First, many thanks to those of you who helped to answer our questions on this forum! We had a wonderful time in Bhutan and hope that this information is useful to others.
For background, we are three friends, all women from California, in our late 30s. We visited Bhutan October 20 – November 1, 2008. We had booked with Lhomen Tours and Trekking: http://www.lhomen.com.bt/ (I posted earlier about how we decided upon this company). Our itinerary was:
Days 1-2: Paro (hotel: Gangtey Palace – great views)
Days 3-6: Druk Path Trek (Paro to Thimphu; arrived in Thimphu early on Day 6)
Days 6-7: Thimphu (hotel: Jumolhari – most modern/Western hotel we stayed in)
Day 8: Drive to Punakha (hotel: Zangto Pelri – mediocre, avoid if you can)
Days 9-10: Bumthang (hotel in Jakar: Mepham Guest House – excellent service)
Day 11: Drive to Phobjikha Valley, night there (hotel: Dewachen – VERY nice, a little cold)
Day 12: Drive back to Paro via Thimphu (hotel: Gangtey Palace again)
Day 13: Fly back to Bangkok from Paro
Our guides
Our guide heavily influenced how much we enjoyed our trip. We had two guides; our first was disappointing. He didn’t speak much English and spent most of the time walking behind us, not talking or explaining anything. After our second day in Paro, we contacted the owner of Lhomen Tours to request a new guide when we returned from our trek. The owner, Karchung, immediately arranged this and we met our new guide, Sonam Choki, in Thimphu. Sonam is an excellent guide, very experienced (8 years as a guide) and very knowledgeable, who speaks excellent English. Each evening we would discuss the itinerary for the next day and make changes as needed. Sonam was always willing to accommodate any request we had (Can we stop the car for a photo? Can we try the Himalyan Pizza restaurant? Where can we find an inexpensive internet café? A memory card for our camera? Where’s the best place to buy crafts? Can we have pumpkin curry at the restaurant tonight?). We liked that if our request just wasn’t possible, Sonam would tell us, explain why and offer alternatives. Also, talking with him gave us a wonderful insight into the Bhutanese people and culture. He is very personable and engaging and always willing to share his perspective.
Apparently, during the busy season, the more experienced guides are often assigned to the larger tour groups (10, 15, even 20+ people), which leaves the smaller groups (like ours) with the less experienced guides. So we’d recommend specifically requesting an experienced guide who speaks excellent English when you book your trip. Sonam is a freelance guide (most are) – we highly recommend working with him if you can. You won’t be disappointed.
Paro
I won’t go into detail on all of the dzongs, temples, etc that we saw because others have covered them really well in their trip reports. Instead, I’ll hit the highlights and offer hopefully helpful tips. We’ve also submitted separate reviews of each of our hotels to this forum. In general, the hotels were pretty good with sufficient heat, hot water and electricity, but (unless you’re staying at the $1,000/night Amankoras) most are comparable to two-star hotels in the U.S. – small, comfortable and clean but no elevators, no central heating, electricity and hot water only at certain times of the day, limited or no internet access. Some are new, others are in very old buildings that have been converted into hotels and are very charming.
We flew to Paro from Bangkok and, despite arriving 1.5 hrs ahead of our 5:50am departure, we ended up with aisle seats. The best seats for this flight are the “A” seats (window, left side of plane). You’ll pass by some amazing snow-capped peaks (including Everest!) and the view is worth missing an hour or two of sleep. Immigration and customs were easy. There are some restrictions about bringing in tobacco products (we didn’t so we don’t know the details but I believe that it’s illegal to sell or buy cigarettes in Bhutan).
Paro’s elevation is ~7,500 feet. It’s a gorgeous valley and a very small town (Thimphu was a more interesting town to wander around). We felt that two days was enough to see all of the main sights, including Tiger’s Nest (around 9,700 ft), which we hiked up to on our second day – it was really spectacular and worth the effort. The Paro Dzong and the National Museum are both definitely worth seeing; we especially liked the stamp collection in the museum (including a “snowman” – yeti – series).
If possible, bring comfortable slip-on shoes – you’ll be visiting a lot of temples which require you to take your shoes off before entering.
Druk Path Trek
This trek can be done either from Paro to Thimphu or from Thimphu to Paro. We recommend the Paro to Thimphu direction – you get the toughest climbing out of the way on the first day. The trek is mostly at elevations of 11,000-12,000 ft. We had heard that it could be completed in 4, 5 or 6 days. We opted for 5 days and then, after the first day of the trek, reduced it to 4 days. Including breaks, our walking time the first day was about 3 hours, 5-6 hours the second, 6-7 the third and 1 hour the fourth (we’re happy to provide more detail to anyone considering this trek). The latest we got to camp on any day was 3:30pm. The terrain is very manageable (bring trekking poles for the downhills – they can be steep) and the views are outstanding. The nights were VERY cold (the sun dipped behind the mountains around 4pm, there was frost on the ground and tents by 7pm and the nights got uncomfortably cold) so pack accordingly with lots of layers and warm sleeping bags. We filled our water bottles with boiling hot water just before bedtime and slept with them in our sleeping bags, which helped. Temperatures during the day were in the 60s and sunny; we were lucky and did not have any rain during the trek.
For the three of us, we had seven horses, our guide, a cook, 2 horsemen and one assistant. We carried small daypacks with water, layers of clothing and energy bars. Our bags were carried from campsite to campsite by the horses.
One of the highlights of the trek was arriving at our campsite on the third day. It was right next to a monastery and a group of young monks were playing volleyball – and even let two of us join in. Another highlight was waking up each morning around 5am and catching the sunrise over the mountains.
Thimphu
Thimphu is the largest town (about 60,000-75,000 people) with a lot of construction underway. It’s a bustling, energetic place with lots of shops, markets, grocery stores and restaurants. Stock up here on anything you think you’ll need for other parts of your trip. Supplies aren’t always available, even in some of the other bigger towns.
The produce section of the weekend market was worth stopping by (the textiles side wasn’t worth it – mostly cheap clothes imported from Bangladesh). It will move into a much larger, fancier building soon.
One of the highlights in Thimphu was experiencing a traditional hot stone bath. We went to the Chuniding (? spelling; may be Ghuniding) Guest House in Serdithang (just outside of Thimphu). The cost was $16 (US, after converting from Ng) per person. The woman who owns the guesthouse showed us into very clean little rooms with bamboo walls and tubs in the floor. The hot water (warmed in another chamber by sizzling hot river stones) trickles in; you can mix it with cold water to get to your preferred temperature. Our hostess added special herbs and lemongrass oil to the water. It was heavenly after our trek.
Another highlight of our trip was taking a cooking class that Karchung had arranged with the owner of the Blue Orchid Restaurant in Thimphu. We arrived at 9:30am and helped the owner (Sonam Yangzou) and her staff cook that day’s lunch for their guests (including us). The restaurant is beautiful (a huge dining room on a high floor of a building overlooking the stadium). We had a fantastic time learning about Bhutanese recipes and talking with the cooks about the food, their culture (including the role of women in Bhutan), and many other topics. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is interested in learning about Bhutanese cooking or culture. We even got to try suja (butter tea, which I didn’t like, but others did).
At the Changangkha Lhakhang temple we each purchased a roll of prayer flags (for a little over $2 USD) that had been blessed. We later hung these across one of the mountain passes as we drove east.
Definitely stop by the painting school in Thimphu to meet some of the students and browse the store. The paper factory is also worth a stop for a very short tour and to purchase some of their beautiful envelopes %26amp; note cards.
Be sure to bring a flashlight or headlamp; the power was out for several hours the night that we were in Thimphu. The barking dogs that we had heard so much about didn’t materialize – but we were kept awake for a few hours by the karaoke bar that our hotel faced.
Punakha
The drive east is a tough one – the roads are so narrow (very hard to believe that they’re two-way!) that our speed was ~30mph most of the time. But the scenery is fantastic! Our driver, Dorji, was excellent and we felt very safe with him. Bring medication for motion sickness – we could only find Dramamine in Thimphu (and we couldn’t find non-drowsy medication at all).
Another tip: bring all of the Advil/Tylenol, etc that you need. We couldn’t find any in all of Bhutan or Malaysia, Singapore or Hong Kong.
The Punakha dzong is beautiful; unfortunately, it was closed because of the new king’s coronation ceremonies. We stayed at a hotel (mediocre, I don’t recommend it) in a nearby village.
The next morning we walked from the road across several fields to Chimi Lhakhang, a fertility temple near Punakha, where we met a young couple and their baby daughter. The couple had received a fertility blessing last year (which worked!) and were coming back to give thanks for their daughter and have her blessed. The father was so happy and handed out candies. Inside the temple, we were each blessed by a very young monk holding two phalluses (one made from wood, the other from yak bone). It was an interesting experience.
Trongsa
This dzong is, I think, the largest in all of Bhutan and has (I think) 23 temples. It’s definitely worth visiting and has some very beautiful paintings of the wheel of life outside one of the temples.
Bumthang
We spent two days here. We had heard the Jakar valley called “the Switzerland of Bhutan” and it’s a good comparison. It’s a beautiful valley with snow-capped peaks at the north end and a small one-street downtown which reminded us of something from the Hollywood westerns. Worth noting is the restaurant Himalyan Pizza. It doesn’t taste exactly like the pizza we know but it does taste good – and it’s definitely a welcome break from the monotony of the food. They also have delicious cheese momos. The Swiss Guest House%26#39;s store has some delicious cheese for sale. If you spend a few weeks in Bhutan, you%26#39;ll really appreciate this.
We got very lucky and were able to see a festival at the local dzong. It had been rescheduled – moved up from November because it conflicted with the coronation celebrations. We spent four hours there and enjoyed it very much – amazing costumes, very funny clowns walking around with sticks shaped like phalluses, impressive dancing.
Phobjikha Valley
There are two sights to see here: the monastery (very recently renovated and beautiful) and the black-necked cranes (if you’re here at the right time). We arrived on October 30th and there were already five cranes in the valley. The visitors’ center is very nice and has telescopes set up to view the cranes. The area where the cranes nest is closed off to tourists so you aren’t able to get up close to take photos.
Our hotel here was the nicest on the trip, the Dewachen. It had beautiful, comfortable, large rooms, very nice bathrooms and food that was quite good.
Some general information:
ATMs and Credit Cards
Credit cards are not accepted in most areas and even not at some hotels. Cash is the better way to go – but bring the cash that you’ll need. The ATMs in Bhutan don’t yet take foreign cards. We each brought $300-$400 USD with us, which was fine for most items. We only paid for drinks (bottled water, beer, wine, misc groceries like chocolate bars - KitKats are the popular Western brand), tips (for our guide, driver, horsemen, cooks for our camping trip) and souvenirs (we did buy some pricey art at the Painting School – but they take VISA).
Food
We had the same dishes every day, with little variation. We had brought a jar of peanut butter, which was handy for toast at breakfast to break up the monotony a bit. We wished we had taken the advice of one of our TA advisors and brought a bottle or box of wine: the only wine we could find in all of Bhutan was Indian which we tried but thought was pretty awful.
Breakfast usually consisted of tea or Nescafe instant coffee, toast, porridge or cornflakes (strangely, often stale), baked beans, sometimes sausage, sometimes eggs.
Lunch and dinner were often some mix of:
Ema datse (national dish of chilies and cheese, very spicy! One person in our group loved it; it was far too spicy for the others)
Red or white rice (at every lunch/dinner)
Mushrooms in cheese sauce and/or potatoes in cheese sauce
Mixed vegetables (carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli) in cheese sauce
Egg noodles with mixed vegetables
Pork or beef with chilies
Yak (not common; it tastes like pot roast)
Pumpkin (only a few times on our trip – quite good in a curry)
The people
The best part about Bhutan was interacting with the people. They’re wonderful! Very nice and interested in talking with us, finding out where we were from, where we were going in Bhutan and what we thought of their country. Our best moments on the trip were talking with locals, including our guide and driver.
Final thoughts:
Two weeks felt a little short. In retrospect, we would have liked to have added an additional day in Thimphu, one more in the Phobjikha Valley (for hiking) and 1-2 more in Punkaha, Trongsa or Bumthang to break up the very long drives. Overall, it is a wonderful, magical place to visit and we all hope to return sometime soon. Enjoy your trip!
Trip report: 10/20-11/1 (trekking %26amp; cultural tour)
A wonderful,accurate and comprehensive report.
We are already planning our return-2010 perhaps!
Trip report: 10/20-11/1 (trekking %26amp; cultural tour)
Trvler:
Outstanding report!! Some excellent tips for future travellers. We were there at the same time. We probably passed you on one of the many hairpin curves! A lot of your experiences were similar to ours, though we didn%26#39;t do the trek and no guide issues. We stayed in different hotels with the exception of the Dewachen. I absolutely agree with you about the Dewachen Hotel. I wished we could have spent another day and night there. In summary, I think a trip to Bhutan is sort of like going to London, Australia, or New Zealand - you really have to work hard to screw it up!!
A great trip report!
I%26#39;m happy you also fell in love with Bhutan.
As most visitors are older than you, I%26#39;d advise to climb to Taktsang at the end and not right in the beginning of the trip.
I agree about Phobjikha and Dewachen hotel.When I asked Sonam to spend two nights there he asked me what he could offer to clients for the extra day. I think that they all feel that because of the price, they have to fill our days. The last time we stayed there two nights, walking in the valley to a remote village, doing a meditation session with a Lama, and preparing for our Gangtey-trek.
You have to return to see the dzong in Punakha, it is the most beautiful and impressive of all.
For the people planning: for breakfast you can ask for fried rice with ommelette. This is what the locals eat, it is not sharp, without chillies, and very filling.
The only wine I liked was honey-wine, not cheap but delicious.It is made in Bumthang.
Enjoy your memories and pictures!
Thanks for the detailed report. Very much look forward to our Bhutan holiday next March!
Brings back some lovely memories, Thank you very much. It truely is an amazing place.
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