Tour of Bhutan 2024 | Day 5 | Paro – Thimpu | 59.1 kms

I get up around 7:30 a.m. It’s bright & sunny outside already. I freshen up and have my morning coffee before starting to pack up. We are to leave Paro today. Once the packing is done, I shift all the luggage to the reception, so that the room can be cleaned before the next guests come. I have my breakfast of Upma, Chana fry, Coffee with butter toast. We start to load the luggage onto the bike almost immediately after the breakfast. The plan is to continue like that, visit the National Museum of Bhutan along with Paro Dzong and then continue further towards Thimphu. We first visit the National Museum of Bhutan, it’s just a 15 min drive away. We are the early visitors and pay the entry ticket of 500 rs before going inside. It’s a 2 mins walk to the circular structured museum. In the early days, it functioned as a watch tower which is now converted to museum. Phub stays back while an inclining steps lead me to it’s entrance.

Inside, it’s dark and cold and I am allowed to take photos and videos. The museum houses various things from the past to the present. Various types of Thangka Paintings are kept, old items unearthed during excavations. Some treasures discovered, artefacts, idols, house old items, statues of deities in various metals, bamboo products, dressing evolution of Bhutanese people over the years, currency systems, personal decorative ornaments, warfare and weapons used and found etc. There’s just too many things to observe ond read. I take note of each of them in detail as I move a spiraling downward path where I exit out. The time is almost close to 11:45 am. We then immediately heads towards the Paro Dzong and reach within 5 mins. We park as the parking lot. Phub tells me to go alone as he is required to wear the traditional dress if he wants to enter. I try to enter alone but, I am stopped by the lady guard at the entrance.

She tells me that guide is required to accompany me and so Phub arranges someone who worn the traditional dress to take me along. One guide who is escorting a couple takes me in and we then enter inside. This ‘Dzong’ was built in 1679 and was mainly used as a fortress with a square wall and a central tower in between. Now the Dzong is divided into 2 sections. One is for admistration of the city while the other section is for the monastic body. There is a Buddha temple in the lower section which we visit. I pay my respect to the young Buddha and take his blessings. We then come out and watch the paroromic view of Paro city from one of the windows of the Dzong. The guide explains us the story of the Dzong as we come out of it taking a circular route. I thank him for his time and showing me the Dzong. We both now move out of the parking lot and head towards the town to fuel up. After that, we snack on some soup and momos in a local restaurant before heading towards Thimpu.

Thimphu is just 45 kms and we ride at a very leisurely pace. The roads winding around the mountain and following the Parocho river. On the way, we stop at an old iron bridge connecting both the lands over a river. This bridge was built by one of the saints which is highly revered in Bhutan. The old iron chain link bridge is now not used and instead a new one is made adjacent to it. The road from there leads to the monastery at the top where most of the saint’s possessions are kept. We spend some time on the bridge before moving ahead. Later on, we stop at an entrance bridge, where the Thimphu district officially starts. The bridge is built over the confluence of 2 rivers, one coming from Paro and another coming from Thimphu. The one coming from Paro is called Paro chu and the one coming from Thimphu is called Thimphu chu.

It’s a great sight to see. We take a photo of the confluence before moving ahead. From there, the roads twists and turns as we slowly approach Thimphu town entrance. There is a huge entrance door saying ‘Welcome to Thimphu’. We stop there to take a photo before pushing on. My hotel is located just at the entrance of the city. The hotel name is ‘Ugyen’. We get checked in around 3:30 p.m. The hotel is excellent. It’s a 3 star hotel, more than my expectations. I drop a msg to my local friend Sonam, that I have reached his city. He tells me to get ready ASAP as he is going to pick me up in 20 mins. I get ready quickly and he is already waiting for me in the lobby when I get down. We move out around 4 pm, in his car. We go to the city centre first as Sonam briefs me about the city. We have a coffee first at a famous cafe. It’s a nice one with lovely ambience.

We exchange stories about my travel in Bhutan so far. Later on, we get on the road and explore the streets by walking. Sonam shows me around, explaining the things of importance. We then move over to the handicraft stalls just to get a glimpse of the Souvenirs on sale. At the side of the street, we meet a man who is on a mission to write 1 lakh mantras on a piece of paper of Guru Rinpoche. There’s a huge crowd surrounding him as we watch him handover the copies to the people. I get lucky as I am going to get one of the copies. I receive the 61,757th copy of it, while Sonam receives 61,758th one. I am happy to the core. Later on, as we are feeling hungry, we go to the ‘Kuenga Momo’ to have some lip smacking momos. We also have ‘Thupka’ as suggested by Sonam. They both taste delicious and my tummy is full to the brim. After that, we hop on to the car and go to the ‘Handle Bar’ cafe located in an apartment parking lot.

It’s run by a biker named ‘Danny’ who is a well-known biker in Bhutan. It’s a nicely decorated open bar with a small kitchen and an open seating area. When we arrive, there are already some people sitting which happen to know Sonam. We all sit around with electric heater in the centre. Over beer, we talk about many things related to biking. They are on a Christmas vacation to Thimphu having working in Australia.

We sit for quite some time and then we bid adieu to all of them and plan to go to the viewing point on the mountain top, to get the night view of the Thimphu city. It’s a 20 min drive to the top. It’s biting cold when we reach but the views are worth the pain. We sit there for a while, click some photos before coming down the mountain. I need to pee so we get into a cafe which happens to know Sonam well. So, we sit again there for a while.

The cafe name is ‘Smiler’ with beautifully done interiors. We again have a round of beer and talk about life with Bhutanese music playing at the background. Its around 10:30 p.m. by now, as we plan to leave. Before dropping at the hotel, we stop at a place where we get the lit up view of the Thimphu Dzong. The view is just majestic as I dick a series of photos. Following that, its about time to call an amazing day off as Sonam drops me back at the hotel. I thank him for giving me his time and showing me around the city. I enter my room and crash on the bed for a good night’s sleep.