Bhutan

April 2023

Visited one of the few carbon-negative countries, land of thunder dragon and a country that prides itself on HAPPINESS quotient of people. BHUTAN. Sharing some information and experiences from the trip.

The trip involved flying to Bagdogra and drive to the border town of Jaigaon on the Indian side and Phuentsholing on the Bhutan side. “Pedestrian” immigration at Phuentsholing, and then by road to Thimphu, Punakha, and Paro. On return, drive from Paro to Phuentsholing, cross the border into Jaigaon. continue to drive to Bagdogra airport and fly back home. Most tourist itineraries involve these three city visits in Bhutan. These lay in one-fourth of the Bhutan geographically. I am sure lot of natural beauty in the rest of Bhutan, is still unexplored by most tourists.

I feel flying directly in and out of Paro is better. It does not save any money but saves 2 days of time. Paro is the only International Airport in Bhutan.

Bagdogra is a link town for people visiting Bhutan, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and other nearby tourist places. Bagdogra/Siliguri is now known as chicken neck corridor sandwiched between Bhutan and Bangladesh. While going to Assam from Bengal by road, only fifty kms separate Nepal and Bangladesh and later only one hundred kms wide Indian territory between Bangladesh and Bhutan borders.

Landed at Bagdogra Airport. Found a Sikkim tourism stall at the airport but no West Bengal tourism stall. Stayed for a night at Siliguri. Like all other small towns, a popular public transport was Autos (E-autos in this case), with cramped seating for six people excluding the driver. A modified Tata Ace, with cramped seating for eight, excluding the driver. It is a cheap transport choice. No need to Uber/Ola although Uber service are available.

Started for the border town of Jaigaon early morning. Wonderful roads between Siliguri and Jaigaon. Large Tea Estates, at times as far as eye could see. Beetle nut trees, lush green football fields, and refreshing greenery all over in April (when temperatures soar between 35-40 C). Sharing a few pictures from Siliguri to Jaigaon drive.

Few general titbits about Bhutan…

A Buddhist country with substantial number of monasteries, dzongs, rivers, valleys, mountains, and beautiful natural scenery. A Country with population of about eight hundred thousand with about one hundred thousand living in Thimphu.

Liked the hospitality and respect shown to other by the citizens. In a specific instance, the guide offered to fetch a cap fallen into the riverbank. It involved going down about 25-30 meters to the riverbank, cross shallow flowing chilly water body, and fetch the cap. 

Among other things, tourists cannot move around without a Bhutanese guide + driver. Responsibility of tourist following the rules and their wellbeing lies with the guide. The guide can be severely punished financially, and license temporarily revoked in case of any untoward incident.

Photographing a police officer is big NO.

Every establishment, government or private, displays at least one picture of the royal family. In one instance, when a royal vehicle was passing us in the opposite direction, our driver stopped the car, doffed his hat, and allowed the royal vehicles to pass. The number of Kings Vehicle is unique and that is how the driver could identify the car.

“BT” in license place means a taxi, a “BP” is for a private vehicle, “BG” for a government vehicle, “RBP” and “RBG” are other prefixes. Present and past Kings of Bhutan. Current being His Highness Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk. See picture of the five Kings of Bhutan so far. In the centre is the current king.

Most building, especially temples, monasteries, Dzongs are colourful, painted in bright colours and clean. I think a lot of people must have their profession as painters. Non-official dresses also have lots of bright colours.

Exceptionally clean place, even the border town of Phuentsholing.

A building with three or more slanting roof layers is a temple or monastery. Normal houses and other buildings have two layered slanting roofs.

Did not see even one window AC in any of the towns visited except for Phuensholing, the border town. In Paro, had to use a room heater.

Extremely orderly and disciplined traffic. Cars stop to allow pedestrians to cross.

A temple is a standard temple, a monastery is a compound with a temple and a place to stay for monks. A dzong is monastery and houses govt. administrative offices. Multiple gods, in Buddhism, like Hindus. Monasteries have paintings on the inner walls. Paintings with bright colours are drawn on canvas/paper and stuck to the inner walls in monasteries. Paintings typically denote events or other religious beliefs.

Bhutan does not have a documented long history. Mostly starts with leaders migrating from Tibet. One of them, Guru Padmasambhava, came to Bhutan about 1200 years ago and brought Buddhism to Bhutan. Another one called guru Ngawang Nangyal, who unified Bhutan under one umbrella.

Current royal family became formal rulers of Bhutan in 1905 and democracy came to Bhutan in 2008, brought in by the fourth King.

Bhutan imposes a “green tax” of Rs 1200/- per day for all Indian tourists. For non-Indian tourist, it is much more.

Bhutanese national animal is Takin, a combination of goat and cow. and there is a legend behind it. National bird is Raven. Legend has it that a raven who one of the gurus to Bhutan. Bhutanese national flower is Blue Poppy.

Bhutan exports electricity to India.

Flags, typical of Buddhist tradition can be found everywhere. Like what we find hung from inside in few car rear wind screens.

Stupas (small modak/momo sized) can be seen at random places. Meant to bring peace for the dead/living.

Border town of Phuentsholing is the only place where I saw AC’s. Nice “pedestrian” immigration building and vehicle entry gate. One of the larger cities with 27K population. A wall, immigration building and a vehicle entry gate separates Jaigaon and Phuentsholing. Lots of Indians commute across the border for work in Bhutan daily. Sharing a few beautiful pictures from immigration building and streets. The board behind immigration building is an Indian business board (Techno) from Jaigaon. Interestingly, liquor shops and bars open before any other shops in Phuentsholing.

Snap of Zangto Pelri Lhakhang in Phuentsholing.

Started for Thimphu in the morning next day. Made a stop at Sangye Migyur Ling Lhakhang, a monastery. Two beautiful buildings. Climbed all seven floors of one of the buildings and saw multiple statues and paintings of gods, goddesses, and gurus. All internal walls had bright colour paintings. Also saw “chozum” (Bhutanese for “sangam” or confluence of rivers) for Paro Chu (river coming from the front), and Thimphu Chu (River coming from the right of pic). (Chu is river in Bhutanese). Pics below.

In Thimphu, visited National memorial Chorten, a beautiful clean stupa shaped structure. Had a long-distance glimpse of Tashi Choe Dzong, A place close to where the King lives in Bhutan. Visited Simply Bhutan to get some glimpse of Bhutanese way of living. See Pics of how soil is compacted before building a super-structure, Standard windows, Masks, Kitchen equipment, Dried food for winters, Bhutanese food plate, Suja (Bhutanese tea that has Yak Butter and Salt) Dances, Songs, Masks.

While in Thimphu, also visited Shakyamuni Buddha. The locale overlooks the Thimphu Valley and has a huge metallic statue of Buddha, built for world peace. Very scenic and peaceful place. The Buddha statue is surrounded by large statues of goddesses all around. Hollow statue has a floor inside which is like a temple. Saw Ganesha statue in this place. Few pics from this place below. Also see pics of eight key symbols in Buddhism – the Wheel of Law, a conch shell, a victory banner, an umbrella, a lotus flower, a vase, a pair of fish, and an endless knot.

Took a small trek to Tango Monastery.We had to abandon the trek at 80% distance because of rains. It was wonderful experience of things to come.

Started for Punakha after 2 nights in Thimphu. Stopped at Dochu la Pass. One of the high-altitude roads in Bhutan. Memorial constructed here for soldiers who lost lives in a rebel uprising. Very cold. We passed this “pass” twice. One should be able to see some of the high snow-clad peaks in Bhutan from here. However, both time we crossed Dochu la pass, the sky was not clear and hence could not see the peaks. Few images from the Dochu la pass below.

Visited Punakha Dzong, a structure on the banks of a “Chu” with a wooden bridge to cross the river and get into the structure. It is a large structure and was used in olden days as a place from where Tibetan could be fought. Incredibly beautiful. Image below.

Walked across a pedestrian hanging bridge about 100+meters long. Also saw a nice picture of the five kings of Bhutan so far at the entrance to a school. Few pictures below.

Next visited a Kham sum Yulley Namgyal Chorten. A short trek to the top of a hillock where the structure is located. This is where all eight types of stupas can be seen in one place. Each one distinct from others and associated with an event in Buddha’s Life. Pics below. Also, pics of eight types of Stupas in Buddhism – each standing for and event in Buddha’s life. The lotus blossom, Enlightenment, Many doors, Descent from God Realm, Great Miracles, Reconciliation, Victory, and Nirvana. Some pictures from location including the picture of eight type of stupas.

Also took time to do some river rafting – Grade 0. Genuinely wonderful experience. Would love to experience grade 3 soon. Also went to a place called river beach. A stony riverbank where one could wade in shallow cooooold water, sit on stones with feet in chilly water. Enjoyed the experience.

Moved to Paro after 2 days stay in Punakha. Paro is the former capital of Bhutan. Visited marketplace and bought some mementos. Tried out Bhutanese costumes. Very colourful. Hotel was good and was on riverbank. We could see the airport building and airstrip, mountains… classic school picture that any kid draws – Mountains, river, few homes, Trees. Skipped visiting a few Dzongs and other typical sightseeing places.

Our last full day at Paro was dedicated to Tigers Nest Monastery. This was going to be a test of my/our physical ability. About 3.5 Km long and 550 Mt climb. The climb is more than claimed 550 ft because one must climb up, then climb down (about 80-100mts) and then climb up again to reach this monastery. In my opinion, the total climb could be more than 700+ meters. Stunning views as we climb. The monastery is at a height of about three thousand meters.

It is about 600-650 meters climb to the monastery at the height of about three thousand meters. As we started our drive, we saw a range of snow-clad mountains. Started our climb with rented walking sticks at the beginning of the climb. Very scenic and unique place. It took us about 8 hours to go up and return. About 2.5 hours in the restaurant on the way up and down together, and about 30 minutes at the top. Rest was all either a climb up or down. We were all able to complete it. Felt particularly good at the end of it. Pictures below are during the ascent.

Pictures below are on route, the valley, the tigers next at a distance and the gorge as we climbed.

Wonderful feeling as the trek was completed. Not to forget the marvellous interiors of the Tigers Nest itself, which could not be photographed (Cell phones and Cameras must be deposited at the entry to Monastery)

Adding two more pictures below. Roadside vendor and a man painstakingly painting a cabinet.

Next day, started back and returned to Phuentsholing for a night and then to Bagdogra airport. Return flight was uneventful with for a short stopover at Hyderabad.

Thanks to the choice of hotels by ladies in the group, we had wonderful stay and views from hotels. In fact, in one of the hotels we spent more time in the open to sky restaurant, than in the hotel room. Our hotels had mostly women crew, including porters loading and unloading bags from vehicle. Sharing a few pics of the hotels and views from hotel area including Paro airport building and airstrip, Punakha Chu (river) and Paro Chu. Pics below.

I liked the mountains…. the snow-capped ones, but after some time it became normal sight) and the layers of mountains. one behind the other…. The bare rock mountains to the fully green cover mountains…mountains above the clouds…and same with rivers and valleys… Sharing a few pictures below.

Few pictures on flowers that I took. I am going to share a few pics of flowers… Without going into what their names are. 

Sharing a few more pictures from the visit that I liked a lot. Hope you like too.

Adding a few videos captured during the visit.

Traditional way of compacting soil for a new building

Found a lot of Maharashtrians travelling in groups or in conducted tours mostly from Pune, Mumbai. Lots of Maharashtrians from Dubai too. Large group of families of ’73 Batch RIT Jamshedpur alumni… celebrating 50 years of graduation. Found very few tourists from other region.

Explore… Experience… Enjoy.