Punakha, With love across the border

The weather at Thimpu is extremely unpredictable. You wake up and there’s sunshine, but by the time you’ve packed and checked out, there’s a hailstorm. So Thimpu was caught in a late morning hailstorm while we were bidding it goodbye.

Before getting out of Thimpu we had got our Permits for 7 districts from the Immigration office, and a special permit to be allowed to visit all the Lakhangs and heritage sites. The latter permit is in Dzonka and must be filled out in the same language, thus it is advisable to be accompanied by a local while applying for the same. This permit is to be obtained from The Ministry of Cultural Affairs in Thimpu.

We left by the bus for Punakha at noon; the only other bus is at 7a.m. While leaving Thimpu there are a couple of other things the first time traveler must bear in mind.
1. There are no bus stations till Bumthang, which is 3 districts away from Thimpu. So if you want to go from Punakha to Bumthang you have to rent a taxi unless you’ve got a bus ticket. A taxi would cost one over Rs.1000 per head. You can’t get bus tickets from Punakha so you must buy a ticket from Thimpu, scheduled for the day you wish to leave Punakha. This particular ride would cost you about Rs.368 per head.
2. Alert for nicotine addicts. Cigarettes are banned in Bhutan. However, they are sold all over Bhutan at a rate higher than the m.r.p. And they keep getting expensive as one moves away from Thimpu. We only found Wills Navy Cut in Bhutan, a pack of which costs about Rs.60 at Thimpu. The same cost us Rs.80 at Punakha and is Rs.100 by the time one reaches Bumthang. So my advice would be, start hoarding smokes!

Punakha was warmer than Thimpu. The Dzongkah (Dzong in short) at Punakha was one of the more beautiful and serene ones that we would come across. Situated at the confluence of the Pochu and Mochu rivers – literally translates into ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ respectively – this Dzong was supposed to be one of the strongholds of the leaders of the Wangchuk Dynasty before they came into power in the late 1800s.


The Punakha Dzong

Every district in Bhutan has a Dzong. The Dzongs basically house a temple along with its monastery, and also every district Government administrative department including the local Governor’s office.

We stayed at a place called Guruthang which is about 3 kms from the Dzong. It’s the only place where accommodation is available for tourists in Punakha. We put up at Welcome Hotel, which almost everyone we asked informed us of being the cheapest accommodation in town. We had a room with an adjoining toilet, television and a double bed for Rs.350 a night. Pretty cheap I’d say.
We also regularly ate at this particular joint called Friends Bar & Restaurant. Its run by a Hindu couple – Hari & Savitri – who hail from southern Bhutan. They took quite a liking to us, and we to them, because we’d be there every evening chatting, eating till we were the last customers in the house. They didn’t mind, in fact they let us drink as much as we want for free on our last night in Punakha. So here’s me doing a little marketing for them. If any reader does visit Punakha, please stop by Friends Bar & Restaurant. Trust me when I say that they serve really good food at a very reasonable price. And they stay open pretty late. You can’t miss it. Ask any local and they’ll show you the way.

The bus from Thimpu-Bumthang stops at Lobesa at around 9am. We were to catch that bus. There’s a funny procedure to it. The trick is that you take your ticket out and wave it in the air at every bus that’s headed to Bumthang. The right bus driver will recognize the ticket and stop. The others will take a look at your hand and then simply ignore and drive past you. I’m told this actually works fine by a pretty Bhutanese girl who was waiting for her Uncle. I think I’ll vouch for the fact that it does.

Anyways we didn’t get a chance to find out. Groggy with all kinds of aches, we were pleasantly surprised as a local friend of ours stopped by with her boyfriend and his car and picked us up. They were supposed to meet us the next day at Bumthang. But better early than late I suppose. We ditched our bus tickets and commenced our road trip into the virgin wilderness of eastern Bhutan in an old dilapidated Toyota Surf.

The ensuing trip with all its ensuing excitement would not match up to the peace and tranquility of Punakha. Being in Punakha was like being home for a while. A break in the vacation. And a nice place to live in.