Tour of Bhutan 2024 | Day 7 | Thimpu | 81.4 kms

I get up around 8: 15 am and start to get ready. By 9:15 am, I am all set and go down for breakfast. I have coffee and butter toast before we start our day. we leave the hotel exactly of 10 am. Our first point is Tango Cheri base.

It’s close to 20 kms from the town. We weave through the morning traffic and going a little further, the traffic eases. We slowly start to ride up into the mountains. We are entering Jigme Dorji National Park. I can see the Tango Monastery up above on the mountain top. But, we are not going there. Instead, we take a road which is winding upwards. It’s dense jungle and temperature drops suddenly and my hands and fingers start to suffer. We do not know where the road is leading us. At one turning, I see a mountain goat and with the din of our bikes, it rushes up into the dense cover. I check on the google, I can see Gasa village up ahead but cannot see the current road connecting to it. Phub calls Tashi to verify and it in turn, he tells that we are not allowed to venture this far.He tells us over phone that Indians not allowed to visit Gasa due to sensitive border with China. We return the same way which we came before.

We see a herd of mountain horses while coming down. There is even a forest officer check post with a barricade opened. While going we up, we noticed that there was no one inside. Tango Cheri base is actually near this checkpost but we had ventured further ahead. Even Phub had gone this far for the first time. Tango Cheri base is actually a campsite besides the river which is now deserted. It’s the summer months where the campsite experiences heavy traffic. A small water stream cuts our path towards the campsite and we have our first test of water crossing over medium sized rocks. Both of us pass the test. We spend some time at the campsite, taking photos before returning to the city center. While returning, I pass the water crossing test but Phub fails as his rear tyre gets stuck. To maintain balance, he puts his both feet in water and to pull him out, I too wet my shoes. There is no much damage as the shoes are waterproof with just a margin of water entering from the ankle side.

Upon reaching the town we pay a visit to the ‘Kaja Thorm’, the city’s vegetable and fresh household produce market. It is suggested by Sonam, my local friend. We park at the parking lot and climb up the stairs and enter inside. The mandi is well organized and one can compare it to a mall. It has everything. Cafes and washrooms. etc. The whole area is divide into neat sections with unique numbers to each of them. Farmers/ Sellers are selling from a range of stuff from Spices, Chili powder, various types of chili, fresh vegetables, fresh and dried meat, fish and also dried cheese, fruits & various types of grains. H’s a beautiful sight to see. Even the smell of spices hung in the air is addictive. We taste dried cheese as I want to taste it. It’s hard as stone at first. Later, as it becomes soft, the flavors start to release. We take a break to have tea along with banana cake.

We resume our walk and at one shop, I buy Japanese rice and the local red rice. The cost is 100 Rs kg for both. I even buy buttered roasted rice which is generally eaten with as a side dish while having tea here in Bhutan. We are done with our curiosity walk and before we leave, have an round of veg momos from a street vendor The taste is just out of the world. The sauce is the spiciest I have tasted so far. We then head towards Chamgang village, situated higher up than Thimphu in the southern side. We just want to explore the new roads and there is no such thing which we are going to see there. The roads are winding and wet, as very less portion of sunlight falls on it. Its damn cold and we can see soft layer of ice being formed at the road side as we move closer to Chamgang.

There is a police quarter there and also a prison. At one bend, the road is completely covered with thick layer of black ice. We collectively take a decision to not venture further and decide to head back down. Before going to the town, we pay a visit to Royal Enfield Showroom, the only one in Bhutan. We meet the owner Jigmee, who warmly welcomes us. He offers tea while we discuss the about motorcycling in Bhutan and India. Next year, he plans to bring a bunch of Bhutanese bikers to the annual motorcycling gathering of Royal Enfield at Motoverse, Goa. We take leave and head towards city centre to pay a visit to the Postal Museum but find it closed as the winter closing timings have not been updated in google.

Frustrated, I chance upon a shop selling Japanese stuff right in front of the Museum. I buy a range of stuff, the bill comes around 2708 rs. The time is around 5pm as we decide to get back to the hotel to keep all the stuff and get ready to celebrate the new year in the town centre. Later in the evening, after I get freshened up, I ditch the bike and go walking 3 kms to the city centre. The crowd’s just gathering and some local musical performances are going on. I get a message from Sonam that whether I would like to join them for the new year’s party. I raise my hand. I wait for them to arrive and meanwhile have coffee at the local cafe near the clock tower. By the time I complete my coffee, they have reached the place. I am invited to Chinese Hot Pot’ restaurant. It’s just a stone throw away distance from the cafe. They all greet me as I enter. Preparations are underway for making the hot pot ready and we all share stories.

We are total of 8 people seated around a circular table while the hot pot is loaded wirth all kinds of meat and sea food. When everything is ready for eating, we start our dinner. The soup is really tasty as all the items are loaded in one soup bowl with toppings of crushed peanuts, garlic, chili flakes, soya sauce, cut red chilies, coriander and spring onion. In another bowl is a steaming hot rice. We are served chop sticks to eat and I struggle. Later, I ditch the sticks and use the spoon instead. After the hearty dinner, we cut the cake to celebrate the oncoming new year. Sonam has to pick up her mom and so he leaves while we all wait for him at the ‘Handle bar’ cafe in the same area. Once he is back at the ‘Handle bar’ cafe, we head out to the ‘YDF’ centre (Youth Development Foundation) to celebrate the new year.

It’s about time to ring bells for the new year and we enter inside with the band singing the chorus for the new year. Later, they turn to Hindi music to which we all groove and dance. Hindi songs is then taken over by local rappers, throwing come cool lyrics in Bhutanese to which we groove even more. We spend quite some time there before moving to the next party area. We go to the ‘Club 16’ bar to spend some time there. The bar is owned by owned by one of the motorcycle club’s member. I pay the entry fee of 1000rs per person to enter. The interiors are dark and music is being played in a loud fashion. The bar has 2 dedicated rooms, one is for Karaoke and other is a discotheque and between the two is the open bar.

We go into the discotheque section and immediately start grooving to the music. The DJ is good and has a nice selection of songs. He is playing Hindi songs. We are right in front of the DJ. The floor is jam packed with the strobe lights synced to the beats of the music. We lose the track of time and in no time its already 2 am. My friends leave after that but I decide to stay on. I am like totally engrossed in dancing that I continue right till 4 am when the bar is finally shut. Later on, I talk with my newly made friends as we sit at the bar counter and chit chat & take photos. Finally, at 6am I leave the place and hop on a taxi booked by my new friend to the hotel.

Daylight has broken already and I doze off as soon as I hit my bed in the hotel.