Bhutan Diary 8: Onward to Punakha

We had started walking back already when Ramya mentioned that he would like to learn one of those instruments, and wondered if they would admit an Indian. So back he went to find out details, while I went on to the Bhutan National Bank to make enquiries about the money transfer. This turned out to be a bit of a wild goose chase because the bank had closed for transactions by the time I reached, and then I had to see the manager who sits in the corporate office in another building (which was, fortunately, a short walk away) and he was on leave. But I was helped along by the ever friendly Bhutanese, and a phone conversation with the manager later, I had the solution to our financial woes. In the meanwhile, Ramya found out course details, but could not find out whether he would be allowed to join because the RAPA head was away. But he got the email address, and so it seems Ramya might well be back in Bhutan for a longer stay!
Back at Centre Lodge, we picked up our luggage, and headed towards the bus station. We had been told that we could get shared cabs to Punakha for 150/- per person. This is what we thought we would do. As it turned out, cabs to Punakha were not as frequent as we had been given to understand, and the one of two that we found was willing to take us for not less than 250/-. We gave in, and headed off with a friendly couple, whose name I have forgotten. I say name because what I do remember is that they both had the same name. It made me wonder how weird it must be to have the same name, if they were actually married or seeing each other, which seemed to be the case. We also realized why we were being overcharged. We were leaving really late, and most of the journey was going to be in the dark. That is always a risk given Bhutan’s mountainous terrain and hence the higher charge.
The drive was pretty, especially because of the changing light. Punakha is in a valley, at a lower altitude than Thimphu, but to reach it one has to cross mountains that are higher. It got rather chilly on the way, and there was frozen ice by the sides of the mountainface. It was all very thrilling. The high point of the drive however, was undoubtedly the driver, Toshi. He was the most talkative fellow we came across in Bhutan. The man was full of energy, and talked non stop for the three odd hours that it took us to reach Punakha. He was smart, his English, which he spoke with an unrecognizable accent, was better than that of the other drivers we had come across, and he had some attitude! All this made him great company. He spoke about a variety of things, ranging from the behaviour of women in Bhutan (incited by my willingness to sit on the front seat, which I didn’t eventually do, but which met with appreciation from him, for apparently the Bhutanese women didn’t), his family, his work, his many years driving a taxi, and his gradual shift from a hired hand to owning his own car, weather, music, tourists, places to see in Thimphu and in Bhutan, the difficult climb up to the Taktshang monastery, the recent influx of the newly rich call centre young crowd from India, party hotspots in Thimphu, places to get weed… you get the picture. This is apart from the parallel conversation he carried on with the Bhutanese couple, in Bhutanese. To top it all, he was a very safe driver. It certainly was one hell of a drive.
In the middle of all this I got him to promise that he would help us find a decent hotel in Punakha. This he did; although we rejected the first hotel he took us to for the room didn’t have a heater, and I could no longer think of an existence without it. At the second hotel, we heard the word ‘balcony’ being mentioned in the conversation, and Ramya and I smiled at each other. Yes, it had a balcony which looked out to the small town that was Punakha, and the mountains beyond. That settled it for us. I don’t even remember anymore whether we had a heater in the room.
We dumped our luggage and decided to eat at in a different hotel. Mistake. Punakha is tiny and it was the off season. It was only 9 o’clock, and the rather big restaurant that we had crossed on the way, and decided to eat at, was simply not serving food. What is very sweet about the hotels and restaurants in Punakha, as indeed in many others all over Bhutan, is that they are all family run enterprises, with the family often staying in the same premises. What it means is that its common to see a family sitting around a heater and watching television or chatting in the reception. This is what we found in the two hotels and one restaurant we were at in Punakha. It gives a very homely feel to the hotel.
Back to out hotel then, and we requested them to make us some dinner, while Ramya and I tried to guess the young girl’s age. We had met two women and one boy sitting in the reception, and while we waited for the rice and another datsi preparation, this time with spinach, to arrive, we tried to figure out what their relationship might be. I couldn’t tell whether the girl was the boy’s sister or mother, and Ramya thought I was mad. He said she was younger. Obviously I had not taken as good a look at her as he had, for he was right. She was a young, pretty girl called Sonam (again!) and was aware that she shared her name with a Bollywood actress who was being launched in a big budget film called Saawariya. Ah, the reach of good old Bollywood! It was her family that owned the hotel, and the boy was a cousin, a journalist who was working elsewhere but was visiting them for a few days.


In the restaurant


The food was just about edible and the ‘local wine’, which turned out to be the same Bhutanese sake, or rice beer, was worse. But our spirits were high and we had a nice little chat with the boy, who joined us at the table, and offered to drive us around the next day in case we were not able to find a taxi early enough. In fact we were so excited, sleep was a long way off, so we actually ended up having multiple cups of tea.