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Published: December 11th 2009
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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 of that form and trek back to submit the form (if the officer seems to be in a good mood, test your luck by asking him to use the machine in his office for photo-copy).
As our permits were being processed, we did some local sight seeing. Thimpu is the smallest country capital of the world and the only capital without traffic lights. It
is a nicely planned city with traditional white buildings placed in meticulously planned blocks. Either because of the low population or the good civic sense of its citizens, the city is clean, spick and span. Smoking is banned in public but alcohol is liberally consumed. You can find shops with signs like 'Grocery and Bar'. The standard of living seems to be on an upward side as the Toyota Prado outnumbers any other car on the road. It is followed by Hyundai Tuscan. I even saw a Toyota Yaaris on the road ! Their traditional gho and kira dont leave much room for stylized clothing but they do have their Prados and Tuscans to flash. They share their general inclination to lead the high lifestyle with the northeastern people of India. As I read in the Glenary's menu book about Darjeeling. Only in Darjeeling unemployed men dress better than the employed one !
The first stop for local sight seeing is BBS tower located on a nearby hill with panoramic views of Thimpu valley. A taxi will take Rs. 150 from Thimpu market for a drop. You cannot actually climb up the tower but you can go to a
chorten (a temple) up on the hill by taking a small trail wrapped up completely in Tibetan prayer flags. We abandoned the attempt as there were no signs of Chorten even after a 10 min walk and we werent much excited about the views that it might offer. So we ambled back to the tower. Usually there are no chances of finding a return taxi. A round trip may cost you some 400 bucks. Instead if you have time, you can walk back the 5 km downhill road. A worthy stop on the way would be the Takin national preserve. Takin, a goat-antelope, is the national animal of Bhutan. Not enthusiastic about taking the taxi from the market, we walked all the way to Memorial Chorten, at the other end of Thimpu. A magnificent white building crowed by a golden finial. The well illuminated building made a spectacular sight specially against the twilight background. It was almost dark but we decided to go visit Trashi Choe Dzong another must see on Thimpu local sight seeing list. We took a taxi to the Dzong which is located on the other end of Thimpu. The Dzong is open for the public only
from 4.30 pm to 5.30 pm. Although the well-lit Dzong offered a good sight for some long exposure shots. The abundantly available hydro-electric power makes sure every building and street is brightly illuminated. After a long day of walking, we headed back to our hotel.
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