Trip to Bhutan: Conference Day 1

Kutte

We reached Paro College of Education late night @ 1 A.M. and started looking for hostel/guest house to stay. It was a completely different place, there was a gate, but it was open and that too without a security guard, strange right. Adding to strangeness, there was no human being to assist/help us. Instead we were welcomed by Dogs, I mean many dogs. Bhutan has lots of dogs; some people call this beautiful place as Country of Thunder Dragon……..at that time I called it Kutto ka Desh (No disrespect).Somehow we got a person, took his mobile and contacted our Mentor. It was as if God has sent that person, else it would be very difficult for us to get a place to stay at that time.

Hashi Mam

We moved on to the hotel, where everyone was staying, and then there were confusions of different stays for boys and girls. Finally all of us were allowed to stay in hotel. My crew was getting fresh, hand wash, face wash, everything, but I was just looking for few hours’ sleep. I mean who the hell cares about hygiene after 3 days traveling without any sleep? The room was too good with a nice bed and I was so exhausted that I slept within a minute.

I woke up early in morning so that we can reach on time in the conference. While others were getting ready, Me and Taran Sir moved to Venue. I checked in to our guest house with the help of two pretty ladies. I was looking confused, so they even escorted me back to Conference hall, nice hosting team. Meantime, rest of my crew members came and all of us joined the Inaugural Ceremony. There were

Praying

delegates from Bhutan, India, Nepal, Singapore, and Thailand. The hall was completely made of wood, (Bhutan has lots of wood), and it was different from any conference hall that I have ever seen. The Bhutanese started the ceremony with lot of good things; they worshiped their God. They prayed to bestow us with goodness and success of the Conference. Then there was a meditation session included in Inauguration. I have attended lots of different types of Conference but this was the first which started with a divine spiritual practice of Meditation. This proves that Bhutan is really something, a place where peace lives, a place where greenery is religion, a fairy tale kind of place.

Conference

Night, me and Bhampi started the thing for what we actually visited Bhutan, i.e. to roam around here and there. We moved towards marked and were amazed to see that there was not even a single traffic light on roads; all vehicles were moving at a moderate speed, no one was in hurry. Then we spotted a one more new adventurous specialty of Bhutan-Archery. We thought of trying it, but the Bow itself was very heavy and then its string was so tight that it wasn't possible for us to stretch it. Still what’s the big deal in just taking pics with it; we had few clicks with it and continued our journey towards Market. Paro's marked at 8 O Clock is a free market; you won’t find too many people, it’s completely silent, shops will be open, but nothing of much interest. We can say even the markets are at peace in Paro. If you are looking to purchase some souvenir, purchase it from Tigers Nest or from Thimphu.

Chennai to China

If you are following me, you will know that I am working in India-Chennai in an MNC and right now I am writing about my trip to Nepal for an International GERA Conference. It was already completed in my last post and in this post I am gonna describe the journey from Nepal to China Border. We didn’t had all the time in the world to roam complete Nepal but whatever time was left with us, we planned to utilize it to the fullest. We heard that the route to China border is like Laddakh, so we hired a car and started our journey; for me it was like a journey from Chennai to China. I must say this was the awesomest part of our Nepal trip.

Waterfalls on our way

Thinking about the trip, images of Himalayan Mountains, simple people, exotic locales come to mind. Trip was all this and more. Words can’t do justice to the beauty of the land and you have to hike through its hills and valleys to witness its beauty and the majesty of its people especially girls. It was a beauty beyond description barren Rocky Mountains had an exquisite beauty of their own the shattered looking landscapes splashed with small but brilliant patches of green and black. Pahadi stepped out and collected some black rocks for research.

There were quite a number of water-falls on this Road. They seem like falling from the heaven. It’s a place where the road plays hide & seek all along. You have to be careful while driving in these roads. There was a time when I thought that this is it, we can’t go further from here, our car was stuck and driver was working hard to get it through, even then I was cherishing the moment thinking that we have made so far and whatever we have covered was none less than than an achievement. What can I say the journey was important not the destination. There was music flowing in our ship all the time courtesy: Pahadi. We also observed a trend as we were moving towards China in people’s physique.

Our car stuck on road

Finally we reached Nepal:China border, it is actually a bridge known as friendship bridge between the 2 countries. It was a cool border if you can think in a different way. There were more than 4 border policeman posted from the China’s side and only one from Nepali that too was having fun with us and talking all the time. There were 2 guards at Chinese side who were standing straight in attention position for more than 15 minutes so I asked Nepali guard, why he is in the same condition, he informed me that they have a duty of 2 hours, they will be standing like this way not even blinking eyes, this is called as discipline.

Friendship Bridge between Nepal and China

We could not take the pictures of the main entrance of China-border as the Chinese police posted there, prevented us from doing so. Hence for you, I have googled and found some old pics of the bridge for you. We were standing right at the red line: the border line between the 2, so we were in both countries at the same time that was a moment. Then we had some Chinese dishes in a restaurant nearby and headed for a hot spring: Tatopani, which is a major tourist attraction. People come here from far & wide to take a bath to cure their skin ailments, etc. After all this fun we reached Kathmandu, had dinner and stayed in a hotel near Pashupatinath Mandir.

Overall, it was a good experience for us. Only if we had the same facility as Nepalis enjoy (one day free permit to visit the bordering Chinese town) but for us Indians, Visa is a must. So we returned, overwhelmed with the nature's beauty.

Link for Friendship Bridge-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Nepal_Friendship_Bridge

Conference 2nd Day-The Fight

Angry Pahadi while giving Feedback

Next day we woke up early as always, got ready to reach the venue. This time too we were not sure that we will be returning to our hotel or head directly from venue to Kathmandu, so we packed our bags and took everything with us. Nothing was decided and everyone had their views so we had a small fight on the choice to check out from hotel or not. Anna didn’t want to check out but Maag and Pahadi thought it is good to check out, so we can directly go to Kathmandu, Anna got angry and took his luggage in rains to venue. We all followed since he was running to escape rains. 

When the conference started only half of the people joined rest either left or started roaming Nepal, they were the people who only wanted certificates. When conference was complete, there was a feedback session in that, Pahadi showed real face of her group members and also of those who came there only for certificates. Up to this time, we planned that will be moving to see Pokhara valley; I was very excited to see it as I heard from many people about its beauty and also we had sufficient time.

Kathmandu Market Pic

Girls from our crew talked to few people and were misguided that its gonna take a long time and will be a hectic journey, so both of them backed out and said that if we want to go we can move on our own, Anna was ready to do it, since he became very angry on this move of girls. In morning, both of them were ready and in evening they backed out, it was very wrong doing on their part. They should not be changing plans on their own from morning to evening which was completely unacceptable to Anna, I was also angry and tried to convince them, but they were adamant. In last we all came on one page and decided to quit Pokhara valley plan, next we headed to Kathmandu with our Mentor and few more people just for shopping. This small journey was a mess from all angles, none of us wanted any shopping, but to roam in Kathmandu we joined, also the cost of this trip was too much and the best part, Pahadi acted weird all the time, that too without any issues. She wanted not to go Pokhar, we all agreed then too she was angry all the time, even I tried to talk her out, but nothing fruitful.

Nepal's famous Rudraksh

Night, we got back to hotel angrily, I was angry because she was acting weird all the time even after agreeing on her idea, then too I tried to talk, but she didn’t wanted to say anything, Anna was also confused what to do next. Maag was all messed because we 3 were fighting, so in night she arranged a meet to solve this fight, after all shouting and sorrys we all agreed to forget the fight and plan for coming days.