To be lost in a paradise is not being lost at all as you are already in paradise, an effective thought that kept running through my mind during my whirlwind tour of Bhutan. It was a weeklong quest that took me from the confines of the capital city of Thimpu all the way to the foothills of the Tiger’s Nest in Paro. So how then did I get an opportunity to make such a fantastic voyage? Well, we were invited by Mahindra Adventure to participate in their first international expedition. Our weapon of choice for the journey, the Mahindra XUV500 in the W10 trim. So here then is a visual tale of what I experienced.
The Indo-Bhutan border at Phuentsholing
Bhutan or the land of Thunder Dragons is a little hill nation situated between a host of North Eastern Indian states. It is a constitutional monarchy ruled by Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck since 2006 and has a population of around 800,000 people. The people are referred to Bhutanese and the local currency is called Ngulturms.
Our quest began in Chalsa, West Bengal where we made a 100km drive to the border and crossed over at Phuntsholing. After a lengthy immigration, we hit the road and reached Thimpu that night. For all the capital cities that I have visited this is the one that truly blew my mind thanks its organised nature and abundant greenery.
The 12 degree weather and weak sunlight allowed us to leisurely walk around the city the next day and imbibe its many sights and few sounds. Our short time meant we had to speed up to make time so we could sample all the local delicacies including Emadatshi, which is basically chillies and cheese and boy was it delicious!
That evening we made our way to Punhaka. Our trip on the road was a mere 85km but took much longer which didn’t seem to matter as the XUV500 was handling quite well on the hilly sections. This bit also took us past the mighty Dochula Pass which at 10,000 feet gives you quite a view of the mountain range in the distance.
The night agenda included a sample of local song and dance while the next morning we visited the Punhaka Zhong as well as temple of fertility. The latter is a unique and definitely worth a visit if you get a chance. Oh and we managed to do this despite the giant landslide of demonetisation throwing some massive rocks in our path.
In the blink of an eye, we were into our third day and by the late afternoon we were making our way through the lush landscapes towards our final destination-Paro. However, the roads were quite bad but the XUV500’s suspension setup meant we glided through all the pot holes and craters without much difficulty or losing much time.
The next day after visiting the other-worldly Tiger’s Nest, we slowly drove our XUV 500s back through the beautiful and deserted country roads leading up to Paro. I could not but help hum ‘Adventure of a lifetime’ by Cold Play, because that exactly what was going on at that moment.
After an amazing farewell dinner and lots of celebrations, we took to the road the next day and wound our way down the hills to cover the 230kms between Paro and Chalsa to complete our journey. Such was the lure of the land of Thunder Dragons that I was in a state of zen even when we had to fight the unruly Indian traffic after crossing the border.
There is much to learn about living happily from the nation of Bhutan and it’s a trip worth making if you want to find out how and why. Also a final hurrah for the massive XUV500 that kept us warm, calm and comfortable through every bend, turn and pothole as well as smooth bits of Tarmac!
