How many of you have travelled to a place that has not been disturbed by westernisation or human evolution? One of the few places, is Bhutan. The Land of Thunder Dragon or the mountain kingdom. It's usual that we find mountains in a country. In Bhutan, you find towns hidden among the mountains. The country is so close to nature than I have ever thought. There are various way you to enter bhutan. If you are flying, you can get an on-arrival visa at Paro. You can get your currency exchanged at the airport. If you are going through road, you can enter Bhutan through Jaigaon-Phuentsholing Border. The Border gates close at 8:00 pm. Make sure you reach Phuentsholing before 8:00 pm. Lower India currency notes upto 100, can be used in Bhutan. I got down at Bagdogra Airport, took my cab to siliguri. From Siliguri, Taxi can take you till Phuentsholing. So, we reach Phuentsholing at around 7:20 pm. People move across the border till 10:00 pm. Vehicles won't be allowed after 8:00 pm. Follow my Instagram, for any information regarding the places I have travelled, here.
Day 2, we got our visas and we left to Thimpu in a taxi. The most scenic road, I have ever seen. It took us around 7 hours, to reach Thimpu. We got into our hotel, which is close to clock tower square. We relaxed for sometime and we started exploring the night life. In thimpu, party nights are on Friday. Space, is the pub which everyone suggest. The food in Bhutan is very unique. Its min ingredients are cheese and chilli. Since I'm a vegetarian, every dish has cheese. Eme datshi, kewa datshi are a must try.
Day 3, We started exploring Thimpu. A few monasteries, The Buddha Dordenma Statue. The path to Buddha statue, is covered with snow. It's exciting to see snow in Bhutan.
Completing our first day in Thimpu, we went to few local pubs to celebrate. Pub culture is bhutan is not as conservative as expected. The city is more beautiful in the night. The next day we went to see the kings palace, which is not the administration dzong.
The next day, we left to Punakha. The place for all adventure activites. As we started from Thimpu to Punakha, we halted at Dochula Pass for sometime. Dochula Pass, has snow most of the time the year. The Pass is at an altitude, which makes you feel you are among the clouds. We played with snow for sometime and got on our way back to Punakha. We did river rafting at Punakha. Punakha is a surely a paradise on earth. The flow is smooth when we went there. So, it's a peaceful rafting. We opted for Female river with less turbulence. After the rafting session, we witnessed the bhutanese architectural wonder, The Punakha fort.
We started from Punakha to Paro on the same-day. We reached Paro, late in the night. Paro is the shopping place of Bhutan. We were excited about the Tiger's nest trek in Paro.We spent our night in paro exploring the city. Luckily, it was the party night in Paro.
The next day, we went on a trip to Chele la Pass. But due to heavy snow, they closed the path to the pass. So, we went for shopping and trying all the local dishes at Paro.
The last day, we were on a trek to Tiger's Nest. At an altitude, when it's very cold, the trek was a bit difficult.We managed to do it in 4 hours to reach the monastery on the top. We came back by 6 by successfully completing our last activity of the trip. We started our travel back to Phuentsholing. We reached in the morning. So, this is how, our trip ended with a bang. Bhutan is a boring place. Not a place for solo travellers. I am a solo traveller most of the time. But I prefer going to Bhutan with someone.