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Saurav & I visited Bhutan in the year 2013(aug 13th - aug 16th).
Our tour included stay & sight-seeing of Paro & Thimphu.
We boarded our flight from Guwahati to Paro, and in a span of 50 mins,
we were in paradise, that moment while landing, as our
flight waded through the beautiful valleys and clear blue skies
on a lone landing strip, we knew our trip was goin to be spectacular.
We were greeted at the airport by our guide/driver, who
accompained us for the rest of the stay. He was polite and
courteous and was dressed in his traditional attire 'Gho'.
We headed straight to Thimphu, the capital, which was about 1hr 30mins
by road from Paro. The view of the landscapes, the lush green valleys and
the gushing water of Thimphu river made our road journey, a splendid
one.
We had booked our room in this beautiful resort, Termalinca,
which was a little away from the city, but the biggest attraction to this place
was having the ebullient Thimphu river, just few metres away from
your room, with alluring sunflowers planted along
the banks of the river,
and believe me, it was an absolute visual treat. We set out
for our city tour after checking in our luggages in our room. By this
time, hunger had set in, so before we headed to the city, we stopped by
a small cafe, where we both indulged in some traditional Bhutanese
cuisine, and what's not to like, when your food involves lots of cheese,
apparently the cheese made from cow's milk called 'datshi' is never
eaten raw, but used to make sauces. As much as we were enjoying
our meal, our eyes were transfixed on the tallest statue of Lord Buddha,
which could be easily viewed from far from anywhere in the city.
Our first stop in our itinerary was to the Motithang Takin
Preserve, this mini zoo had nothing extra-ordinary, except you get to
see Takin, the national animal of Bhutan. From there we went up the hill,
playing hide & seek with the Buddha statue and finally when we reached
the top, you get to see the largest & the tallest statue of Buddha, perched right
at
the top of the hill. The view of the entire Thimphu valley from there is just
mesmerising, with mountains kissing the bright blue sky, it was almost like a
beautiful painting on the canvas.
Before heading back to the resort, our last pit-stop for the day
was at Tashiccho Dzong, this magnificent structure had a grand fortress
within, with some beautiful woodwork & artwork. This place was open
to tourists only for a short time, so we had to exit soon . As we got into our vehicle,
it started to rain profusely, we reached our resort, where we were handed out
umbrellas right at the gate, and thus from a sunny bright morning to a
chilly rainy night, we had just experienced Thimphu in all its glory.
The next day, we headed back to Paro, which was no
different from Thimphu in terms of terrain, except the room we booked
was in the resort 'Naksel', which means forest in Bhutan, and much to
its meaning, this resort was an absolute bliss midst the forest & apple orchards.
The location of this resort provides for gorgeous
views of the Paro valley.
Our room was a short uphill climb from the reception, giving us a clear view
of the mountain peaks. We spend the rest of the evening watching the
beautiful sunset, sipping wine and finally ending our day with a sumptuous
buffet.
The following morning, we woke up early, and were all
geared up for the trek to Taktsang monastery(Tiger's nest). We had our
breakfast and immediately left in our car to the trek spot. There were two
ways to reach the monastery, one was walking all the way up and
another was taking the pony halfway and then going by foot for the rest of
the half. We opted to walk all the way, the steep climb up the pathways,
boundaried by prayer flags and wheels, the picturesque view of the mountains
& valleys and the very essence of being midst nature, made our trek very
adventurous. I found the trek upto the view point relatively comfortable, but the
steps to the monastery in literal terms "took my breath away".
On reaching the monastery, to our luck, a prayer service
had just
begun, the whole aura in the monastery resonated calmness and it felt
so peaceful. Before we started our climb down, there was this small view
point in the monastery's premises from where one could overlook the beautiful valley,
we stopped there for sometime, little did I know, that, that moment was going to be
my most unforgettable moment of my life, yes Saurav, my then boyfriend, was
down on his knee, with a gorgeous diamond ring in his hand, asking me to
marry him, he completely took me by surprise and literally sweeped me off my feet,
the whole proposing idea in that enchanting place just blew me away.
And offcourse i said 'yes' and we hugged while the other fellow trekkers congratulated us,
a match truly 'made in heaven'. Without further delay, we started our journey down,
to a small cafe halfway of the trek, where we had our lunch served. After lunch, our descend
to our car was interrupted by various pit-stops, mostly for clicks. We got in our car
and headed back to our resort, as exhausted as we were, we sat
in our portico
outside our room, reminiscing every magical moment of our trek, thanks to Saurav
for adding the cherry on top.
Next day, we were to visit Rinpung Dzong, this turned out to be my
favourite Dzong in bhutan, We were lucky to attend a whole ceremony inside the Dzong
with monks chanting, trumpeting and drumming, the beautiful woodwork with
intricate paintings on the wall and the view of Pa chu river with the cantilever bridge
leading to the Dzong was just blissful. It has a national museum too adjoining it.
The last destination in our itinerary included, Kichu Lakhang, it was a small, but
a beautiful temple, the statues of buddha & the simplicity of the place was the
highlight. I loved the vicinity around the monastery with the apple trees & beautiful blooms.
After spending some time in the temple, we came back to our resort.
Our last day in Bhutan, ended up with us taking the 'hot stone bath' at the resort, it was
truly the most relaxing & rejuvenating body therapy experience, definitely a
must do to anyone coming to this
place. We retired to bed early, only to wake up to a foggy morning , with
clouds looking so fluffy like cotton candy. As much as I wanted to just sit still and
enjoy the morning bliss, It was time to head to the airport. Bhutan was truly a land enriched with
not just the mighty himalayan kingdom, but also with incredible treasured
tradition and cultural environment, it was simply a love-affair to be envied.We bid
goodbye to Bhutan with such a heavy heart, but we carry such lovely memories
of the place which we will treasure for a lifetime, and we cant wait to be there soon.
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gracy
non-member comment
great going !!
loved the write up !!