TRAVELLING THROUGH BHUTAN - MY GAKIDH VILLAGE, PUNAKHA

This one is interesting, my best friend and I were a recent member of Royal Society for Protection of Nature (RSPN), we were not really sure what we had to do as a member but few days after the membership we got invitation for a hike to "My Gakidh Village" which basically translates to "my happy and peaceful village" the agenda was really amazing, it had hiking, bird watching, camping and tour through the village...who would say no to that. So we signed up for it and anxiously waited for it (16-17th December, 2017) 

On 16th December (Saturday) all the participants had to gather at RPSN office parking where we loaded our camping gears and got into the bus at 6.30 am. We started the journey at 7 am, and we were glad to see some familiar faces. we stopped for a short tea break on the way at Hongtsho and photo session at Dochula. The next stop was directly at Menchhuna, we met with members from Youth Development Fund, WWF and local guides from My Gakidh Village. There was a short briefing regarding the plan for the day my RSPN coordinator and then the fun began. 

Led by two local guides, the entire team of 32 people started the walk. We were given binoculars for bird watching and there was an expert on bird watching from WWF as a resource person. It was a two hours hike on farm road through the village. the walk was very relaxing, nothing extreme, we stopped for bird watching and looking at various trees and plants. After 2 hours we stopped for our packed lunch picnic and reached the camping site in next few minutes. the camping site was in front of a community school (which was adopted by HRHQM Ashi Tshering Pem Wangchuck) 

All the members pitched in to make camp fire, stone stove for cooking and cleaning the dishes. We made tea, then started with dinner. All of us gathered around the fire by evening with music, all the members interacted with one another and it was good time to bond. The dinner also turned out quite good. The night continued with music and dancing but we went to bed a bit early. the next morning, we fixed quick breakfast and tea. while some were prepping breakfast, rest of us cleaned the area. we all then packed our tents and had breakfast. we took another group picture and then we were briefed about the day's program. 

Thinleygang Lhakhang

we started with 2 hours hike again, this time was through the jungle, it was a lot of ups, downs and my favorite the flat ones (lol) but it was a really beautiful one. From what I write here, you can only imagine 5-10 % of what I really experienced. Its totally worth going there. I am just glad I did it. The forest, river and mother nature...such a beautiful experience. As we walked through the path, all of us picked whatever little trash we found on the way and after around 2 hours we reached Thinleygang Lhakhang (village temple). We visited that and offered our prayers and continued walking up towards the tiny town of Thinleygang. We visited a little tailoring/souvenir shop run by the locals which was established with the help of YDF as part of the My Gakidh Village project. Some of us brought souvenir as a token of support to the project. 

Traditional cooking mud stove

From that point we had our buses waiting for us and we headed for lunch at one of the Homestays in Phentekha. We were greeted by this sweet little boy of the house and the house was a traditional home, authentic Bhutanese home. we were served with tea and puffed rice and then the grand lunch. It was all traditional style cooking...yum yum, since it was paid by RSPN I dont know the cost but whatever the cost must have been, it would have been worth it. after the lunch and much needed break, the RSPN team talked with all the members about what they did and how they contribute in the society. It was inspiring to see all the efforts they put and I highly recommend all of the readers to check their website and see if you can contribute in any way :) 
At around 5 pm, we all got into the bus and returned for home, we stopped at the same highway shop for tea and reached the RSPN parking by 6 pm. We were all super tired but every one had that silly smiles on their faces...we had all made new friends and were all taking home a wonderful experiences.
RSPN: http://www.rspnbhutan.org/
YDF: http://www.bhutanyouth.org/