Bhutan 🇧🇹 Day 2-Phuentsholing to Thimphu ⛰

Morning in Pheuntsholing 🙂

I woke up bit early that morning. Realizing I have no tooth brush with me, I asked Malathi if she has any. She gave me and left for kitchen to prepare breakfast for us. I asked her to give me a cup so that I can fill hot water from the Kettle. She pointed towards an old fashioned cupboard which has multiple cups of different sizes and designs. I chose a simple yet beautiful one among them. I filled cup with hot water while she was cutting vegetables. I started conversing with her about the climate and how she learnt those amazing cooking skills. She prepared Veg fried rice and Alu Parantha. We packed our luggages and left to collect VISA Permit. Malathi has helped us in filling the visa forms. This was us busy in filling the details.

We took local cabs to VISA Office. The charged Rs.70/- I gave him 100 Rupee note and he returned me Bhutanese currency 10Nc and 20rs. I immediately took a picture of that cash.

Initially, we were surprised by seeing long queue near the office. We later realized that queue is for Work Permits.

Within an hour, we got our permits and returned to our stay. We submitted Copy of Passport which is valid for next 6 months, trip details form which includes addresses of hotels booked and Tour guide details. Rajesh has discussed with us about providing another vehicle for our trip as his vehicle doesn’t have Luggage holder on the top. He introduced us to Lochan who was going to drive us for the rest of our trip.

We started to Thimpu. Drive was beautiful. One should be thoroughly trained to drive on those roads. During the journey, Aashray was asking Lochan about the must have foods in Bhutan. Lochan explained about Datsi for about 10 mins. It is made of Yak Cheese which is very famous there. “They marinate that cheese for a longer time for authentic taste” he explained. We stopped at a small hotel on the Ghat Road. As we got down from the car, it was freezing. We ordered some Maggie and Mushroom Datsi. There were two adorable kids playing around. We wanted to take a picture with them, but they denied 🙅‍♀️ 😒  I love this picture which was clicked outside that restaurant.

On the way to Thimpu, we stopped at David Falls and this longest bridge. It is called as David falls for a reason as our driver said “The person who showed these water falls didn’t mention the name. So, apparently he named after that person David :D”.

While driving to Thimpu, Lochan also asked us to notice the climatic differences between each mountain. While crossing a mountain, it was drizzling. They call it as Cherrapunji as it rains always in that region. After crossing couple of mountains, it was sunny and warm. It was evening when we stopped for nature call. I met these cute kids outside the restaurant. The elder girl was trying to tell me something in their language. I didn’t understand anything and I couldn’t talk to her in any language they knew. We exchanged few smiles and kisses 😘 💕

We entered Thimpu in sometime. Thimpu is a well-developed city with beautiful mountains in the background. The architecture was beautiful. They followed the same format of constructions for most of the buildings there. We headed to Tashichho Dzong. This dzong is located close to Thimphu town, next to the banks of the Wang Chhu River. It is an impressively large structure, surrounded by well-kept lawns and beautiful gardens.

Tashichho Dzong has been the seat of the government since 1952 and presently houses the throne room and offices of the king, the secretariat and the ministries of home affairs and finance. Other government departments are housed in buildings nearby.
King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck had it completely renovated and enlarged over five years after he moved the capital to Thimphu in 1952 in traditional style using neither nails nor written plans. The current King of Bhutan Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk is the grand son of Dorji Wangchuk. We observed that Bhutan people keep their King and Queen’s pictures in their houses, vehicles and their hotels. These names remind me of Phunsukh Wangdoo from 3 idiots Bollywood movie 😀

We took the passes and entered the Dzong. We were not allowed to stop anywhere in between and not to look on the right. “King’s palace is around and down the hill on the right” they explained. We had permission to enter into only one building among few. There are around 1000 tiny Buddha’s well-kept in the temple. They didn’t allow us to use Camera inside the Dzong. It was very cold. I sat on floor for some time until my friends returned.

We next visited Memorial Chorten, Thimpu. All these Dzongs looked similar to us.

We reached out stay in Thimpu. It was a beautiful triple bedroom flat beside a market. They served Tea as soon as we reached. We went for a walk on Thimpu roads. We were expecting to find good hotels with Yummy Momos. We found couple of general stores and small hotels. We entered a hotel and it smelled like Rotten meat. We came back immediately. We went to a nearby supermarket and bought Bhutan Chilly Powder. All the vegetables were wrapped in plastic covers. People use plastic quite a lot here ☹️

Chilly tastes different and it is actually a good different 😉 I liked the taste. We ordered food from the same building that night. I had Veg momos and red chutney served with them was amazing. Not too spicy or tangy. It tasted unique. Later, everyone were singing songs and I enjoyed listening to them.