Hot water springs of Bhutan - Koma Tsachu

Tsachu in Bhutanese means hot springs. During the winter months, many people in #Bhutan walk to these hot springs and believe that soaking in this water will cure illnesses, such as stomach ailments, headache, skin problems etc. Because of their curative powers, these springs are held sacred by the Bhutanese. #Trekking and #camping at any of these locations is itself a stress relieving experience.

We began our journey to Koma Tsachu from the famous town of #Punakha and were eager to get this relieving experience after the tiredness of the Bhutan trip till now. Honestly we don’t know whether we are allowed to visit the Tsachu as it falls outside the town of Punakha in the Jigme Dorji National Park. In Bhutan, foreigners pay 250$ per day for entering the country. But fortunately Indians are exempt from this rules. We (Indians) get permit to backpack only in the town limits. For trekking we need to contact the local trekking agents who usually charge a bomb. Without bothering about the rules and consequence we started our drive to the embarking point of #trek with our trustworthy local driver - Gattu. Very soon, we left the good roads of town and entered the rugged but lush green terrain. The slow and bumpy ride was not at all bothersome due to #pleasant weather and scenery.

After an hour we went 200 m downhill and parked our vehicle at a place called Mitesgang. We walked over a bridge and entered the #forest. This place was the beginning point of two short treks – Koma Tsachu and Guru Rinpoche caves. The trail was narrow and gently downhill but full of wet mud. After the winter, water gets abundant in #Himalayas due to melting of snow. Though snow melts at much higher altitude, the water also spreads in the lower regions through innumerable small streams. Some of these streams are considered sacred by the locals. On the way we could hear chirping of many birds unknown to us and berry bushes along the trail.

After 2 hours of trek we reached the Tsachu and spent the 2-3 hours relaxing in the Tsachu and vicinity. There were three small pools and a four roomed home. The home was very simple with solar electricity and taken care by few young boys who also provided meals. Water was lukewarm and it put us in the comfort zone soon. We didn’t feel like coming out till we started feeling very hungry. Soon the caretakers of Tsachu became our friends. It brings a different satisfaction to make #friends with people who don’t understand your language. But politeness and love has no language barriers. We cooked our own vegetable maggi in their facility and tasted their local rice wine. 2-3 sips of their wine was enough to make us re-think about our drinking capacity. By this time we were too relaxed and happy to do other trek to Guru Rinpoche caves. We could just gather some energy to walk back to our vehicle and then drove back to Punakha.

Bhutan is full of #amazing places and the outside world hasn’t even explored half of them.

#DGA, #DarkGreenAdventures, #beautiful, #love