A world away and high in the mountains, Bhutan has long been a secluded travel destination just having opened for tourism in 1974. Bhutan is considered a Himalayan country and is famous for measuring its gross domestic happiness rather than gross domestic product. The population is low and the standard of living is very high despite being quite a poor country. The country is studded with gorgeous monasteries, stupas and fortresses with the green hills and snow capped mountains as a backdrop. Everyone in Bhutan has their own property and nearly each family has a giant lovely home with their own almost self sustaining farm around it.

Buddhism is at the center of the culture as is the love for the King (and the past kings and future kings…). The people are devout and indoctrinated. They claim to have all cried when they had to adopt a democracy. We found the shroud of happiness a tad naive as outsiders, though somewhat charming. We also found a system that keeps 25% of the men (the poorest ones whose parents cannot afford clothes or books for school) as monks a bit curious. Since the boys enroll at age 6 or 7 and commit to a lifetime of celibacy with consequence of hell for quitting the monastery, this seems like a variation on sterilizing the poorest members of society. The society is structured around this with the wealthier members of society making many donations in the name of their own salvation and hiring monks to perform rituals frequently.

I went on this trip with my friends from work, Lisa and Shannon. We rendezvoused in Bangkok from all corners of the world. I went in with moderate expectations, having visited Nepal in the past and not feeling great about the mandatory guide and driver all tourists (aside from India, Sri Lanka and Maldives) are required to have while in Bhutan. We lucked out with our super cool driver, we affectionately called “Ken” and our young, insightful guide, “Brandon”. By the final days of the trip, we were soaking and dining together and had become genuine friends. This was a trip full of laughs and fascinating conversation about religion, government and geopolitical dynamics focused on India and China.

EXPERIENCE

Bhutan has an impressive claim to fame as the happiest country in the world. We arrived into Paro, the country’s only international airport, via Bangkok with a stopover in Kolkata. This landing is known to be one of the toughest in the world, high in the Himalayas, and was just as exciting as promised. A resource rich country, situated between super powers like India and China- Bhutan truly feels like a fusion of many worlds.

We began the day in Paro with a visit to Kyichu Lhakhang, one of the oldest and most sacred shrines, composed of two temples. Here the people offer butter lamps, prayers and receive blessings from the lama. This was small and quite lovely. I was most impressed by the orange tree located in the center of the shrine which is said to have special powers and bear fruit all year rather than just seasonally. From here we went on to visit the National Museum. The Ta- Dzong (the watchtower) was built in the 17th century to guard the Paro Rimpong dzong (fortress) below. The museum is very small but situations at a beautiful vista overlooking the entire Paro Valley. This view makes it worth a visit as does the impressive festival mask collection. From here we walked down to visit the most beautiful fortress below which is now home to about 50 monks. This is a lovely place to observe the traditional architecture and admire intricate wood carvings and paintings. Our day ended with a walk around the shops of Paro Town and a visit to watch the local archers practice target shooting with their modern bows and song.

Our next stop was Bumthang. Bumthang Dzongkhag consists of four main valleys Ura, Chumey, Tang and Choekhor. Choekhor is the largest of the four mountain valleys and is widely considered as ‘Bumthang Valley. Drive to Ura Village 1.5 hrs from Jakar to witness last day Ura Yakchoe Festival held in Ura Lhakhang. During the festival a sacred and important relic is put on display so that the people can receive blessings from it. According to legend an old woman sitting outside her house was visited by a lama asking for a drink of water. When she came out with the water, the lama had vanished leaving behind only a sack. Out of curiosity, she checked the bag and found the statue that is now displayed annually. This relic has been passed on from generation to generation and is still owned by the descendants of the woman. While here, we visited Jambay Lhakhang, built in the 7th century by the King Songtsen Goempo of Tibet. In his effort to propagate Buddhism he had a plan to build a total of 108 temples in Tibet and neighboring kingdoms. We also saw Kujey Lhakhang, built by Minjur Tempa in 1652. It was built around the cave in which Guru Rimpoche meditated and left his body imprint. Finally, we visited Tamshing Lhakhang which is notable for being full of very ancient religious paintings like 1,000 Buddhas and 21 Taras (female form of Buddhistava). After our sightseeing we explored the farmhouse scene at Dshomo Farmhouse for lunch and went to Sherbah Dema Farmhouse for a very traditional Hot Stone Bath in the evening. We added a stop to our itinerary to visit Red Panda Brewery as well, which is owned by a Swiss man. This stop was memorable because we had a fun interview for a documentary here.

The next day we left for Phobjikha Valley, stopping in Trongsa along the way. This was a really rough day of driving on the longest stretch of construction I have ever seen. The morning leg was four hours. The road goes in and out from short stretches of pavement to deep mud and gravel as Indian laborers install a road through the country. We had some reprieve from the violent bouncing and mudslide fears (that were only amplified by the three days of steady rain), when we stopped for lunch at Yangkhil Resort. This place has a beautiful view of the Trongsa Dzong from across the valley. We then the Dzong, the main highlight of which is the views from the top. We decided to skip the Ta Dzong Museum in favor of getting back on the road. We then drove another four hours to Phobjikha Valley for the night where we finally united with our third travel party member. We spent the night here having beers in a rural home bar near the hotel (since the hotel had no beer) while having hours of fervent conversation with our guide and driver about Bhutan’s role in geopolitical tensions and the tenants of the Buddhist religion. All in all, a long but lovely day.

The next day we left from the Phobjikha Valley without seeing a black neck crane (though Shannon met Karma, an injured one) and made our way to Punakha Valley which is known for growing vegetables and fruit. En route we stopped at Gangtey Goempa Monastery, founded in 1613, which makes it one of Bhutan’s oldest. Next up was the Khamsum Yulley Temple Hike. The hike up to the chorten was pretty spectacular with incredible views of the rice patties below. It was not too difficult but a nice walk to break up the meals. This structure honors the 5th King and was my favorite of the entire trip with hardly any tourists and three floors of elaborate protector decor that were absolutely spectacular. Since this region is at lower altitude and quite a bit warmer than the previous days, we finished the hike with a whitewater rafting trip down the Female River. This was a fun way to go from the trailhead back down river to the Punakha Dzong. This fortress is on the split of land where two rivers meet and was surrounded by beautiful purple trees and just as stunning at night from the outside as during the day. Inside there is a giant Buddha and many rooms to explore that serve as spaces for important Bhutanese rituals. This was one of the larger sacred Dzongs we saw and certainly worth a visit. From here we drove a short ways to cross the longest suspension footbridge in Bhutan which made for one last thrill for the day. While in this region we also did a 45 minute hike to Chimmi Lhakhang Fertility Temple. We had a fun night out here at a dance club in town where local girls entertained us in very conservative dancing outfits.

Next, we headed to Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan with a population of about 100,000 which is the nation’s largest city. It is home to the legislative, executive, judicial and religious centre of the government. While here, we visited the Memorial Chorten, built in 1974 as a monument for the 3rd king of Bhutan Jigme Dorji Wangchuck. It signifies the “Seat of Faith” otherwise “Mind of Buddha”. The highlight of the day was Buddha Point. This is the world’s largest sitting Buddha with hundreds of thousands of small statues inside and said to radiate happiness and peace. Tashichho Dzong houses the throne room and offices of the king, the secretariat and the ministries. That evening we hit Thimphu town to shop and have dinner then snuck out of our hotel unattended for the Bliss Karaoke. We realized quickly the locals here also had not spent time with white people.

We also did a hike to Cheri Monastery. This hike was rainy for us and the monastery at the top isn’t particularly impressive, but we enjoyed moving a bit after all the eating and driving. The monastery is a major teaching and retreat center of the Southern Drukpa Kagyu sect. The Monastery serves as the monastic school for study of Buddhist Philosophy, metaphysics, mathematics, poets and many other Buddhist studies. According to legend or history of Bhutan the place was first visited by Padmasambhava in the 8th century. In the 13th century it was visited by Phajo Drugom Zhigpo the Tibetan Lama who first established the Drukpa Kagyu tradition in Bhutan. Zhabdrung spent three years in strict retreat at the monastery and stayed for many years. From here we drove back to Thimphu to visit the School of Thirteen Arts & Crafts. This is the primary center of learning for Bhutanese artists. thirteen arts and crafts, including painting, weaving, sculptures, blacksmithing, and embroidery. Then we were off to the Centenary Farmers Market. Thimphu’s new weekend market is by far the largest domestic market for the farmers in Bhutan. Farmers come from all over the country to sell their farm products in the market. We opted to skip the National Textile Museum in favor of getting massages at the Dhungsel Home Spa by the Visually Impaired. These massages were wonderful and a great local experience. From here we had our Korean dinner then snuck out of the hotel to do some karaoke with the locals at Bliss Karaoke Nightclub near our hotel- quite a hilarious night.

In the morning we got an early start back to Paro to hike Tiger’s Nest. This is Bhutan’s most picturesque landmark. Taktshang the Tiger’s Nest clings to the side of a steep cliff 300 meters above the Paro valley. The place was first visited by Guru Rimpoche, founder of the tantric form of Buddhism in Himalayan countries, in the 8th century.  It was said that he meditated there for about three months. The original temple was built in the 17th century, but tragically, it was consumed by fire in 1998. Like a phoenix, the temple was rebuilt to its fullest glory in 2003. Takshang is considered to be the 10th-holiest site in the Buddhist world. the hike was long but broken up each way with a stop at the tea house for biscuits and then lunch. We managed to do the entire thing including lunch and time in the monastery in about four and a half hours. We loved the exterior of the monastery through the destination itself did not feel particularly unique after a week in Bhutan. From here we went for a final walk through Paro town and one last hot stone soak at a local farmhouse called Dhotai Farmhouse. This one was exceptionally nice and we found it the perfect way to end our time in Bhutan.

STAY

Since our travel was coordinated for us, this trip was rather unique in that I did very little research on hotels before arriving. We opted into the cheapest day rate (which was still expensive by my standards) so our hotels were more mid-tier than fancy every night. Overall we were really happy with this standard since it allowed us to experience local life and still have access to WiFi and clean beds and showers nightly. The rooms in Bhutan are big, the beds are hard and the hotels tend to be quite remote and to not allow tourists to explore much on their own without guides.

In Paro we spent one night in Tenzinling Resort. Despite a remote location, the hotel is very nice and the meal was excellent. Our room had a large bathroom and nice outdoor patio to enjoy beers on after a long day. The hotel has several buildings including a spa, small shop, full bar and restaurant. I’d recommend this hotel for a few nights in Paro.

Once we arrived in Bumthang, we stayed at the Yugharling Resort. This hotel was situated with a great view of the valley and our room’s patio was a lovely place to enjoy it. Food at this hotel was a little less impressive but the room’s were large and the bathrooms were decent enough. We had a great time in the well stocked bar and they made many efforts to take good care of us.

In Phobjikha, we spent on night at the Hotel Dewachen. Because this region is much more remote, the hotel is much more modest with no WiFi and sporadic power. We had a really nice dinner here however and enjoyed each other’s company while sitting in the common dining room and enjoying beers and conversation.

Then we were off to Punakha where we slept at the Drubchhu Resort for one night. This hotel is set in beautiful place and has incredible flowering gardens all around the property. We were very pleased with the views from the room but did not otherwise spend too much time here.

From here we moved onto the Namgay Heritage for two nights in Thimphu. This hotel was also very nice with large, comfortable rooms and a decent breakfast. This hotel has a large bar and pool. We liked this hotel because we could easily walk to the bars and karaoke clubs in town, unlike any of our other accommodations. We had a funny mix up here regarding the key to our room, but aside from that it was a very nice stay.

Then we ended up back in Paro for one final night at Naksel Boutique Hotel & Spa. This was by far the nicest of the hotels we stayed at while in Bhutan. It has a four star rating which meant it was more clean and new with heated floors, golf cart rides to the rooms and a stunning view of the snow capped Himalayas from the decks. This was a beautiful spot to spend the final night of our trip and indulge a little- high marks for this remote hotel!

EAT

I honestly was not sure what to expect from the cuisine of Bhutan as I have never even seen a Bhutanese Restaurants back home. We found the food to be delightfully spicy but somewhat redundant after ten days. The staples are red rice, lots of dairy and lots of chilire! The Bhutanese do eat meat, though they do not kill animals, which means all the meat is imported from India or butchered by Hindus. I veered vegetarian for many days on this trip but my friends indulged and had no problems.

Day one in Paro we had lunch at Lhayabling Restaurant town where we ate many roasted vegetables and rice from the buffet along with several very spicy, cheesy, curry dishes to supplement. The menu was similar for dinner at the hotel but expanded to include more masalas and Indian curries. On our way back through Paro we went out for evening cocktails after hiking Tiger’s Nest at a trendy new (quite Western feeling) spot called Park 76. This place is a nice reprieve from the hole in the wall local spots and actually serves fresh coffee, cocktails and non-Bhutanese wine. We had our final, and very memorable, dinner at the farmhouse where we had our final stone bath. It was called Dohati Farmhouse and it is situated deep in the red rice patties outside Paro. Here we sat on 80 year old mats on the floor and shared the spiciest, most authentic Bhutanese meal ever with our driver and guide. We ate all our favorite dishes including: orchid buds, cheese chilies, spicy pork, chicken, red rice, asparagus, cheesy potatoes with more homemade sake. We also had a new local drink consisting of sake, eggs and butter. We paid the price in the morning, but it was a fantastic tasty meal!

In Bumthang we were less impressed with the hotel foot and continued to be served the basic Bhutanese dishes: we had a very memorable farmhouse meal here that included: eggplant, pumpkin, red rice, handmade, buckwheat pancakes, buckwheat noodles, toasted red rice, beef, flour noodles, chili cheese sauce and homemade house sake. We had a very similar dinner that night in Bumthang town at Noryang Restaurant which delighted us with the addition of cabbage and cheese momos! We loved these so much we saved the extra as a breakfast supplement tor the next day.

In Punakha we ate lunch at a picnic spot near the river which sever the usual Bhutanese tourist meal and was fine. We also ate an Indian meal with specially made chicken momos at S.T.WIFI Restaurant (which ironically does not even have WiFi). This meal was decent and showcased lots of effort. This region seems to attract a lot of Indian tourists, so it seemed like a good place to branch out a bit with our cuisine for the week.

In Thimphu we had two non-Bhutanese meals at the Swiss Restaurant to break up the monotony of the local cuisine. Here they did a pizza lunch and authentic Thai dinner for us, another great thing about this restaurant is that they are one of the few places to have Red Panda on draft. We had momos in Thimphu also since this is their regional speciality at Zombala 2. Here we had Tom yum soup, beef momos, cheese momos, and some great grilled vegetables. We also did dinner at Susa Korean BBQ to change it up one night. This meal was incredible and I’d highly recommend it.

Key message here is to ask your guide to get the meals to be fully authentic Bhutanese rather than the less spicy and westernized version of be cuisine they attempt to feed you. Be sure to eat the street food. Try the fried doughs, cucumbers with tons of chilies and peanut brittle type bars. Seek out Red Panda beer. Insist on dining floor style in a local farmhouse. Also change up the plans when you inevitably tire of Bhutanese cuisine and seek out some places on your own to take your guide to. All in all, this was a great eating trip!

This trip was really great, we laughed endlessly and learned so much. While the sites did get a bit redundant, it didn’t matter much as we were thoroughly enjoying our experience and time with friends. That said, I feel like I saw Bhutan. If I were to return, I’d hit the Northern regions to get higher into the Himalayas and try my luck on a few days of the 30 day Snowmen Trek. So glad to have visited here when we did as it seems to be developing responsibility but rapidly for tourism. I was glad to catch the country before paved roads, western restaurants or direct flights. What a wonderful week in an extremely delightful country!