Into Bhutan

October 8^th, 2026

Paro, Bhutan

Woke around 7:00AM and sat around for a bit.  Took a shower and then partially geared up.

Went down for breakfast, nothing too amazing, and then went back up to the room to finish packing.

Once done, checked over the room again, then grabbed my gear and the bags and headed downstairs.

Dropped bag in the front lobby where the driver was already loading them onto the support van.

I then walked over to the bikes which had been moved out onto the main parking lot.

Put the phone on the holder, installed the Go Pro in its holder and then ran it for a few seconds so I could adjust the angle of the camera, then tightened it all down.

I then spent a few minutes adjusting the straps for the tank bag so it would fit like I needed.

I had put the rain gear in my small backpack and grabbed one of the straps I used in Nepal.

Tried a few options and finally got the rain gear attached to the tail of the bike so I could easily access it when needed.

Once done, I ran the room key over to the hotel front desk, and when I returned it was time to get going.

We did a quick group photo first, then we put on the rest of the gear, got on the bikes and all started up.

Leader took off and we came in behind him.

First thing I found was trying to use the turn signals was a real pain.  Unlike every other bike I have ever ridden, the horn button was above the turn signal switch, so I kept hitting the horn instead of the signal.  Going to take a bit of time to get used to this setup.

We meandered through town for about 5 minutes until we arrived at the traffic center.

Here we parked up, and they the reviewed and verified that we were all riding the correct bikes. (They assign the bike number plate to you and it’s put in the official records).

Then one of the officers gave us a 20 minutes briefing to go over the road rules. 

Much of it was just common sense and similar rules we see back home.

A few things were new, like yielding to official vehicles, which can be determined by the yellow number plate.

The other odd one was the use of turn signals.  Besides using them to indicate a turn, they also use them to let someone know when they can pass, or to signal oncoming cars that they can go through as you will not be passing yet.  Confusing.

Once we completed this, we got on the bikes and headed out of the town.

We reached the main highway that heads north and started are journey.

The road is mostly 2 lanes, one in each direction, but some narrow spots do make things tight still.

Road was in fair shape, all paved except in areas where they are working on it, and few damaged spots where it has been worn away.  Lots of pot holes and uneven surfaces, especially in corners.

Some loose material on the roads in places as well.

The roads here are nearly all curves.  Straight sections of road are rarely more than a few 100 meters at most before another curve.

Also have hills!  The climb up was quick and steep in spots.  And the roads are just clinging to the hillsides in many places.

We stopped a few minutes out of town at the 1^st of 2 police checkpoints.

Here they again verified the bikes and riders matched and logged our passing.

We proceeded from there up the road, keeping a fair speed and having some great times on the corners.

The views would have been amazing too, except it was overcast, and the clouds were down low on the hills, so not much to see when you looked out over the edge.  Some places it even got foggy as the clouds were so low.

After some time had passed, we pulled over for a quick pit stop at a place with public toilets.  Primitive, but at least something to use.

Once everyone had the chance to use them, we moved onward and shortly after stopped for our lunch, though we arrived a bit earlier than expected.

Once we parked up the bikes, we all got off and spread out, some sitting at the table, others going to the toilets and others just standing around the bikes.

I went to use toilet, and then when I came back, I noticed a cat wandering around, so of course I had to spend some time trying to get the kitty to come over.

It would walk past and let me pet as it moved, but kept moving around.

I eventually went up and took a seat at the table an we snacked on a few potato chips Ben had put on the table.

The kitty came up on the patio and I managed to get it to come over to me, and it meowed at me wanting the potato chips.

I let it have a small piece, and then I patted my lap, and after a few seconds, he jumped up into my lap.  I pet him for a few seconds, and then he moved around to face a different direction, but this time he settled in for a longer stay.

We talked and I petted the cat for 20 minutes or more until the food was ready inside (buffet).

Once it was ready, I had to put the cat on the ground, which he did not really want to do, and then went over to wash hands.

Went through the line to get some food, not a huge selection, but most of it looked good.

Went back and sat down to eat.  Kitty was meowing at everyone, as he could smell the meat (not sure if yak, or buffalo, or even beef?).

I tried to give him some rice, ignore it, also tried some bread, ignored it.  He wanted the meat!

He made the rounds, and John did give him a small piece.

Once lunch was done, we all washed up, used toilets, and got ready.  Kitty was no where to be seen, wanted to pet him goodbye.

As I was getting on my bike, cat ran up on the patio with a piece of meat on the bone still, not even sure if this was cooked or not.  Thinking he had either been fed by the staff, or had found some garbage.

We moved out onto the road and it was much of the same, lots of curves, lots of hills, and lots of fun.

Later we pulled up at the next police checkpoint, and repeated the same process again.

Once past there, we pulled over about 15 minutes later for a coffee break.

Most of us were not really needing it, but this was the last place we would be able to stop as the rest of the route was on the older highway which no longer had as many shops on it.

The place we stopped was quite large, with a café, store, and restaurant in it.

I went inside to use the restroom after doing some photographs, then came out and wandered a bit.  Watched a few of the lazy dogs doing there thing, then went inside to see what the others were doing.

I was not really needing anything to drink, but as I wandered the store, I found a few snacks that looked good.  I decided to by a bag of spicy potato chips.

Tried to open the bag next door in the café, and it would not open.  Would not tear either.

Our guide saw me trying and he also tried, and then the staff noticed us and offered us a pair of scissors to cut it open.

Really good chip.  Naga Pepper flavored.

Once done, I went over to wash hands, then spent a bit of time talking before walking out to the bikes and just waiting there.

Soon everyone else appeared and we prepared to leave.

We continued down the road and then turned off onto the older road.

This road went up and over the higher points of the mountain, and was a narrow road, not much more than a single lane, with some wider sections.

Thankfully it was not heavily used, mostly just the local traffic to the villages on the road.

We zoomed in and out of the corners, tucked up in the trees and cliffsides all along the way.

After some time, we pulled over for a quick rest at a viewpoint looking out over the valley.

We could see the new highway below us, and the clouds had cleared some, so better views, but still quite hazy out.

We were now also at the highest point along this section of road.

We started heading down and soon reached the connection with the new highway.

Once we all go on the road, we took off, increasing speed here as the road was in much better shape and two full lanes again.

Traffic sadly increased as well, so lots of passing or waiting to pass.

As we neared Paro, we pulled over to stop at a small park area next to the river.

Over the river was a 600 year old iron chain link bridge that had been built back in the early 1400s (though could see many areas of more recent repair).

Sadly, you can no longer cross this bridge and people were stealing the iron from it for some reason.

There was another suspension bridge nearby that would allow you to cross and access the temple on the other side.

I wandered the area doing photos and video, and crossed over to the other side to check out the iron bridge from that angle, but did not hike up the hill to the temple.

Once we were done, we got back on the road, and headed toward town.

We were really zooming along as we were trying to get to the airport overlook to catch a plane that was coming in to land.

The International Airport in Paro is the only one in the country, it only gets flights from Bhutan airlines, private planes, and military.

It is also a very technical and difficult place to land a plane.

The valley is narrow and not that lone, surrounded by steep hillsides and peaks.

Only a small number of pilots can even land here.

We hit the view point, but were too late.  The plane had already landed.

We stayed and took a few photos, had a history lesson from our guide, and then we heard jet noises and managed to catch a plane taking off at least.  Even that was quite a crazy thing to watch.

We then headed the last few miles to the hotel.

We had to ride into town a bit, and school was just getting out, so it was quite busy with cars and pedestrians.

We turned up onto the steep, rough road that goes up to our hotel area.

We pulled in and parked the bikes, then grabbed our gear off the bikes and went into the lobby.

They were unloading our bags from the van into the lobby as well.

We stood around and talked a bit about tonight’s plans, and the following days plans.  We will be staying here two nights, to allow us time to explore some interesting places nearby.

We got our welcome hot tea from the staff, and once done, we picked up our room keys.

Our rooms are actually more like cabins, located out back behind the main building.

We walked over and got into the room and then left door open till the staff arrived with the bags as they insisted they carry them.

I checked out the room, figured out the lights and started to organize stuff.

Bag arrived shortly after, then I closed up the door and got out of the riding gear.

Used the bathroom to clean up some, and then sat and worked on getting Wi-Fi setup, and updating a few things.

While I was doing this, the message ding went off, and it was Ben asking if we were joining the group.

Myself and two others had missed something about going into town, I guess.

After I inquired about what we were going to do, I told them to give me five to finish changing.

We all met out from, except Jude who had not yet replied and later did say he did not want to go, boarded the van and were driven into the center of town.

Wow is this place busy.

Turns out that this week is part of a 3 week blessing ceremony where 200,000 people travel from all over Bhutan to pray and get blessed by one of the main religious figures in the country.

People were walking all over, cars filled the roads and large tents were setup to hold the people.

We finally parked and got out of the van, and then we split up into various groups.

I went with the guide, and 2 others to find an electronics store.  John needed a new screw for his action camera, and I was hoping they might have longer extensions I could use, as I do not like the camera position on the bike currently.

All the stores we found though only carried cell phone camera stuff, no action camera or GoPro equipment.

We wandered around a bit more, stopped inside a store so Ben could pick up some stuff and checked out the local goods.

We then found our way back to the van and once everyone was there, we loaded up and tried to get out of town.

By now the ceremony had finished for the day, and traffic was insane.

Took us probably 15 minutes to get 1 mile.

We stopped briefly to let the guide out of the van, and he lives in this town when not working, so will go home tonight instead of staying at the hotel.

We then continued on our way, the driver taking a shortcut that took us up one of the steepest hills I have seen.  Bit shocked the van made it up the hill with the 6 of us in it.

We reached the hotel and agreed to meet for dinner at 7:30.

I stopped inside the hotel gift shop to look around, and found the coin set for Bhutan, similar to what I had bought in Nepal.  I went over the sets and picked the one with the best looking coins (they were all roughly the same, but some had better conditions).

I took it over to the front desk and paid for it.  Cost me about $18 for 7 coins.

Went back to the room, got the Wi-Fi going and checked out the coins with image searches.

Managed to get most of the coins I wanted to find, and a few older coins I had not known existed.

Then I did a few online things until it was time to go get food.

Walked over to the restaurant, and found the table we were at.

It was a buffet setup, and the place was also packed.  Busiest hotel I have stayed at this entire trip.

Food was local cuisine, but all looked good.

Ate and then decided I was not hungry enough to get more, so we sat and talked for a while.

Eventually we all went back to rooms, many were tired, and I needed to get footage uploaded and this blog typed, so needed an hour.

But now that is done, and I am also tired, and need to be up around 6:00AM tomorrow to get breakfast and get ready so we can leave around 7:30 for our local explorations.

Time for bed.

Catch ya down the road.