Sunday, September 29, 2013

Bhutan trip day 2 - Fri 6th Sep 13 - Sangaygang, Takin, Thimphu city and night life

It was a great morning. Weather was so cold. The sun was not up to the sky yet. I decided to go out before the sun turned so bright and had a walk by myself. I packed my water bottle, umbrella, some sweets, camera, and there I went!!!

I stayed in a friend's place in Motithang. I often heard that this place was located near to Sangaygang, a famous place for dating, jogging and having a walk, surrounded by beautiful pine trees. Oh, pine trees are my favorite!!! I love it soooo.... much :) How wonderful it was to stay in Bhutan, being able to see it everyday!
Short-cut way that I took to the top of the valley (Sangaygang)

It was my first time in the area so I had to ask around and luckily there was a student who showed me the way how to go there. Along the way I asked few people too. As it got near, someone asked me to go through the short cut to reach the top as per shown on the photo above.

I often heard my friend telling me on the short cut road that he took, so I decided to climb up through the short cut. Yallama!!! It was quite steep ya!! I climbed up as fast as I could but stopped many times to catch my breath.

Each time I stopped, the height had been greater, and the view had been getting more beautiful. I couldn't stop praising the beautiful view of Thimphu city from afar. I kept climbing until it reached the motor road and walking up again until there was no way to go (reaching BBS tower).

I had a sit on a grass facing the Thimphu city, taking snaps using my handphone and posted it on Facebook :) While resting, I took my travel journal out and tried to write. However, it didn't last long as it started to rain. It was raining lightly so I started to walk down. While walking down, I was so mesmerized by the beautiful pine trees.

Beautiful road full of pine trees at Sangaygang
It decorated the valley nicely and beautifully. Oh how I wish I could stay there so that I could go to this place again and again, each and every day... :) Since I couldn't, I could only record it inside the camera and hold it into my memory sadly. As I walked down, I was again talking to myself, thinking on what should I do on this 3 week trip in Bhutan. Would it be beautiful memories along the way? Or would it be something that I have to go through it all alone?

I kept thinking until I saw there was a gate with fake Takin (Bhutan's national animal) on top. Oops... I was planning to see Takin in the afternoon, but never expected that the place was actually located in front of me!!! Wow, really! That's the place that I planned to go!! So I went in and found them inside.

Motithang Takin Preserve, Thimphu, Bhutan
Cool!!! I finally saw them :) Didn't manage to catch their view last year. There was one nearby that we could see clearly on how it looked like.

After that I continued walking down back to where I stayed. Oh, it was so good exercising like that early in the morning :)

In the afternoon I had lunch with Tashi. We ate Indian food in one of the restaurant opposite of Bank of Bhutan (BOB). The food was so colorful and delicious too.

Thali chicken and mutton
I tried my first suja here. It was salty. Hahaha.. I didn't get used with the taste, therefore didn't finish it. I also tried the curd and got used with the taste of dhall there. Oh, my first experience with dorle (Indian round chilli) too.. It was sooo spicy!!! Just took a bit, it could make your lips burnt! Tashi had already warned me but I insisted trying it.

After lunch, I had a walk around Thimphu city. I went to see Changlimithang Stadium and archery ground from afar, went to DSB Book store to find some Bhutanese story books, visited Clock Tower Square (where I used to stay last year), saw the 'police dancing' junction, and finally flocked myself to Ambient Cafe to have a good cup of coffee and a slice of chocolate cake. I continued writing my travel journal there while waiting for my friend to pick me up.

At night, I went to sleep at Tashi Namgay's house. You can find out more about this man here. I knew him from Riku and we supposed to meet at Kolkata in February. But due to his health, he was unable to make his journey on time to meet me in Kolkata. Therefore, we were only meeting up there in Thimphu.

Tashi Namgay and families

I finally managed to see him and his families (his young and beautiful wife, Dechen, and his cute and pretty daughter, Sangay). He cooked me dinner - Bhutanese food using local butter and cheese. It tasted good ya!! Then Tashi picked me up and it was time for me to experience the night life of Thimphu city.

Charroz - Karaoke Pub in Thimphu, Bhutan

First, he brought me to Charroz, a karaoke pub located at Norzin Lam. When I saw the logo, it looked very familiar. I then remembered that once Chimi R Namgyal, the Bhutan Observer caricature artist, posted on Facebook and let us choose which logo was the best chosen for this pub and I thought I was choosing one of the choices as well. Haha.. so coincidence. We sat there only for a while, singing few songs, then went to Ace Club in Phendey Lam together with two girl friends of Tashi.

There, we were dancing. Oh, it's been so long I never went to this kind of place, let alone dancing. I was feeling old too when I was there. Hahaha.... The rest were all youngsters, the most at their 20s only. Not long after, Karma and his friends came. Only after that I felt better (since they were all older than me) Hahahahaha....... :P Actually I wanted to visit Drayang too to see how it looked like, but my friend was too shy to go there. Therefore we didn't go to that place.We stayed there until about 1am, then went back home.

Finally I could see a little bit of the nightlife in Thimphu. Who were the party goers, what songs they were playing, how big the place was, how 'live' and 'fun' the place was, etc. It's just for experience, nothing else.

I was so tired. Once reached home, I washed my face, brushed my teeth and immediately slept on my bed and covered myself with comfortable blanket. That was how my day 2 gone....

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