Bhutan - The fulfilment of a long-held dream! (3)

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 it! See my sign?

In addition to visiting all these places, we also had to get the permit done for Punakha, which we would be visiting on the next day.

After a wonderful and refreshing sleep, we woke up to awesome views that our hotel windows offered. The sense of wonder at the beauty and serenity of a bustling capital city only continued to grow. We had decided to start at 9 am in order to be able to take in all the sights. But Mr. B had other plans. For some odd reason, he insisted on following IST, even though we were in Bhutan. It seemed not to penetrate his skull that most of these places were open from 9 am to 5 pm, and any delay that occurred would result in us missing out on all that the city had to offer. After a lovely breakfast, we decided to meet in the lobby at 9 am as planned. But there was no call from B. When the hubster tried calling him, his phone was switched off. He finally deigned to call us at 10 am and informed us that he would be going to get the permits done. All of us were getting pretty irritated with this tardy behaviour, but couldn't really do much, other than tell him to be on time. An hour turned to two, and when finally he arrived, it was 12. Telling him off seemed to have no effect on him. I was actually dreading enduring his company for the day. We told him the places we wanted to visit, and he suggested we go to the Buddha statue first. When we objected as the sun was right overhead and it was getting quite hot, he reluctantly agreed to take us there later in the day.

@Changangkha Lhakhang. PC: Sameer Bhide a.k.a The Hubster

So finally, after two whole days of travel plus half a day waiting, our trip had begun!! The very first sight we visited was a temple called Changangkha Lhakhang. All the newborn babes are brought here, where the priest suggests a name for the baby. We had decided to skip this, as on reading the description we felt that there would be a lot of wailing babies. But this was Bhutan! After climbing around fifty odd steps, we reached this temple. Rows upon rows of prayer wheels was the sight that greeted us.Though the inner sanctum was closed, the temple offered some great views of the city. And oddly, not a single baby was to be found! After soaking in the views for around half an hour or so, we moved on to Motithang Takin preserve.

Takin..looks like a cross between a goat and a yak! PC: Sameer Bhide a.k.a The Hubster

Takin is the National Animal of Bhutan. Upon first seeing it, all of us remarked that it looked like a mystical creature, out of a fantasy movie. The takin preserve is a zoo of sorts, where there are huge enclosures for the animals. But more than that, it's a lovely nature walk. There is a paved path which goes around the perimeter of the zoo. As we walked around the perimeter, we could hear the gurgling of a stream, but the stream itself was hidden by dense vegetation. Tiny, colourful wild flowers dotted the path, and we disturbed quite a few butterflies on our walk! The cornflower blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds, the green mountains, colourful flowers, the stream, cute little butterflies, chirping of birds, fresh clean air and most importantly, the lack of crowds: I was in heaven. Bhutan was living up to my expectations; in fact, exceeding them.

Bhutanese vegetarian staple: kewa datschi and red rice. PC: Rashmi Patwardhan

After the refreshing walk, we were in need for sustenance and decided to try Bhutanese cuisine, at a place called Hotel Tara. We had kewa datschi and red rice. Kewa datschi is potato and cheese curry and is one of Bhutanese staples. The curry was quite tasty; mildly flavoured and well seasoned. Red rice was tasty but quite filling. Struggling to finish the huge portions, each of us secretly decided that we had had enough of Bhutanese cuisine!

National Library, Thimphu, Bhutan. PC: Rashmi Patwardhan

Shiny wooden floors of the library! PC: Sameer Bhide, a.k.a The Hubster

The folk museum and National library were next on the list. On account of having a late start, we had time only for one, as majority of us being bibliophiles, we decided to visit the National Library first. The main attraction here was the world's largest book! We proceeded straight to the main library building and found the world's largest book.

World's largest book..or Ex-largest book!PC: Sameer Bhide a.k.a The Hubster

The book is called " Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across the Last Himalayan Kingdom" and is a picture book. One page of the book is turned every month! The first floor of the library had books in English on various subjects and anybody could take a book, sit at one of the tables and read! I would have done just that, if we were pressed for time. The second and third floors had religious Buddhist texts. Between the main library building and the Archives building, there is a place from where one can buy traditional handicrafts, such as wooden masks, prayer wheels, etc.

Yet again, we were blown away by the beauty of the building and its surroundings.The lovely gardens, shiny wooden floors, and the lovely architecture were proving to be the trademark of all the official buildings.

Mesmerizing Buddha Dordenma! PC: Sameer Bhide a.k.a The Hubster

As the sky was turning cloudy, we decided to visit the Buddha statue. Taschhi dzong would be visited after the Buddha Dordenma, as we wanted to see the flag ceremony. We had been looking at the Buddha from a distance from out hotel windows, but nothing could have prepared us for the mesmerizing, almost hypnotizing effect it would have on us! All of us remarked on our inability to maintain sustained eye-contact with the giant Buddha. Being neither too religious nor too spiritual, I welcomed the unfamiliar emotions I felt under the watchful gaze of Buddha: peace, warmth, a tinge of sadness, a little bit of intimidation. The huge and imposing bronze and gold statue has approximately 125,000 smaller Buddha statues within it; which translates to more Buddha statues in Thimphu than people!! As we came out after visiting the monastery within the statue, we were greeted with a lovely sight: a beautiful rainbow! After spending some more time, taking in the view of Thimphu city, it was time to say goodbye to Buddha Dordenma.

Almost heaven! Rainbow at the Buddha point. PC: Shweta Aiya

We were so engrossed in the beauty of Buddha Dordenma, that it was already 5.45pm by the time we came away from there. This meant the flag ceremony at the dzong was already over and the dzong itself would be closing by 6 pm. Yet again, I felt irritated at B for wasting our time in the morning. We decided to go on to coronation park. On the way however, we did manage to catch the aerial view of the dzong and the King's palace.

The Coronation Park is situated opposite the Changlimithang football stadium (we did catch a aerial view of this as well) and by the banks of Wangchu river. Though beautiful, it is ill-maintained. A walk by the Wangchu river however was quite refreshing, and helped me shake off some of the irritation I felt at having to skip the dzong.

Delicious dinner at Season's Pizzeria marked an end to a great day. An executive decision of firing B was made over dinner, if he continued his insolent and tardy behaviour. Punakha via Dochu La pass was the itinerary for the next day, and having read that Punakha dzong is THE most beautiful dzong, couldn't wait for the next day to arrive!