On the road

Kyichu Lhakhang, back to Phuentsholing via Chukha, Bagdogra and finally back to pavillion! The time to head back was almost upon us. It felt as if we would never get enough of this amazing, peaceful place that shares a border with our country, but is as different as can be. A country that not only takes pride in their unique culture, but actively works towards preserving it; a country ably led by a charismatic and humble ruler who not only thinks about the present generation, but the future generation as well; a country that is firmly traditional, but at the same time is actively incorporating the modern values where essential. Believe it or not, each of us had googled if there was any way we could become Bhutanese citizens!! (Turns out, the only practical way to do that is marry a Bhutanese 😁) FOUR HARMONIUS FRIENDS: One of the most universally seen paintings across Bhutan, with a beautiful meaning. The painting is said to symbolize environmental and social harmo

Tiger's nest monastery The most anticipated day of the trip for me was here at last! We would be hiking up to the famous Tiger's Nest monastery today. The picture of Tiger's nest, the quintessential picture that defines Bhutan was imprinted in my mind. The cliff-hanging monastery has an edge-of-the-world feeling to it, and I've always marvelled at the how it must have been actually built. The quintessential Bhutan picture! PC: Sameer Bhide We woke up quite early, had a light breakfast, and reached the parking lot by around 7.45 am. There is a ticket counter where one has to buy tickets at Nu/Rs 500/- per head. After that was done, I also rented a sturdy bamboo stick to help me navigate the slopes (sticks available at Rs 50/-). Having done one Himalayan trek the previous year, there was some amount of apprehension as to how the hike would be. During the last trek, I was pretty unfit and had sustained an injury, which had me struggling throughout. This time howe

Tango monastery hike, reaching Paro, Paro market! The thing about writing travel blogs is that you re-live the whole experience again and that is a bittersweet feeling! It makes one crave for the lovely place again, but also puts a smile one's face, remembering all the good and even the unpleasant experiences. I was particularly excited on this day of our road trip across Western Bhutan, as a hike to Tango monastery was on the cards! Not many tourists go here and it is an accessible, off-beat location that you can visit if you love hiking. B arrived before the scheduled time, giving us a pleasant surprise indeed! Path to Tango monastery! PC: Sameer Tango monastery is an institute for Buddhist studies that is located on the outskirts of Thimphu. The hike is a short one, about 280m (got this number from the lonely planet page), but a steep one. There are supposedly two paths, one is a paved, stone path; and the other is a trail that is steeper than the paved path. We

Dochula pass, Punakha dzong and Punakha suspension bridge! Are you a citizen of India, Maldives or Bangladesh? If you are, take a moment to be extremely grateful for this fact. Why do I say that? It's because it's only the passport holders of these three countries that are allowed an entry into Bhutan without a visa. In addition to visa processing fees, citizens of other countries also have a minimum compulsory daily spending of $200/250. Ergo, be extremely glad for Indian passport, which allows you to decide the budget of your Bhutan trip, plan your itinerary on your own terms, and spend as much or as little as you want. Anyway, getting back to business.. Our itinerary for today, after Thimphu was Punakha via Dochula pass. Having read marvellous things about the Punakha dzong, we were very eager to start the journey and hoped that B would arrive on time. But when he did not show up even at 9.30, the hubster and I decided to look for other options. A call was also made to

Day 3: Thimphu! So there we were, in Bhutan's capital! A capital city of a country which has zero traffic lights. As a loather of traffic lights, this was another aspect of the country that has always fascinated me. I always used to wonder how amazing it must be to live in a place like this, and now I would get to experience it first-hand! And this is how the traffic is managed! Even the booth for the traffic police is pretty!  PC: Rashmi Patwardhan During my extensive research, there were quite a few places of interest that showed up and I really had to pick and choose so that we could visit places that we found interesting, rather than going to the most visited, touristy kind of places. After much deliberation, we decided we would visit these: - Taschhicho dzong - Buddha dordenma - Motithang Takin preserve - Folk museum - Coronation Park - National Library - Tango monastery (This would be visited on Day 5) Sums up the places we visited! Of course, I sketched i

Day 2: Permit and reaching Thimphu Our driver, having informed us on the previous day that he wouldn't be able to accompany us further, was to introduce us to his replacement at the immigration centre. He had told us to get there by 8.30 am. We forgot to ask him if he meant Bhutan time or India time, so we made a compromise(;)) and reached the immigration centre at 8.45 Bhutan time. Immigration centre, Pheuntsholing..even the official government buildings were so pretty! Us at the immigration centre..blissfully unaware of what was to come!  From the research, we knew the process could take approximately an hour. At 9 am, the centre opened and we saw tourists being ushered in by their guides/drivers as soon as they submitted the required documents. Our driver was nowhere in sight. After calling him multiple times, he arrived around 9.20 (BT). He had conveniently forgotten to tell us that we would need a copy of the confirmed hotel bookings, in order to get a permit. Th