Friday, May 8, 2026
Day one: Getting There and Our First Introduction to Bhutan:
The urge to travel in Bhutan had been irrepressible for tears. But what had made it prohibitive was the notorious SDF (Sustainable Development Fee) that Bhutan levies on all tourists in an attempt to keep their numbers low. The country’s motto is: “High Quality, Low Volume”. During Covid, the country was entirely closed to visitors. When it reopened, it lowered the tax to a more affordable $100 per head, per day (from a rumored $200). Rumor further has it that in 2027, this tax will be increased to $250 per day—and yes, that would make it unaffordable for many. Hence, what made travels in the Himalayan nation suddenly attractive was the desire to take advantage of the lowered tax. Wasting no time, I put together a group of like-minded friends, found a travel agency (Gilanneric Travels based in Bombay) who actually had an existing tour to Bhutan, and began planning. Out of the 20 folk I invited to join us, three were actually able to go and, in the end, other than Llew and I, we had my cousin Blossom (Chennai), her daughter Menaka (Bangalore) and our friend, Marisa (Bombay) swell our group to five. We realized only days before our departure that the rest of the passengers who had joined the same tour had postponed their departure to the end of the month. This meant that we would be a private tour group of just five folks—a proposal that left us exhilarated. We had the best time. Here is an account of our trip.
Journey from Bombay to Puentsholing (via Siliguri)
The excitement of what and how to pack for varying temperatures over a week, the research each one of us did on what not to miss in Bhutan, the tourist reading I’d done, added to our itinerary and then circulated among the group, had occupied us for days before our departure. Blossom and Menaka were flying out of Bangalore and would join us at Bagdogra airport in Siliguri in West Bengal. Marisa, Llew and I were flying out of Bombay. Our Akasa Air flight was scheduled to leave Bombay at 8.20 am. As all of us were checking in a bag (Llew’s recent hernia surgery making the pulling and lifting of heavy loads prohibited), we needed to be at the airport by 6.20 am. Accordingly, Llew and I left out apartment at 5.30 am by Uber, stopped off at Marisa’s place en route to pick her up and were off and away.We arrived at the Bombay Domestic airport in Santa Cruz exactly on schedule at 6.15 am and went through the check-in procedure (which was entirely painless) as Llew and I only had a carry-on size cabin bag each while Marisa had a medium sized suitcase. Left with more than an hour on our hands, we sought out coffee. McDee’s (that’s McDonald’s for you) to the rescue…the coffee was good and reasonably priced and with Candie’s legendary chicken mayo sandwiches in white and brown bread (that I had picked up last night), we sat down together and ate our breakfast (as our air tickets booked by our travel agent, Gilroy) did not include a meal.
When Boarding was announced, we joined our fellow-passengers to enter a coach that took us across the tarmacs (for what felt like ages) to get us to our aircraft. The flight was on time, comfortable and uneventful. The three of us spent all of the three hours chatting away, catching up on recent happenings in our lives and getting ready for the thrills of travel that lay ahead
We landed at 11.30 am at Bagdogra airport, looked for rest rooms while awaiting our baggage at the conveyor belt—and at this time, we spotted Menaka and Blossom who had landed just ten minutes ahead of us from Bangalore. We had an affectionate reunion and after ensuring we had all our baggage, we left the terminal to look for our driver-escort (who had been in touch with me by phone) named Rashid, who would be driving us from Bagdogra through the town of Siliguri and into Puentsholing (the Bhutanese border town that kisses the Indian border town of Jaigoan in West Bengal)—the two towns are separated by the much-photographed Bhutan Gate-- entry to the mystical, mythical land of clouds and snow.
We made contact with Rashid, got into our car and discovered that it would be a truly crammed journey. What with our baggage, our driver and the five of us, we had poor Marisa sitting in the midst of our baggage, practically crouched at the back. It would not be a pleasant journey for her, nor a very comfortable one for us as we had zero leg room and a long road-trip to undertake. It was the first thing we would need to rectify on the return journey.
Gilroy had told us to ensure that the driver stopped at a place called K B Restaurant for lunch—it was about 1.30 pm by this time and we were ready for a meal. The place was very clean, popular with travelers and air-conditioned on the upper floor—where we trooped. We were seated at a tale and enjoyed table service of a set meal that was served family style. Our lunch comprised Rice, Roti, Papad, pickle, chicken curry, two types of vegetable and yogurt. For dessert, we had ras gullas. Everything was tasty and home-grown and it made for a very satisfying meal. After using rest rooms again, we resumed our journey as Rashid told us that Llew and I (being Americans) would need to go through Indian Immigration services at Jaigoan. Their office closed at 5.30pm—hence, the need to get on with the trip. Back into the car we piled and off we went.
The journey was actually quite interesting. We realized how green it is in rural West Bengal. For miles and miles, we passed by irrigated tea estates (yes, although we were on flat grounds). We also passed by the Jaldapara Wildlife Refuge—home of the Indian rhino but also stocking elephants, tigers, gaurs, etc. We passed by a number of sleepy towns and villages that have seen no development in forever—a fact of Indian rural life that is hard to understand.
Without too much time to spare, we arrived at the Indian Immigration outpost in Jaigoan. It was a smallish property that could certainly do with some sprucing up. Llew’s visa created some confusion for the inexperienced consular officer who, after consulting with his supervisor, stamped his passport. With that, we returned to the car (it had been a wait of about 45 minutes) and proceeded to the border formalities on the Indian side of the fence.
This matter caused a bit of a rigmarole as we were required to hand carry our baggage from our car through the Indian outpost (located in a miserable little lane). Rashid informed us that we could hire a coolie to carry our baggage across to the Bhutanese side and this we did for Rs. 300. We went through the formalities conducted by two smiling Indian women and with that done, were able to go through the formalities on the Bhutanese side. This facility was infinitely better—it comprised a lovely office with sweetly smiling Bhutanese officers who stamped our passports and welcomed us into their country. We walked along a wide corridor lined with beautiful pictures of Bhutan and decorated with symbols of their religion (Buddhism) and culture (Himalayan).
On the other side in the Bhutanese town of Puentsholing, we were met, once again, by Rashid, who then drove us to our hotel. We’d had a last minute change in our hotel (from the Palm Hotel to the Park Hotel) but it was only two minutes away from the Immigration site. I have to remark that there is a startling visual change on this side of the border. While Jaigoan is decrepit, dirty, disorganized and frankly quite disgusting. Puentsholing—literally across a huge ornamental gate—is immaculate! The streets are beautifully paved, super clean and safe (you do not risk tripping and falling over loose debris at every step). Structures are primly painted, billboards are subtle and not a visual assault and street signs and directions for drivers are discrete and orderly. It is a sad commentary on the government of West Bengal that allows its border towns to languish in such a state of disrepair. ‘ Warmly welcomed by the hotel staff with a refreshing drink of orange squash (a truly Welcome drink in every sense of the word), we went through check-in formalities, received our room keys and got to our rooms, resolving to meet again in the lobby in half an hour for our first exploration of this lovely foreign country that, in many ways, appeared so familiar, and yet was so different. Once in our room, a corner room with a wide picture-window that overlooked the main temple square of Puentsholing, we realized how much we had lucked out on its location. Indeed, the glorious temple stared us in the face and would become a beacon of Buddhist practice in our first initiation into it.
Visit to Zangto Peri Lakhang in Puentsholing:
It would not be long before we would learn the basic sight-seeing vocabulary of Bhutan. A Lakhang is a temple and with our hotel located right in the temple square, it was a no-brainer that we would begin our travels in Bhutan with a visit to this sacred place. And indeed, we were struck by its architecture and decoration. It represents the heaven (paradise) of Guru Rimpoche—a very important figure in Bhutanese Buddhism as he was the spiritual figure who brought Buddhism to Bhutan. On the ground floor—accessed after we took off our shoes and climbed 4-5 steps--we saw stunning, gigantic statues of the Guru, surrounded by his eight manifestations. The walls were highly ornate, painted over with vivid frescoes representing scenes from the life of the Buddha (Siddhartha Gautam also known as Sakyamani—founder of Buddhism) and highly decorative. We saw all the symbols and iconography associated with the religions—lotus flowers, golden fish, etc. Sadly, photography is not allowed in any of the temples of Bhutan—which means that all we have to rely on is our memory and, as one temple gives way to the next, these inevitably blur in the mind. Although this is a three-storied temple, the tiers rising up like a pagoda in descending size, we were not allowed to climb to the higher floor. Worship of Guru Rimpoche had brought devotees out at that evening hour to turn the huge and very decorative prayer wheel, engraved in gold with Buddhist calligraphy, who then walked in our midst as we encircled the temple and took photographs. The building is beautifully lit up at night and very strategically illuminated to highlight stylized paintings on the exterior walls.
It is hard to believe that this is a relatively modern temple. It was first constructed in 1980 with a major renovation occurring in 1990. As this square is the focal point for all tourists, it is not surprising that the most enticing shops are situated around it. A huge sign proclaiming a Bhutan Duty Free store attracted a lot of tourists, all of them Indians, checking out the alcohol and perfume and the formalities associated with buying in Bhutan. It turned out that the store needed photocopies of our passports and our Bhutanese entry permits that needed to be left with them at the till at the time of making payment. Naturally, as we would be passing through Puentsholing and spending one night here upon our return, we resolved to obtain those photocopies and make our duty free purchases upon our return to the town.
We did also explore a few other stores—handicrafts, groceries, Chinese-made goods—before we decided to call it a day and return to our hotel for dinner. Dining hours in Bhutanese hotels are early by Indian standards: from 7-9pm, in our case. Hence, there wasn’t much time to lose.
Dinner in the Park Hotel was a buffet—I soon realized that we would be eating a lot of Indian food as the majority of the tourists here are Indias. It was rare to see white tourists (as the SDT is off-putting). Hence, the offerings are standard Indian ones—there is always rice and rotis, plus one non-veg item (here it was chicken curry), two veg items, dal (stewed lentils) and a dessert. Nothing to rave about and nothing to complain about either. For us, sitting down to enjoy our first dinner together and still filled with exuberant energy and the promise of great times ahead, we were in high spirits as we dived into our meal. We had an entertaining young waiter who was most taken by Blossom’s blue eyes and lavished compliments upon her, much to her delight and our amusement! And on that happy note, replete with a good meal, we returned to our rooms to stretch out and rest and promised to meet again at 8.00 am, the next morning, for breakfast.
Until tomorrow…keep smiling!
