I din't really know much about Bhutan until very recently, except that one of my friends had visited there and that they have a beautiful queen. My sister-in-law and her husband, who are currently posted on the Bhutan-India border were the ones to put the idea into our head. Bhutan was never on my travel list, and i now look back to see how ignorant i had been of this little neighbor of ours.
Bhutan is an extraordinary country where culture thrives and traditions bloom. Its the Himalayan Kingdom. As we crossed the Bhutan Gate at Phuntoesling, the world literally morphed into a clean, calm and peaceful place right before our eyes. You cannot help but notice the stark difference between the two towns of Phutoesling, Bhutan and Jaigaon, India separated tangibly only by a Gate, but in reality by a gorge of culture. Our journey began by road from Phuntoesling to Paro, i had read alot about Paro in my online research just before the trip and i had great expectations. Paro did not disappoint. Its a beautiful wide valley nestled in the himalayas with paddy fields as far as you can see, the airport to one end and the Tiger's Nest to the other.
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| The Paro Valley |
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| Prayer stones |
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| The monastry in Paro with the famous 4 orange trees in its courtyard. These trees are fruit laden all round the year and its said that if an orange were to fall on you, you'd be very lucky. Well needless to say it din't fall on my head |
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| From our walks around Paro valley |
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| From our walks around Paro valley |
I was unhappy to leave Paro, but i was also looking forward to see Thimphu. Thimphu is a 2 hour drive from Paro. The capital city of Bhutan where the King and most of the government establishments are situated. Its very different from Paro, which has a villagish feel to it. Thimphu is well constructed, well-kept and comparatively fast paced. The Royal Bhutan Police rules the city and makes sure everything is in order. The most interesting thing about Thimphu is the traffic (little) and the missing traffic signals !! I did not see a single one, though i'm told there is but one. This city has alot to offer with its markets, little pubs, universities and schools. It does not take away from the beauty of the place.
Almost everyone speaks english and even hindi i suppose as i saw alot of televisions with Indian soap operas (kum kum bhagya for example) and bollywood songs (blue hai paani paani ...) playing on them. The people are very helpful, polite and non-pestering, you can rest assured that you will not be mugged or robbed. Just how much of mental peace that brings you cannot know until you have been in Bhutan a few days.
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| Chalela pass - Splits the Paro valley from Haa |
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| Thats me taking a walk in the midst of the prayer flags and biting cold winds |
The best and the only way to travel around Bhutan is by road. As you go about the twists and turns of the roads snaking through the mountains taking you over and beyond then, you can be rapt in the amazing views of the traces of fall colors and the waterfalls, the mist that will envelop certain valleys at all times of the day. In our driver we were blessed, it was a man called A, originally from the Himachal, so no stranger to the Himalayas himself. Considering i'm unaware of the ways of the Army, M explained that i was not to be too pally with him and maintain a certain decorum. And how i suffered ! Here was a source of information who had spent two years moving about the length and breadth of Bhutan and yet so inaccessible. Dear lord has his ways of granting you the opportunity, you just need to be ready to grab it, and so came one my way.
On the morning of our first day in Thimphu, I had planned to take a trip to the famous Dochula pass which is on the way to Punakha from Thimphu. Its a monument constructed at the top of a mountain and offers a breadth-taking 360 degree panoramic view of the himalayan ranges and the Chinese border. At the front of this backdrop is the captivating monument itself consisting of 108 chortens. As i got ready to leave the guest house, M decided that he was 'under the weather' and does not really want to leave the room until afternoon. But ofcourse, nothing should stop me, and nothing did. 2 hours was ample time for me to extract every bit of interesting first hand information from A ;)
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| Dochula |
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| Dochula |
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| Everywhere you look, you can't help but admire the glory of mother nature |
As we drove to Dochula, A let me in on some very interesting observations he had made in the past two years, i'm not sure how many of these were accurate, but they do make a good read. As i raved about the country and its natural beauty, A explained that he was not very happy with the cuisine. He did not like spicy food and Bhutan was all about red chilli. He told me about the national dish of sorts called Ema-datshi where red chilli is the hero of the dish. He did not find the idea of eating yak meat very appetizing. I'm not sure if this is entirely true but he said that Bhutanese people ferment Supari for a month before they eat it and also do the same to Chilli. I'm not very adventurous with food myself so i did empathize with his emotion. I also noticed strip of meat (i'm guessing beef) drying on the clothing line outside a few houses in Paro, i'm not sure what that was for. Bhutan being a non-violent country made me wonder how they made their meat. That's when A revealed a very interesting method which i seriously think is his imagination but i'll share it anyhow. A said that people are not supposed to butcher animals as it is considered sinful but they do need to eat, so they make the animals climb up the mountains and when they are at a considerable height, the animals are pushed off the mountain instead. I know it sounds very odd, but that's what i was told.
The conversation drifted to the Bhutanese society, which A explained is matriarchal. The man moves into the lady's home after marriage and the inheritance goes to the youngest daughter of the house. Again i'm unsure about the credibility of these stories as my source could very well have been getting carried away of exaggerating a section of the Bhutanese society to the entire country. Why i doubt this is because it the King's son who has always been the Heir to the throne, and K4 (that's the last king, the fourth) had four wives, who by the way, are sisters.
Dochula is where i saw the most number of tourists. I did not see a single touristy soul in Paro for some reason, especially none from the west. Thimphu on the other hand had some tourist population. Most of the people visit Dochula on their way to Punakha, but i was coming back to Thimphu. As the drive back to Thimphu was coming to an end, I couldn't help but notice all the decorations which the roads were being lined with as we passed through the capital. A told me this was in honor of the India President's visit the following day. India certainly has a huge presence in the machinery of Bhutan government and the Royal Bhutan Army. A told me the story of the 25 city buses then. Apparently one of the former(or the last PM) of Bhutan visited China without informing India and came back with 25 city buses. India was not pleased and consequently the subsidy being offered on the fuel to Bhutan was removed. The King himself had to intervene to get the matter sorted.
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| Drive back from Thimphu to Phuntoesling |
As our holiday came to an end and A drove us back to Phuntoesling in silence, he couldn't help but point to me the Bhutanese Jail on the mountain top.
He offered to stop the car so i could take a picture, i did take a picture and A told me that the jail was but a walled pit and it was not up to the government to feed the inmates. The inmates has to be fed by their relatives. I think A noticed with some satisfaction that my jaw had dropped. "What if the relatives din't feed them?", was my next question. "Well then they starve to death" replied A matter-of-factly. Again i mulled on his fertile imagination for the rest of the journey as we left Bhutan behind and there were no more stories to be shared, especially not under M's watchful eyes :)
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| Bhutan Jail |
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