5 years after my last visit for the opening of the new eye hospital, we visited again to do community cataract surgery for about a 100 eyes in the capitol Thimphu and then to the southern border of Bhutan in the town of Gelephu, the location of the new ‘mindfulness city’. We stayed at the Druk Hotel in the centre of town, convenient for the eye hospital. As usual, we did our morning walks from the bridge at the entrance into town, crossing over to the other side of the Thimphu or Wang Chhu(river) and returning via the next vehicular bridge about 1.5km away. This walk affords wonderful views of Thimphu, with a giant Buddha at Buddha point overlooking the valley and another golden buddha in a park just next to the stadium.
the approach into paro is always magical with the mountains on either side welcoming usThe clock tower …the main town square next to the Druk Hotel..which is the mauve building on the right…the rooms are fine but they are painted in the same dark mauve colour so are somewhat dark…the WangChhu is beautiful as alwaysThe eye camp was conducted at the national eye centre in thimphuwhere about a hundred patients had their cataract surgeriescataract surgery in progressa happy and grateful patient
One of the things we enjoy doing is to have an early morning walk on either side of the river…at 6am, it’s about 2-6C and chilly….but it is invigorating and the birding is always good…
You exit the hotel and head left to the bridge which crosses the Thimphu chu…from the bridge over the river, a brown dipper appeared in the distancethe chirping of the grey backed shrike caught my attention…the national bird of bhutan is the intelligent raven…but these are crows…..here a couple look rather smart when surrounded by the spring blossoms…the raven is only seen above 4000m and thimphu is only at about 2300m asl.At 6.30am, the sun is rising over the distant mountainslighting up the Buddha statue at Buddha Point , overlooking the valleywhilst most of the birds on the walk were ones I’d seen before…this was a lifer…the blue fronted redstartthe very pretty Eurasian Jay entertained usas I walked along the main road on the other side of the river…I heard the song of a green backed tit, here hiding too wellA Russet sparrowwhite wagtailthe serene wangchu or thimphuchu….my old friend the white capped redstarta few weeks ago, we struggled to see the blue whistling thrush…but here it was easythe very pretty chestnut capped laughing thrushyou can see why it’s named the chestnut capped laughing thrush hereand another old friend, the male plumbeous redstartblurry shot of a long tailed blue magpieand these early spring days brought forth numerous colourful flowerslovely white collared black birdThe hoopoe is always a welcome sighting
This is one of my favourite walks when in thimphu…it takes about 1-1.5 hour to cover the 3km distance but it is oh so beautiful! Highyl recommended!
The Natural Traveller 