So good that I could live there. Review on Bhutan, General

Where do I start describing this amazing, which is considered one of the happiest countries in the world, in spite of its low GDP? Before my trip, when I was researching about the place, I was amazed at how little is said about the country comparatively. The pictures on the net were mostly of some monasteries and hence I kept my trip to a minimum of 5 days and now that I am back I know I will have to make atleast a 2 week trip to explore this beautiful kingdom. I just visited Thimpu and Paro and what an experience it turned out to be.

How I reached Bhutan?

I took a train from NJP station in West Bengal to a small village called Hasimara, from there took a bus that dropped us to the bordering town of Phuentsholing in Bhutan. Once there, we had to get our permits done in the immigration office, which took about half an hour. From there took a taxi to Thimpu, it’s a 6 hour drive to the capital from Phuentsholing.

Thimpu

After 6 hours of drive through misty forest, I suddenly found myself in a very unique town. It has 2 lane highways and car showrooms and construction work going on and at the same time has traditional looking buildings. We reached around 10pm and had to wait for a friend to pick us up in a place called the Zone. In my mind I had imagined Thimpu to be one isolated, remote town and here I was sitting in a pub, with an ambience very much like a an English pub you find in Bangalore.

I feel the best way to get the feel of a place is by just walking around and that’s exactly what we did the next morning. We stumbled upon an ancient monastery and found out about Budha point, a place on top of a hill, which has a massive Budha statue and you can get a bird’s eye view of Thimpu. We had taken a cab to the point and asked the cab to drop us to the Dzong (the main office), besides which is the King’s abode (not palace, a humble abode for a king). The walk from there to the main city centre was beautiful, almost no traffic, greenery everywhere with the river flowing next to the road. What makes Bhutan so authentic is the fact that they have rules, such as any government employee will have to be dressed in the national dress so about 90% of the people you see while walking around in the town are dressed in the national dress. The building constructions have to follow a standard, so all buildings there look very similar and very authentic. There were times when I felt that we were the only tourists in the town. A must see in Thimpu is the Takin, the national animal of Bhutan, it’s a cross between a sheep and a goat, I have never seen any animal like that.

Paro

Paro is an hour drive from Bhutan, taxis are easily available and the drive is very scenic with very sparse population in between. It’s a very small town that can probably be covered in an hour’s walk. The Dzong (fort) of Paro is the most dominating structure, the hike up there takes around 15 minutes and you can see the Paro town from there. We tried a different route while coming down and got lost in between and what we thought was a mistake turned out to be a blessing. We found ourselves walking to town in this really nice walk by the river and led to us finding the “live musical” clubs of Paro. When we were exploring Paro, we found the town very dead, hardly any people or tourists around but then when we entered one of the clubs of Paro, we were in for s surprise. My first question was ”where do these people disappear during the day?” The club was bustling with young locals, who were dressed up and the music was the latest numbers that you hear in any of the clubs in the big cities in India. You have to visit one of the live musical clubs too, it’s a unique concept (no nothing sleazy or creep). The highlight of our Bhutan trip was Taktsang or the Tiger’s nest monastery. Legend has it that Guru Padmssambhva landed in the cliff, where the monastery stands today in a flying tiger. The hike to the monastery is a steep 3 hour climb, but it is completely worth it. You would find yourself asking “how on earth did they manage to construct this here?” A little below the monastery is the café to rehydrate yourself.

Food and Drinks

Bhuatnese cuisine uses a lot of cheese, Ema Datsi (cheese and chillies) is the national dish. There are loads of restaurants everywhere but have a meal in Bhutan Kitchen in Thimpu for authentic Bhutanese food. You get alcohol even in a bakery in Bhutan, try their Beers (Druk and Red Panda), you also get Sikkim brewed beers. Also try the local Ara. In Paro, try Bimal’s restaurant, excellent meals.

So why am I considering going back there again?

Agreed Bhutan isn’t the most scenic place I have been to, but it is by far the happiest place I have been to. They believe in gross national happiness and trust me its contagious. People are friendly without any hidden agenda there, I travelled with another girl and can guarantee that it’s the safest place I have been to. We have had several instances where you ask for direction and people would actually drop you to the place, from getting a lift where this couple went out of their way to get us to the taxi stand to getting a tour of all the clubs when we asked for one, amazing people who completely love their King and Queen. In this trip, I just saw a glimpse of Bhutan, I cant wait to go back and explore the actual countryside of this Kingdom and meet so many more wonderful people.