Bhutan: Easy to Get to from Bangkok and Hugely Worthwhile (reposted with pics)

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fountainhall

Bhutan: Easy to Get to from Bangkok and Hugely Worthwhile (reposted with pics)

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When I meet friends overseas and talk about my travels in Asia, the one country I have visited which makes most particularly envious is Bhutan. Perhaps that’s because Bhutan is still wreathed in a sense of wonder, a country which was closed to the world until recently and which for decades has held that Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product.

The “Land of the Thunder Dragon” is the last of the Himalayan Kingdoms following the 1975 referendum which saw Sikkim become part of India, and what started with the massacre of the Royal Family in Nepal resulting in that country abolishing the royals in favour of full parliamentary democracy. Bhutan is now also a parliamentary democracy but retains its King. In part this is because the present King’s father determined that the country had to become democratic to survive and abdicated so this could take place. The present King spent part of his education in Chiang Mai where he gained the hearts of all Thais with his humility and understanding of Thai customs.

Part of Bhutan’s attraction inevitably is its location. On my first full day I was invited by a friend, David, who has lived in Bhutan for decades, to join a group he was leading for a short trek up from near the capital of Thimphu to the delightful Cheri Goemba, Bhutan’s first monastery built in 1620.

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Like Thailand, Bhutan is Buddhist and en route we passed several Buddha images carved into the hillsides.

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Thankfully the trek was just a gentle 50-minute climb because I had not by then acclimatized to Thimphu’s 2,300 meter elevation. Before we started, David stopped and pointed out one mountain pass on his right which he said would lead us in a day to Tibet, and another on his left which would take us to India!

Another part of Bhutan’s fascination is that it opened up to the west much later than almost all other countries - apart from North Korea. It was all but shut off from the world until 1999, the first year television and the internet appeared. A trickle of overseas tourists had started arriving in 1974. Even when I was there at the end of 2007, there were only 21,000 during the whole year - mostly Americans and British. Nine years later the number had mushroomed to 209,000, and that was 55,000 more than 2015. Now the make up of tourists has changed with the Chinese (17%) taking top place followed by Japanese (13%) and Americans (13%). Thailand and the UK take the next two places. Perhaps interestingly, 41% of all visitors were over age 55.

Flying to Bhutan means landing at Paro, a small airport that requires an awesome and potentially treacherous descent. As of two years ago only 10 pilots from Druk Air, the national airline, were licensed to land here in their Airbus A319 aircraft. The airport sits in a small valley at an elevation of 2,235 meters. Being surrounded by mountains, all pilots must land using visual flight rules – no radar assisted approaches here and only daylight operation. The usual approach is on to the west of the runway reaching it from the east. To achieve this, the pilots must first have the aircraft flying due west over a series of mountain ridges, then banking right and left through steep valleys before they get their first view of the runway (around 2’00” in in this vdo).



However, the runway is still way below. They must then overfly the airport before starting an elongated looped 180-degree right turn that brings the aircraft pretty close to several mountainsides. This is followed by a smaller right turn, at the end of which they finally catch sight once again of the west end of the runway only around 30 seconds before touching down. When it is almost in full view, they bank left and line up at only around 20 meters off the ground! Despite this, it all seemed pretty smooth when I was on the aircraft!

Paro Airport with a plane taking off to the east
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Arrival at Paro
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At this time of year Druk Air has three weekly flights from Bangkok which leave at 4:30 am and have one stop en route. This increases to daily during the peak winter months. You can also fly from several other cities including Delhi, Kolkota and Kathmandu.

All tours inevitably start and end at Paro. I was delighted that exploration of Paro was kept to the end of my tour for it has the most visited site in the entire country, the extraordinary Tiger’s Nest Monastery that nestles on the side of a sheer mountain cliff – of that more later.

Tiger’s Nest Monastery in the early morning sun
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I was met by my guide, a pleasant if slightly chubby young graduate, and whisked off to my hotel in Thimphu. David kindly joined me at the bar for a couple of drinks to tell me a bit more about the country. I then spent a little time wandering around the town but there really was not much to see after dark, apart from the unique Bhutanese architecture and so many people dressed in their national costume. This is very common throughout the country and all children wear it to school.

The next day was our trek up to Cheri Goemba and then back to David’s home for supper. Everywhere in Bhutan you will see red chillies drying in the sun. The Bhutanese love their food as “hot” as the Thais. For tourists, however, most dishes have only a vague hint of chilli. On the way to Cheri Goemba, we passed Thimphu’s Dzong. A Dzong is basically a monastery but divided roughly half for religion and half as the local government administration centre. Most are elaborate, beautifully decorated structures and most can be visited, as this one at the town of Wangdue.

Wangdue Dzong decoration
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I was fortunate because the following day coincided with one of Bhutan’s Festivals. Many of the city’s inhabitants made the short trek over to the parade ground where dignitaries were accommodated in open tents with locals and a few tourists seated on three sides. It was great fun, especially watching the crowd, even if the point of the dancing rather baffled me.

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One of the difficulties of travelling around Bhutan is the lack of roads. So to get from Town A to Town B, although it may only be 40 kms away, you will have to drive 100 kms or so up and over a mountain pass to get there. And with roads often cut into steep slopes, it was sometimes better just to shut my eyes.

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Getting from Thimphu to my next overnight stop at Punakha took about 5 hours over the Dochula Pass at 3,050 metes. Punakha is the old capital of the country and location of the national Dzong, a magnificent picturesque structure located at the junction of two crystal clear rivers. There were not many monks around when I was shown around, but I did see this novice clearly wondering where the grey haired visitor might have come from.

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Just before you get to Punakha, there is the Penis Temple where a monk will happily bless couples with a giant phallus – not his own, I hasten to add. Being single, I did not merit such a blessing. David had also arrived in Punakha as he was escorting another tour group, probably one that had grabbed the room in their hotel that had originally been booked for me. I had been moved to a nearby small hotel of lesser quality but with the advantage of a very cute room boy! I joined David for supper before hastening up the hill for an early night – sans room boy!

The following morning the valley was covered in thick mist above which were the rolling forests and in the distance a few snow-capped mountains shining brightly in the morning sun.

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After breakfast, it was back into the minivan for the longest of my journeys – a good ten hours across two mountain passes to get to Bumthang (about as far east as most tourists go) and the Leki Guest House. Here I had a lovely 3-day stay with a delightful family who treated me like an honoured guest. Indeed, all Bhutanese have a wonderful warmth and friendliness towards their foreign visitors. It was really cold at night here. As I was the only guest I was given a room right next to the kitchen. To warm up my large bed, two hot water bottles had kindly been placed between the sheets. Coming back from my shower and getting quickly into bed I realised that one had a leak! Fortunately I could just move over to the other side!

En route I was offered the chance to take a short detour to see the famous Phobjikha Valley where the rare Black-necked Cranes had just arrived from Tibet for their winter sojourn. I had read about these beautiful creatures with their grey/white bodies, black and white feathers, black necks and a dash of red above their eyes. I was sorely tempted, but I did not want to add another two hours to an already long day. So I gave up the opportunity – and have regretted it ever since!

photo: apm.dialog.,jp
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En route to Bumthang we stopped at Trongsa, with another imposing Dzong that could be seen long before we reached the town. It was set on several levels with some beautiful decorations on the woodwork.

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Just beside the Dzong was a long patch of grass where a group of Bhutanese were practicing their archery skills. This is the national sport and you see young Bhutanese with their bows and arrows almost everywhere.

Bumthang is more of a village and the guest house was on the outskirts. Getting up early for a walk before what I knew would be a large breakfast, I saw the usual chillies drying in the sun.

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As I walked along the road I noticed many of the houses sporting phallic decorations on their white exterior walls. There was even one double wooden phallus set at the end of a road leading to a farm, this having shreds of white linen sprouting from it in a very obvious reference to fertility!

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I had three nights in Bumthang. Whilst there are many sights within an hour or so radius, I felt some were disappointing. I would happily have done with one day less.

Returning east there were those two mountain passes to get over once again. This time we stopped at a small town of Wangdue in time for the end of the weekly market. Within the Dzong a lot of the young novice monks had clearly finished their lessons for the day and were happily playing in the courtyard.

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The next day there was just one mountain pass as we by-passed Thimphu and made for a 2-night stay in Paro not far from the airport. This was by far the best hotel accommodation I had experienced – a large room and bathroom with a luxurious king-size bed and a proper duvet. The first morning I had to be up at 6:00 in order to leave the hotel sharp at 7:00. My guide and driver were waiting to take me on the short 10-minute drive for the start of the morning’s trek up to Tiger’s Nest. By now thoroughly acclimatized, I was told the trek up the rough, earthen zigzag rock and tree-root strewn path would only take us about two hours. The early start was so that we could avoid the heat of the late morning sun. Being November it was certainly cold at night but very pleasantly warm and often downright hot in the daytime.

Well, I guess I turned out not to be a typical tourist. The ascent up the 900 meters from the floor of the valley at 2,100 meters took me a good three hours, and I was quite breathless when I finally made it.

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Then my heart sank. Although level with this wonderful little Monastery, the symbol of Bhutan, our pathway was on a separate part of the cliff. We were only about 50 meters away as the crow flies but we had first to descend into a V-shaped crevasse before turning and climbing up another 100 meters or so on the other side. Although I had not been to a gym for a few years, I thought I was pretty fit. I wasn’t, for I could feel my thighs gradually giving out as we climbed down that narrow stairway. At one point I was sure I would fall. Had I done so, you would not be reading this report for I would have fallen at least 500 meters down a sheer cliff face. But my guide was always at my arm ready to steady me if he felt I needed a bit of support.

If the climb down was bad, the climb back up to the Monastery was worse. I was virtually on my hands and knees as we reached the entrance. But I did feel a sense of achievement and the view down the valley was magnificent. With a bit of a rest, I managed the steps down and up with little problem. But on the pathway down back to the valley, I felt quite a strain on my knees. At once my guide jumped into the nearby wood and came out with a long branch which I could use as a climbing stick. I kicked myself for not having brought one in Thimphu.

Looking around Paro city in the afternoon was inevitably a bit of an anti-climax. Nothing prepares you for the Tiger’s Nest and the memory of the trek up and actually being inside was unquestionably the highlight of the tour for me. That and seeing the gorgeous Punakha Dzong shortly after dawn earlier on my trip.

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The following morning was another relatively early day, this time for the Druk Air flight back to Bangkok. I tipped my guide and driver. On the basis of my two flights, Druk Air is an excellent airline. Whichever direction the plane departs, do try and get a seat by a window on the left side. If it is a clear day, you will be given the most stunning view of the eastern Himalaya. Mt. Everest is too far west, but you will still witness one of the most stunning mountain views.

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Arranging a trip to Bhutan from Bangkok is easy, but requires some planning. In a second short report I will give advice on how to make arrangements and the financial requirements.
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