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adventure, bhutan, bhutan travelogue, bike tour, biking, biking in bhutan, cycle tour, cycling, cycling in bhutan, cycling in himalayas, land of thunder dragon, mountain biking, Paddy field, Paro, Paro District, photography, shangri la, thimphu, travel, travel photography, Travelogues
16th October. The second leg of my trip begins. I’ll be riding to Paro today, which is only about 50 km away and mostly downhill. My plan is to arrive at Paro, find a hotel and get plenty of sleep before tomorrows ride, as tomorrow is going to be one hard and long day, when I’ll be climbing from Paro valley to chelela pass. As today’s ride is pretty undemanding. I begin from Thimphu in early afternoon and ride at a leisurely pace to take in the view, become particularly slow after crossing Chuzom, the confluence.
I take a little break at a beautiful place with a nice shade for passing tourists.
After a few turns of the wide highway, I am greeted with rolling valleys covered with paddy fields, of varying shades of golden yellow and green, merging into the mighty blue sky above.
I pass by a herd of horses on the way.
Then I meet a familiar sight, of an abandoned,probably burnt, or half concocted building standing by the roadside.I had marked this place during my past visit, but couldn’t take photo that time.
In a few minutes I pass by the Paro airport and enter into the town of Paro. As I stand in front of Rinpung Dzong and begin contemplating my options, whether I should stay in a hotel in Paro or grab some food and go back to the place where I took a break, to pitch my tent over there, an extremely amiable fellow begins asking me where I am from and how far do I plan to ride in Bhutan and so on, and after a couple of minutes of chat we suddenly realize that we had met before! During my last visit to Paro (which was again a solo trip, but not on a bike), which was more than one and half years ago, I had a conversation with him only for a few minutes. For me it was as close to a miracle as I have ever gotten. I am pretty bad in math, but what are the chances of one guy from a country of a billion, meeting another guy twice on the streets of a stranger town just by random chance?
Immediately after our formal introductions, Ghalley offers me to stay at his house. An avid traveller himself, having travelled to all over Europe, North America and Asia, Ghalley, a researcher in the livestock sector of govt. of Bhutan, is also an epitome of modesty.
A dinner of delectable home cooked food, is followed by me pestering him for stories of his travels as we sip green tea. After a couple of hours, I reluctantly retire to my bed.