Around South Asia: Part One
In which I got readied for the land of Thunder Dragon
The sole reason for choosing this country was the Tiger’s Nest trek. It was in my bucket list, though not in the first 25 countries, but travel taught me in years that destination chooses you rather than you choosing it. Got a calling from the Tiger’s Nest and I booked the Women Special Bhutan. Having travelled so far, meeting new people on every tour; I wished I could travel with close friends or at least co-travelers (cum travel buddies) from previous tours. I was on talks with Shilpa Nadkarni, co-traveler from the Western Europe tour of May 2019, but she said she might not be able to join, while her friend Shradha Suke has booked the tour. The air tickets were mailed and I got a Whatsapp message from Sangita Avhad, co-traveler from the Singapore Malaysia tour of Dec 2022, that she was a part of the tour. I was happy, as I glanced through the air ticket list, I was happier to see Shilpa’s name. There were two friends in the total of 24 strangers. There was a pre-departure zoom meeting which elaborated the tour sightseeing, weather conditions, trek, food, currency, dos and don’ts, etc. INR is accepted so the forex was sorted. It is a visa free country for Indians, so the visa thing sorted. We were asked to walk daily as a prep for the trek. On 29th Oct, mom was hospitalized due to high bp and high sugar levels. Those few days were stressful and sleepless, running between home-hospital-chemist-test labs, till she got discharged on 1st Nov. It was then I started my packing. I received a call as well as WhatsApp message from Tour Manager Pravin More. One duffel trolley bag 9kg, one handbag 2kg, one sling bag, was my luggage. I always pack as much as I can pick up on my own. Well, the packing style varies from person to person. The most important thing to be packed was the PASSPORT. I forwarded passport copy, flight details, hotel details and itinerary to my sister. So, in this way I got tour ready for the next 9days, make new friends, get to know more about the places I would visit, capture memories in my camera and my eyes and have loads of fun.
Departure from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Domestic Airport, Terminal 1: 02.11.2025
I reached the airport a night prior at 11pm. My first travel flight took off from this very Terminal 1 on Jul 2018 to Ladakh. And Pravin More was the tour manager. Finally, three known out of 24 strangers. Aadhaar card and flight ticket was checked at the Departure Gate and I entered the airport.
I had to kill time till 5am for the check-in counter to start and meet the Tour Manager. I watched travel videos, browsed through the Crossword books.
While I was charging mobile at the charging booth, I saw Ashwini Masekar and Roopali Kamble. I did not knew them then, and they were not wearing yellow so I did not ask whether they are part of the tour. At quarter to 5am, I met Pravin, got the passport pouch and queued up for the check-in counter. I also met Kashmira Pardiwala and Karmine Sarfare. I walked towards the Gate no 25, climbed the staircase, passed the security checking, used the washroom and went to the food court. I ate a chocolate muffin at 6am.
I met Shilpa and Shradha. They were accompanied by Yogita Salgaonkar. Three of them had idli breakfast while I was listening to the talks. I met Sangita at the Gate 25, then dozed off till the boarding announcement at quarter to 8am. The Indigo flight 6E5287 with seating arrangements as ABC | DEF, was flying from Aamchi Mumbai to West Bengal’s Bagdogra. My seat no was 32F, tour members on the adjacent seats were Ranjana Vedpathak and Karmine. Now I do not know when the flight took off because I dozed off, only to be woken up by the air hostess for spinach-corn-cheese sandwich.
I was awake by the time we landed on the Bagdogra Airport before 11am. We gathered near the baggage belt, had a restroom break, attendance was taken by Pravin, J&L guests met the group. We left the airport at 11:30am. The group would be divided into three tempo travelers, eight per vehicle. I was in the second vehicle with Shilpa, Shradha, Yogita, Kashmira, Karmine, Asmita Chavan and Dr. Yogita Sanas. Each seat had: water bottle, tetrapack juice, munch and lays. Luggage was loaded on the backseats and we drove towards our lunch restaurant Skyy on the topmost floor of the Quantum building in Siliguri.
I had lunch at 12:30pm with Shilpa, Shradha and Sangita. We were given snacks packets.
Post lunch we drove towards Jaigaon border, with a pitstop at Red Chillies restaurant for tea-coffee and washroom break.
I had dozed off for the whole journey; others were discussing on their earlier tour places. We reached the border at 05:30pm. We had to walk through a lane to the Immigration building. Passport was checked at the entrance. We queued up at the counter, passport was stamped and we passed through the Pedestrian Terminal, Phuntsholing at 6pm.
Phuntsholing is a gateway to Bhutan, situated on its southern border. Bhutan Time is 30 minutes ahead of IST. So, its 06:30pm local time now. We met Jimmy and Tenzing, our tour guides. We walked to another building, passports were collected, each one of us had to go to the counter, get the passport stamped with departure date mentioned on it. After everyone got the passports, the tour guides briefed us on the rules and regulations, related to attire, climate, reshuffling on the itinerary as per timings, etc. We got into the tempo travelers and drove ahead to hotel Tashi Namgay Grand Resort and reached there at 07:30pm. Rooms and room-mates were allotted to all. This is a surprise element on women special for those who travel solo. My roommate was Soniya Salvi and room no 303. Room numbers were written on bag tags and the staff would bring those to our room. The first country where I do not have to drag my bag from the reception to the lift and to the room and back to the reception. Dinner was ready, so I had it along with Shilpa and Shradha.
Kewa-datshi, local dish made of potatoes, chilies and cheese, was at the counter. I went to my room after 8pm, Sonia had come down for dinner.
I freshened up, arranged the bags stuff as per need, stacked the snacks packets wherever possible in the duffle trolley, got the handbag ready for tomorrow. She was back to our room, we had casual talks, then I dozed off at 10pm. It was a journey today, hoping for sightseeing to start tomorrow.
