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Blogs from Bhutan, Asia - page 12
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November 20th 2009
A late night show of Jack Nicolson's "Something Gotta Give" resulted in we getting up late and it was already 10.30 am when we reached the bus stand. Unfortunately there are just two buses between the two largest cities of Bhutan, Thimpu and Paro, one at 9.00 am and the other at 2.00 pm. So we looked around for Taxi. A nice guy agreed to take us for 100 bucks each with the condition that he wont leave till he gets a fourth one. After circling the bus-stand for about half an hour shouting "Paro Chi, Paro Chi" (One seat for Paro), he gave up and headed to Paro. A smooth ride (a rarity in Bhutan) of one hour and we were in Paro. Paro is a beautiful small town with the only airport in Bhutan ... read more
November 19th 2009
Today we planned to trek to the monasteries of Thangu and Cherry. A taxi costs you around Rs. 700 for a return trip. A bus leaves at 7.00 am from the city bus stand to Begana (ticket: Rs 20), 3 km from Dodeyna the base for the trek. No prizes for what option we took. We reached Begana at about 7.30 and walked to Dodeyna. We had our breakfast, Maggi and tea, at the shop right at the trail head. That was probably the most pathetic tea I have ever tasted. Thangu and Cherry are located on two adjacent hills and is a half hour trek from the base. We chose Cherry first, located midway on the hill with another monastery,Thangery, nestled right on the top. We decided to do both. Its an easy 30 min ... read more
November 18th 2009
We headed off to Thimpu bus stand to take the 8.30 am bus to Punakha. I was in split minds yesterday between a taxi or a bus to Punakha as I had read about splendid views on the way. The taxi could have cost around 1600. The taxi drivers at the Thimpu bus stand (unlike anywhere else in Bhutan) are pretty crooked (guess they have learnt a trick or two from their indian counterparts). They started from 2500 and finally came down to 1600 bucks. But the economic sense prevailed and we took the bus paying 20 bucks each (a right decision in retrospect). At the ticket counter I asked for 3 tickets, all window seats. The lady asked innocently, "sab log ulti karte hai kya ?" (Does every one suffer from motion sickness ?"). I ... read more
November 17th 2009
The plan today was to just wander around Thimpu and get necessary permits to visit Punakha, Thangu-Cherry and Takstang. Thangu-Cherry are hill monasteries accessible by half an hour treks from the Dodeyna village about 20 kms from Thimpu. The special permit to Punakha can be easily obtained at the immigration bureau, Thimpu (submit in the morning and collect it in evening). However a trek to Thangu/Cherry and Takstang requires some trekking at Thimpu itself for the permits. One has to trek up to department of culture with the photocopies of your Bhutan travel permit. You have to fill up an application form in Dzongkha, the official Bhutanese language ! Request the officer to fill it up for you and mostly he will oblige. Then walk all the way back to the market to take a photocopy ... read more
November 16th 2009
The ceiling fan blowing air at full speed and the sun rays being blocked by the surrouding buildings, I slept till 8.30 am what seemed a luxury a couple of days ago at HMI. Welcome to the plains ! I hurriedly freshened up to keep the appointment at 9.00 am. In the last month, bath showed up just a couple of times on my morning schedule. No chance here. We crossed the border to Phuntsholing and headed to the immigration bureau for our permits. They accept only passport and voter id cards. Shyam had his driving license and we had a tough time getting through. The people at the Indian embassy were unhelpful to the point of being rude. Not that the Bhutanese guys are courteous, but the Assistant immigration officer might just help you out ... read more
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November 15th 2009
Photos : Here Duration : 9 days Cost : Rs. 4200/- per head for a group of 3 from Siliguri, India Itinerary * Day 1: Siliguri to Jaigaon (WB) (4 hour journey) and halt * Day 2: Obtained permits at Phuntsholing and head to Thimpu (5-6 hour journey). * Day 3: Local sight seeing in Thimpu and obtain permits for Punakha, Thangu-Cherry and Takstang monastry * Day 4: Day visit to Punakha monastery and back to Thimpu * Day 5: Day hike to Cherry monastery and back to Thimpu. * Day 6: Thimpu to Paro and local sight seeing in Paro * Day 7: Wasted in Paro due to extended friday night celebrations taking an unfortunate turn * Day 8: Day hike to Takstang Monastery and back to Paro. * Day 9: Paro to Phunstholing ... read more
November 15th 2009
After 28 days in mountains, it was time to head for plains, to Jaigaon, the border town in India where one can enter Bhutan, the land of the Thunder dragon. I boarded the only direct state transport bus to Jaigaon from Darjeeling at 7.30 am (ticket Rs.135/-). A less time consumping option would be to take a shared jeep to Siliguri and then another one to Jaigaon. The bus seats were quite comfortable and an advance booking got me a single seat right next to the driver. The driver was a jolly person having been perfected the art of multi-tasking. He knew almost every other person on the way and waved to each of them as his other hand negotiated the narrow hair pin bends. When not waving, he talked on his swanky Moto razr phone ... read more
November 3rd 2009
This year has travelled more than I have, and faster. Only two months left for the Raffle Quiz. Here's are new RQs: 11.1: What is the national bird of Bhutan? 11.2: What year were USA advisors first sent to Vietnam? 11.3: Lo Muthang: where?... read more
October 19th 2009
Atypical tour. It's not about tourist attractions, shopping, souvenir shops etc... It's all about the simplicity of life, the warmth of the people, the unspoilt nature and the colourful culture. We were lucky to have a wonderful guide who included little "side programmes" to enhance our overall experience. It was like visiting friends' friends, feeling very relaxed and safe. We visited the weekend market at Thimphu. There weren't any tourists around. The locals just got on to their own business, with absolutely no touting to us. They welcomed us to take all the photos we wanted. They'll smile willingly for us and we'll share the photos we took of them, like what we will do with our friends. When we were in Phobjikha, our guide Sonam, brought us to a local store for a drink. It ... read more
October 19th 2009
While we were changing money currency at the bank, we noticed that one of the tellers had rather dramatic eyes with ultra thick eyeliner. Mmm.... we were pretty curious on the "standard" of beauty in Bhutan. Then in Thimphu, we saw Sonam reading a copy of Yeewong. We kaypoh lor, borrowed his copy to browse. The magazine contained pictures of Miss Bhutan 2008 contestants and write-up about them. Being the bimbo us, we screeched and bitched about how these women looked. "My god, look at their eye-liner (they outlined the entire eye with thick black ink)..... Goodness, look at their hair.... Aiyo, make-up so ugly" But Ok, to be fair, they all looked pretty fine in their casual no-make-up look. We tried to do a simple on-ground survey. "Sonam, Namgay, who is pretty here, who is ... read more
