Bhutan:Bumthang

Bumthang

After having spent two nights at calm and serene Punakha , it was time to move on to central Bhutan.  The next destination in mind was Jakar or if that wasn't possible Trongsa. Wokeup early to a cloudy rainy morning. I walked to the taxi stand in the drizzle and found a share taxi to Lobesa. It was cold , misty and lovely outside and the taxi passed through some yellow and green paddy fields with the mountains fading away with the clouds. If only had a camera handy but alas !!

There is only one bus from Thimpu that passes through Lobesa and onto Bumthang everyday and its usually difficult to find a seat even from Thimpu if not booked in advance, since these coaster buses have just 15 seats. Taxi was out of question since I was told it would cost 8-9k one way ,just to get there. So I prayed for some divine intervention :) and was at the Bus Stop at 7a.m., would need to figure out Plan B/another destination if this didn't workout.

I waited at the bus stop with school kids going (in their traditional attire kira,gho) there way. There is also a big Hydro Electric Power station near by and the buses for the staff was also there and saw lot of Indians as well. After waiting for close to 2hrs and my mind wandering if Central Bhutan would work out , I saw the bus arrive and it was totally packed, however call it divine intervention or the conductor being helpful he took me in. So started my journey to the next pitstop a 10hour bumpy bone crunching journey on a small child's seat but the amazing view around was worth it.

                                                  (the small brown seat was mine )

The person next to me was a government official and we spoke about various aspects of life in bhutan and india . He also mentioned he was flying to dehrudan in a week or so to get some training in surveys etc.

After few hours of bone crunching journey in a small seat where each bone was rattled and I was literally jumping every time the bus went over a pothole , we stopped for lunch at a wayside hotel. A good plate of dal and rice and some local chicken preparation , the first meal of the day couldn't have tasted better.

I saw the majestic Trongsa Dzong from the bus , jutting out of the hills and only wished I could have stopped there. Thankfully, though the road conditions improved after that stop and I also managed to get a regular seat ,business class not really but the last seat on the bus over its wheel !!  But there was more to come . It became freezing cold and the wind from outside didn't help . Since Punakha was pleasant and just a regular tee shirt was good enough, I hadn't taken out my warm jacket. No amount of moving around helped and I almost froze for the next couple of hours till we reached the destination. I had been reading Rafa's autobiography only the previous night and where he mentions 'endurance' a couple of times , so that was it !! Thats all I had and needed to get through the roads and the cold weather, it was simple .

We reached Chokor, bumthang at dawn and the first thing I did at the bus stop was to get a return bus ticket from the counter. I didn't want another tough 12 hour ride back !!  Walked around a bit trying to find a guest house/hotel and got one just next to the bus station . A very basic lodge , no TV , no attached bath but it was just next to he bus stop and my bus ticket was for 530am. Dumped by bag and asked for a maggi and tea and stretched out a bit , could feel some effect of the bone crunching journey.

After a bit of rest, walked around town. It's a small and quaint town , with a bunch of shops and hotels and one way streets. Went to the taxi stand to check if I could get a taxi for next day to go around locally but it seemed closed. However , a bit of walking around found a taxi and asked the fella , how much it would cost for next days sight seeing. He initially mentioned a good amount, but when I told him I was a solo traveller he said he would charge local rates and gave his mobile number for next mornings excursion. After a nice hot meal , it was time to give the muscles some rest.

Day of Dzongs

Central Bhutan was the first part of  Bhutan to have been inhabited with the prehistoric evidence available about the settlements in the Ura Valley. Bumthang was even ruled by an Indian King , Sindhu Raja in the 8th century before conversions to Buddhism happened by Guru Rinpoche. Its also the cultural hub of the country.

The origin of the name Bumthang has two versions . 1> Valley is shaped like a 'bumpa' a vessel of holy water and 'thang' means field or a flat place. 2>particular beautiful women who live there and 'bum' means girl .

Bumthang has 4 valleys - Chokhor, Tang, Ura and Chumme . Most buses stop at Chokhor a.k.a as Jakar.

Woke up late after the bone crunching journey and after tea and cheese momos for breakfast called the taxi driver for visiting the Dzongs or gompas around. It was the day of the Dzongs : 1>Khurjey 2>Jampey 3>Jakar 4>Tamshing .. The taxi driver promptly arrived at 11am and started the drive across the lovely valley. The chap was very knowledgeable and we had a good discussion all along. He mentioned that most things came from India and was subsidized . Even petrol and gas was cheaper than India. Education is free till 10th standard and after that students on merit list get sponsorship to study in Bhutan or India and that there were no medical colleges in Bhutan either. English was compulsory at school from the 90s or so and I could see that most people were conversant in it and most of the sign boards were all in English only. I asked him the reason for hindi knowledge around other than having indian construction workers around . He mentioned that once TV came in around 1999 most of the younger folks were glued to the Hindi TV serials and thats how they picked it up :)

I had also read about the fight against Nepali immigrants in the 90s and turned out that he was the third generation Nepail and said it was all peaceful there now. Religion was just a way off life and not bigger than life and that he was christian (though that was an underground religion and there were no churches around) , his grandparents converted when some Austrian missionaries where in Bhutan.

It was a nice day visiting all the centuries old dzongs and also getting to know a little more about the country.

Had a good lunch at an Indian restaurant in town once back and chatted with the two girls at the lodge.  All the hotels, lodges, shops I frequented was run by women but these girls were barely in their teens and ever smiling . I asked them why they didnt go to school and was told they had a step mother and had to make their ends meet.  Later in the day it started to pour heavily and I tucked myself into the two thick quilts after dinner and some reading and called it a day.  After all the tough journey was worth it .

Pictures here :

• Thimpu
• Punakha 
• Bumthang 
• Paro