for embroidery as they say it is impossible to weave the brocade patterning on a common back-strap loom.

    The sapma and Tingma weft pattern designs are usually used as pattern designs for :

    • NgoshomKira with the dark ground usually blue or black.
    • Kushuthara: Kira with a white ground.
    • Shilochem: Woven both for Gho and Kira, usually woven with alternate rows of wrap pattern bands.

Gangzur Village

At a distance of two kilometers from the Dzong is the Gangzur village that is most popular for pottery. The women folk from the village are skilled artisans and adept in the art of pottery. You can witness the women folk displaying their skills.

Aje Nye trek

Aje Nye Trek is another pilgrimage site, it is a day’s trek to Phuningla passing through the villages of Domkhar, Phomodung, Tekhar and Dramthang. From Phuningla, it take one day to reach Aja Nye one of the sacred places blessed by Guru Rinpoche.

Khoma Village

Khoma village is located an hour’s walk from the main road to Lhuentse Dzong and is famous for its intricate woven cloth made of silk called Kishuthara (brocade dress). This village is known for traditional hand woven textile works. If you can visit this village, we can see young and old women in-front of their looms weaving different kinds of textile.