Day 22: Thimpu – Phuntsholing

Thimpu – Phuntsholing

This shortish drive turned out to be one of the most eventful days of rally so far. Shortly into the convey journey Martyn and Jenny broke down. The water from their engine had disappeared and the fan wasn’t working hard enough so the engine was over heating. Bunty and his crew fitted a rather dodgy looking fan but it seemed to do the trick and they were soon on the road. An hour or so down the road Morna and Peter were just stopped in the middle of a hairpin. This seemed rather strange until we walked down to check they were alright. The whole right wing of the car had come in contact with an oncoming lorry. Luckily the damage had been only cosmetic and after bashing out the worst of the damage we were able to drive slowly down to Phuentsholing. Later that evening we realized that one of the jeeps hadn’t made it in. It later emerged that they had taken a wrong turning at one of the junctions and hadn’t realized. They then encountered 2 punctures which meant they were stuck in themiddle fo nowhere. Luckily Tandi (entertainment officer, workshop finder, Thinlys friend and all round handyman) offered to find Rashid, Jaime, Colin and Becca in their jeep. They eventually made I back to the hotel at 230am!

Day 20/21: Paro- Thimpu + Rest Day

Paro- Thimpu

Early morning there was the option to either walk or ride a mule up a mountain to see a Buddhist monastery. Many started out but only 6 made it all the way in the end! The walk up was very top was testing and I personally did not expect it to be so hard but the monks who live up there have to do the walk nearly everyday!

Paro also had its very own festival on so everyone paid a visit there. It involved a distinctively Bhutanese style of dancing which involved masks and a very weird village fete kind of stall set up. Everyone was dressed in their national dress. The national dress for the men creates a huge pocket at their chest which they carry all their personal belongings in!

The drive onto Thimpu was only an hour. However Jean Paul broke down shortly after Paro. This time his fuel pump had packed up and the mechanics needed to either fit a new one or fix the present one. With darkness falling the only option was to tow the car to Thimpu and fix it the next day. The road condition had worsened since the recce so the route which was meant to take an hour actually took double the time. Meaning that Jean-Paul, Conrad, John and the mechanics were not in until very late!

The rest of the group went for a meal at a restaurant called ‘Bhutan Kitchen’ where we all sat on cushions on the ground and ate a traditional Bhutanese meal.

The next day was used by most people as a shopping day. Some decided to go to the local zoo, which had just one animal- The Tarkin. This is the national animal of Bhutan. It is an endangered species that lives only in the Bhutanese mountains and in the Southern parts of China. In the evening there was a cocktail party arranged for us by Thinly again. There were Bhutanese singers and dancers there to entertain us all. It was also John Noble and Sverre Berge’s birthday. Both their partners presented them with a Bhutanese national costume which they put on in front of an amused crowd.

Day 19: Phuntsholing – Paro

Phuntsholing – Paro
This being the first international classic car rally to go through Bhutan made the whole even rather spectacular. Thinly the MD of BTCL (the number 1 travel company within Bhutan) had arranged for the 2nd Kings daughter HRH Ashi Deki Yangzom Wangchuk to present all involved with the rally a scarf and to flag off the start of the rally. It had also been arranged for the whole rally group to be able to skip past the road blocks (caused by the blowing up of rocks at the side of the road!). In the road block many cars congregated and we ended up following in convoy to the hotel in Paro.

Day 18: Kalimpong – Phuntsholing(Bhutan)

Kalimpong – Phuntsholing(Bhutan)
This drive dropped down out of the mountains of India and more onto the tea plantations again. A short drive but probably the most beautiful. All arrived at Bhutan very quickly and caught John and myself unaware. We were just heading down to immigration and we happened to catch a few people going in! All the forms were already dilled in so the cross over the border was very easy!

Day 17: Koshi Tappu- Kalimpong

Koshi Tappu- Kalimpong

Michael and David began the journey to the Nepal/India border but stopped soon after, realizing that the automatic gearbox fluid was leaking. This took a few hours to fix but they were over the border in the mid afternoon. Jean-Paul had an ignition problem in between the two border towns. Luckily John Brigden was able to solve the problem by hitting the fuel pump and the blockage was dislodged. The rest of the drive was very beautiful-past many tea plantations and factories.

Day 16: Kathmandu- Koshi Tappu

Kathmandu- Koshi Tappu

With a very long day ahead (nearly 11 hours driving in total) the cars all left extremely early, many even before the crew were up! Yves-Marie in a Mercedes had a problem with over heating only a little way from Kathmandu. This was quickly resolved and didn’t cause any problems later on. The windy but pretty route was only disturbed later by Giancarlo breaking down. Once again with the exhaust muffler causing problems; the welding was not quite done accurately enough! The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful. The 11km was some of the bumpiest roads but all the village children were so friendly always saying ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye’ that the drive was fairly pleasant and very few people complained about the state of the road.

The evening’s accommodation was safari tents. These were very simple but were quite a novelty after the hotels we have stayed in.

Day 15: Kathmandu Rest Day

Kathmandu Rest Day

The petrol trouble continued into the next day. This meant there was a lot of waiting around for everyone involved. The initial plan to take the cars to a local petrol station was abandoned when the owner of the station said he feared that there may be riots. Over the afternoon plans were made for a small tank of petrol to be delivered directly to the cars in the hotel forecourt, but with no mention of time this proved to be a long afternoon. Many took advantage of the long waiting to go and do some shopping in the market.

Morna and Peter and Will and Wilhelm drove part way to Koshi Tappu that evening to make the next days drive a bit shorter, giving them hope they may arrive in the light. This stop is also known to be one of the best viewing points for Mount Everest.