Journey · Bhutan
The Land of the Thunder Dragon
Overland from Siliguri to Paro, Thimphu and the cliffs of Tiger’s Nest.
It is that time of the year where my heart itches to get out of my cozy and comfortable couch. It’s been 10 months and almost the end of the year; still I didn’t strike out my New-year resolution i.e Travel to some place outside India. Being an entrepreneur has its own cons, you will be broke all the time. But being in a travel industry cover its cost doesn’t it? So Cost for Exploration of Bhutan is on company since we have planned to expand our horizon to our neighboring country. Since Bhutan is not exactly a backpacking destination due to government’s strict tourism policy and charging of 50$/ day for tourist other than Indian and Bangladesh citizens Bhutan is an expensive tourist country, you won’t find any dormitories or youth hostels. So, you can’t expect it to be done with your dirt cheap budget. And first time in my life this is not a solo traveling adventure. I was accompanied by two friends. I used to travel without much of a plan or itinerary; I just know my starting date and ending date and plan along the way. They both are not used to, so they were pretty excited.
We started our trip from Siliguri, from there we took a local train to Hasimara junction. We reached Hasimara junction at 12:00 midnight which is 4 hrs later than the expected time. And our overnights stay is in the “Jaigon” border which is another 14km from there. So we took a cab and reached jaigon and thus began our search for a room at 1:00 am with our hungry stomach. Since it is a peak time we didn’t get any rooms and no food as well. Finally we managed to find a restaurant which is busy closing down everything; we went it and explained our situation they offered us the leftovers and provided us a mattresses and bed sheets in the balcony for three of us. It was indeed a different experience for me as well.
The next day begin with taking a walk across the border. Once you step into Bhutan you will sense the change in scenario, Even though it is in the same mighty Himalayan range as we are you can find a huge difference in architecture, people, clothes, population it is a cliché to say it is a land of happiness so early into the trip but indeed it is. After getting a first stamp in my passport to enter into Paro & Thimpu we slowly traverse through the streets to the bus stop. We took tickets for an afternoon bus to Thimpu for merely 200rs/person. The buses are comfortable and well maintained. And there are only three buses from the border to Thimpu and Paro. If you missed that you have to take a shared cab that will cost you 650rs/person. After six hours of journey we reached Thimpu and checked into a nice budget hotel which offered us a excellent view of clock tower. After Dinner and a light roaming we went to sleep.
Day three we started out early after having a light breakfast. Our first thing is to go to the bustop and book our tickets to phunaka the next day as there is only one bus it will get full soon. So we didn’t want to miss the bus. After that we went to the migration office to get a permit to visit other places in Bhutan. It took almost two hour, meanwhile we went to the tallest Buddha statue in Bhutan in the outskirts of the city. The place looked amazing with lesser crowd, quite. You can get to the place by city bus service. You can cover other places in the city by taking a walk through the city. And there is a monastery which lies next to the king’s house. The one of the many things about Bhutan that will make you go wow is the admiration and love the common people have for their king and queen. I also enjoyed the nil traffic & horn sounds in the city and wondered how people actually follow these rules properly. Even the by walkers crosses the road only on zebra crossing and they also take a time to point out foreigners (Indians 😛 ) not to cross the roads randomly.
The next day we boarded the one and only bus to Phunaka. The ride through the vast Himalayan range is always bliss. A pitstop at the dochula pass witnessing the snowcapped Mt Gangkar is a cherry on top. Mo chuu river welcomed us into the punakha. Later that day, we went to explore the famous punakha dzong with a guide and a small hike to the longest suspension bridge. In the evening, sitting on the bank of Mo Chuu River watching a moon rise behind the mountains is the best part of this trip.
It’s a nesting for a black necked crane. So hoping to see many we went to the Pobjika valley the next morning. Unfortunately there are no buses available from punakha to pobjika, so we hired a cab for us. It is a vast valley and we spotted many cranes and the valley is mesmerizing. I can’t stop wondering how this place will look like when it is covered with snow but to witness that I should be there in the month of January. We returned to Paro that evening and stayed in a nice suit room:P
For a country that is referred to “The land of Dragons” the people here are very calm and always have smile on their faces. The next day we met two guys whom we met during the visa process. We all joined together to take the hike to tiger nest. We started early in the morning and hike through the dry and dusted phase for an hour before reaching halfway. It is a moderate trek for starters. In a halfway through we can see the mighty monastery build on the hills which turned out to be a hallmark of Bhutan. Being busy with exploring the places we forgot to take our return ticket to the border from paro which made us to shell out 650rs each. That’s all about the trip. Few experiences can’t be penned down. You have to go out and see for yourself. Live young, Live free.