Bhutan Budget Backpackers - Day 11/12 ( Marathon journey Bumthang - Phuentsholing via Thimphu )

7 - 8 October 2014 – Day 11/12 (Marathon journey Bumthang - Phuentsholing via Thimphu )

Race against time

The empty sand patch had turned into a semblance of a bus stand as we saw a couple of familiar faces from our previous journey to waiting for the bus when we got there at 6:15 AM. The bus turned up at 6:30 AM and the driver seemed to be extremely impatient as he dumped the plump lady’s six sacks of rice, followed with the bald man’s two trunks of I don’t know what and so on. He seemed extremely witty based on the reactions people were giving to his responses when asked questions by folks.

We were optimistic he’d get us to Thimphu in 10 hours (giving 2 hours buffer) which meant reaching Thimphu at around 4 PM allowing us to catch a bus / taxi to Phuentsholing by 9 PM / 10 PM and we’d be in India by nightfall. From the title itinerary of this blog piece, you already must have figured how optimistic we sounded back then. He was doing great pace too that was till he caught up with another bus which had his friend driving it. Both of them then moved to a leisurely pace passing comments at each other.In the passing scenery, one thing that stood out was the following incident. I saw a school and about 2 kilometres after that on a largely vacant stretch, I saw a 4-5 year old girl in school uniform and bag walking alone towards school. That signified the security and the independence and the trust this country and its culture imbibes in its citizens. It sounds alien in so many other countries including my home India, 

Heights of being nice

The other extreme of how nice Bhutanese folks can be happened moments after that when the other bus broke down. Our driver parked behind him and gave moral support whilst they fixed their puncture. So we all had an impromptu picnic for two hours (remember the buffer?) and no one else seemed to be in any hurry anyways. Our driver also turned out to be the most social being on the planet as he seemed to converse with everyone we passed on the way, often stopping to collect and drop parcels, chit chat with who I thought were his wife and two kids and so on.
Stopping for quick lunch similar to the earlier trip, we sat back and enjoyed the views knowing we’d have to spend the night in Thimphu anyways.

Stranded in the dark (yet again) 

There is something about the zone near Punakha. Our driver ran out of fuel! For about 20 minutes of the ride, he kept on swirling and rocking the bus hoping to stretch the last drops of petrol in the bus to propel it forward. It was inevitable we’d run out of luck in the wilderness. It was too dark to get out so everyone sat in the bus and chilled. He waved down a passing truck after ten minutes and using a spare container someone had, they picked up a few litres of petrol over a couple of rounds from the truck. After all that drama, we finally reached Thimphu at 8:30 PM, beyond redemption of getting to Phuentsholing tonight.

Rooms all booked

We checked out Ghasel for rooms but they only had one terrible (worse than our hostel room from university) available for 400 Nu. The neighbouring hotel Tashi Delek had a room for 1200 Nu , clearly not worth it and I wouldn’t recommend the place but with a lack of room availability in the town and the tiredness of a day’s journey catching up in the cold conditions, we picked it up knowing we’d fall flat and not care two cents of the room’s condition. Grabbing dinner (400 Nu) including our last meal of ema datsi and cheese momos, the next thing we knew was our alarms waking us up at 6 AM.

The Final Leg

After freshening up, we hit the taxi stand at 7 AM and found a shared taxi to Phuentsholing who readily agreed to our quoted price of 600 Nu (the girls had paid the same when they came to Thimphu). I am guessing we could have bargained for lower considering he asked us to pay up away from the presence of other 2 travellers. But the next 5 hours made up it for one, we reached in 5 hours and never realised it as our co passengers were a tourist guide and his wife and more importantly, I have never met such an erudite taxi driver. 

A crash course on all things Bhutan

He explained the history of Bhutan with dates, significance of the Burning Lake and how Pema Limpa took a burning butter lamp into the water and brought it out and how he discussed on an underworld of monasteries and gardens in the lake where a shepherd had slipped and fallen into. When he finally escaped, Rip Van Winklesque, he hadn’t aged but generations had passed and the new inhabitants of his house had no clue of his ancestry. He went on to recent history explaining the genealogy of the kings and their relative popularities. Discussed the present political scenario as a young democracy and how civil servants pay and inflation went hand In hand and what he expected Bhutan to be for the next generation. This last trip metaphorically summed up the entire trip for us as he went on to sports, geography, culture, traditions and a lot more. The Chozum seemed so much prettier in the daylight compared to our first impressions in the darkness on the first trip inwards.

Tashi Dalek Bhutan! 

We reached Phuentsholing by 12 and figured Café Kizom deserved a visit for our last meal in Bhutan. Our permit had been collected back at the last checkpoint about 80 km before Phuentsholing, Gorging on cheese pizza and desserts piling up a bill of 1000 Nu. That was also to empty our wallets of all the Nu we had on us apart from the souvenir notes we had kept. We also decided to empty the pre paid balance on our phone as we called family and friends. We crossed over with heavy hearts, loads of memories and empty wallets. A whirlwind of 12 days were done, though we had another 3 days of Sikkim but that is for another blog post. Tashi Dalek Bhutan!!!! 

Key Points

Thimphu during the festive season seems to get jam packed so you might consider pre booking hotel rooms there. 

Shared taxi (Thimphu - Phuentsholing) - 5 hours / 600 Nu per person. 

Cafe Kizom ($$) - Phuentsholing 

          

Bhutan Budget Backpackers - Day 10 ( Bumthang )

6 October 2014 – Day 10 ( Bumthang )

Jambey Lhakhang

I guess the town had partied pretty late last night, for even at 9 AM most places were still closed. We decided to hike it up to Jambey Lhakhang as that was the only other major roadway we hadn’t hiked up yet. Saying hello to friendly folks all along, watching farmers working in their fields, birds minding their own business, kids playing around gleefully and couple of other interpersonal sights we noticed as we climbed uphill through muddy roads, dead ends and small farms.

As we reached, we bumped into the two ladies and their Bhutanese guide at the entrance and right behind them , Angdu and his German group were just heading out. An artisan was selling hand made wares and paintings, though the most interesting one was the musical bowl (music caused by resonance I presume). 

The monk who held an awesome memory

After praying, I asked a kid monk next to me if he could take me to the head monk Sonam. The kid replied he was the head monk Sonam and surprised how I knew him. I mentioned I was friends with Prathap Raja, a friend who had visited a month before and had given a lift to Sonam to the town and Sonam in turn had hosted him and his friends for dinner. Sonam was so pleased with that memory, he asked if we had a guide and since we didn’t, he took it upon himself to show us around and explain everything including the statue of the future Buddha.

He also showed us the map in which a demoness had been superimposed and 108 tiny huts dotter over her to show the 108 temples built in a day across present day Tibet, Bhutan and Nepal to subdue this demoness. Jambay and Kyichu (Paro) are two major ones in Bhutan. He then called me outside towards the monk quarters and asked for my number. He mentally memorised it in one go and asked us multiple times if we were facing any issues and if he could help somehow. After a while I was wishing for an issue so that he could help us. Extremely sweet, he then mentioned he needed to get back to his duties as more tourists poured in.

Biding him farewell, I went out to grab a few shots. Two elderly gentlemen sitting under a tree shade. From a distance, using body language, I requested if I could take a photograph of them. One of them gave a stern denial. I smiled with a nod and “Kuzu zangpo la” on my lips. That made the second man laugh and he asked me to go ahead and take a photograph of both of them. He probably gave me 0 for pronunciation and 100 for effort. 

Kurjey Lhakhang

Motor able road stops at Jambey so we noticed a couple of tour groups walk through the wilderness towards Kurjey Lhakhang. It is about 1 km away from Jambay. Following their cue, we walked through till we lost sight and while taking a snap of nature around, we had slightly off tracked across a small stream. Reorienting ourselves by getting up to a higher altitude, we found through the tall grass another path leading up to Kurjey. This is another spectacular Lhakhang, multi layered with extremely high steps. After moving around as if in a maze and sitting up to a glowing Buddha up close with wooden musical chimes playing in the background and the sun peaking in every time the wind moved the curtains around, you felt a spiritual connect simply sitting there. It also hosts the remains of the first three kings of Bhutan.

 I got a call from an unknown Bhutanese number at that point and it was Sonam, the head monk. He mentioned since his phone is kept in the living quarters, he couldn’t call me earlier (he mentally memorised that number in 1 go and recollected it half an hour later! ). His first question was in case we had any issues, to contact him.

The Lhakhang is pretty photogenic like most of the other Bhutan architectural wonders. Right opposite is the Zangto Pelri Lhakhang or Temple of Heaven, a depiction of how heaven / paradise would look as per Guru Rinpoche.

Conversations at Cafe Perk

The return journey was pretty quick, just over an hour around end of school time as the playgrounds and roads were filled with kids in all merriment. The owner at Café Perk was relatively free so we discussed her life in Bengaluru, her aims and aspirations that brought her back to her home town, her surprise at us having walked all over her town and more importantly, she explained the short cut to Jakar dzong which we had been unaware of and hence the wrong turn we had taken a day earlier.

At the culvert, instead of the long winding road, she asked us to take the steps next to it which cut through half the climb. Also for a town so small, she mentioned they had six drayangs / dance bars often frequented by drivers passing by since this is a major highway and important stop over for long distance drivers headed further West or East. After a meal for two @ 500 Nu, we headed to Jakar dzong. 

Jakar dzong

Palace of Justice from Jakar dzong

This didn’t seem all that spectacular compared to some of the other dzongs we had seen so far but it did seem more frequented for day to day work as a lot of citizens roamed around with their paperwork in the governmental offices based inside the dzong. In the temple, a roughly twelve year old monk came up to us and explained the significance of the time we had turned up at explaining a prayer for the spirit of Long life was on during the eight day festival that started on 1^st October and on the final day, special blessings would be given.

We mentioned we were headed out earlier so then he lit a butter lamp for us and wished us well. Soon his friend came by and called him out. All that maturity he had shown was closed up as he allowed the kid in him to bubble up and they raced each other to a corner we could no longer spot them after. 

Red Panda Brewery 

We decided to check out Red Panda Brewing Company on the other side of Chamkar chhu. There were three guys working in it and they prepare and bottle beer for the entire nation! Red Panda is a very popular brand out there. They mentioned they’d be starting the café on 9^th after the festival was over. After conversing with them, checking out the cheese factory which unfortunately was closed for the festival, we roamed around the back alleys of the town where barber shops, snooker centres and tailoring stores emerged. Similar to our Indian darjee, the tailoring shop had surname of Dorji on it.

At 7 PM, decided to give Sunnys a chance for dinner. The hostess, a young girl in her teens was extremely cheerful and vivacious spreading her enthusiasm over to everyone at the establishment including a super lazy cat that roamed around the entire restaurant looking for a sweet spot where it could lie and stay lazy. We went for the set menu with ema datsi and mixed veg between the both of us plus something to wash them down with (400 Nu total).

Karaoke bar

Moving over to a karaoke bar, turns out we were the only ones after a kids walked out. The owner had wanted to start a sports bar but karaoke bars were the rage so he had to switch over. We discussed Indian sports, Bhutan’s performance at the Olympics, archery inter village rivalries and the achievements of the 4^th King and the reasons why he is revered by most Bhutanese.

He also explained how a Swiss guy came down, married a Bhutanese lady and they started the cheese factory, brewery, fruit jam factory and also run the Swiss Guest House. After an hour of animated conversations, we decided to call it a night as we had the long journey back to the Indian border over the next few days.  We paid out our hotel rent and were asked to leave the keys in the room itself as they might not be up when we leave the next day. 

Key Points

Jambey Lhakhang - 5 km from Chamkhar town

Kurjey Lhakhang - 1 km walking from Jambey Lhakhang (non motorable) 

Sunnys ($$) - Chamkhar town, set meal of rice and gravy (150 Nu)  

All temples and government buildings usually close by 5 PM so plan accordingly. 

          

Bhutan Budget Backpackers - Day 9 ( Bumthang Tshechu )

5 October 2014 – Day 9 ( Bumthang Tshechu )

Perky breakfast 

At 7 AM, the place was foggy and cold, convincing me a few more minutes in bed would do my itinerary no harm. Around 08:30 AM did we finally glimpse the sun and the valley sky cleared out. First things first, we booked ourselves tickets to Thimphu (355 Nu each). The Bumthang – Phuentsholing 16 hour bus has been discontinued, though that had been our first preference. Café Perk was our first halt over for the day to grab some wifi and food. Ordered Ginger honey tea and Swiss cheese sandwiches (comes with fries and apple salad).

The owner, a young lady who also had studied in Garden City College, Bengaluru shared her life experiences with us and also things to do around including the Burning Lake nearby. There was a cycle tours agency but he would probably be at the festival. We asked her how does she spend time outside the café and she said the nightlife keeps her going. Both of us laughed “what nightlife when everything closes at 8 PM?” She mentioned everyone closes at 7-8, goes home, has dinner with family and then once the young ones are tucked away, they head out dance bars and karaoke bars , at times upto 2 AM. That was a relevation to us and she suggested we should do a dance bar.

Open door policy

As we tried figuring out what to do, we decided to get a water bottle. We walked into the first shop to find it no one in. Guessing the owner was next door, we walked into that shop and found no one. This continued for 4 unlocked shops till the fifth one had an extremely odd granny who had limited mobility. We understood from her that everyone had gone for the festival. What surprised me was the level of trust everyone had, leaving their stores unlocked and heading to the temple a few kilometres away.

School kid talk

When in Rome, do as the Romans. A shared cab guy honked at us pointing towards the general direction of the Tamshing Lhakhang. We got in ( 40 Nu per person) to find it filled with school kids ranging from 9^th to 12^th grade. Extremely excited seeing foreigners, they took on me and Sash, two on one asking a million questions and answering a million more. They had come over from a boarding school in Tang for the festival. From the importance of loving one’s culture to how awesome Bollywood is (yes, primarily Salman Khan) to who is good in math and who is the mischievous one of the lot. What really caught my attention was when I asked them their ambitions. 

One of them with stars in his eyes proudly mentioned he was working hard so that one day he can study at AIIMS, Delhi. His friends concurred that he was the smartest one of the lot and everyone expected him to make it there. They then focussed on giving us stories and backgrounds on the various buildings and spots that went by. Jigme even asked me to add him of Facebook writing down his pseudo name for him to find him with.


Chamkhar Tshechu

Compared to Thimphu. The festival here was on an extremely small scale but in terms of spirits, they were on a higher plane than the city folks. This was like the Cheers of festivals – where everyone knows your name. We could get up real close to the performances, literally 5 steps away from the dancers and could identify the intricacies of the steps they followed which were different to each song. Outside the temple courtyard, makeshift stalls had been put up selling refreshments though the crowded stalls were the games stalls. They were playing card roulette where you place bets on numbers and/or suits that could be drawn up. All games had some variation of gambling / luck which probably is considered a skill. After a while, we decided to walk down to the valley as we had time to kill and figured the entire village wasn’t going to leave the festival anytime soon.

Walking down the country road

It was one of the best walks we had undertaken on this trip. The sweeping panorama dotted with beautiful buildings, a pleasant cold chill in the air backed by a warm sun (winter suns are the best) and the sheer purity that all your senses felt from the quality of air, the ambient noises of nature, the visual treats around , you get the gist. We even could see the other domestic airport in Bhutan which is Bumthang and as you can see from the photograph, I could cover it all in one frame. There is only one flight from Paro to Bathpalathang airport and costs almost USD 250 (USD, not INR or Nu) per person.

We also passed the Cheese factory, Fruit Jams outlet and the brewery. A lovely Swiss chalet was being given final touches in the brewery courtyard. The carpenter turned out to be from Siliguri and proudly displayed how everything was “Make In India” from the raw materials to his talent. Offering us his contact number, he said one of his sons was a carpenter in Bengaluru and could help with odd jobs there. He later took us around the entire chalet which would soon be a brew café starting a day after we left. He also showed us around the apiary where more than three tonnes of honey is produced annually.

A storm is coming, Mr. Wayne. 

We got back to the village which is literally built around one main highway and 2 by lanes. We decided to walk in the other direction and see if we could get to Jakar dzong. We took a wrong turn and continued walking uphill into a setting right out of Game of Thrones as ravens circled around the entire area. We couldn’t find a single soul to verify if we were walking the right way but decided to walk for another fifteen minutes else turn back if the road continued winding uphill.

We made it to the Court of Justice at the top of the hill which is when we realised we had taken a wrong turn somewhere (we started off on the wrong route J we’d realise later) . Along with ravens for company, we could see and hear a huge thunderstorm fast approaching from the other side. We guesstimated it was about half an hour away so we literally had to jog down as there was no place to run for shelter we got stuck midway. Since in these regions you have a wider and clearer view of the storm, they look and sound a lot scarier and violent. By the time we reached the bridge, thick rain drops were hitting us hard but they gave us a breather till we got to a shop when all hell broke loose and continued that dramatic performance for the next forty five minutes. When it slowed down for a bit, we rushed across to Café Perk.

The Ladakhi guide

This time we had company, a huge German group we had seen earlier at the festival was also there. Their guide Angdu came over to chat up. He was pleased at how we had managed to cover quite a bit without a guide and told us some more info about the festival above. He turned out to be from Leh & Ladakh and when we let out a wow, he laughed. “That’s the reaction I get today. A few decades ago when I was sent for schooling in Bangalore, we were called junglee people by his teachers and classmates.” He explained how they’d hide their TV sets when Indian tourists came calling to Ladakh because else they’d just sit in the room most of the day watching TV, crib about cable and ordering food instead of staying outside and exploring the countryside. He hoped that had changed since the past ten years when he had moved over to Germany and now conducted Himalayan expeditions for folks from there.  

Drayang - The Dance Bars

We checked out a drayang (dance bar) at 6:30 PM but it was extremely early by even their standards as they hadn’t even set up for the night. We ended up doing some souvenir shopping at the local stores. Got ourselves local incense sticks (pretty good quality at 50 Nu per pack) , Bhutan stamps, fridge magnets ( about 100 to 150 Nu per piece) bargaining them down to sum total of 500 Nu from 650 Nu. After dumping our shopping, we headed back to the drayang. Being from India, dance bars have a very sleazy context in our heads.

After Café Perk’s owner highlighted to us that it was a family destination, we thought it was worth a shot experiencing this cultural perspective. There was just 2 other guys and the dancers. Fully clothed in their bright kiris, the girls dance on Hindi , English and Dzongkha tracks requested by the audience and can even sing if you ask. We noticed the other two guys giving their picks and even getting on stage once for one of the popular tracks. Each request is worth 100 Nu and you can ask which girl you’d prefer danced and the girls would add you to their tip book. Probably sales based incentive bonuses and its book keeping. After 4 – 5 odd performances, we decided we probably picked the wrong day or were still too early, so we headed out.

EPL and soccer 

Our hotel owner was watching the Chelsea – Arsenal game (though a Manchester United fan himself) and we asked if we could watch along. His family soon turned up having their dinner in the restaurant now closed for outside service. After the game that Chelsea won 2-0, we went to the Bhutan store to find a lot of fake soccer merchandise (exemplifying the soccer craze this nation has) and a lot of authentic Bhutanese handicraft, quite a bit way out of our budgets.  All that walking had zonked us out and we decided to call it a night by 11 PM. 

Key points

Cafe Perk ($$) - Chamkhar town, Great food, nice and friendly owners, good wifi. 

Tamshing Lhakhang - About 40 Nu person in shared taxi. Since it was festival season, there was a lot of thoroughfare

Bathpalathang Airport (Domestic) - Flights between Paro and Bathpalathang only. 

Couple of stores in the town for souvenir shopping , few buildings down from Cafe Perk. 

          

Bhutan Budget Backpackers - Day 8 ( Bus Ride to Bumthang )

4 October 2014 – Day 8 (Bus Ride to Bumthang )

                             
Google Thimphu to Chamkhar Town, you get a 260 km drive over 8 hours. We took the bus which got us there in 12 hours which pretty explains this page in the blog entry. I may have mentioned this earlier but a bus ride is itself an experience in Bhutan, especially the opportunity to be so close to the regular folk and immerse into their day to day lives. We had booked our tickets earlier ( 355 Nu per head) so had picked seat numbers 3 and 4 which are right behind the driver in these 20 seaters giving us a bit of additional leg room. We decided to walk to the bus stand to generate some heat so early in the morning as we reached the bus stand by 6:45 to grab a cup of tea and jump onto our 7 o clock bus which started at 7:05 AM after dumping rice sacks, hay bales and what not on top of the bus.

DJ wale babu...

The driver put on his USB playing dzongkha songs with one extremely addictive one that went “taaktuk saafale ne” I thought the song was really long when this girl seated at the back started hollering at the driver and he changed the song. Soon I realised that his player had an issue and it would loop the song till he manually changed it and more often than not he’d forget till our DJ last bencher would holler out at him. She couldn’t take it after a while and the driver asked her to sit next to him and manage the player which she gladly did to the joy of everyone in the bus. This is the same route till Punakha and luckily we jumped the road restoration work for the day but karma made up for that with a tyre puncture right before that restaurant we had eaten at during our Punakha visit. The driver asked folks to grab some snacks there till he took the bus to a mechanic to change the tire.


Express Lunch

 We were off at 10 AM again and was a pretty uneventful driver except for the wonderful countryside sights till 12:30 PM when we stopped for lunch. Being Thursday a day when I eat only one meal, I decided to stick it out till dinner so Sash was the lone ranger. Everyone was having meat and rice combo, so Sash decided to play it safe with cup noodles. The speed at which the other 18 had their lunch is mind blowing. By the time Sash got to heat his noodles, and get to half way mark, the restaurant had already cleared out and yes, most of them had had second helpings of rice whilst we were there. In sum total of 25 minutes break, we were already on our way to our destination. 

Roadside sabzi mandi

A lot of temporary bus shelters started lining up in the landscape but these seemed to house young women selling bright red chillies, apples and corn by the kilo and there was huge demand in the bus for these goods. My guess being these are fresh off the local farms in the distance, probably cheaper than the markets themselves. We also picked up an elderly man and his daughter who had missed their bus to a spot another 8 hours away from our destination. The daughter decided to squeeze onto our two seater and turned out to be pretty pally.


Desi gupshup 

Once she figured we were from India, she mentioned she worked with the Revenue Services of Bhutan and their administrative schooling happens in New Delhi, India and she was here on short vacation in between a 20 month program. A number of folks got off at Wangdue district where we had to show our permit that allowed us to carry forward. There was another dzong here which was pretty popular till it got burnt down in a fire. You’ll be surprised the number of dzongs and the number of times they have been burnt down, in most cases attributed to the butter lamps placed in them. One thing I realised is thanks to satellite TV (dish TV and the types are pretty popular in urban centres) , these folks have good insight into Indian current affairs. For some reason, everyone I asked seemed to love Salman Khan! Also they were kicked about Kick which had been the flavour of the season then. Once in a while amongst those dzongkha songs our driver was playing, a hindi song from a bygone era would creep in.

Hunting lodges ( of a different kind ) 

 I shouldn’t forget to mention how social these drivers are as they form the life support system for couriers, post, people and news from town to town. They’d stop at random spots where someone would be waiting for them to pick up a bag of sack or a letter or even share some gossip. It was soon pitch dark and we wondered that when a city like Thimphu was dead by 7 ish, what we should expect in a village called Chamkhar. We finally reached the place at 7:30 PM and true to our expectations, the bus stand and the surroundings were dead like Chozum. 2-3 lodges around seemed to be our only hope. Charging 250 to 300 Nu for a 2 seater room, you can expect the conditions! We were about to give in to extremely uncomfortable and dirty lodgings when one of our fellow bus travellers had walked back to the bus stand and asked us if we needed help.

 I think he got his answer from our confused faces. He mentioned those lodges are dirty and would we prefer a good one. Our relieved faces smiled in unison and he highlighted two lodges , one which had opened up brand new and the other one was a very nice lady who ran it. Pointing us to both which were next to each other, we thanked him and figured out our plan. The brand new one had a weird smell to it and felt a bit claustrophobic so we decided to take the second one which charged 650 Nu for the night and was called Hotel Yeedzin Wangyel.

We decided to check out Sunnys restaurant but at 8 PM, they were closing for the day and only had their dinner to share with us which was beef momos. We walked down to find a Hotel Kinley had the concept of set menu consisting of rice, 1 gravy of choice, dal and buttermilk at 150 Nu per plate. We ordered a mixed veg sabzi and a kewa datsi between both of us. 

Key Points

Thimphu - Bumthang - 12 hours bus journey / 355 Nu per person (Book tickets atleast a day in advance) 

Seat Number 3 and 4 are usually the best upto 12 is not an issue, then gets bumpier a ride. 

Last bus leaves at 7 AM from Thimphu 

Hotel Yeedzin Wangyel - Chamkhar Town, Bumthang - 650 Nu - 2 beds + western attached ( a light weird smell the first time we took the room, then probably got used to it) 

Hotel Kinley - Set Menu ( rice + gravy + dal + buttermilk ) - 150 Nu. 

No tips need to be paid to the driver

Bhutan Budget Backpackers - Day 7 ( Thimphu Tshechu )

3 October 2014 – Day 7 (Thimphu Tshechu)

The entire trip itinerary revolved around this event and all the jigsaw puzzles we moved around on the fly was to fit in this important festival in Bhutan. Tshechu means Day 10 (festivals are held on 10^th day of the month of the Tibetan lunar calendar) and in a country that gauges its success by Gross National Happiness, festivals are extremely important tools to keep people happy. Every dzongkhag in the country has its own main Tschechu and Thimphu being the capital hosts the biggest one.

Festivity in the air

We decided to take the Chhophel Lam since we were just down the road off Thori Lam. Whilst Google maps suggested that it was a recommended route, we couldn’t spot anyone else around and wondered if we were going down the wrong route till a Bhutanese traffic minder guided us through the wilderness to a mud path where there were many other kids headed to the same place. As we got closer and saw the crowds entering the Tashichhodzong (The main Thimphu dzong), we could see the finest splendour of this city on display. The golf course next door was empty though.

People of all ages were dressed in their Sunday best in gaiety mood with snacks, refreshments and other roadside goodies on sale. Fortunately this was pre selfie era on the planet and people were talking, laughing and absorbing the festive spirit. Initially we went to the empty section but soon realised with the sun on our heads why it was so empty even as crowds poured in. The entire security and discipline of the event was being managed by citizen volunteers!
There were a couple of security guards at the main points but they were outnumbered 1 to 4 by citizen volunteers. 

Tshechu time !

The performances started with the clowns messing about with everyone and slapping them with wooden phalluses followed by extremely good looking all women choir which the clowns made sure to highlight. The dance performances soon followed, coordinated, rhythmic synchronised movements on musical chants which ran approximately 25 minutes per performance. The scale at which these performances were been done added to the grandeur of the event as the kaleidoscope of colours increased manifold. After 5 minutes of each performance, you’d kind of get it and without any knowledge of dzongkha, there weren’t any more details of the stories the song spoke of.

 I’d end up people watching and can’t blame you when such good looking people have dressed up for the occasion in their smartest ghos and kiris in resplendent fashion. After a couple of performances and an impromptu photo opportunity with one of the clowns who was taking a break and forgotten to carry his wooden phallus along, we decided to check out the rest of the Tashichhodzong.


Unnecessary hike to Zilukha Nunnery

We knew Thangthong Dewachen Nunnery also known as Zilukha Nunnery was in the vicinity so decided to find it. We asked a couple of passerbys and each one gave us a conflicting answer till a farm boy pointed that we’d find a muddy incline that would take us there. We found one which required us to crawl on our knees at points due to the steep incline and carried on till we got lost in the foliage. Contemplating to head back, we heard someone whisper. We found a monk snuck behind a tree answering a phone call. Shocked to see us first, he realised we seemed lost but figured we were looking for the nunnery and asked us to continue climbing up through a cutting.

We soon reached the road leading to the nunnery and then it struck us the incline the farm boy had told us about was a proper tarred road started a kilometre away from where we had started our climb. The nunnery was quiet and empty except for 2 nuns busy in their meditation in the prayer hall. We spent some time amongst the chirping of birds and the rustling of trees protected from the fiery sun of the day searching for inner peace.

After a quick debate on whether to walk down the incline and walk back a kilometre or climb down the shortcut we had discovered, hunger pangs decided the latter and we decided to pay visit to “the Zone” , bang opposite the stadium and is famous for their pizzas and free wifi (password: secretzone ). It has a very youthful vibe to itself, noticeable with the clientele present and after hogging on their pizzas running up a bill of 1100 Nu as we read through some of the coffee table Bhutan editions available there especially the one on phalluses.

Phalluses

I think phalluses now need a paragraph to themselves. Phalluses often depicted as ejaculating in their wall paintings are used to ward evil spirits away from an ornamental stand point. They also signify fertility and have roots going down to the Divine mad man monk of Chimi Lhakhang (near Punakha) who used his magical gifts for the spread of Buddhism in the country as he subdued a demoness with his wondrous thunderbolt.

It started raining heavily giving us an excuse to relax further in the café listening to the conversations of the kids around us that involved boys checking out mutual friend girls on Facebook, school kids cribbing about homework and tourists discussing the lovely views from the flight into Paro. 

The flea market

The entire Norzin Lam had been converted into a vehicle free zone with temporary tents springing up all over with folks selling their wares from neighbour towns and villages. The winter wear jackets whilst not suitable for Bengaluru, but surely useful in colder places were going at 500 Nu. Shoes, toys, food, dresses, clothes etc were the essence of the market. It felt like the entire country had come down onto that street as it was choc a bloc packed.

We bumped into Pemo (the same guy who the other Pemo fished in the middle of nowhere at Chozum on day one) and he was pleased to meet us and knowing we had no issues so far. Also managed to buy souvenirs ( embroidered doll size gho, gho & kiri keychains, woven bookmarks etc) You need to bargain like crazy and lucky for us, being a festival, we could test our bargaining power till it failed in one store and use that info in the next one to ensure we weren’t being fleeced. Also ask for festival price when you kick off discussions, it’s the same as “friend price” when bargaining in the Far East.

We decided to watch a bit of today’s movie called “Selzin” starring Kuenden Norbu. The first half seemed to be a love story. Since we were heading out early the next day for Bumthang, we headed home earlier grabbing some momos and Bhutanese bhel at a road side stall on the way. Leaving a note for Alma as he wasn’t around and not sure if we’d see him in the morning, we thanked him for his hospitality and crashed for the night ensuring we had packed up everything. 

Key Points 

Check if there are any tshechus happening around your travel plans and go for it. Perfect cherry on your cake. 

If you get early to Thimphu dzong, head to the Royal gallery side and get a good spot as it'll be get sunnier later in the day and everyone will head to that side for respite fom the sun. 

The Zone ($$) - Chang Lam. -  Free wifi, pizzas are good. Brunch (2 pizzas + starters + drinks) = 1100 Nu

Whilst bargaining, start off with friend / festival / special price. Bargaining is essential. Can go down to 40% of original quoted price.