Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Thank you Ashish , you are kind , I am not used to writing so much , last time I wrote must be in school , probably an essay on "Co-eduction" , I am glad that you appreciated the effort .

Next post , coming soon.

Cheers!

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

8TariqKhan8
superb pics
Loved it please add more images

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Tariq,

This is probably my first post on xBhp (EDIT: checked - and it is), since becoming a member a few months back (EDIT: a few years back!).
Brother, your thread is absolutely brilliant. Other that how well composed the writing & images are, as many have already complimented, I find the entire thing almost like an adventure novel - not completely unlike the Enid Blytons I used to read in school :P - the adventure, the narration, and the trip so far have really bound me.

First thread I have subscribed to on xBhp.

Cheers & keep riding safe,
Sam

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Mashallah
superb pics and crisp and informative travelogue
Keep it coming bhaijaan

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Superb.Awesome.Mind blowing. I think all the adjectives put together will also not be sufficient enough. Its truly amazing. I would call it a piclog more than a travelogue and mind you thats a more beautiful way of putting things across. One can just feel the connect.

You know when i read such beautiful travelogues of places within our country I actually wonder why people travel abroad. I know Bhutan is not part of India but i am referring to the first post that covered the north bengal enroute. They are so beautiful.

From top to bottom our country has almost all kinds terrains, plains,mountains, Rivers that anyone can think of and people still want to explore abroad first!

Man Tariq, am planning a trip this August to Leh and now becos of your post the trip next year would definitely be Bhutan. Thumbs up to you.

Please carry on, waiting for more...

Cheers,

Sent from my A210 using xBhp connect mobile app.

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

What have you done Tariq bhai. Always dreamt of going to Bhutan, now after reading your travalogue, I want to go now this moment . Amazing pics, awesome write up.. Keep it coming.

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo


Thanks neil9381 ... more on the way .

cheers.
Tariq.

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Thank you Samarth , you made my day.

Cheers !

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Thanks Saquib ! I am glad that you liked it

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Thanks seeker ! Indeed , North Bengal was beautiful , the Dooars region is lush green with lots of rivers , hills and wild life.

All the best for your Leh trip.

Cheers !

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Thanks jeevan ! , Bhutan is a must visit country , you must plan a trip.

Have a nice day.

Cheers.
Tariq.

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Hey, what happened to the follow up???
Tariq bhai, everything ok????

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Earlier Post : http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/tourer/2...ml#post1041041


*Long post-Might take some time for the pictures to load *




It took me just over 7 hours to reach Thimphu which is about 168 Kms from Phuentsholing, the landscape was stunning ,I would simply stop to admire mother nature for a few minutes and then start riding again. I forgot to mention , I did meet the biker group again somewhere before Chukkha , I had stopped for a photo break and they passed me by , we waved at each other and gave thumbs up , wishing each other best for the rest of the trip.



Arriving Thimphu.


The traffic rules in Bhutan are very stringent, they have specific points from where you can make a turn, if you try to change lanes , be sure to get penalized for it , even if there is no police around , some one from the local crowd will definitely warn you, politely though ! Bhutan doesn't have any traffic signals, they have a traffic police at each crossroad, guiding the traffic around with very dramatic movements, its quite a sight.

I entered Thimphu and kept riding, reached the famous Norzin lam street , the busiest street in Thimphu, that's where all the hotels and shops are I thought I would check out the entire place and take a U turn at the end of the street, turns out , there was no U turn , you have to go around and enter the street from the point where you had first entered , I somehow missed the turn , must have moved about 100 meters when I realized but I had to keep going in the same direction ,I kept going and missed the next turn as well , I think the cold got to me :P , I realized I was heading in the opposite direction but I had to keep going for about 5-7 kms finally I got a point from where I could turn back. It was already dark and the temperature was in single digit, I had already traveled for over 7 hours, there was no food in the stomach and I wasn't even drinking water because of the cold, wasn't a comfortable experience .

I came back to Norzin Lam and started looking for a reasonable hotel, nothing luxurious , a thick blanket nice soft bed and hot water for bathing were my prioroties ,I got into a hotel, really liked the ambience of the place, nice dim lighting ,acoustic music playing,the place was nice and warm, I also got some discount because the owner of the hotel turned to be an ex employee of the company that I am currently working for , cool isn't it !

I quickly had a steamy bath and went out to explore the streets of Thimphu.After roaming around for an hour , I went to a restaurant had my dinner and came back to my room.

I didn't leave home with an itinerary ,based on the number of days I had in hand and the distance I would be covering,I decided the furthest point I could travel to was Bumthang in eastern Bhutan,each night just before falling asleep I would plan the proceedings for the next day , while I lay in bed I decided to head to PARO the following day , complete the Taktsang hike and if possible comeback to Thimphu to spend the night and then leave for Bumthang the next day. I didn't get a chance to explore Thimphu but I decided to to do that on the way back.

So ,with all the planning done for the next couple of days , I pulled my warm cozy blanket up and went off to sleep.


Day 5

I woke up early in the morning, since Bumthang is part of the protected "Natural Corridors" of Bhutan, you need a special permit to visit the place, the permit office at Thimphu which is just at the end of the Norzin Lam street opens at 10 am. I decided to get the permit first before heading to Paro.

I had bath, packed my bag and went to the reception to check out, even though the room was kind of average, I really loved the lobby , they some how managed to keep a very nice warm soothing ambience, I decided to have the breakfast at the hotel itself , they had a small little restaurant attached to the lobby. I sat there enjoying the ambience and the breakfast.

It was still 9 am , I had some time in hand , I asked the young lady sitting at the reception about the places I could see in one hour , she gave me the names of some famous points , mainly Dzongs and Monasteries.

I left my luggage at the hotel lobby and went out exploring.

I had seen a picture of a beautiful Dzong which had a river flowing alongside , when I was entering Thimphu I saw the Tashicho Dzong and the Wang chu river was flowing alongside , I thought this is the the Dzong which I had seen on the internet , I kept riding around the Dzong looking for the best angle from where I can capture the Monastery . I spent an hour just to get the best angle but I was still not getting the view which I had seen the internet. I was kind of dissapointed, I came back without taking a single picture. (Later in the trip I saw the Dzong I was looking for in the city of Punakha , picture in the later post. )




I went straight to the immigration office and applied for Bumthang permit , the lady collected my documents and asked me to come back after an hour , I didn't know how to react , I needed to head to Paro and complete the Taktsang hike , the hike takes a total of more than 5 hours to complete and it had to be completed in day light since there is a dense forest all the way up till the Taktsang monastery ,hiking at night is not an option.

There wasn't much I could do , I had to wait for the permit , with another hour in hand, I decided to see as many places as possible , I went to the "Memorial chorten ", there was a prayer going on , it was crowded with tourists and local Bhutanese people.









I spent 10-15 minutes at the Chorten then decided to head to the famous Buddha point , there is a huge statue of Buddha at the top of a small hill overlooking the valley of Thimphu. On the way I stopped at a school where some kind of a function was going on, so the whole place was very lively.Kids running around ,participating in games and shouting at the top of their voices , I stood there admiring the playful little kids with a smile on my face , haha I realised, I am already a grown up.







There was a local guy standing next to me , I asked the directions for Buddha point and the time it would take me to reach at the top,he said it would take me at least half an hour to reach at the top , I decided to visit Buddha point on my return journey, since I was already late for Paro.

I went back to the permit office ,when I reached there , they had already issued the permit . I was happy , I finally had all the permits I needed to travel till Bumthang.

I wasn't in touch with my family and friends since I had not taken the local sim yet ,I went to the Bhutan telecom office which is 100 metres from the permit office and got the local sim , Bhutan offers free sim card to the tourists , you need to pay 50 bucks and you get a talk time worth of 50 bucks , 3G is pre-activated and the data charges are very cheap, the sim has a validity of only 3 months , the whole process of getting the sim card was hassle free.

I was all set to head to paro , just before leaving Thimphu , I went to a handicrafts shop and bought the multi-colored prayer flags for my Motorcycle. I thought they looked cool on my bike

A few pictures of the handicraft shop and the owner.





Inside the shop.









Paro - Taktsang Hike



I was finally on my way to Paro , Taktsang was one of the major reasons why I was visiting Bhutan , the moment I saw the picture of the monastery in 2012 , I knew I had to come and see it , the monastery looked something straight out of a fairy tale book.


All the way from Thimphu to Paro I had a river flowing along side me , It was great ride . Even though I was already late , I stopped a couple of times to click a few pictures.












I met this uncle on the way , he didn't understand any of the languages I speak , I somehow manged to convince him to allow me to take a few pictures of him, I was struggling with the dynamic range, took me some time to get the exposure right, he was really patient and kept posing as many times I asked him to , haha cool uncle





Rinpung Dzong.





I passed the Paro airport , the runway is totally visible , it has fencing all around it , you could stand and see planes land and take off.
With the airport behind me , I knew I was almost there , I finally reached the place from where the hike starts , I parked my bike and went inside a tiny little hut , which was also a restaurant manged by a Bhutanese family , it was already lunch time , I decided to have the lunch and then start hiking to the top.


Inside the hut there were few men playing ludo and few eating rice with beef and chillies, chilly is considered as a dish itself , Bhutanese love chillies, you'll find it in everything they eat.


Bhutanese people are the friendliest and the most helpful people I have come across , I as a solo traveler never felt alone , inside this small little hut , were people I had never met but the rapport I shared with them was simply unbelievable . I was already very late , one of the person sitting there advised me to leave immediately for the uphill hike or I might get stuck in the dark, I asked if they would keep my luggage till I come back from the hike , they took it and kept it safely in one of the rooms.

There was an option to ride a horse for about 2/3 of the hike, obviously I didn't take that option.

I started climbing up , since I am an athlete , I thought it wouldn't be too difficult for me to reach the monastery , 30 minutes into the hike and I was panting like anything, it was all up-hill , I would stop for a few minutes to catch my breath and then start climbing again.

Suddenly out of no where a dog came and started following me , I am a little scared of dogs , I tried to shoo him away but it didn't have any affect on him what so ever, I decided to ignore him and keep going ,he would stop when I stopped and start following again, after a few minutes I got comfortable and realised he was a benign soul.




Kinley-2

As I kept climbing up I came across a big group of Koreans who were riding horses/mules to the top of the hill. I also met the 2nd person with the name Kinley, he was the one taking care of the horses/mules for the Koreans.

The guy from Eastern Bhutan was doing a part time job as a tour guide , taking tourists(mostly Asians) to the top of the Tatsang Monastery on his horses.One of the many good people I met there. We completed the hike together, he offered me vicks ki goli , I was like I don't need it , he said you take it ,it will help you breathe better and it actually did , desi nuska from Bhutan

Here's a picture of him :




The picture of the Koreans :









After hiking for over an hour I reached the first resting point, it was a small area of flat land , The Taktsang monastery is visible exactly above my head.




The horses resting (I am still not sure whether they were horses or hybrids :P )





Halfway to the monastery ,you'll find this cafe , which sells a bottle of water for Rs 40 , which would appear extremely cheap after the up hill hike you just did to reach the place, it was like an oasis in a desert






After completing 2/3 of the hike , the Koreans had to get off the back of the horses and complete the rest of the hike on foot , since it was not possible for the horses to go any further.

We finally reached the top , I got myself clicked with the Taktsang in the background , thanks to Kinley





From this point I still needed to climb down then up a total 700 steps to reach the monastery.





The last stretch of the stairs.





Cameras are not allowed inside the monastery , I went inside and explored the entire place, the view from the top was amazing. After spending some time at the monastery , I said my final good byes to Kinley and started the descent , I didn't wait for others , Climbing down is comparatively much easier , I reached the first resting point in half an hour .





From here onwards the light started fading , there was absolutely no one around , It was a bit scary , I was literally running , by the time I reached the hut where I had left my luggage it was already pitch dark , I went inside the hut , thanked the family, loaded my luggage on the bike and decided to head to Thimphu , I don't know why but the whole area was pitch dark , there were no lights , I switched on my headlights and started riding towards Thimphu which was an hour's ride away.
It was a scary but exciting ride back to Thimphu.

I lost my way a couple of times but safely reached Thimphu, and checked in the same hotel where I had stayed last night , I wasn't sure if I would come back , hence I took my luggae with me.

I got freshened up and went out again to explore the night life of Thimphu , I was roaming around the streets of Thimphu when I came across a night club , I decided to check out the place ,spent an hour or so there . And thats how my day ended.

Here's a picture of the Taktsang Monastery to wrap up the post






Next up - Ride to Bumthang.

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Nice Snaps Tariq Bhai.... Bring the rest as soon as....waiting

Are you using safety gears, as it didn't see that in any of your pic??? Please be safe !!!

BTW which camera do you have??? It has captured great sceneries....

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Tariq I cannot praise this thread enough. The log is exceptionally well written and the pictures are to die for.

Touring on bikes is something that has always excited me but for reasons of comfort and safety I have always chosen my car over my bikes. None of the threads i have read as yet have tugged at my heart as much as your thread. The way you've narrated gives it the feel of scenes right out of a beautiful road trip movie, quite honestly a lot like Motorcycle diaries.

I have now decided to get into motorcycle touring myself, all thanks to you.

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Wow, wow, wow, pictures are just superb and mind blowing.....

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

I'm loving the pictures. Keep them on flowing . Regarding getting the permit for roaming around the city with your bike , do they charge anything for the permit or is it free of cost.

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Thanks Satish,

You should check out the entire travelogue , you'll definitely see me wearing riding gear. In this particular thread I was hiking to Taktsang Monastery hence took of the gear.

I use a D5200 .

Cheers!

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I am so glad that you enjoyed it ... Touring in a car is like watching an adventure movie , while touring on a motorcycle is more like being a part of the adventure movie .

It all depends on what you enjoy more , personally I am a Bike person , but I do enjoy driving once in a while


Since you are getting in to Motorcycle touring , I would suggest you to get all the riding gears , a jacket , pair of riding boots , pair of gloves and a good helmet are a must.

Always remember , touring is all about the journey , the journey is the destination..

Have a great time

Cheers.

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Thank you

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Hi Siddhant !

You need to get a permit for your Motorcycle at Phuentsholing , without the permit you cannot ride your bike in Bhutan.
They charge some 50-100 bucks for the permit.

Hope that helps.

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Hi gambit02 , I was going through a rough patch , wasn't getting time to update the logs, Thanks for reminding , I have added a new thread , you might want to check it out

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Wow great.. my Solo trips was with in 600km..

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