Bhutan; how many of you have been there? If you have not, then you are certainly missing something. If you have, then this post will possibly bring back memories for you.

I was browsing through my photo archives and I noticed a folder named “Bhutan Trip – Apr 2015”. As I started browsing through the pictures in the folder, a flood of happy memories came back to me from the trip we had undertaken to Bhutan in April 2015. My wife had traveled there earlier, But it had been my first trip there. Once there I could easily relate to why she had wanted to go there again. Just seeing the pictures again had me smiling. So I decided that I should make a post on the trip. This is going to be a walk down memory lane, one photo at a time 🙂 .

The trip in Bhutan was completely done by road. It was a birding cum cultural trip organised by Geetanjali Dhar of IT Nature Club. Though Bhutan is rich in birds and wildlife, in this post though, I will not be covering any aspects of the birding part of the trip.

Our journey started in the town of Siliguri in the state of West Bengal, India. This is were all the participants of the trip arrived the night prior to the start of the trip. The road trip started the next morning. We entered Bhutan via Phuentsholing. Here are some photos around the area:

  • Enroute
  • At Phuentsholing
  • At Phuentsholing

Next morning we met the local organising team from Bhutan; Norbu and Dorje from the Sacred Himalaya Travel. The day started with learning the greeting used in Dzongkha (national language of Bhutan); Ku-Zoo-Zang-Po. This became how we all greeted each other every morning for the entire trip 🙂 .

Phuentsholing to Paro

The road journey for the day was to take us to Paro. Though we started post breakfast, it took us almost the whole day to reach Paro. Actually, it was also because we stopped at several places enroute to watch birds 🙂 . Here are some pictures that I took :

  • Overlooking the Chukha Power House
  • Mesmerising Views
  • A Hanging Steel Bridge
  • Doorway to the Bridge
  • A View from the Top
  • A Building Under Construction
  • Fields
  • Dzong at Paro

Around Paro

This was the day that we would be trekking up to Tiger’s Monastery. The trek, though steep at lots of places, was completed with not too much difficulty. You just had to pace it well. Having a walking stick also helped I think. Most importantly was having the right company and the determination to complete it 🙂 .

The trek gives some stunning views. Sadly I had not taken my camera. Below is the only decent picture that came from the camcorder that we had taken.

  • Overlooking Tiger’s Monastery

Here are some of the pictures around the place that we had stayed in Paro. My wife had taken them when I had gone out for early morning birding.

Here is one of her with Geetanjali, Dorje and Norbu, just before we left the place of stay.

  • L to R : Norbu, Dorje, Jonaki (my wife), Geetanjali

Before we headed to Thimphu, we went to visit the famous Kyichu Lhakhang Temple. This is one of the oldest temples in Bhutan, said to be built in the 7th century. In the 8th century, it was visited by Padmasambhava, a Buddhist master (click here to see another temple related to him). Here are a couple of photos of the temple:

  • Kyichu Lhakhang Temple
  • Kyichu Lhakhang Temple

In the courtyard of the temple are two orange trees. It it said that they yield oranges throughout the year. They certainly had oranges when we visited!

  • Ever-yielding Orange Trees

Finishing the visit to the temple, we headed on to Thimphu. The landscape continued to be beautiful, with periodic reminders of how high up on the world that we were 🙂 .

Around Thimphu

Our first stop was the National Memorial Choeten. Choeten or Chorten, are essentially memorials. They rarely contain the human remains though. Here are some pictures from the place.

The next place of visit was the Buddha Dordenma Statue. This is a gigantic Shakyamuni Buddha statue (click here for another temple with the statue). Here is a view of the statue, as we were driving up towards it:

Here is the view of the value as we were heading up from Thimphu:

We also got the see the Bhutan Parliament building from a distance:

Here are some pictures of the grand statue:

We finally managed to get our son also into a picture 😀 :

Here is one of the other statues present around the main Shakyamuni Buddha statue:

Thimphu to Punakha

It was then time to drive through to Punakha. For this we had to pass through a mountain pass, the Dochula Pass. This also served as our lunch stop. This was also the location of the Druk Wangyal Chortens. It consists of 108 chortens. They are a sight to cherish. Here are some pictures of it from our visit:

One can also get to see the temple known as the Druk Wangyal Lhakhang at a distance.

Here are a few other scenic views that we crossed before we reached Punakha:

Around Punakha

The Dzong in Punakha is one of most beautiful ones in Bhutan. Our hotel room balcony gave us the first impressions of it in the morning.

  • Punakha Dzong

Here is a panoramic view of the area as seen from our room balcony:

  • Panoramic View

Magnificent, isn’t it? Oh, I forgot to mention what a Dzong is, for those who may not already know. Once a stronghold against enemies, it now serves as an administrative centre and a monastery.

We spend a good part of the first half exploring the Punakha Dzong. Here are some of the pictures from the visit:

  • Important Officials Coming Out

There were also several Buddhist paintings and Norbu spent time in explaining them to us:

My wife also got me to pose for a picture 🙂 :

Between Punakha and Zhemgang

Our trip over the next two days took us to Trongsa and then to Zhemgang. Our focus in these places were birds. The natural beauty of these places were just fantastic. Here are a couple of photos:

Zhemgang to Thimphu

This was a long drive. But besides the intermittent stop to look at birds, we also made a couple of stops at monuments. The first was at an interesting looking Chorten.

The next stop was as Chime Lakhang, a monastery in Punakha. It is situated quite close to a river. It gives some interesting views from near the car park itself. Here are some of them:

Here are a couple pictures of the monastery:

There were also birds that had chosen to nest in the “dragon’s mouth”, so to speak 😀 :

The path that led to the temple also had wheat fields besides it. It was a beautiful sight to behold for me:

Back at Thimphu, it was time to head back to Siliguri through Phuentsholing the next morning. Sadly we were going to miss the vast nature beauty that had been all around us for the last several days.

Looking Back

It had been a wonderful trip. A big thanks to IT Nature Club and their local partner Sacred Himalaya Travel for the wonderful logistics throughout.

The place has a way of getting to you; in a good way 😀 . I found myself automatically slowing down, becoming calmer and relaxed. The society has not yet been “corrupted” by modern day distractions and desires. The people seemed genuinely happy. Almost at all places, we could see that the people were spiritual. Here is a lady lighting up the morning fire, chanting and making some offering. I witnessed this in Zhemgang at the place we were staying.

Besides relaxation, the country offers you so many breath-taking views of nature almost everywhere you go. You will get to see countless waterfalls, like the one below, as you drive through.

All in all, it should definitely be on everyone’s bucket list, if not already.