Paro Valley is simply beautiful and full credit to the Bhutanese Govt for not letting the airport affect the natural beauty of the Valley. The airport itself is designed , keeping with the Bhutanese culture.
The paddy fields surrounding the airfield are left untouched and modern constructions blend with the nature, picturesquely.
We were to start early from Haa for Paro on the 8th, but our departure time had to be rescheduled due to a pleasant surprise; an invitation from the Commandant IMTRAT for breakfast.
The place was so beautiful, with a lively mountain stream flowing along the golf course and a solo morning walk was pure bliss.
Though it was early in the morning, the entire place was lively with men, women and children in colourful clothes forming a long serpentine queue. Later I learnt that it was a very auspicious day in the temple when special prayers were organized.
After a nice south Indian breakfast of idli, dosa, vada topped up with Coffee, spent some time at the Equipment Museum at IMTRAT.
The vintage equipment on display included various items of equipment used in army over the years . The items included vintage telephones, radio sets, computers, ordnance equipment and so on.
For youngsters it would be educative and for old-timers like me it was nostalgic. Well, when you realise that every item in the ‘Museum’ had been used by you at sometime or the other, you do feel ancient.
After that we proceeded to Paro through Chelela Pass. It was the day of Vijayadashami and Pooja at the IMTRAT was going on. We moved on as I wanted to cross the pass well in time, before weather turned cold and foggy.
The driver was a local person , Lahp Tsering. He could converse fluently in English and Hindi. He kept up a lively chatter and it turned out that besides being a qualified guide in Bhutan, he was also well-traveled and had spent about nine months in Europe. Bhutan Govt had sponsored a hotel management training course in Germany. After hopping from job to job he finally decided that Bhutan was the best place to live and was back. Most of the drivers of tourist cabs in Bhutan are qualified guides.
It was foggy when we reached the pass and visibility was very poor
We reached the guest rooms at Paro at about 1 PM.
We had three places to see on our list; Rinpung Dzong, Kyichu Likhong (Temple) and of course , the local market. Our guide was well aware of the places to see , timings etc. The National Museum was closed that day due to Govt Holiday.
Wherever you go in Bhutan, there would be Dzongs and Likhongs.
For outsiders, one Dzong or a Likhong is very much like the other. Of course a place like Taktsang ( Tiger’s Nest) is something unique and ever since I heard about it, I wanted to make an earnest attempt to do the trek.
We had just one day , 9th Oct for the trek. Be it, online trip advisers or the locals, everyone concurred that a full day had to be set aside for the effort.
We were all apprehensive about our ability for endurance. Wife Viji dropped out first followed by Suresh who had started having wheezing problems. On 8th , Suresh started running fever and we almost dropped the whole idea of Taktsang trip.
IMTRAT had a small dispensary at Paro staffed by a doctor and a nursing assistant.
With modern concepts of health-care, no doctor would venture to treat a fever before seeing the reports of a battery of tests. Anyway, it is difficult to say whether it was the ubiquitous tablet of Paracetamol, or the security of having some kind of medical help close by or simply the Grace of Providence, the fever came down by around ten at night.
So , Vandana and I did make our tryst with Taktsang on the 9th.
That would be the 6th and final part of this travelogue.
For sixth and the last part Click