Around South Asia: Part Eight
In which I explored Phuntsholing
09.11.2025: Tour Day7, City4
Good morning from Paro! I woke up at 6am and had breakfast at 07:30am. We had cake cutting at 8am for the successful completion of our tour. It was a long day today. We started at 08:30am from the hotel and drove towards Phuntsholing with a pitstop at Shelgaon for tea-coffee and washroom break. I skipped the tea and rested in the bus. We had two sightseeing places for today. We reached the first place at 2pm. We had to walk for 2mins to reach the gompa. I was in no mood to do so.
Kharbandi Gompa (Rinchending Gompa)
It is a serene Buddhist monastery at an altitude of 1300ft, built in 1967 by the Royal Grandmother Ashi Phuntsho Choden. It houses revered statues of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (the unifier of Bhutan) and Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava), along with paintings depicting the life of Lord Buddha.
After spending half an hour here, we drove ahead for lunch at Hotel Tashi Namgyal Grand. There was another tour group so it was a bit crowded to get the chairs. I had lunch with Dr. Vidya. We reached the Pedestrian Terminal at 03:30pm. The last sightseeing was in the heart of the city. We walked towards it along with Pravin and Tshering. Some skipped the sightseeing for the last-minute shopping in Bhutan.
Zangto Pelri Lhakhang
It is a Buddhist temple dedicated to Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava). Its name means “heavenly abode of Guru Rinpoche,” and it symbolizes his paradise. We worshipped the temple, took one round turning all the prayer wheels and were back to the terminal.
We picked up our luggage and entered the terminal, queued up for the passport exit stamp. Then luggage was scanned and we entered Jaigaon. We boarded the tempo travelers. My vehicle had: Leena, Roopali, Sapana, Sangita, Ranjana, Soniya and Pranali. We gave a token of appreciation to Jimmy and Tshering and bid goodbye. We started at 04:30pm towards Siliguri and had a tea-coffee pitstop at Red Chili at 5:15pm. Here we gave a token of appreciation to Pravin. Then starts the journey from 05:30pm to 08:30pm to reach Hotel Grand Casa. My room no was 2015.
We had dinner with live music at 9pm. The best hotel on this journey with the best dinner. Soniya and me walked at the poolside for 10mins and then were back to our rooms. We did the packing and dozed off. Actually, there was disturbance from the neighboring rooms, either people were talking loudly or the tv was at a high volume. I guess both!
Departure from Bagdogra airport: 10.11.2025
I woke up at 6am and had breakfast at 07:30am. Again, the breakfast spread was delicious.
Post breakfast we boarded the tempo traveler and reached the airport at 08:45am. We queued up at the airport departure gate, showed the tickets, entered the airport and then queued up for the luggage scan. Post that we queued up for the Boarding Pass and went upstairs for the security checking. All these was done up 09:30am and we had to kill time till 11am for the boarding to start. We queued up at Gate 3, boarded the bus and entered the flight. The Indigo flight 6E5288 had seating arrangements as ABC | DEF, my seat no was 29A, exit door seat with leg space.
The flight took off at quarter to noon and then I dozed off for the journey till the attendant woke me up for the same spinach-corn-cheese sandwich. Before landing in Mumbai, the pilot mentioned about the new airport at Navi Mumbai. People on the F seats must have seen the view, while I enjoyed the Bandra Worli Sealink from my seat.
We landed at quarter to three on the Terminal 1. We alighted from the flight and walked towards the baggage belt. Here I met Sahil Patil, Tour Manager from my Imagica and Dubai tours. He was back after a short Goa trip with his wife. He also completed 50 countries. Post saying goodbye to strangers then friends now, I left the airport after 3pm. I took an auto to Andheri station and then boarded the Virar train. Finally 21st country ticked on my bucketlist.
