To Bhutan...

Well. We saw elephants, amazing black squirrely things, hornbills, deer and various other birds.  Did I mention the rhino?  No?  Probably because we didn't see one.  Oh well. It was such a wonderful way to start the day though. Our small jeeps entered deep into the beautiful forest.  It was beautiful, just beautiful.

I'm writing this sitting on a bench outside the customs office in Jaigon on the India side of the border.  I've been waiting to see all the cars through and it's only the mechanics to get their carnets dealt with. 

A bit of a patchy blog as I'm now in Bhutan and it will soon be time to get up and begin our driving in this magical kingdom. Finding time to write is tricky as there is much to do and I find trying to type on very bumpy car journeys impossible. 

The contrast between the indian side of the border and the Bhutanese side is always a shock - and it happens in a few metres.  This time, it affected me more than usual as I was helping crews with all their formalities and so spent more time in Jaigon than normal. It's not a place to linger. The customs office is small and normally easy to easy to miss in the chaos, this time it was even worse.  It's Diwali tomorrow and big towers of lights have been put up - think Blackpool illuminations - and a tower of lights depicting the Eiffel Tower, had been put up in front of the sign to the office.  Also, there was a thick mud slick at the side of the road, billowing dust, unbelievable traffic and noise that made it difficult to hear anything. The only place to pull in was in the thick mud and, also, all the petrol tankers and goods going into Bhutan were stopping to complete their documents making the little customs house even more difficult to see.

I stood in the road as I knew that a blonde in a red kurta and Rally Round hat might stand out a bit and it would help the crews find the right place. I was also trying to keep some space for the old cars to pull in so I was physically stopping the trucks from parking.  The noise was so great it may take a while for my hearing to recover.

As soon as you pass through the elaborate Bhutanese arch into Phuntsholing the whole world changes. Order, cleanliness far, far fewer cars and people and a general air of calm.  As I stood outside the friendly border post in the cool of the night air drinking in the peace, it was hard to believe that where I was standing for so many hours was only two kilometres away.  For the 2010 P2P amongst  the crews it was like the contrast between brown, dusty, miserable Kazakhstan and clean, colourful, friendly Uzbekistan.

It was a relatively easy day for the crews.  A safari, a leisurely start, a drive to see a tea garden and then on to the border.  The lovely Xavier and Ines had a breakdown as they were leaving the tea garden and ended up being towed across the border. Their half shaft snapped.  Xav said the noise it made was unbelievable.  Ines has wanted to come to Bhutan for forty years and so it is. A dream come true. She may not have entered in their own car, as expected, but she's here. We're all here.  Magical, mystical Bhutan, is ours to explore. How exciting is that?