Views of Thimphu City
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Ordinary streets of Thimphu
Tall prayer flags overlooking Thimpu valley
You can see in the picture above how tall the prayer flags are, I am standing at the bottom. This picture was taken from one of the hills north-west of the city. The built up valley with little colorful rooftops looks pretty.
Thimpu city in the river valley
The yellow-green houses in the picture above is the ‘modern’ construction. Looks quite out of place. The city sprawls along the true-western bank of the Wang Chhu river. The city is very young, it was designated as the capital of Bhutan only in 1961.
Some street in Thimpu
While it is common for the humble Bhutanese to complain about their garbage problems, most of the city is very clean and traffic is very relaxed. There are a number of taxis, and even a couple of bus routes! Walking on the beetle-nut stained footpaths is the best way to explore the city.
Main traffic intersection
Traffic signals story:
Thimphu is one of two national capitals in Asia that does not have traffic lights. Local authorities had installed a set of lights at this junction but before they became operational the lights were removed. People complained that the automatic traffic signals were too impersonal and hence very unnatural to Bhutanese culture. So, instead of traffic lights, the city takes pride in its traffic police that directs the oncoming traffic with their dance-like movement of their arms and hands. (See video below)
Visit my earlier post for a picture of the same street corner at night.
A street in Thimpu
Thimphu may be the biggest city in Bhutan but you can easily walk the whole city in less than one day! It is very calm and attractive, with a number of cafés, restaurants, art stories and souvenir shops sprinkled all around.
We’ll end this little post about Thimpu with the dancing-traffic-policeman video.
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Thimphu seems picture postcard perfect.
The only country in the world which measures Gross National Happiness (GNH) instead of GDP. How was your interaction with the Bhutanese people?
↵Hi Mavin,
↵Before going to Bhutan, I thought GNP was just an academic term – you know, just for talking at conferences etc. But here people are really happy. Its unbelievable. I’ll write more in a separate post.
I like that city. Very serene, and it seems so unchaotic. Just wondering, do you know which one is the other Asian capital without a traffic light?
↵LIW, yeah, very relaxed pace of life there.
The other Asian capital is Pyongyang, North Korea.
↵Beautiful pictures. Looks like a cool hill station. I am very impressed with how clean the place is.
↵The video of the dancing policeman is very funny!
What is that policeman trying to do!
↵Any idea what the tall prayer flags signify?
Hi Amit,
↵The prayer flags (could be any shape and size) signify the same thing. I presume you know the reason! Buddhists believe that prayers written on the flags will be scattered throughout the sky and spread peace everywhere. What a nice thought.
The Thimpu city in the river valley pic is really beautiful. Especially how the sun’s rising/setting is casting one half in shadow. The traffic signal trivia is very interesting, never knew. I remember the main intersection at night pic, it was really pretty, so I recall looking at it for sometime
haha and that traffic cop is actually dancing! I didn’t believe u were serious till I saw it hehe
↵Hi Ameeta,
Some of them dance better than others! 
Thanks for stopping by.
↵Yeah yeah I wasn’t kidding
Hi Priyank! Do all the traffic cops dance like this? Really unique and amusing. Looks like a laidback town that. I am seeing a trend here in India that even small towns are growing fast and now call themselves Tier-III Cities! Charming place indeed.
↵Hi Gopinath, Yes yes they all do. But in Thimphu (largest city) there are only about 2 intersections where I saw traffic cops dancing. At other places, there is simply no need for traffic regulation!
↵Hmmmm If i remember correctly there is a reason behind the roof colours. Green roof’s I think are private residences, red ones are government and yellow ones are religious. However I could be wrong because it has been a long time since someone told me this. When I was there back in 2000 there was only one traffic signal and it was functional. I was told that it was the only one in the whole of Bhutan. I guess it has been removed afterwards.I like the area near the river where you can walk around. Oh and I just love their vegetable market, it is so well organised even though its just a farmers market. Truly Bhutan may be the best country to live in South Asia. Also now I notice more people in western clothes in your photos then back in 2004 when I was there for the last time.
↵Hi Odzer, hmm, I should have asked more people then. The guy at the monastery told me that its some new construction, I think it is very ugly. I missed the vegetable market – I think I went for a side trip on the weekend. Bad planning. There were many people in western clothes indeed. I was surprised too since it was different from what I read, but this was only in Thimpu.
↵Best country to live in? Hmm… interesting
“Thimphu is one of two national capitals in Asia that does not have traffic lights.”
And the other one is?
↵Hi Arun,
↵The other Asian capital is Pyongyang, North Korea.
Haha! I like that ‘dancing’ policeman. BTW, there were such men in India too during my lifetime. Makes me feel old now…
↵Shantanu,
Did policemen in India dance so much too?
↵Great pics again!! So quaint about them thinking traffic lights are impersonal, love the guy guiding traffic.
↵Bob, indeed, the Bhutanese are very strange people. Strange in a lovely way
↵looks very clean and quiet..the dancing cop looks quite a character
↵LOL, Lakshmi, I thought it was a joke until I saw it myself!
↵Lovely visuals and not what I would have thought.
↵Thanks Wendy
Bhutan is very lovely!
↵These pictures with the prayer flags and mountains in the background remind me of Sikkim.
↵Celine, as you may know, Sikkim and Bhutan are pretty similar when it comes to people, religion and geography. I haven’t been to Sikkim though…
↵Beautiful pics. Those prayer flags are really huge!
The traffic cop is cute but I wonder how many hours he keeps up this exercise!
↵Hmm, good question, maybe 6 hours a day? I didn’t see him after sunset. There is hardly any traffic even during the day actually…
↵[...] Punakha Dzong was the seat of Bhutan’s government until Thimphu was established as the new capital in 1961. Building of this dzong was foretold by Guru Rinpoche in [...]
↵OMG, Priyank! Is this traffic officer for real???!!! I am very eager to visit Bhutan. In your opinion, what’s the best (and cheapest) way to get there from Toronto?
↵Hi Jennifer,
There are only few ways that foreigners can use to enter Bhutan – they need to either arrive or depart by flight. Connections are from Delhi (India), Kolkata (India), Kathmandu (Nepal), Dhaka (Bangladesh) and Bangkok (Thailand), so I am guessing that a cheap ticket to Delhi, followed by a Druk Air ticket to Bhutan will do the trick. There is lot of information on this post: http://priyank.com/travel/2008/12/29/bhutan-gate-welcomes-you/
cheers!
↵