Scenic drive to Thimpu

A beautiful morning dawned in Phuentsholing and we were all set to move to Thimpu which was our next destination in Bhutan. We were to continue our drive further in the Duars region of the Himalayas and it had to be beautiful.

After a sumptuous breakfast at our hotel, we set off on this drive on a bright and sunny day. Soon we left Phuentsholing town and its outskirts and were truly in the lap of the lower Himalayas.

Hills on one side and ravines on the other, with rivers at the bottom of the ravines….a very simplistic description of the surroundings . But a few pictures will give you a clearer picture of the scenery…

Leaving Phuentsholing behind…

Stupas of this type line the roadside every now and then

The varied shades of green on the hillside and a waterfall far away

Soon we stopped at a View Point. The views were beautiful and there were the typical coloured flags hung over there. Sanchay, our Bhutanese guide explained the significance of the flags and its importance in Bhutanese culture.

Beautiful view from the view point with a monastery we had passed by on top of another hill

Stupa at the Viewpoint

Our group at the viewpoint and Sanchay explains…

Bhutanese Flags and their significance…

Talking of flags, the bus in which we were travelling had this colourful flag hung in front…so typically Bhutanese…

The flags with the famous Bhutanese chant…..

Coloured flags : Colours of the flags represent the five elements which create and destroy us. The colours are…blue (sky), White (clouds), Red (fire), Green(water) and yellow (earth) .There are prayers written on these flags and are tied by common people to ward off evil and bring good fortune.

White flags : These are tied by relatives of a dead person in his honour and they too contain prayers which will give salvation to the soul. 108 white flags are generally put up for one person. We found several such groups of flags on the hillside everywhere as we drive along.

Coloured flags and white flags dot the hillsides everywhere

We continued our drive and soon took a wash room halt near a group of shops. Some pictures of local life in Bhutan…

A fruit shop on the way. The white cubes seen hanging is a variety of hard Bhutanese cheese

A wayside shack of a shop with a little shopkeeper, local greens and brinjals…

Continuing our drive, we were in for more natural beauty….

A river flows along the ravine

Every now and then there were places of landslides which are very common in this region.

Evidence of landslides

A small waterfall

Soon it was lunch time and we halted for lunch at the Dam View Restaurant. Some pictures from near the restaurant..

The valley and the dam

We enjoyed the scenery from the restaurant overlooking the valley and the dam . Our first encounter with KEWA DATCHI also took place here. It is a very popular Bhutanese dish which has a cheesy gravy with potatoes similar to our vegetable stew.

The restaurant and Kewa Datchi ( traditional Bhutanese gravy)

When we are talking about the dam, there is something interesting I learnt about Bhutan. Bhutan produces surplus hydroelectric power and India is one of the countries that imports the power from them. I felt it was commendable for such a small kingdom to do this!!!

At many places during our drives through Bhutan, there were check posts where Sanchay would get down and present all our papers ….probably crossing over to a different district..I assumed !

Continuing our drive to Thimpu, we encountered some rocky areas of the hill slopes with the roads being particularly narrow at places. At places the rocks seemed to have faces chiselled on them…or was it just my imagination running wild ?…you can decide by looking at the pictures below…

Rocky cliffs and chiselled rocky hillslopes

A stream was flowing by peacefully…

Sanchay then announced that he is going to give us a surprise….a waterfall where we could wet our feet…

The waterfall and some of us near it….the water was ice cold

Enjoy the feel of the icy cold waters in this video

After the icy encounter, for which we thanked Sanchay, we continued the journey to Thimpu and soon, we could see signs of a city approaching…

As we approached Thimpu

As in any other place, gradually the number of buildings along the roadside increased and soon we were at Thimpu . We thought we would drive directly to our hotel but Sanchay had other plans for us. He wanted to take us to Thimpu Dzong , which is a government office and a monastery rolled into one . So we drove straight there and visited the Dzong where we also witnessed the traditional flag lowering ceremony that happens every evening there.

After the visit to the Dzong we drove to our hotel in Thimpu and relaxed for the night.

The Thimpu Dzong which we visited needs elaborate description and will be covered in my next episode on the dzongs of Bhutan. See you next week in the dzongs…a unique place , typical of Bhutan. Till then, do subscribe, comment and give your feedback.