Meng's Travels: Beautiful Bhutan!

Bhutan has always been on my list of places to visit. Unfortunately, it's difficult to get to and you either have to travel with a tour group or find a local travel agency to arrange your tour. Since I was going to be in Nepal, I decided that it makes sense to visit Bhutan after my Everest Base Camp (EBC) trek. It's only about an hour and a half flight away.

I started early and found three companies on Trip Advisor that I thought had provided good service to other travelers. I eventually get the best and fastest response from Bhutan Swallowtail Travels. I received replies to my questions within 24-48 hours, considering the date and time difference. There was no pressure for me to commit to a tour. They proposed a 7-day tour and when I looked at the itinerary, it covered only the western part of Bhutan. I thought it'd be nice to see the central or eastern part as well. Little did I know that travel from central or east to west is more difficult than it seems. Bhutan is a mountainous country. I asked for a 10-day tour and they proposed an itinerary that includes Bhumtang, in the central part of Bhutan. The final price of the tour, which includes flights to and from Kathmandu to Paro, and a flight from Paro to Bhumtang, was $3,249.

This may sound high but the Bhutanese government imposed a fix price of US$250 per tourist per day. Part of this money goes towards education, healthcare and other infrastructure needs of the country. This has the effect of limiting the number of tourists to the country and only those who can afford it. Most tourists who want to go to Bhutan willingly pay. Bhutan is a poor country; tourism is one of its major sources of income.

The price is all-inclusive, meaning it includes room, all meals, tickets to museums, temples, a guide and a driver. Basically, I have a driver and a guide to take me, alone, around Bhutan for 10 days! How special is that? I've looked at other group tours. They inflated the number of days to something like 18 days, but they include travel days and stops in places other than Bhutan. The number of days spent in Bhutan is still only about 10 days and some of them don't even include Bhumtang. Those tours cost about US$5,000 per person.

I flew from Kathmandu to Paro on October 25, 2018 on Drukair, a day after my EBC trek ended. Why Paro and not Thimphu, the capital? Paro has much flatter terrain for a runway for commercial aircrafts. Thimphu is in a mountainous area. There was a lot of confusion on the day of my flight. Originally, my flight was supposed to leave 0845 hrs but I received an email from the office that my flight has been rescheduled to 1500 hrs. When I checked in at the airport, they told me that the flight was leaving at about 1330 hrs. I then waited and waited at the boarding area until about 1400 hrs before the flight finally took off.

I was advised to sit on the left side of the plane, with a window seat if possible. We were going to fly past the Himalayas Mountain Range and will be able to see Mount Everest if it was a clear day. Indeed it was. The pilot announced over the PA system that we were approaching Mt. Everest and I was able to take some pictures of it. What a sight it was; the peaks above the clouds.

Mt. Everest, above the clouds, as seen from the plane

Here is the basic day-to-day itinerary of the tour:

Day 1 - Flight from Kathmandu to Paro. Drive to and tour Haa Valley
Day 2 - Haa Valley and drive back to Paro.
Day 3 - Paro, then flight to Bhumtang. Festival in Bhumtang
Day 4 - Bhumtang Valley Excursion
Day 5 - Bhumtang Valley, Trongsa Valley, Gangtey and Probjikha Valleys
Day 6 - Excursion of Gangtey and Probjikha and neighboring villages. Punakha Valley to see black-necked cranes.
Day 7 - Punakha Valley Excursion, Thimphu Valley
Day 8 - Thimphu Valley Excursion
Day 9 - Thimphu Valley, Taktsang Monastery - Tiger's Nest
Day 10 - Flight from Paro to Kathmandu

Monk Praying at Monastery in Haa Valley

Decorative Dragons at Monastery

Prayer Wheels

Persimmons, sugar cane and bananas at market

Two schoolgirls at Temple

Fortress in Haa Valley

Festival in Bhumtang

My guide's name was Sangay. Driver was Dhorji. We drove around in a small SUV; I alone in the back seat. Both are native Bhutanese. Sangay speaks very good English and knows Bhutan's culture and religion very well. Both attended to me very well every day and every part of the trip. They helped me with all kinds of things. I had picked up a cough infection when I was in Nepal. They offered to take me to the doctor in Thimphu and also bought cough drops for me. They are both in their 20s' and are very happy to have jobs. Jobs are hard to come by in Bhutan and tourism jobs are the most rewarding. During the off-season Sangay goes back to his father's farm in the mountains to help him tend cows.

The hotels were nice but not fancy. However, they are luxurious by Bhutanese standards. The meals were eaten at restaurants whenever we are in town and at the hotels in the evenings. They were all very good. Bhutanese tend to eat very spicy food but you can ask them to make them less spicy. I did not once encounter any bad service anywhere. Bhutanese treat tourists as their guests and with the utmost respect. Perhaps because of their religious beliefs, they are mild-mannered and treat each other with respect as well.

The highlight of the trip, or for any trip to Bhutan, is the climb up to the Tiger's Nest or more appropriately called Taktsang Monastery. This is supposed to be a 5-hour up and down hike up the side of a mountain. You see young and old, fat and thin tourists making the climb. Some make it in less than 5 hours. Others take much longer. From a distance it's an impressive site. As you get closer, it's even more impressive as you can see the details of the site. You can read more about the history and details by clicking on the Tiger's Nest link above.

Beginning of the trail

My guide Sangay

Long up and down trail

Trails are well maintained

Tiger's Nest

Bhutan Swallowtail Travels calls this a Happiness Tour. I met a few American tourists who appeared to be coming here for their religious pilgrimage of sort. Some of them are on longer tours, like 20+ days or so. If you expect a fancy place, then this is the wrong country for you. If you want simple and basic things, a slow lifestyle, unspoiled countryside, nice people, natural surroundings, this is it. Go before more tourists come and spoil the land.