Tour of Bhutan 2024 | Day 6 | Thimpu | 31.6 kms

I get up around 8:15 am as I sleep late night. I start to freshen up and have my morning coffee. I drop a message to my guide but there is no response. As a result, I utilize the morning time to catch up on my diary writing. I receive a call from the reception saying that the breakfast timing is about to get over. I quickly run to the ground floor and help myself with a breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs and watermelon, along with butter toast & coffee. I go up to my room and start to get packing for the day’s trip around Thimphu. Meanwhile, I get a msg from Phub saying he is also about to get ready. Both of us meet around the bike parking around 9:50 a.m. and by 10:00 a.m. sharp, we fire our engines. Our first point is the sitting Buddha, perched on the mountain top. The distance is around 6 km with most of the road zig-zagging up the mountain.

We reach there in around 15 mins. There are many tourist vehicles parked at the entrance. Mostly Indians. We enter inside, there is no entry ticket. The Buddha statue is the largest in Bhutan and is entirely made up of metal. It was commissioned in China with a cost of $47 million dollar with the overall cost of developing the area going upto $100 million dollar. A Singapore based business tycoon had funded the project. The buddha sits on top of a square temple and in front of it is a large open courtyard. We take photos out in the courtyard and then go inside the temple where my guide Phub explains me all the details.

We spend quite some time inside and then move out towards our next destination which is ‘Simply Bhutan’ – a cultural experience centre. We reach there within 15 mins. Entry ticket is 1000 Rs. As usual, there is a rush of tourists. We pay and then I am taken inside by their own guide. Along with me are some other tourists who have joined as the experience is conducted in a group. It’s a basically a walk-trough taking you through all the facets of Bhutan. The whole experience lasts for about 45 mins. We first start with the local wheat wine called ‘Ara’, then the guide explains about the history of past and present kings. We are then taken to show how buildings were constructed back in days. It is a lively scene to watch with people dancing and singing while they work. Then we are explained about the madman deity and how the temple of fertility came into being. We are then explained about the ‘mask dance’, also called as Tsecho. We are then briefed about the fruits and vegetables drying techniques used during the old days. They included Chili, meat, cheese, apples, corn, peaches, persimmons etc. We are then taken inside a large open room where we taste the local pink butter tea followed by the traditional Bhutanese dance. It’s a lovely sight to watch with people moving their hands and legs in an coordinated fashion as the dance. We then try our hands on Archery and also practice throwing coins in a floating vessel in a wish full-filling small pond in front of a temple. With that, the experience comes to an end as we move to our next place which is the ‘Takin National Reserve’.

Takin is the national animal of Bhutan with head of a goat & body of a cow. We reach within 10 mins we reach within and pay the entry fees of 300 Rs before going inside. The park inside is manmade and is fenced from all the direction. We start from a point and go in a anti-clockwise direction and get to see many animals apart from the national animal. We get to see the Sambhar, the blue sheep, the yak, the mountain goat along with some Himalayan birds. We walk for like 1 hr. observing the animals carefully and their behavior before returning to the very point where we started. We exit the reserve and then move towards one viewing point high up ahead where we get the clear view of the Thimphu city.

We click some photos and move towards the base of the mountain. On the way, we stop to see the Nunnery temple. We go inside and experience the prayers being conducted with some nuns chanting mantras while some playing the bass instruments. We observe for a while before heading towards the handicraft bazaar in the city centre. On the we way, we stop at a viewpoint where we get unobstructed view of the Thimphu Dzong. We click some pics and move from there. Upon reaching bazaar, we first have something to eat having missed our lunch again. We go for ‘Koka’ in one of the hotels lined with the rest of the handicraft stalls. I don’t find anything particular to buy from the stalls so we decide to get back to the hotel.

Upon reaching the hotel, I get quickly freshened up and then head out again towards the city centre by taxi to spend the rest of the evening and getting to know the place by walking. Later, I come back by 11:30 pm to my hotel for a comfortable sleep.