‘Bhutan is the world which you only hope existed’
The country is a visual treat. Geographically, Bhutan is not very different from the Indian Himalayan region. Except perhaps we lack the will to preserve and protect what is bestowed upon us unlike the Bhutanese.
A preview to this beautiful country.
Day 1 - 2 [Guwahati -> Phuentsholing -> Thimpu]
We flew into Guwahati and took a night train to New Alipurdur. Reached New Alipurdur at around 5.30am and took an auto to reach Jaigaon, India-Bhutan border town.
Across the border [just an arch really] is the Bhutanese town of Phuentsholing, one of the land entry points to Bhutan. Phuentsholing has a small immigration office where we get entry permit for Thimpu [the capital city] and Paro. We hired a cab for the day and started off to Thimpu.
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| Bappa in Bhutan! |
After a tedious 6 hr journey on the ever winding bad bad roads, we reached Thimpu. If you are not travel/mountain sick, you might even enjoy the journey.
Day 3 - Thimpu
Thimpu offers interesting stuff in and around to explore for a day. To list a few:
ONE
Archery is Bhutan’s national game. Catch the game @ the Thimpu archery ground in the evenings. Bhutanese’s skill and camaraderie with the high tech fiber bows is commendable. We hear each such bow costs upto 1L!!
Check out the Weekend market selling fresh vegetables and incenses. You can give the much marketed folk heritage museum a royal skip. Our Dakshin Chitra [off Madras] is more worthy of a second visit.
THREE
The Royal Thimpu Golf Club!! Even if you are not a golf player, one shouldnt miss this. Hire a golf tutor for a couple of hours and try your hand at the game. The Golf course surrounded by the mountains is a sight to see!
Meditate in Trashi Chhoe Dzong - Must See!
Inside the Dzong
Night view of the Dzong [Bhuddhist temple]
We were off to Punakha valley via the Dochula Pass. On a clear sky day, one can see the spectacular view of the mighty Himalayas mountain range from this pass. You also get to see the 108 chortens built as a tribute to the king and his people for their victory over ULFA, anti-India insurgents who infiltrated the Bhutanese land.
The Dochula Pass
Dont miss to sip a ‘chai’ at the Dochula Resort near by. The view of the pass from here is mind-blowing. We continued towards Punakha.
The Punakha Dzong
This is a very beautiful dzong along side the punakha river. All dzongs are supremely artistic, be it the architecture or the intricate carvings on the ceiling or the inner wall paintings. Every painting has a story to tell and every wall is carved to reflect some aspect of Bhuddism. Some even depit the tantric Bhuddhist methods. Details, details, the devil is in the details.
We rested the night at Punakha.
Huge
Prayer Bell
We concluded the day with a small trek to the Khamsum Yuley Namgyel Chhorte[spell that!]
It was a leisurely hike for about 30-40 minutes through the woods and rice paddies. You also get to see nice view of the valley.
This is a tantric bhuddhist temple and was built in recent years. Spectacular, nevertheless!
Day 5 - [Punaka -> Phobjikha]
At around 8.30 in the morning, we were off to Phobjikha valley. This is well known for black-necked crane during its season. It was a couple of hours drive from Punakha.
We took a gentle walk to a nearby monastery in the valley. The valley as such is scarcely populated, peaceful and serene. One gets to experience total solitude. Its like just you and the mountains. Nothing to talk, nothing to do. Just breathe.
The isolated monastery in the middle of the valley.
On our way back, the clouds had already started descending.
Night stay at Phobjikha.
The Gangtey Monastery
After visiting the monastery, we headed back to Punakha.
Day 6 - Trek to the Gangtey monastery and drive back to Punakha
The next day we set off to trek to the Gangtey monastery. This is called the Gangtey nature trail which is 1.5hrs walk through forests from Phobjikha.
After visiting the monastery, we headed back to Punakha.
On the way to Punakha, we did a detour to PELE LA. We reached the Pele la pass and did a small trek [3KM] through forests to the top of Pele la. We could see what is called the BLACK MOUNTAINS from here.
Night stay at Punakha.
Day 7 - Punakha to Paro
We started off at 9 in the morning from Punakha to Paro [most awaited part of the trip]. On the way we again crossed the Dochula Pass. This time, we stopped and did an interesting trek through the forests [again!]. This is called the Lungshutse Hiking Trail measuring 3.5km at 3569 m of altitude.
Trees, trees everywhere. Are these rosewoods?
After the trek, we finally drove to Paro. What a beautiful city(?) stretched besides the Paro river.
Night stay in Paro.
Day 8 - In and Around Paro
Paro is where Bhutan has its international airport. Only one airline called ‘The Druk Air’ operates through out the country. For indians, Druk Air operates direct flights to Delhi, Guwahati, Bagdogra and Kolkata.
Trivia: Just because there is an international airport, do not expect Paro to be any high tech city. Its a beautiful small town. Just that it has the terrain to operate a runway.
We visited the Paro Dzong. A view of the Paro river from the dzong.
The Busy Monk :)
We then visited the 11th century monastery.
We concluded the day by visiting the UPPER PARO VALLEY. This is a must see.The valley has the Drukgyal Dzong. These are just ruins of what was built in 1649!
We retired at the resort for the rest of the day.
Thats the destination.
Some wall paintings
View of the valley from the dzong is spectacular.
Day 9 - The Tiger’s Nest
Finally the day is here! We were all set to hike the tiger’s nest. This was the sole reason we chose to visit Bhutan.
Starting point of the trek is marked by a hydro-prayer bell. Meaning this prayer bell at the base of the hill is powered by a water fall originating at the top of the hill!
Though it looks remote and tucked far away, the trek takes max 2-3 hrs one way depending upon one’s fitness. It is definitely not difficult and very much doable.
It was sunny and trek was mostly uphill. About after an hour we were half way through.. do you see the white walls?
Further up…
The Path
The Water fall which powers the prayer bell downhill
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| Finally! |
We trekked down, satisfied.
Day 10 - Local Paro
Tiger’s nest consumed all our excitement and now we felt we should just chill and relax. We had planned to drive to HAA valley and cycle at the famous CHELI LA pass. Instead we stayed back in Paro and did some local cycling along the Paro river.
The Paro Super Man!
Day 11 - Off to Bagdogra/India
Bye Bye Bhutan! We took a 10:25am flight from Paro and reached India at 10:20am. [You read it correct, Bhutan is 30 mins ahead of India and the flight time was only 25 mins :)] Home sweet home!
Some Pointers
When to Go
High season, especially if you are in to trekking in Bhutan is September-November. Skies are clear and you could supposedly see the Himalayan range and beautiful mountain peaks. We made the trip from 11-21 August 2012. I was fearing the whole trip might just be a wash out owing to the [in]famous Bhutan monsoons but luckily, it hardly rained!! Every day we would ask our driver cum guide, Thinley, about the rains and he would answer ‘3Ws – you never know’ [that’s Weather, Women and Wine, if you are wondering :)]
High Value- Low impact
Bhutanese believe in European work culture and prefer tourist who offer high value to them, bringing maximum revenue while creating less impact.
Phuentsholing Entry Procedure
- Passport/Voter ID card should be produced. No other ID like driver’s licence, pan card etc will be accepted
- A couple of passport size photographs should be attached
- We don’t need any hotel reservation/travel agent bookings etc. This is only for foreigners [read non-Indians]
- The office was open on Sundays also, as opposed to popular belief that it is open only on working days. It opens at 9AM.
Currency
Bhutanese currency Ngultrum [BTN] is at par with Indian Rupee. Indians can liberally use Indian currency in Bhutan [Not the coins]. No troubles there. Legally Rs.500 and Rs.1000 should not be accepted in Bhutan, but we never encountered anyone rejecting.
Do not expect any shops, hotels, travel agents to accept VISA/MASTER credit cards. Our cards might be international, Bhutan is NOT :)
We almost ran out of cash when we fortunately found out that PNB and BOB are two Bhutan banks whose ATMs accept Indian ATM/Debit cards. They disperse Ngultrums. Some charges apply. But policies change overnight in Bhutan and we can not relay on this system to work always.
Lesson: Carry a sack of cash.
Dress Code
Some Dzongs insist on wearing collar tshirts and frown upon round necks, shorts, capris. Better grab a jacket before entering a Dzong.
An interesting observation
Bhutan’s population is 7.3L. Population ratio between ‘Bhutan : United States : India’ is ‘1 : 2 : 25’! This suggests, for every Bhutanese we have 25 Indians occupying the same ground area :(
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