Friday, June 09, 2006
Bhutan Diary - I
If you want to go to Bhutan, you will have to go through the border town of Phuentsholing. Phuentsholling is about 160 kms./4 hrs. from Siliguri. If you want to travel cheaply and comfortably, hop onto one of the Bhutan Transport Service buses, from Siliguri's Tenzing Norgay Bus Stand.
Indian nationals don't need a visa but a permit to enter Bhutan. You need an ID Proof like Passport or Election I-Card. If you don't have this and have some other document like a driving license, like we had, you will have to take some extra effort to walk to the Liaison office of the Indian Embassy and get it attested. Do not think that the red tape ends with the Indian border :-)
A narrow (about 8 ft wide) and dangerous road of 170 kms connects Phuentsholling to Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. This road was completed in 1968 and is the only land access to Bhutan. For the whole stretch, a deep valley lies on one side of the road on which even a minor mistake can take you rolling deep down. If you take a Sumo, like we did, you might have to pray to God that the driver negotiate the road successfully. A cheap, comfortable and slightly safe option is the Toyota Coaster bus which is run by the Government. We took it while coming back.
FYI, the Bhutanese roads are constructed by the Indian Border Roads Organisation (BRO), whose local unit is called "Dantak". I was going through the Project's website which mentions that 605 people sacrificed their lives during this project. It is very unfortunate that BRO had to lose its men in this project in our neighbouring country.
Indian nationals don't need a visa but a permit to enter Bhutan. You need an ID Proof like Passport or Election I-Card. If you don't have this and have some other document like a driving license, like we had, you will have to take some extra effort to walk to the Liaison office of the Indian Embassy and get it attested. Do not think that the red tape ends with the Indian border :-)
A narrow (about 8 ft wide) and dangerous road of 170 kms connects Phuentsholling to Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. This road was completed in 1968 and is the only land access to Bhutan. For the whole stretch, a deep valley lies on one side of the road on which even a minor mistake can take you rolling deep down. If you take a Sumo, like we did, you might have to pray to God that the driver negotiate the road successfully. A cheap, comfortable and slightly safe option is the Toyota Coaster bus which is run by the Government. We took it while coming back.
FYI, the Bhutanese roads are constructed by the Indian Border Roads Organisation (BRO), whose local unit is called "Dantak". I was going through the Project's website which mentions that 605 people sacrificed their lives during this project. It is very unfortunate that BRO had to lose its men in this project in our neighbouring country.
// posted by aditya @ 12:29 PM 
Comments:
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I am having similar troubles on visiting Bhutan now. I have just started doing my ground work for the trip and found out that we need to go to Bhutan along with some tour guide only. And I tried working out with a tour guide but its a looooooooooot of money he says 5000rs per day in off season ..:)
Havent got time to do any further research to find easier ways...please share your experiences and info on the same.
Nice Blog
Havent got time to do any further research to find easier ways...please share your experiences and info on the same.
Nice Blog
We had gone to Paro and Thimphu, for which a tour guide is not required. If you want to go on a trek, you will need to hire a trekking company which charges in dollars (per person per day) and hence is expensive for Indians. You can also go to Sikkim around Oct when the mountain views are at the best. Remember, in Eastern Himalayas, it rains heavily during Monsoon.
Thanks for that Aditya,
I am planning to visit Ha, Chikku, Punakha and Wangdi as well. Any clue if we can go alone in these places?
Do you have any contacts there? Atleast email id of the Indian embassy? The one I got from its site does not work. If you have any telephone number, that would be great too.
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I am planning to visit Ha, Chikku, Punakha and Wangdi as well. Any clue if we can go alone in these places?
Do you have any contacts there? Atleast email id of the Indian embassy? The one I got from its site does not work. If you have any telephone number, that would be great too.
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