Bhutan—Our Happy Place

It is both luck and a privilege to travel to a country at its crossroads. We got to experience Nepal in 1977, Bali in 1979, and Thailand and India in 1980 before they went through massive transformations and became hot tourist destinations. 

We can now add Bhutan to the list—and declare it as perhaps the most favorite country we’ve ever visited out of about 46.

At the giant Buddha Point above Thimphu

Flying in from Kathmandu to Paro is quite an experience, both for the Himalayan mountain scenery and the dicey landing in Paro.  Only 50 pilots worldwide are certified to fly in and out of there.

The Paro airport from road to our hotel

A video clip of our landing in the narrow valley with a short runway is in the photo link below.  All that tension melted away when the immigration officer asked me “How was your flight?” She promptly stamped my passport, smiled, then said, “Enjoy Bhutan, Mr. Ronald.”

We were in a cohesive 11-person Road Scholar tour group for two weeks with Tim, our charismatic and humorous 38-year old Bhutanese guide, and Sonam, our skillful 20-passenger minibus driver.

Tishim (Tim) our guide

The amazing Sonnam

It often took six hours to cover 100 miles crossing several passes on narrow rough roads. But the time passed quickly through the beautiful mountains and serene valleys while Tim regaled us Bhutanese history and culture, and with stories of his youth as Bhutan was entering the modern world.  

Our two-week route, out and back.  The house icons are where we stayed for 2-3 nights. The knife and fork symbols in the upper left were the Tiger’s Nest near Paro, where we landed, departed, and stayed two nights.

A stupa and prayer flags

Countless Buddhist temples, stupas, shrines, monasteries, and prayer flags dotted the verdant countryside. Tim, a devout Buddhist, explained its belief system and demonstrated rituals as we entered holy places. “To understand Bhutan,” he said, “you have to understand Buddhism.”  He’s right, and I still don’t fully understand either.

Bhutan is so friendly and mellow! The people are reserved and polite. Drivers cooperate and don’t honk. Everyone aged 10-40 is fluent in English, and many older than that can also understand and speak it.

Friendly girls at a festival wanting to talk with us

It is relativity clean and litter free. Although we saw signs of new wealth, it wasn’t ostentatious, and we didn’t see the income gaps and poverty we recently saw in Nepal or Thailand. Or in the USA.  Beyond its mellow vibe, we got a sense of Bhutan’s cohesion, strong Buddhist faith, and national pride.  However, that comes with the price tag of conformity and sameness.

On our way back from a hike on Hwy #1,
The main road going east to west

Instead of GDP (gross national product) as a measurement of progress, Bhutan pioneered the GNH (gross national happiness) metric. We attended a lecture on the topic on how it is measured through surveys. It IS a happy place, and it was certainly our happy place in the two weeks leading up to the US elections.

Dochola Pass, elevation 10,000+ 
The Himalayas in the backkground

While Kathy and were playing cribbage in the small restaurant of our guest house in Bumthang, the Prime Minister came in and briefly chatted with us.  He wanted to know if Oregon was a blue state and if we had voted yet. He was very intrigued with our vote by mail system. Later the Home Minister came by. He was in Portland two years ago for a forestry conference.

Tourism is the second highest source of income (hydropower is first). Bhutan can go the path of many popular destinations that have become overbuilt and overrun with culturally insensitive tourists, party seekers, bargain hunters, and runaway development.  But I don’t think it will.

First, geography. It took us 23 hours of flight time, plus long layovers to get there. The narrow valleys and steep mountains prohibit jumbo jets. The nearest cruise port is Kolkata, 18 hours away by bus on torturous roads.  

The landlocked mountain kingdom of Bhutan

The altitude of Thimphu, the capital city in the center of the country is 8400 feet, but many of the sites and hikes are at higher elevations. It takes forever to get anywhere. We got farther east than 90% of most tourists do, but it took one week at a leisurely pace and we barely got past central Bhutan.  And by the way, our 20-passenger bus was the largest that the sometimes one-lane roads can accommodate. And we had to constantly make way for cows and dogs.

We each got a window, and turns to ride “shotgun”

Second, policy. Bhutan requires all visitors to either be on an organized trip or with private guides, which supports the travel industry in a labor-intensive way, promotes Bhutanese culture, and helps enforce temple etiquette.  And it discourages one from lying around the pool in the cool weather. Visitors must pay $250 per day to the tour operators/guide, but almost all charge more. The government takes $100 of that and applies it to health and education, some of which goes to traditional art training. Unlike Nepal, mountaineering isn’t allowed as the peaks are sacred places, home to gods and spirits.  Trekking, however is encouraged and abundant.

New hotel or apt. Under way in Thimphu
Note the bamboo scaffolding

Geography and policies aside, we saw a tremendous amount of new hotel construction underway.  Fortunately, all construction has to generally conform to traditional Bhutanese architecture and design. This supports local artisans that the government helped train. However, we were there at peak season, yet some of our hotels were only partially occupied. Is there a real estate bust in the making? Will the government loosen its policies to help fill them in the future? 

Bhutan isn’t for everyone. There are no bar scenes, beaches, or tobacco sales. But for uniqueness, culture, and beauty, this was our happy place and the trip of a lifetime that went by too quickly.  

What’s not to like?  Just two things:  the forgettable food and the feral dogs that barked all night long. (We made up for the food and the lack of sleep in noisy Thailand.)

We took a LOT of photos, but here a link to but a few that can give you a feel for Bhutan more than the above words. They are best viewed on something larger than a phone. About five photos and our route map were taken by fellow travelers, and all of our photos cannot convey the fun spirit of our group and the beautiful interiors of on the insides of the Dzongs (temples). Some rival that of European cathedrals.  My favorite photo/vido is at the end. Enjoy!

“What We Can, While We Can”

“What We Could, While We Could”

PS:  Bhutan update:

About the time this blog was published, CBS 60 Minutes aired a segment on Bhutan.  Very interesting, especially as it talks about its brain drain and the king’s efforts to create a “Mindfulness City” near the southern border to bring the educated young back home.  Here’s the link.

View from our room in Punakha

Tiger’s Nest view point, elevation 

10,240 feet