first stop..
tired from bad roads..
first look at the beauty of Bhutan..
Indian Oil in Bhutan!!!
the pathetic roads(where Amit got stuck)..
more greenary..
butterfly..
Lots of trucks to over-take. Warning: People in Bhutan have a very very bad sense of distance. One person told us that the road was ok after 15kms. 50kms and we were still riding in mud. Finally after around halfway road got better. Atleast it was tarmac even if there were potholes. we took a break after getting the good road. an attempt at a 360 degree pano..
the whole country was covered with greenary..
and everywhere you wil find these religious symbols..
People told us that only Phuentsholling-Thimphu stretch had bad roads. In rest of Bhutan the roads were good. Lets hope they were right. Also the roads were pretty narrow. If a truck came from the other side, even our bikes had to stop or go off the road. I was riding at the tail of the group and we were riding pretty slow. After some time i started feeling really very sleepy. So much that i almost fell asleep riding and had to stop and sit with my eyes closed to let the sleep pass. Look at those eyes(pic taken by Amit)..
then i got down and roamed around a bit..
another stop to show the permits..
after this i was riding ahead and at a good pace so that i dont fall asleep. So when ever i could not see others in my rear view mirror, i used to stop for photography..
clouded sky..
About 11kms before a place called Chuzom a miracle happened. Suddenly the road became a wide 4 lane expressway. Such smooth road, I thought I had fallen asleep. If I had called that road in Sikkim silk smooth, this was as flying in air.
These last 11kms went in a flash. Speed of 60-70 seemed slow. We reached Chuzom. Here the road forks in 3 directions. One road goes to Thimphu, other to Paro and the third to Haa Valley. We had to show permits here. At Chuzom there is a confluence of 2 rivers; Paro river joins Thimphu river. Next to the meeting rivers were 3 chortens. One of them made in Tibetian architecture, the second one in Bhutanese style and the third one in Nepalese. The chortens..
Well im not speculating this. I had read about them in a book on Bhutan for the trip. As I was taking pics of the Chorten (which were being blocked by a bloody tree), it started raining. We put on the rain gear. Now having done this everyday and even many times in one day, I was getting pretty efficient at it. But Anup was still struggling. His rain coat was almost the same size as his riding jacket and it required a lot of struggle to get it on. The great roads continued beyond Chuzom and soon we were in plains..
We reached Thimphu at 2pm. Without wasting anytime we went straight to the Immigration office to get permits for going further than Thimphu. While driving through the city I felt something was odd about the traffic. Amit almost bumped into a car which was going around a circle painted on the ground while we went through it. But we dint have time to think much about the traffic, more important thing occupying our mind were the permits. Remember the government offices close at 4pm. We couldn’t afford another delay because of them. After searching for some time we finally found the right office. We had to fill another form and attach copies of our id proof. Just to save time Amit and me went to the transport office to get our road permits extended. After another round of the city and more searching we found it, only to be told that we will need the new immigration permits for the road permits. So again we came back to the others. When we got the permits we rushed to the transport office. Thankfully, the work here was fast. The officer saw our immigration permits and just wrote on the road permits that they were for all the areas as the immigration permits. 10 minutes and we were out. Now we were more relaxed and started to search for a hotel. When we were looking around in the market, I went into a shop selling Bhutanese paintings and prayer flags. I picked up a painting which I liked and was going to buy it when I saw printed at the bottom: “courtesy Government of Sikkim, India”. Well finding an Indian painting in Bhutan was irritating enough when I saw the next line: “Printed in *** press, Ferozshah Road, Delhi”. This was the limit. When an “original” Bhutanese painting was coming from my own city, whats the point of buying it from Bhutan. I no longer felt like shopping and went outside. Also now driving through the city, I observed the traffic more carefully. People were really very patient when it came to driving. Everyone drove below 50 in the city, in a straight line in the middle lane on a 3 lane road. They gave indicators even when going around a circle. There were no signals and infact I have heard that there is only one in entire Bhutan. At the crossings people stop for the traffic from the other side themselves. The people who want to turn left also stand in the line behind people who are wanting to go straight. This is when there is a lane of the road empty on the left which they can use to turn. Bikes also road in the same line. Also all roads were one-ways. If you took a wrong turn (as I did many many times) you will have to go a long way to the other end to turn and then come back to same place again. Also no one used the horn in the city (which was really good). So much traffic sense at one time was getting kinda irritating to me, a person who was coming from Delhi, a city where riding in the city is like playing RoadRash. The clock tower in front of our hotel..
After dumping stuff at the hotel I quickly left for the zoo. I wanted to see the national animal of Bhutan, Takin. Others also wanted to come but after resting a bit. It was already around 4 and the light was fading. So I started searching for the zoo. Not many people knew the way but sadly they still gave me the directions. After a long time of climbing steep winding roads and many times back tracking I reached the zoo. It wasn’t a zoo actually, it was a Takin reserve.
history of Takin..
It was a big park which had a fence all around it and a path going around the fence. Inside the park were a few Takins and many deers..
It was almost the sunset and hence the blurred photos. Takin is a funny sort of a creature. It has the body of a cow and the head of a goat. Also it wasn’t very photographer friendly. As I took one step towards it, it stepped away. The deers on the other hand were the opposite. So presenting the porfolio of the Takin..
As I started taking the photo of one of the deers, it walked straight to the edge of the cage, right towards me.
After light became so bad that I could not take any more pics, I left the place. I was on a hill and the way back offered some really good pics of the city.
I repented having left my tripod at the hotel. As it got darker..
a little further ahead..
Again i got totally lost and took a wrong turn and then tried to come back to the place but god knows reached where. I was standing in front of a temple which looked really pretty with the lights n’ all.
Then again I found my way and after many more one-ways reached the hotel. Today was the last day of the group ride. From tomorrow onwards we will be splitting group. Each of us coming from different cities had different dates of departure and now had to plan their remaining trip accordingly. The Mumbai guys had to reach Guwahati in 2.5 days. Their plan was to cross the rest of Bhutan as fast as they could. As Amit said: “guys!!! we are going to do a cannonball run”. Jithu had many days and was going to reach Guwahati leisurely. My plan was to see as much as I could without missing anything in the rush. Aim was to travel forward from Thimphu for the next day. Then if my ticket got extended I would go all the way till Guwahati and in case it dint get extended I would have to go back till NJP. So I planned to leave early next day at 3 so that I could see the maximum things.
Distance traveled in the day: 204kms
Total distance in the trip: 1584kms
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2 comments:
You did like thier National Animal a lot! Bhutani Blue hue and the nested glittering city is a visiual treat
arre it was a weird sort of animal.. could not get a good pic due to bad light..
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