Bhutan Diaries: Dochula Pass~ Enroute from Thimphu to Punakha

Dochula pass is located enroute Thimphu - Punakha, at 3000 meters above sea level is overlooking the mighty Himalayas. At one of the viewing points, 108 stupas (chortens) were constructed as a memorial built by the queen, Her Majesty Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuk, to honor the victory of the Bhutanese army in the 2003 war of Southern Bhutan.

This is also known as Druk wangyal Chortens

This is a quiet and tranquil location.. 

From the crest, one can get a stunning 360 degree panoramic view of Himalayan mountain range. It was a cloudy day so the view was not so clear for us.

Serene and Surreal 

We visited this place twice. 

It seems that the view from here is very scenic on clear, winter days with snowcapped mountains forming a majestic backdrop to the tranquility of the 108 chortens gracing the mountain pass.

Clouds jealously hugging the Dochula pass, making the view unviewable.. 

Closeup view of a Chorten

The past and future appears to merge in the details of the lhakhang (temple) and its structure tells the story of a supreme warrior figure, whose vision pierces the distant future in a fine blend of history and mythology.

Heavenly isn't it?

This place has become popular spiritual destination because of this temple which is located on the crest of Dochula pass.

Break with a view enroute Punakha

Bhutan was forced to repel the rebels as failing to do so, India threatened to enter the country to do so themselves. The 4th King led a volunteer army of about 7,000 men to force the rebels to exit the country. That is one of the reasons why Bhutanese love their fourth king (Jigme Singye Wangchuck). He is the one who replaced GDP with Gross National Happiness. Making it as happiest country.

Dochula Pass hosts the Dochula Festival annually on 13 December. Bhutanese Started celebrating this festival from 2011. If you have a plan of visiting Bhutan in December then don't miss it..

Jumping for joy makes our soul happy :P

Taktsang Lhakhang- A TREK OF A LIFETIME

We finally reached as to what was our most eagerly awaited destination in paro and precisely in bhutan, This was the taktsang lhakhang a.k.a tiger’s monastery , a place which was at the top of our to-do list not just because it was a 16th century old monastery built on a huge cliff but also for the fact that we have to trek 13KM(5 hours) through a dense pine forest to the top.
      The soul of trekking is determination and passion.There are people who think trekking is just walking like a zombie between forest and mountains to reach nowhere.That is not true. The idea of reaching the top of a mountain by foot drives more adrenaline from the inside and is more of a fun from the ROR boys point of view as we looked at it as a trek of a lifetime and indeed it was
      We reached the starting point at 1 30PM, which is not highly recommended as the total trek time ideally is 5 hours to and fro. If you are late after sunset then you might be in for a real scare.However that wasn’t the case here :D
We started the trek steadily and not surprisingly people were coming down after finishing the trek.They had that “you guys wont make it” look on their faces. we all gave a good glance to the monastery that was barely visible from ground zero and karthik was sulking in his already wet clothes.

Get set GO!

ON MY WAY

The way through the forest was not very tricky.It is a decent road for initial part of it and then becomes tricky after some distance as naturally the road would become more and more drastic and very difficult when you go higher on the hill.We reached halfway slowly and the monastery was getting closer and more pleasing to our eyes. we had a beautiful landscape when we turned back and a few people did suggest us to turn back and down as it is still couple of hours away and we have a time crunch,but there was no turning back. The determination was there to reach the destination.I guess there is not much of a difference between a trek and life. Have that determination :)
    Where were we?? Oh yes we were at the top of the cliff.finally!!In a little under 3 hours.Trust me when i say this,It was worth all the sweat and a little pain in the muscles.

Totally Worth it!!

The monastery is stunningly located on the edge of the cliff.It is almost as if it is glued to the side of the cliff rather than built on the very top.The locals also say that the king’s mother resides in this place very often when she feels the need to meditate.You can see an array of mountains and a picturesque view of Bhutan’s natural and well preserved habitat.No pictures were allowed inside as it is mostly a normal buddhist temple from the inside.

The Best view of the taktsang

The never ending nature

PIC by GK

We were back to the starting point in an impressive total time of 4 hours and 20 minutes.With our legs cursing us and the body searching for a cushion we are on the road back to Thimphu,Many would ideally stay in Paro but we had a liking for Thimphu which we would also suggest other travelers as Thimphu is a livelier place to stay (in other words women were more beautiful :P)
Lalla was finally feeling home by now.He was more often than not saying that he feels like a local by now although he doesn’t look even close to one.And after the long day of ROR exploring and after some 500odd selfies of karthik, we were back to Thimphu. We were dead tired but the night was ours to live.Even after the long sojourn we were in for a late night chat inside our hotel room where we gathered for some relaxed conversations.This was one of the highlights of the trip with everyone’s past being the focus. Rohith was at his usual doctor stuff giving medical advices to karthik ;) and lalla’s motivational speech on how to handle breakups was almost motivational :P we were finally off to bed and ready and set for our final destination in bhutan.

The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.
-Gilbert K. Chesterton

Dream To be continued...

Bhutan Diaries: Dholi taro bol "Paro"

LIGHTS! CAMERA! PARO!

Once done with exploring the chelela we are back to ground zero and the next stop was paro. Paro was very much conflicting to thimphu. It had a more traditional feel to it as it is older than thimphu.But it still had its own charm.

The Paro Airport, One of most beautiful airports we have seen

PARO MUSEUM

First stop , the famous Paro museum which closes at 11AM on saturdays. The museum is located beautifully but is also prone to thunders as the original museum was damaged after being hit by a thunder in the year 2013. The museum is now shifted in the newly constructed building adjacent to the old one. 

Entry to the museum

The Paro museum shows you the history and present of Bhutan like any other national museum in the world. The most interesting part of it was the display of various birds of Bhutan and the history was also captivating enough.

WoW!!



The actual damanged museum

 



Overlooking Paro from the museum

No we are not going further without feeding our tummy as the driver stopped by a decent yet empty hotel in Paro town for some yummy Bhutanese food. 

Thupka- A local dish

KYICHU LKHANG

Next on the list was Kyichu lhakhang. Believed to be the oldest temple in Bhutan The temple is popularly believed to have been built in 659 by King Songtsen Gampo of Tibet, to pin down the left foot of a giant ogress who was thwarting the establishment of Buddhism into Tibet. Additional buildings and a golden roof were constructed in 1839 by the penelop of Paro and the 25th Je Khenpo.

A Mural

A very small yet historical place

The encrypted wheels

Sometimes the least noticed things are beautiful

The temple is extremely sacred for the Buddhist and it does tell you a story of Bhutan history and old architecture as we see a lots of prayer wheels encrypted on the walls of the temple.


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Bhutan Diaries: Chelela Pass- A Pass worth Passing by..

Next on the list of our dream sojourn was the city of Paro. we were off to Paro, the second most populous city of bhutan and the only city with an airport is about a two hour drive from Thimphu with a fantastic smooth driveway. But wait we are the explorers we just cant think straight when we are traveling.We decided at the very last moment that we will go to the chelela pass,which falls on the way to paro and it turned out to be a blessing .The road to chelela starts about 12KM before Paro and it is 35 KM on the “Ha” highway.

Nothing much to discuss about the way to the top of the pass.It is mostly an empty road with not many vehicles plying and closely surrounded by trees and the beautiful Himalayan monal birds are a treat for bird lovers.However once you reach to the top you are in for a surprise.



Almost there at the top

Chelela surges landscape.It blows your mind away as soon as you step out in exuberance. It is surrounded by hordes of bhutanese prayer flags,cliffs with hordes of forest on one side and a fantastic view of the great snow capped jomolhari mountain on the other.


The irresistible charm of the place stays with you for a long time

The temperature at the top was -2. Most of us were virgins for the minus temperature and had literally our every body part shiver but the sheer excitement overpowered the cold and we were happily sitting in the lap of chelela for a while. 



 Color flags are for the new borns and the white are for the departed

 Breathtaking indeed



The Road goes to HA

 

Witnessing the wonder called chelela



Yes here we are :)

Chelela should be in must visit places of bhutan for the ones planning to travel. Not to mention it was a pass worth passing by :)

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Kuzuzangpo Bhutan- An Experience of a lifetime

 

      
      It all started from having an intense plan and huge back packing of 20-25 days which included a good part of north india , a long sojourn to the north eastern India but for all of us the most exciting part was to explore bhutan, the land of thunder dragons as it is fondly called and the dice were rolled out. The rough plan was there and we were all set to start a journey of our life time.

We took a flight from delhi to bagdogra in west bengal as it is the most preferred way to reach bhutan for indians.Our first stop over was at the queen of hill stations called darjeeling which was roughly 80 KM and a 3 hour drive from bagdogra airport. Then the next morning we planned to leave for phuentsholing , the gateway town to enter bhutan.Wait!! What about darjeeling then? What we did in darjeeling is a story that will be unfolded in another post. It is worth to be told.

Jaigaon is the indian gateway town to bhutan(phuentsholing) and from there we enter phuentsholing. Darjeeling to jaigaon is a 5 hour drive about 200KM going through NH31 and overlooking the beautiful teesta river for a part of the drive. A permit is mandatory to enter bhutan for indian/chinese citizens for others it is the routine long visa procedure. We had to make sure that we reach jaigaon before 10AM as the permit office in phentsholing closes at 11AM and the driver was just the right guy for the task taken straight out of a fast and furious movie. We reached the border town before 10 AM and applied for our bhutan permits.Please make sure you carry a passport/original voter Id, driving license, two passport size photographs along with you to apply for a permit.

The Bhutan Gate at Phuentsholing

 We got the permit in an hour, had breakfast in an indian restaurant and got some local bhutansese currency NU (indian rupee also works in bhutan) and a local tashi cell SIM card as indian networks will not be working here and we were set for the capital city thimphu while one of my friend GK still struggling to find the difference between bhutan and taiwan.:P

We reserved a 6 seater taxi for thimphu from the local taxi stand for 3500INR.Thimphu is 174 KM from phuentsholing, a 5 hour drive from a risky yet beautiful road carved out of mountains.

Rains added zeal to the beautiful drive

As we enter the serene environment of bhutan we are greeted with a cold breeze and a peaceful noise of the surroundings. You immediately feel that you are in for something soothing and also exhilarating. 

A view from an eatery on the way

The highway to heaven, as it is called was a masterpiece by the creator and also by the bhutanese government as the road is neatly carved out between mountains and makes for a decent yet risky ride, surrounding the nature. There was a calmness in the air one which reflects in the title given to the country, the most peaceful country in south asia. 

Bends were quite sharp and also smooth at times

 As we were having this discussion the driver proved it right by revealing that he has been happily married for almost 15 years with two wives, living with both of them under one roof for these many years which was something astonishing for all of us. It is more of a tradition in bhutan and there are many such examples . I challenged him to marry “once” in india.:P

WELCOME TO THIMPHU

We entered thimphu city after a 5 hour drive and what we saw was large houses with similar bhutanese/tibetan architecture , clean roads, probably the cleanest we have seen.

 Impressive isn't it?

 The city had a very calm yet happening vibe. We had to complete a tough task of finding cheap and best hotels in the vicinity called as the clock tower. We found one called as tashi delek which was priced at 950 INR per room. Please note that there are hardly any hotels offering rooms at ground/first floor and you will have to to shell out a lot more to get a room on lower floors.However we got one on the third floor and it was a never ending climb to the third floor after an almost 400KM long cross country drive.

 The street where we stayed

 Next Day of the plan was to explore the every nook and corner of Thimphu.Basically to know about the traditions and culture that represents this beautiful country. Thimphu, as i mentioned is the most populous city in Bhutan which also means that there were enough people to interact. The men were extremely welcoming, the women equally beautiful. Karthik already began to work his charm, while lalla was still finding ways to start a conversation :P 

         We took two local taxi’s as all taxi’s in Thimphu city are only small 4 seaters and we were 5 and we first went to the national library of Bhutan.

The library

It was surprisingly closed on Saturdays and Sundays and we clicked pictures from the outside and moved to zorig chusum, a government backed institute in providing education in embroidery, sculpture, painting, weaving, carving, etc to aspiring students to provide them with skills to boost their employment opportunities in the future.

 Local Bhutanese art

The school had an annual orientation going on as it was good to see an assembly of school kids after we were last part of it a decade back. Wow!!A decade!! i just realized. Time flies. 

Nostalgia

Closer to the school was national folk heritage museum which was an exhibition of the heritage of Bhutan, Also depicting how ancient bhutanse used to live.We were out after a short visit to the place, which was an education of Bhutanese history, culture and traditions and took a taxi to the most famous tourist place of Thimphu called National memorial chorten. 

The gate to the chorten

 Believed to be built in memory of the former queen’s brother the place is right in the center of the city and is mostly visited by old monks for their prayers and to relax.

Golden work for the tips of the temple

Little did we knew, that the next place we were going to was this spectacular.It was the giant buddha dordenma golden statue, which is not yet completed from the inside .Upon completion this will be one of the largest buddha statues in the world.

One word "stunning"

Geographically it is perfectly located.The statue will be visible from a very long distance as we can see the buddha shining in gold and also overlooking the whole city of thimphu from the top of the cliff. The place is hugely spacious and also windy and while rohith found some Chinese company who looked astonished by his fluent Chinese, we moved on to spend some quality time at the place.

Overlooking Thimphu from the Buddha 

If you go to a different country make sure you see its animal species.That is what we did next.The takin preserve was the place which houses the national animal of Bhutan, takin.You can see a lot of them here and you can cover this place in quick time as it is only a conservatory for takins.

This is the closest we can get to them

 After the whirlwind tour of these places without a break , we had to do the most important part of the day, FOOD!!!! And what better than some local Bhutansese food. We went to a restaurant called as “Ama” on the same street of our hotel as ordered Thupka, kewa datshi , Ema datshi, Thai rice, Chicken chilly, Veg crispy, Veg fried rice. All this for an astonishing N.U 900. That was the best part of Bhutan, It doesn’t burn a hole in your pocket when it comes to food.

Halfway mark!! It was cleaned up eventually

We spent the rest of the evening wandering on the streets of thimphu, while GK and lalla were at their usual “loving” antics and a couple of us decided to hit a local hangout spot called vivacity and then back to the hotel as we had to be early for a long yet exciting, exhilarating, extravagant day of exploring waiting for us tommorow.   

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