Tour of Bhutan 2024 | Day 10 | Punakha – Gasa – Punakha | 162.4 kms

I get up around 8:15 am. The plan was to leave at 8:30 am. Phub comes around 9am. I inform him that I will take some time to get ready and be available downstairs. Since we need to checkout, I pack all the things properly and the luggage is moved downstairs in the reception. I come downstairs for breakfast around 9:35am. I have a breakfast of fried rice and chutney with some coffee and butter toast afterwards. The plan is to keep all the luggage at the hotel while we take only the necessary things to Gasa and then take our luggage back when we go towards Gantey, which is our today’s destination. Gasa is around 75 kms from here and when I come to know that it has a natural hot spring, I am even more excited to go. Actually, the place was saved in my maps even before I came to Bhutan, but, I had completely forgotten about it.

We are already late by 2 hrs to move out and doubt whether we will be ever going to make it to Gantey. To add to our misery, when we check the fuel gauge on both of our bikes, they have gone into reserve. There is no option for filling gas as the town’s petrol bunk has ran out of petrol and it’s been 3 days. We make some calculations from the gauge and hope that we barely might make it to Gasa, which has a petrol bunk. We secretly hope that some local would help us with petrol if we ever ran out or we find some petrol being sold at the grocery shops. We start around 10:25 am. The roads are good initially which keep our speed steady. Later on, as we start climbing up, the roads get worse and some sections are wet and damp owing to dense forestation. We are soon riding through Sonam Jigmee National Park. We also start to see waterfalls and cross numerous metal bridges. Luckily, we don’t encounter any black ice on the road.

The current road is not shown on Google maps and instead shown as a trail. I keep a close watch on fuel gauge as we push forward. The roads improve a little as we inch closer to Gasa. It’s past 1 pm now and just when Gasa is 11 kms to go, we spot a sign board saying hot springs 2 kms to right. We decide to head toward Gasa first and then do the Hot Springs while coming back. There is a very old Dzong at Gasa which we plan to see. I could see this Dzong way before we reached Gasa as it is perched on a mountain top and was visible from a distance. We park at the parking lot. Unfortunately, Phub cannot enter as he is not wearing the traditional dress and so he insists one of the locals who is also going inside to take me along with him. He politely agrees. We go inside, the security guard records the details of my guide before letting me in. The views around the Dzong are superb with mountains surrounding from all sides.

Tshering shows me around the Dzong and we even go inside the temple where I’m allowed. In the main temple, foreigners are not allowed. I prostrate in front of the god and seek his blessings. We then come out as Tshering sees me out before going back in as his wife is waiting. I click some pictures of the nearby mountains before heading to the parking lot. We then go to the Gasa town below to see it. It’s a very small village and we try to have lunch there but we do not get the food which we plan to take. We decide to move down the road.

There was one cafe which we had seen at the intersection where the direction boards to Gasa and Hot springs were placed. When we get inside the cafe, we come to know that they serve only fast food which we are not interested to have. They suggest that some hotels are there near the hot springs. We reach the hotel after driving in off-road conditions. We place the order at one of the hotel and the lady tells us that the lunch would be ready by the time we come back from the hot spring.

I buy shorts at a nearby general store for changing when I would visit the hot spring. It had completely skipped my mind to pack in extra pair of clothes and towel to prepare for a dip in the springs. We go down to the springs parking lot. There are many vehicles lined up. We go down walking to the springs where I change into my shorts before taking a dip in the natural hot water. It has been developed nicely with all infrastructure of toilets and changing room. With separate pools for males and female. Both of them are packed with people soaking in the hot water. I take a quick shower before dipping myself in. The temp is just right as I enjoy the bath with the locals and talking to them. Many of them have a surprised looks on their faces. I sit for like 20 mins before changing back and heading to the hotel where we had booked our lunch.

Lunch is served hot by the lady and consists of pork, rice, chili paste, spinach in milk and hot tea. The food is delicious and we eat till our stomachs are full. I take 3-4 helpings of rice. The Lunch costs us 350rs a piece for both of us. The time is 4:40 pm as we ready ourselves to make the push back to the hotel. Gantey has been ruled out of the equation as we would not ride in the dark going back to the hotel. We know that we would be riding half of the time in dark. So, it’s decided that I would be checking back into the hotel and take rest and call it a day.

We start the return journey around 4:50 pm and are back at hotel around 6:50 pm, an excellent feat as we manage to ride almost non-stop and keep up our speed. I am almost frozen due to the cold which has seeped into my body. The visor was getting fogged up due to my warm breadth and as a result, I had to keep it open which let in all the chilled air and affect my head. The hotel serves me hot tea which is still not enough. My body refuses to stop trembling. I check into my room and have a hot shower bath and only after that, my body returns to normal. I go out for an evening stroll around and write my diary after coming back. I go to bed immediately after that, hoping to get up early tomorrow.