Happiness Ride to Bhutan – Day 4
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Route – Punakha to Phobjikha Valley. Distance 150 km two ways.
Today was a relaxed day with sightseeing in and around Punakha valley. The start time was 10.15 am. Today we went to the Switzerland of Bhutan, Phobjikha Valley, close to 75 km from the hotel. Our tour guide, Buddha who is the owner of the hotel here in Punakha where we were staying had decided to take us on a picnic to Phobjikha Valley, he had organised cooked lunch, along with table/chairs and full support staff to come in separate vehicle to the picnic spot. It was a great curvy comfortable ride to the valley, it was one of the most beautiful valleys with a huge stretch of green cover with cattle grazing around.
It was just a mind blowing sight to witness on reaching the valley, it was a heavenly place, soon all were running around and taking pictures like any Yash Raj movies shot in Switzerland. Support staff had started laying the table and chairs and made arrangements for a sumptuous buffet lunch. It was worth every penny spent on the trip, it was a royalty lunch of different levels with the setting of the place. The next two hours were spent clicking over a few thousand pictures by all. Soon it was time to pack up and head to the next stop, Gangtey Monastery.
Gangtey Monastery is over 500 yrs old Budha Monastery, belongs to a particular sect of Buddhism, different from Tibet. It was a huge monastery with a heavy flow of devotees. Spent some time seeing the monastery and to our luck had the opportunity to personally meet the spiritual leader of this particular sect of Buddhism. Spoke to him in detail, a very humble person, he thanked our country for all the support, Bhutan getting from India. Took group pictures and after many left, he introduced the child incarnation of the next spiritual leader, took special pictures with him and blessings. The tour would have been incomplete without meeting him.
Close to 4 pm, we started back for the hotel, we were in the hotel around 6.30 pm. All were in a relaxed mood and joined for dinner at 8 pm and slowly all retired for early sleep, tomorrow being a busy riding day.