Bhutan the Land of Happiness

            A cursory search on the net would throw up a number of reasons as to why Bhutan is called the Land of Happiness.  For me, the one over-riding reason for calling it so,  would be my own experience of the seven days I spent there from 4th Oct to 10th Oct 2019.

A quote from Paulo Coelho’s Alchemist comes to mind .    May be it was the great company, the land , the weather ,the people or just good luck the whole universe seem to be conspiring to make it a truly memorable experience.  Even the occasional set backs turned out okay in the end, as if by magic.  While the memory is still fresh, I intend putting down all events, thoughts and photos not just to share with others but to help me re-live that experience later.

03 Oct 

Left home at around 830. Took the flight for delhi at 1100h. Rajji was with us till airport, to take a flight to Bombay  around the same time.

Journey to Delhi was smooth and uneventful. Reached USI Residency Resorts at around 1330h. Got the USI membership  card made. The apartment at USI really good.

Had lunch with Atul Madan. As a coincidence, I found a table where the JAT crest was prominently displayed .

Agarwals brought  with them, lots of rain . Reaching our rooms from the reception turned out to be more adventurous than any event at Bhutan as it turned out.

4th Oct

Early morning trip to the airport started with some anxious moments and ended up as an adventure. We were getting  an SUV for Rs 1100/ for dropping us at the airport. I was reluctant to pay that sum for a 5km/  15 minutes ride; particularly when Uber taxi was available for around rs 250/. So, I booked one. As it happened, the taxi was late, though the driver did contact.

While waiting for the taxi, another one, a sedan offered to drop us at the airport for the same fare. As a  CNG car  it had very little space for baggage. Nevertheless, we stacked some of the baggage on the front seat and four of us squeezed into the rear seat like teenagers.

We reached well in time and a mini crisis, turned to sheer adventure. That spirit of adventure set the tone for rest of the trip.

At the airport, we took a selfie to be sent the person from Indian Air Force who was to receive us at Paro.

The flight itself was awesome. The flight crew was  dressed in their national attire and were very polite and charming.

 

 

The view outside was fantastic. The flight route was parallel to the Himalayan ranges and you could see the majestic snow clad peaks Mt Everest, Makalu and Kanchenjunga. The day was so clear the roads in the plains were visible from an altitude of over 30000 feet.

 

The landing at Paro airport was tricky yet the pilot made it so smoothly and the passengers broke into a spontaneous applause . On stepping off the plane, the air was cool and crispy; absolutely rejuvenating.

What catches one’s eyes first is the ethnic ambiance all over. Even the airport buildings were constructed keeping with the national culture. The staff personnel were all  in their national attire .

Corporal Arvind Kaushik had no problems identifying us.  He just collected all our passports and whisked us through customs and immigration. We also got two sim-cards for ourselves just bought over the counter, on production of our passports. As it happened, there was no need to take out all the documents of our identity papers , itinerary and so on that  we had methodically compiled.

We proceeded straight to Thimpu. IMTRAT (Indian Militart Training Team) guest rooms were superb. It was a difficult choice to make; whether to stay indoors in these rooms are to go out and enjoy the excellent environment outside. We decided on the latter. As we had been invited for dinner at Maj Gen Raju’s place, we had just two hours or so at our disposal. So, we went to Bhuddha’s point just about half an hour’s drive.

What a sight! A giant Buddha benignly smiling at the sprawling valley of Thimpu. Nowadays, tourist friendly places have motor-able roads or may be even aerial cable cars everywhere. This Buddha Statue has an approach through a hundred odd user-un-friendly steps besides the motor-able road.
Against the advice of our guide and braving the reluctance from our group I decided to take the steps on our return. It , sure was worth the effort. It was sheer bliss to be sitting on those steps with a benign half smile like the great Buddha himself.

Frankly, I did not expect the Commandant of IMTRAT to spare an evening to host a dinner for us. It was very kind of him to come over to our guest rooms to welcome us. He also went that extra mile to invite us to dinner at the Flag Staff House, the official residence of the commandant.

At the dinner, the Rajus were warm and friendly and it was more like a family gathering rather than a regimental officers re-union.