Thimphu-Trongsa: Reaching the dragon’s heart..

I woke up at 4am. There was no sunlight so I went back to sleep. Wrong decision. Finally I left by 5:30 (6am local time). It was a late start. Also I had not asked the directions for further journey the previous day. Now I was having problem finding people to ask for directions. Once again the ones which I found gave unclear directions. As a result it took me some time, and again i ,managed to reach this stupa..

But I was finally on the right way. The only crossing in bhutna where there is any sort of traffic control..

My first destination was Punakha valley (77kms from Thimphu). I missed the cut for Punakha from Semtokha(a few kms after Thimphu). Had to take a longer route which led me back to Semtokha. A prayer wheel in Semtokha

Distances from Semtokha..

A few kilometres after Semtokha I had to show my permits. The officer was very interested in Indian vehicles. First question he asked was when was Nano being launched. Then he asked me the cost of my bike and started comparing with that in Bhutan. 17kms from Thimphu I reached Dochula Pass(3116m). A beautiful scene awaited me. On the other side of the valley, amidst cotton-like clouds I could see snow capped mountains. As I took out my camera, the clouds covered them.
Dochula..

the snow covered mountains..

clouds..

The pass is famous for its 108 chortens.

an angry bachha..

I continued, stopping ofter for photographs. I was in no hurry and was enjoying riding at my speed.
more play of light and clouds..



the grenary and the trees..

When I reached Lobseya, I took a turn for Punakha. As I turned towards it, I was having this nice feeling that im gonna see something good. The first view of Punakha..

It was a beautiful place. Shades of green, yellow and blue. Another pano..

an attempt to take a 360degree pano..

Confluence of 2 rivers..

what a place to live in!!

another panoramic view..



Although I was starting to feel hungry, I thought I will see the Dzong first. Dzong’s are the forts which now have government offices and the numerous temples. But they are huge places and without a guide can be confusing. You need to show your permits to enter a Dzong (so don’t forget to carry them).
The Punakha Dzong..

The dzong is located at the confluence of 2 rivers: Pho Chhu and Mo Chhu. The confluence..

the entrance of the dzong towering above me, making me feel like a small ant..

The place was a absolute maze. There were lots and lots of doors all around. I had no idea which one to go into. So I did the simplest thing. I kept walking straight..
The architecture was typical Bhutanese with decorated windows..

and decorated balconies..

and temples..

and doorways..

and obviously the colourful paintings..



I climbed up a flight of stairs. Reached this hall..

Then I say some foreigners (and I realized hey im also a foreigner right now..) on the other side. another window..

I climbed down and asked their guide. He told me that the temple in front of us was the only temple worth visiting in the dzong.

another view of th temples..

The priest opened the temple for us. It has a huge prayer hall. Along both the walla on the sides were statues kept in glass cases. These I think were the bodhisattvas. In the centre was very tall 20-30feet statue of Buddha with various other statues of varying height on its either side. All the walls of the room were covered with colorful paintings. I looked around for some time. No photography was allowed. I clicked many paintings on the outside walls although I had no idea what they were.
This painting i know is called kal-chakra..

or was it this one??

Oh heck, i forgot again..One place the guard said that the paintings signify the 4 directions. the paintings on the side of the prayer wheel are of 2 directions..

the third one..

After this I left the Dzong. As i got out i saw another temple on the other side..

It was 9:30am. Now my stomach was sending warning signals.
A view of the Dzong as i left..

In our country we people shift to different towns but here I came to know that the whole Punakha town had been moved from near the Dzong so some place else 10kms away. I went to the town. The lady at the restaurant I went to dint know hindi. I saw a packet of Wei Wei noodles in the window and pointed to it. She made it and that was my brunch. View as i started back..

Next stop was Chimi Llakhang. Llakhang means a monastery. I was told to park near a chorten in Lobseya village and walk till the monastery. The villagers showed me a way through the fields. I walked taking photos on the way.
The fields..

the colors of the crop..

my way on the highway..

birds flying around..

huts..

When I reached another village, I could not see any monastery. The problem was that here even the houses are build in the same way. So they too looked like monasteries. I asked an old man for the directions. He dint know much Hindi, but could recognize the name of monastery. He pointed back to the way from where I had come. I thought I must have taken some wrong way through the fields. So frustrated I turned back. It was a sunny day and was pretty hot. Sweating and tired after walking half an hour through the fields I reached back. Then I asked another man the directions. This one knew hindi and pointed to a building with golden roof on top a mountain beyond the village from where I had turned back. He said that was Chimi Llakhang. In no mood to walk so much and also short on time, I came back to the bike and rode away. You see the building encircled in the pic. thats the monastery. the village you see in the middle of the pic is from where i turned back and the village at the right with red roofed house was from where i started walking..

Next place to come was Wandue Phodrang (21kms from Punakha). Here again there is a Dzong situated strategically on top of a hill.

I had to show the permits on a checkpost. On asking I came to know that 3 bikes had passed about an hour ago. These must be the Mumbai guys. I dint go to the Dzong, just clicked some pics.

After the checkpost i crossed a river and the road started climbing up.. From the other side i saw these chortens on the riven bank..

the view on the other side of the river..

the view above..

As i rode one, it was afternoon and bright and sunny. I had started pretty early and was not feeling sleepy. Soon the sleep took total control and i could barely keep my eyes open. I stopped in a tree's shade, took off my helmet, kept my hands on the tank bag and my head over them and went to sleep. I think i slept that way for around 40minutes. When i woke up my hands and legs were asleep(numb). Refreshed i started again. Now I was heading towards Pele La(3390m). View on this side of Pelela..

A few kms before Pelela there was a diversion for Phobjikha, a valley where the black necked cranes migrated in winters..

As I was gaining height, it started getting cold. Also drops of rain started falling. I put on my riding jacket liner and also the rain gear. Pics at the break..

I made a brief stop at the pass top for pics. In Bhutan, there are no boards on the passes like we have in India.
Pelela..

As I crossed the pass it seemed I had stepped into a different room. It stopped raining. The scene around me totally changed. The long trees had been replaced by small shrubs. There were lots of flowers every where.

The valleys were shrouded in different shades of green and yellow. The rain had washed away all the dirt and made the colors lively.

I stopped frequently for photographs.

the smooth roads..

a pano of the view..

more greenary..

another shade..

and another shade..

i was riding along the river.. a designer bridge over it..

On the way i came across the Chendebji Stupa..

a waterfall on the way..

Now my destination was Trongsa(129kms from Wandue). Soon it was afternoon. Time for rain, which as usual was very punctual. I put my camera in the tankbag and kept on riding. It was 3:30pm and I swas very hungry. I stopped at a restaurant and had some tea and chips. I was 21kms from Trongsa. After riding few kms the rain became light and I was able to click more pics. I had read that I could get the best view of the Trongsa Dzong 14kms before Trongsa. I was calculating the kms and this indeed was true. the view..

the first clear view of the sky since afternoon..

Trongsa dzong..

A few kms before Trongsa I was standing at the top of the mountain and I could see the valley filled with clouds. Slowly the clouds were rising up.

the clouds now above me..

I could also see the sun setting.

I reached Trongsa at 5pm. I had wanted to visit a place called Bumthang, which was 67kms from Trongsa. That valley is called the Switzerland of Bhutan and is said to be really beautiful. But now it was almost dark and with the rains starting again, I saw no point in going further. So I checked into the first hotel I could find. It turned out to be damn cheap also. Rs.100 for a single room. Now I was taking great care while spending because I was running out of money (now I had average budget of rs.500 per day) and I could not find any ATM anywhere. Also nowhere are the credit cards accepted. After resting a bit, I went to the market for dinner. I opted for a Bhutanese one. Did I tell you that the most popular food item in Bhutan is chili. Here they grow a lot of red and green chili and it is liberally used in their food. I had 3 dishes out of which 2 were of chili and accompanying them was red chili pickles. The most popular local dish is Ema Datshi: raw green chilies in cheese sauce. The other dish was raddish, meat and red chili. And them there was rice and dal. The dinner really warmed me up. We Indians too have spicy food but there is a limit. Having raw chilies is in a different league all together. From Trongsa the roads forks. One way goes to Jakar, the main town of Bumthang and the other to a place called Gelephu. I asked around and came to know that we could exit Bhutan through Gelephu also. But since I dint have permits I could not do that. So I would have to go all the way back through Thimphu to Phuentsholling (around 400kms) when I was just 250kms away from Indian border (through Gelephu). Tomorrow my father will tell me if he was able to get my tickets extended or not. Tomorrow I will come to know whether I will be covering the rest of Bhutan or my Bhutan sojourn ends here in Trongsa and I will be spending the rest of the 3 days returning to NJP.

Distance traveled in the day: 237kms
Total distance in the trip: 1821kms

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