Toronto skyline
It was blue sky with clouds scattered around, early fall and the weather was perfect. But every time I went to the Toronto Islands on a date, it was disastrous. Toronto\'s skyline looks wonderful from the islands south of the city and if nothing else was, at least the pictures were good... ;-)
Toronto Tuesday: A weekly photo feature
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How to mismanage your money
I planned my money recklessly in Bhutan, I don’t know why,.. (perhaps I was overconfident?). I carried some cash with me and thought that I would use a ATM or credit card to withdraw additional money in Bhutan. That’s the stupidest mistake a traveler can make – to rely on unverified / unreliable sources of funds. Bhutan’s ATMs cater to local customers only and using a credit card is not an option except in high-end hotels. As a result I was constantly worrying about running out of money. In the worst case, I’d have to go back to India, get money, make new permit and re-enter Bhutan. That would waste 2 precious days.
“Five Chortens” at Paro, waiting for my first ride.
On the last day, I was left only with Rs. 500 (~$11) and all the buses from Paro to Phuentsholing (border town) were fully booked 2 days in advance. The only option left was to take a taxi, which would cost Rs. 450-500. My buddy was in a slightly better position, so he played it safe by taking the taxi, and I could have done the same but I thought of doing something fun.
…I decided to hitchhike, again (I had done it thrice in Bhutan already).
Road from Paro to Bondey along the Paro river, waiting for my second ride.
Hitching a ride is fun
A young woman in her Maruti Zen answered my first ‘hitchhike’ gesture. She was going to Haa, so she agreed to drop me 3-4km away, at a point on the road to India. All I can say is that her driving reminded me of the universal stereotype about women drivers. ermmm….. 
My second ride was a guy who worked in the Government of Bhutan. He was chewing a paan (betel nut) like all Bhutanese do all the time and his Maruti Omni van stank smelled like it. He was generous enough to give me a ride for next 18 km (20 min), from Bondey to Chuzom. The vegetation changed and the air got cooler as the road spiraled out of the Paro valley.
Tamchhog Lhakhang, a temple dedicated to the Iron Bridge Lama who built 108 bridges in Bhutan and Tibet.
Chuzom is a T-junction on the confluence of 2 rivers. The roads go to Thimphu, Paro and Phuentsholing (border with India) respectively. In Bhutanese tradition, joining of rivers is considered inauspicious. Hence at the point of confluence, there are 3 chortens to ward away the evil spells. These chortens are built in Bhutanese, Tibetian and Nepali style each.
3 Stupas, built in Bhutanese, Tibetan and Nepali style each, at Chuzom junction and the confluence of 2 rivers.
There is also a police checkpost at this point and they will stamp your permit with an exit marker.
“Where are you coming from?”
“Paro”
“Where are you going?”
“India”
“Where is your vehicle?”
“Over there” I said, pointing to some unknown bus.
“Alright”
It was easier to lie than to explain the whole hitchhiking thing to them… plus I wasn’t doing anything illegal! I also thought that if they’d heard my money crisis, they’d have gone out of their way to help me!
Chuzom bridge. Most roads in Bhutan are built by India’s Border Roads Organization.
After the checkpost, I started walking on the road to India. Several vehicles passed, but nobody stopped for me. I stood there for 30 minutes, occasionally walking ahead. Then I saw some girls walking in the opposite direction, so I greeted them…
“Kuzuzangbo la”, I said.
“Kuzuzangbo la!!”, they sounded surprised and excited.
They told me they were confused to see a foreigner walking on the highway. I told them that I was looking for a ride and chatted with them for a bit, showing off my glorious knowledge of Dzongkha language – hello, yes, no, thankyou, etc.. In no time they stopped a small truck and asked the driver to help me, in what I thought was a flirtatious tone, but maybe it was the language.
That’s how I found they found me my third ride, a meat (chicken) truck.
My new friend and my exquisite carriage.
The driver was also a 27 yr old guy and in the next 6.5 hours, we became best friends. He told me that he stopped only because he saw the girls. 
Oh whatever! The ride was fun. We shared oranges, cookies, chips, candies etc. stopped on the way, met his regular truck buddies and other female friends from the villages that he introduced me to (he called them ‘girlfriends‘). I thought he was enjoying ’showing off his catch’ or something like that. He took a picture with me everywhere possible.
There was a landslide on the way. Apparently the road was closed since 10 AM, which meant that my buddy in his taxi was stuck somewhere in the huge lineup too. I had told him exactly what to do and which hotel to meet at once we reached India.
काम चालू, रस्ता बंद! Stranded on the road to India.
So after 3 rides and 9.5 hours on the road, I reached the border town. I loved this exit adventure in Bhutan. 
I bought the truck driver a very generous dinner, got drunk on ‘Druk 11000′ (Bhutan’s beer) and quietly crossed the border (minutes before it closed at 23:00) to the familiar smells, sounds and chaos of India, my motherland.
Thus, finally my mystical journey to Bhutan, The Land of the Thunder Dragon, was over. Hopefully you liked reading all the chapters, please leave me a note below. Thanks.
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If you had only one place to visit in Bhutan, this would be the one.
A shrine on the way
About 20 minutes of uphill track after the first pit stop, we came across this shrine. The path, as you can see, took a sharp turn and I was beginning to wonder where it was going. There is a natural water stream at this point and the water tastes something very different. I drank the water, bowed before the deity here and started walking on the blind turn…
Taktsang Lakhang
….woohhww.. there it was! The Tigers Lair, right in front, slightly below where I was! It appears suddenly before you and I stood there, stupefied, admiring its beauty.
From this point, the actual approach to the monastery is a treacherous walk that could take 20-45 minutes depending on how scared you are of heights. The narrow path kisses the mountain’s rock face as it turns sharp left, dipping slightly from the point where I am standing, to sharp right, finally climbing towards the monastery. All through the path, you can see the monastery – its right there in front of you, you feel like touching it, but you can’t! Not before you complete what a local called, “the final task”.
Tiger’s nest monastery, isn’t it beautiful?
One needs a special ‘Monastery’ permit from the Ministry of Culture to visit this temple. You’ll have to deposit absolutely everything at the front gate. We reached the monastery 45 minutes before it closed and the monks had locked several rooms already, but he was kind enough to open the doors for us. The Guru Lhakhang has a central image which is one of the manifestations of Guru Rinpoche, the guru who brought Buddhism to Tibet and Bhutan. A level below is the Dubkhang cave, where the guru Rinpoche meditated. Several murals decorate the walls.
Views from the monastery, as you would expect, are spectacular. The air is filled with soft chanting of mantras and the mild smell of incense. It is very likely that you’ll stand there looking at the valley, doing nothing for a bit, and the next thing you know is the monk tapping on your shoulder saying that its been 10 minutes.
I like the musical aspect of chanting mantras in Hindu / Buddhist traditions. Usually a male guru’s voice acts as the drone, with his voice fixed at lower octave, while his disciples sing an octave higher, creating a very fulfilling feeling.
Taksang Lakhang
I really wanted to stay here forever, or for a long time atleast. Unfortunately it was close to sunset, and since we were on our own, it was imperative to return before dark. The ascent can get very confusing at night.
They say that one must visit the Taktsang Lhakhang atleast once in their lives. It’s the holiest of the holy places in Bhutan. I’m glad, fortunate, lucky, blessed, etc. for having visited this temple.
Praying before the mighty Gurus
That ended my travel of Bhutan, what a fantastic way to end this magical tour! I exit the country in my next, concluding post. (I know I have to start writing about Russia soon!)
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Surrender yourself to the power of the mighty Guru.
The hike to the monastery begins. The board says: “Walk to the Guru’s glory! Take back memories of a kingdom, for here in this kingdom rules an unparalleled benevolent King “
Machu Picchu, Taj Mahal, Red Square and Dome of the Rock. These are the top icons that define Peru, India, Russia and Israel respectively. Taktsang Lhakhang or the Tiger’s Nest Monastery would be such icon of Bhutan. This monastery was among the last places I saw im my trip to Bhutan, and rightly so. By now I had (and you have) seen the Bhutan story build bit by bit and it was about time to climax.
Prayer wheel at the first pit stop. Enlarge the picture to see the temple on the cliff behind.
Perched miraculously on the side of a sheer cliff 900m above the base of Paro valley, the only sounds you can hear at the Taktshang Lhakhang are the murmurs of the wind and water and the chanting of mantras. The name ‘Taktshang’ means ‘Tiger’s nest’ and it is believed that Guru Rinpoche, the Guru from India who preached Buddhism to Tibet and Bhutan, flew to this site on the back of a tigress to subdue the local demon and meditate in the cave. Takshang Lhakhang is a holy place and Buddhist pilgrims from all over Bhutan visit here.
Prayer wheel viewed from the first pit stop
The only way to reach up to the Tiger’s Nest is to walk, or fly on the back of a magic tiger. I picked the former since I don’t know how to ride a flying tiger and I might have missed taking pictures. Ask any taxi driver in Paro to drop you off at the junction from where the road to Taktsang Lakhang begins (8km, Rs. 15). The actual hike starts about 3 kilometers from the point you were dropped off (elevation: 2,600m).
Admist rows of prayer flags
The hike is 2 hour long and offers spectacular views. In the first part, the trail climbs through blue pines, then switchbacks steeply up the ridge and suddenly the valley opens up. After climbing further for an hour, the small white chhorten with prayer flags comes into view. There is a convenient tea house located near the chorten where we took our first pit stop (elevation: 2940m). The tea house is expensive (its the ‘tourist’ thing): a bottle of water is priced five times here (Rs. 50) so choose between carrying lots of water or spending money here. You can see Takshang Lhakhang right across the cafeteria and we enjoyed the impressive view while having brunch and chatting with other visitors.
Admist rows of prayer flags
Many visitors opt to hike only upto this point and have a darshan of the temple from here. Darshan is a Sanskrit word that cannot be translated, but it means something like ’sight of the holy or the divine.’
Taktsang Lhakhang.. seen right in front in the middle of the cliff.
That’s where I’ll be in the next post.
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Paro valley, viewed from a point near the National Museum
I am going to talk about a lot of things seen in the picture above since by now you must be pretty familiar with Bhutan.
- The picture is taken from a point near the National Museum located at the top of the hill above Paro Dzong. This was originally a watch-tower (as you can imagine from the picture) but was renovated to house one of the most wonderful museums I have seen. The building is circular, shaped like a conch and you enter on the fourth floor! You also have to walk along a specific route that ensures that you walk clockwise around important images. Now isn’t that cool?
- The river in the view is the Paro chhu (chhu=river). It flows from the north-western side of the town and proceeds towards the south-west. Paro valley is fertile and beautiful.
- The point from which this photo is taken can be reached by food (which is what I did) by hiking to Paro dzong and then hiking further to the National museum. The hike is steep but not difficult, but don’t ask the locals ‘how far is it?’ They always say ‘5 minutes’. The hike from the base is atleast 30 minutes long.
- If you are not in mood for hiking, you can always drive. As the milestone (which is actually a kilometer-stone) states, the distance is 5 km. There are no shared taxis to this point, but you can hire a private taxi for Rs 120.
- The other language seen on the milestone is Dzonkha, the national language of Bhutan. English is the second language. Most educated people can speak English, and almost everyone on the street can speak Hindi.
- Paro town, neatly laid in a grid-like structure can be seen nicely from here. Also notice the metal roofs I was talking about in some previous post, a strong contrast to village houses.
- I can spot atleast 6 temples on the hills surrounding the valley. But maybe that’s because I saw the place and its hard to read details in the picture. The valley is dotted with temples – small and large.
Pffftt… I think that was a long ‘describe the picture’ game. Do you notice something else that I missed?
From Paro Dzong to National Museum
One of the route to the National Museum starts from Paro dzong and is quite easy to follow since it is adequately marked. No worries if you are confused, there are people walking past all the time.
I was trying to play the evil demoness who ruled the valley before being slayed.
On the other side wayy above the Paro dzong, we spotted a white dot in the mountain which, on investigation, we discovered was the Zuri dzong. It seemed like a charming little temple with even a better view of the valley and the airport. We hiked for 1.5 hours, but still couldn’t find Zuri. It was getting late and you may know how disastrous it could be to get lost on an unknown mountain in total darkness. Being a mountainous region, there is nothing called ‘post sunset lighting’ (if there is even a term like this!) – after the sun is gone, it gets dark in no time. Unfortunately we gave up the search for locating Zuri mountain and carefully recalling our route tried to reach the base. I think it was too dark and we ended up in a water stream (it might well be a sewage stream but I prefer not to think of that) and somehow made it back to civilization.
Paro valley
That brings us to the end of travel posts on Paro valley and surroundings. In the next tow posts, I explore Taksang Lhakhang or the Tigers Nest Monastery, my last adventure in Bhutan.
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Thanks to a devout Buddhist businessman, an Indian Army truck driver and a couple from the town Haa, we visited Cheli La, the highest motorable pass in Bhutan.
Waiting for a ride at Bondey, the road to Cheli La separates from the Thimphu – Paro road here
My friend and I were contemplating going to Haa, a valley south of Paro and even got the Special Areas Permit to visit the place. However it would have been a touch-and-go trip so instead we decided to go upto a point midway between Paro and Haa and return to Paro the same day. This mid point is the Cheli La pass, the highest motorable road in Bhutan. The only problem was that hiring a taxi would cost is Rs. 1,200 ($26) and being the last few days of the holiday we didn’t have that much money. So ultimately we decided to go to the place where the road to Cheli La begins and see what happens.
Pockets of snow at a shrine, first leg of our journey
We waited at the junction for over 30 minutes and then 2 vans full of Buddhist nuns stopped as we tried to flag it down. There is a nunnery somewhere in the mountains. Unfortunately their vans were full of stuff so we couldn’t squeeze in. Their vehicle was so crowded that I think 2 Bhutanese can fit into space required for 1 European. Since there were very few vehicles on the road and there was nothing else to do, we started hiking towards Chele La.
The first person to help us was a guy who operated a convenience store in the Bondey village nearby. He was going to the shrine shown in picture above to fix his prayer wheel. Apparently, during his earlier visit to India, his teacher instructed him to pray at a place high in the mountain. He therefore installed a water-operated prayer wheel at this site.
The prayer wheel worked on a simple principle of a water mill. Water from a stream hit the wooden paddles and the wheel span. The prayer wheels have scrolls of prayers written inside them. Buddhists believe that spinning the prayer wheel will have the same meritorious effect as orally reciting the prayers.
Since winter was approaching (you can already see the ice), he had to ensure that his prayer wheel remained safe from frozen chunks of ice. That’s why he was going there to make some repairs.
And that’s how we covered first 22 of 36 kilometers to Cheli La.
Walking on rooftop
After saying bye bye to the guy who helped us and assuring him that we’d pray on his behalf at Cheli La, we started walking on the road again. there were few abandoned houses, or maybe just makeshift storage houses on the way so I had to walk over their roofs, you know. Eventually we ended up walking 1 km on a road with step ascents until the next ride came.
In Bhutan, like in India, you flag down a vehicle by waving the hand with the palm facing downwards. I don’t know if the US way of ‘thumbs up’ works, because if I did that, people will probably think that I am wishing them good luck or something.
Waiting for my next ride
The final 13 km were covered thanks to a huge Indian Army truck. The guy who was driving it was an ethnic Nepali and he was overjoyed to see us. The truck was carrying some supplies to the Indian Army post in Haa. This is the first time I crossed a mountain in a truck (no wait, second, but I dont remember the first time) and it was scary. The road was narrow, the bends were sharp and the valley was steep. If you have been to the Himalayas, you know how it feels like. These roads were also built by India’s Border Roads Organizations, so they have a peculiar style. Trucks require higher turning radius so the guy went almost to the edge of the road before making a turn. And while doing that he was chatting non-stop with me, while I simply nodded. Each time the truck went near the edge of the road and I looked down, I remembered all the gods I could… thinking to myself ‘why the hell is he not turning… turn! turn! stop talking! turn!’
Pheww, finally the “Cheli La 0″ milestone came into view. The two of us were visibly shaken from the ride but the driver was cheerful. We offered to share our food with him but he refused to take. He said that it was his gesture towards his countrymen and that he was sorry to hear about terrorists in Mumbai. He also asked us not to worry if we didn’t find a ride back home from Cheli La – he was going to come back at 8 pm. Oh my god, angel!
Happy Happy. Wonderful CheleLa
Yay! Cheli La.
You can ‘feel’ that you are at the highest point in the neighborhood, there are taller snow-capped mountains only far away (Eastern Himalayas). Cheli La is a very simple place – there is a prayer wheel, a small altar, a round wooden table with an umbrella and an electric substation. But there are prayer flags and poles – lots and lots of them all over the adjacent hills higher than the road.
Walking towards Haa valley
I spinned (spun?) the prayer wheel and prayed, also on behalf of the first guy (who gave us a lift) as he’d requested. It was a place that will humble you with its sheer power and simplicity. There is nothing but snow capped Himalayan ranges at your eye level. At 3,900 something meters above MSL, its not the highest places I’ve been to, but was certainly one of the best.
We spent 2 hours walking around. There was nothing to ’see’ there because we were the tourist attraction. LOL. There are a couple of hills around the pass and can be hiked easily. These hills are the true peaks of the mountain. Predictably, they are all covered by prayer flags fluttering eternally in the strong wind, carrying the prayers to all corners of the world. There is nothing to worry about here – homework, deadlines, junk food, pollution, neighbors, nothing.
Mountains around the pass are filled with prayer flags
The sun set and the place got chilly in an instant. We were waiting for a ride for almost an hour but there was absolutely nobody going to Paro, most vehicles were going to Haa – maybe from their work places in Paro? I thought that we missed a good time to catch a ride – we started in the afternoon, by then the peak traffic had subsided. Well I think the peak traffic is 1 vehicle in 5 minutes in one direction anyway! It was almost dark and we didn’t have sufficient warm clothes, but soon a Maruti 800 stopped, and there was a couple who dropped us home, err…, Paro I mean.
Prayer Flags
Cheli La was not a big deal, the place is charming for sure. You can view the Paro valley from south and the Haa valley on the other side of the mountain range. But the most exciting part of the day was hitch hiking there.
“The greatest religion never gives suffering to anybody” – Lord Buddha
How about we modify this:
“The greatest religion never gives suffering to anybody in the name of religion”
- Priyank Thatte, adapted from Gautam Buddha’s quote.
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There is lots to see in the upper Paro valley and little Lhakhangs2 and Gompas3 dot the hills along the entire valley. Look anywhere you want and you’ll see a tiny temple somewhere on the mountain. We visited a couple of such temples.
There are temples on hills all around Paro
Several of these temples house monks who stay inside praying and meditating for months and years, only coming down to the town for supplies once a while. When I told my Nepali hotel manager that we were going to explore these mountains, he explicitly asked us not to knock on the door and disturb the monks unless it was absolutely necessary. Eventually we were too tired to hike that far, and I was kinda bored seeing so many Buddhist temples! (Few weeks before Bhutan I was in Russia and after some days I refused to see any more orthodox churches.)
Kyichu Lhakhang, one of the oldest monasteries in Bhutan
Kyichu Lhakhang
Kyichu Lakhang is a short drive (Rs 10 – $0.25 by shared taxi) from Paro town and is supposedly Bhutan’s oldest and most beautiful temples. It was believed to be built in 659 CE by a Tibetan religious leader to ‘pin down the left foot of an giant ogress (female man-eating giant) who was thwarting the establishment of Buddhism into Tibet’. The religious leader embarked upon an ambitious project to build 108 temples in a single day and Kyichu Lakhang is one of them. Few others remain today. Very interesting!
Flag poles and courtyard of Kyichu Lhakhang
Finding Kyichu Lhakhang is not easy since nobody seems to know about it (very strange) and I found it only in my Lonely Planet guidebook. Its a short walk off the main road from Paro heading north-west.
The driver of my shared taxi asked me if I was a “foreigner” and I told him that I was indeed from India. But India is not considered as a ‘foreign country’ in Bhutan. So I told him that I lived in Canada. He asked me if I had any foreign currency. I gave him a couple of coins and also told him about our beloved maple leaf symbol on the coins. I think he was extremely delighted since encounter with ‘foreigners’ is very rare in Bhutan. (They usually travel in escorted groups.)
Entrance to main temple at Kyichu Lhakhang
At the end of the road heading north-west of Paro lie the Drukgyel Dzong ruins. It was built in 1649 at a location strategic to the trade route to Tibet. Unfortunately we did not visit this place since I kept postponing visit to this place until the last day and on the last day it rained. Lets see which one among you (reader) visits the place! hehehe!
Dumtse Lhakhang
This temple is shaped like a chorten4 but is actually a lhakhang2 built in 1433 by the iron-bridge builder Thangtong Gyalpo. It has 3 floors representing hell, earth and heaven. One needs a special permit to visit this Lhakhang but we could not go inside since the doors were closed.
Dumtse Lhakhang behind a hay stack
Religions in Bhutan
Buddhism is deeply rooted in the landscape and culture of Bhutan – there are prayer flags, shrines and images of Buddha and other gods carved into rocks wherever possible. To understand Bhutan, I think it is very important to know the basics of Buddhism and the values it stands for. Your visit to a monastery will be more fruitful that way.
Bhutan treats all religions equally and offers religious freedom to all. Hinduism (~25%) is the second largest religion and is practised mostly by descendants of Nepali migrants. Proselytization is not permitted in Bhutan yet there is a small number of Christian converts. Across the border in India, there is an active conversion campaign by Christian missionaries and a simple google search will reveal a number of websites dedicated to ’saving Buddhist and Hindu souls’ in the region. The India-Bhutan border is open.
Buddhism was introduced in Bhutan in the seventh’s century. Bon was the belief system in Bhutan and Tibet prior to that and was absorbed into Buddhism, in a peculiar characteristic of the Eastern religions. Guru Rinpoche or Padmasambhava, and Indian saint, was invited to Bhutan and after subduing several demons and converting the king, he proceeded to Tibet. Guru Rinpoche is considered to be the patron saint and is very respected in the country.
Bhutanese Buddhsim (Mahayana Buddhism) is different from Tibetan Buddhism but the exact differences are still unclear to me. The Bhutanese do not consider The Dalai Lama as their spiritual and religious leader, they have their own The Je Khenpo (and I was blessed by his holiness!). These differences were indeed the reasons for several invasions from Tibet.
Footnotes: (I think I will make a post about this)
1 Dzong: Fort Monastery
2 Lhakhang: A temple
3 Gompa/Goemba: A place of learning, lineage and meditation.
4 Chorten/Stupa: A small stone monument often containing relics. A stupa is usually hemispherical.
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