The online blogs said that it’s rare. The tour guide said it will be difficult to find in this trip. The driver had no clue and showed us another blue flower on the way. But deep in my heart I had the hope that I will find it. After a long scenic drive, we reached Chele La pass from Thimpu. It was cloudy and there were very few tourists roaming around the small tea stalls. We were also hungry and went to one of those stalls. It was managed by a lady and her little three years old daughter was giving her company. I tried to talk to the little girl but she was hiding behind her mother and was not in a mood to come out. I started playing peek-a-boo with her and to my surprise I noticed the little girl was wearing a white t-shirt with a photo of the royal Himalayan Blue Poppy on it.

Excitedly I pointed towards the girl’s t-shirt and said: The Himalayan Blue Poppy. Her mother came out with a pleasing smile and was happy that people from across the border know about this blue gem. I asked her if she knows where to find it. She said that only two flowers are left in this area and pointed towards the mountain top. I looked at my husband, took the camera in one hand and hot noodles in the other and left for my hunt for the royal, rare and the most beautiful flower of the Himalayan kingdom. My husband knew how much eager I was to see the flower so he also accompanied me.

The route was isolated and no other tourists were going that side. Hope and optimism kept giving us strength and we kept climbing. Half an hour gone and we found nothing. There was anxiety that what if we are on the wrong track, what if the last two flowers might have been washed off by the rain or plucked, how long should we keep walking on an isolated route. There were so many thoughts going on in my mind. After walking for around forty minutes we saw an elderly man and two other people accompanying him. They were equally surprised to see us. The elderly man was a geologist collecting soil and rock samples along with his two assistants. When we asked them about the Himalayan Blue Poppy, they said they don’t know about it. But then one of the boys said that earlier in the morning one Japanese couple were there on the mountain looking at some rare flower. My joy knew no bounds when he agreed to take us to that spot. We had missed it on our way and he took us back from where we were coming. We moved away from the walking track and behind a bush there it was – The royal Himalayan Blue Poppy. There was no way we could have found it without help. I kept staring at it that after so much pain and uncertainty finally it is in front of us. Among the large trees and bushes, among the tweaks and twigs, among the carpet of grass and among the mass of white-pink flowers: It Stood Out.

It was amazing to see how this rare flower can grow in extreme conditions, and yet it is frail in nature. The Bhutanese say that blue blood runs through Himalayan Poppy so it is the symbol of royalty and that is why they have declared it as their national flower. It blooms at an altitude of around 3,500 m to 4,500 m above sea level, just once during the monsoon between June-July, after which it seeds and withers. It takes about two to three years for the seeds to grow into plants. Out of the two flowers there was only one left. The photo above is this year’s last flower of the Chele La pass. While coming down the mountain, I was feeling like I am the happiest and luckiest person in the world. I thanked the shop lady and went back to my car where the driver was waiting. Throughout the rest of the journey I was just smiling.

Note: The Himalayan Poppy is getting depleted as people of other district are digging away forests for planting it in their own region. 150 blue poppies were spotted in 1990 but by the late 2002 the number is depleted to only 11 spot consensus conducted by the Royal Society for the Protection of Nature.