Bhutan- the fulfilment of a long-held dream! (2)

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. The hubster had to make a hurried trip back to the hotel to get the print-outs of the bookings. For some strange reason, this driver dude was staying away from the counter and making the hubster present all the documents. When the hubster finally managed to give all our documents, there was yet another surprise. The immigration officer quite rudely informed him that we would need a written itinerary. So away went the driver, who was proving his inefficiency by the minute, to make up an itinerary. We had no choice but to wait. Also, as promised, we were introduced to the driver who would be with us through the rest of the journey. Ever meet someone and felt extreme, intense dislike? Well, that was how my cousins and I felt on meeting this new driver, lets call him B. But we decided to put our prejudice aside and chatted with this fellow, discussing our travel itinerary. By now, we were getting irritated, but had to swallow our irritation and wait. We were finally let inside the building and after that, it didn't really take much time. It was 11 am when we were able to finally get out of there. We were all packed and ready to go, but Mr. B wasn't. It was decided that the hubster will buy prepaid sim cards (we bought one from Tashi cell and one from B-Mobile) and we would stock up on bottled water and other necessities while we waited for Mr. B. The hubster also exchanged some currency (though this is strictly not necessary, as rupees are widely accepted; higher denominations might be problematic, especially in the interiors). An hour and half later when there was no news from Mr. B, we called him up, and he said he was having his lunch. So we decided to do the same. Finally, by the time we actually left Phuentsholing, it was 1.15 pm. According to the itinerary I had planned, we would reach Thimphu (which is a 4.5-5 hours drive) around 3 pm and after checking into the hotel, would have time to visit the Buddha point, which I had heard looked exceptionally beautiful in the evening. I was still hopeful that we would make it in time to at least see the Buddha point. But boy, was I wrong!

Mr. B was extremely over-enthusiastic and kept stopping multiple times so that we could take in the "view". Don't get me wrong, the drive is supremely beautiful and the roads are well maintained for most parts. But we were already late and all we wanted to do was reach Thimphu. To add to this, he had a mix-CD consisting of the most horrible songs from all the B-grade, 90's Bollywood movies you can imagine, and despite asking him politely not to play the songs, he just wouldn't listen. My woes only increased after we stopped at a waterfall. Mr. B decided to smoke the foulest smelling beedi you can imagine and as I was sitting behind him, (his clothes had caught on the foul smell; he did not smoke in the car) it intensified my headache ten-fold, and added nausea into the mix. Again, it got quite dark after 6.30 and the drive seemed interminably long. We reached Thimphu around 7.30 pm (took us 6 odd hours!! By the time we actually reached the hotel and checked in, it was nearing 9. There went our plan for the day down the drain!), and I who had kept my eyes closed until then to keep the nausea at bay, opened them to take in the views of the city. This turned out to be a huge mistake and within a short while of entering the city, I hurriedly asked B to pull over and puked my guts out! Well, what a start to the journey!! The incessant, irrelevant, insincere and at times insolent chatter of Mr. B; the terrible music; and the nauseating beedi stink had really gotten to me. This wasn't how I imagined myself in one of the happiest countries in the world! Something had to be done about all this.

Soon after, we reached the hotel and all I wanted to do was sleep, and I did just that. The hotel we had booked, Hotel Osel, was supremely lovely with large rooms, wooden floors, and marvellous views from our windows. They even provided hot water bottles for my sister and I. The hubster, sister and cousins enjoyed a lovely dinner, while I tried to ignore the horrible headache and sleep. Just as I fell asleep, I was thinking to myself, when will this holiday ever start? Would we be able to stick to our itinerary the next day? Only time would tell!

A few helpful pointers for people who are planning to travel on their own:

1. Book travel agents from Bhutan itself and not Jaigoan. Not only will you be helping the local economy, but also the drivers are very knowledgeable and helpful as well. We would have saved at least 3 hours in Phuentsholing, had we gone with a Bhutanese travel agent. I have shared the number of a couple of travel agents, who went out of their way to help us..but more on this later!

  http://www.bhutanmountaintravels.com/ ... They rent out cars with drivers and when we enquired, the rate was Rs 22/ Nu 22 per kilometre, which is extremely reasonable. We were paying our driver Rs 3500/day.

Both these gentlemen had their offices quite close to our hotel and when we had almost made up our minds to dump   Mr. B, we approached them. But I'm getting ahead of myself!

2. The list of documents required for getting a permit are as follows:

 - Duly filled immigration form (this form is extremely simple and we were unable to believe that a government form could be so simple!)

- Passport size photo (carry at least 3)

- Your travel itinerary, either handwritten or printed (though if you go through a proper travel agent, and not just hire a driver and a cab like we did, I believe they will have this ready)

- A copy of your hotel bookings.

The permit is issued only for Paro and Thimphu. If you plan on travelling further, you'll need to get a restricted area permit from Thimphu.

3. We stayed at Hotel Park at Phuentsholing, which was very close to the immigration centre. The rooms were clean and well-maintained and the food was pretty good. Would definitely recommend this place.  

4. No permit is required to stay in Phuentsholing. The main Bhutan gate closes quite early, but there is an alternative route which is open till 10 pm. So make sure you reach Phuentsholing before 10 pm. If you want dinner, you have to reach before 9 pm, as everything closes by 9 pm.

5. The immigration centre is open on weekdays (Monday to Friday) from 9 am to 5pm. If you reach Phuentsholing on a weekend or on a government holiday, you'll have no choice but to stay put in Phuentsholing. So make sure you plan your trip wisely.

(Do check out the first part of this trip here:

https://experiencelifeontheroad.blogspot.in/2017/09/bhutan-fulfilment-of-long-held-dream.html )