Trip Report

This will be a bit long but after the excellent advice from board members the favor should be returned.

We flew out of Portland on the afternoon of the 20th, and caught the 11:00PM Eva Air flight from Newark to Taipei with a refuel in Anchorage. We flew in Elite Class and managed five or so hours of sleep on the way to Alaska. The flight was OK but the food and legroom didn%26#39;t match our 2006 Premium Economy flights with Thai Air. The flight to Bangkok was fine and we landed in Bangkok around noon on the 22nd. The transfer to the Novotel Airport Hotel went without a hitch and after a well deserved gin and tonic ( we bring our own) we hit the pool at around 2. We had an early dinner around five and were in bed by six as we had a 1:30 AM wake up. The hotel was fine.

The transfer from the hotel and the Druk Air check in went fine We flew Business Class and it%26#39;s well worth the extra charge. We left on time at 4:30 and had an excellent asian breakfast on the way to Calcutta. The flight to Paro is everything previously described on this board, with great views and a unique landing. Immigration was no problem, but the baggage claim was a bit slow. We changed US $200 into NU%26#39;s at a rate of abour 48.5/1. Our Nirvana Expeditions guide Dechen (Not the co owner) and the driver met us outside the terminal and we were off to Thimpu. We stayed at the Druk Hotel. The room was OK. The Tashi grocery store is next door for bottled water, tonic and snack resupply. The bathroom worked fine though the bed was a bit hard. While my wife got settled in I took a brief walk through the downtown. The first plesant surprise was that unlike any other asian country, you could walk down the street without being hasseled by anyone trying to sell something. This was the norm throughout the trip. We had a nice lunch at a restaurant overlooking the national stadium where a coronation rehersal was going on. As was our experience throughout the trip the local vegetables, fruits and breads were excellent. Wasn%26#39;t that thrilled with the chili and cheese, but ate enough to be polite. The meat ( mostly chicken and beef) left a bit to be desired. As was true for all of the trip I enjoyed a Druk 11,000 with the meal and my wife had tea and bottled water. We spent the rest of the afternoon touring and had an uneventful buffet dinner at the hotel. The famous dogs did put in their evening appearance but not enough to hamper our sleep.

The following morning we toured more local sights after an average breakfast buffet at the hotel. We had lunch at Plums Cafe near the traffic control stand. The buffet was good and was topped off by home made apple pie for desert. More touring in the afternoon followed by a delightful dinner with Dechen, the co owner, at a Chinese Restauraunt. She%26#39;s a fascinating person with both a bachelors and masters degree from Yale. Besides the travel agency, she serves on a couple of government advisory panels and gave us a lot of insight into the country. One of our friends daughters was a close friend of the new king at Wheaton College and we brought a letter and a couple of gifts from her to him. Dechen was able to work with the palace to get them delivered.

Next morning we were off to the Phobjika valley via the Dochula Pass and Wangdu. The Gods were smiling on us as it was a crystal clear day and we had spectaular views of the high peaks on the Tibet border - one of the trip%26#39;s highlights. They have a place up there where you can have tea and enjoy the view. We then went down the other side of the pass and had a nice lunch at a restaurant in Wangdue again with excellent local vegetables. After a visit to the local dozng, we were off to Phobjika. A note about the roads, they are a little larger than one lane and wind around mountainsides. Oftentimes you%26#39;re looking out of one side of the vehicle at drops of over 1,000 feet. Once you get past that experience, the scenery is something else. In late afternoon we came over another pass into the valley. It was one of our favorite places and in retrospect, wish we had spent another day there. We stayed at the Dewachen Hotel offering great views from both the dining room and our room. Both are heated with wood stoves, which prooved to be no problem as we have a couple in our house here in Maine. The food was average but the hotel and rooms were great.

The next day, after a visit to the local monastery, we were off over another high pass with great views, through the black mountains to Throngsa. Again spectacular scenery especially approaching Throngsa. After a nice lunch at a resort outside of town we visited the local dzong and were fortunate to see an archery match going on. A note on the monasteries, we found them to be quite similar to the ones we visited in Tibet except that they were a lot more open. Next it was off over another high pass to the Bumthang valley. Again great scenery - I know I%26#39;m repeating myself but you have to see it to know what I%26#39;m talking about. We finally arrived at our hotel, the Rinchling Lodge, which was again heated by woodstoves. We really liked our room. We ate dinner in the hotel. Again great vegetables - average meat.

The following day turned rainy. We visited several temples and the local dzong in the morning. We had a great lunch in the hotel that featurted local trout and vegetables. We spent the afternoon in our room catching up on reading and laundry which suited us just fine.

The sun was back out the next day and we retraced our route back to Throngsa, Wangdue and eventually Punakaha. We ate lunch at a great restaurant overlooking a river and the black mountains. One of our better lunches. We ended up at the Meriphuensum Resort. The rooms were quite nice with a good view. They have a covered patio where you can have drinks overlooking the valley. The food was nothing to write home about.

We spent tne morning hiking through fields and up a steep hill to a temple recently built. It was a great hike, the temple was interesting with great views. We had an excellent lunch at a restauranr in the new section of Punakaha. Because it was hosting one of the coronation cermonies, the dzong was closed to visitors. We spent the afternoon hiking through fields to another temple devoted to my favorite god - the Devine Mad Man. We even got a blessing from one of the monks.

The following day it was back over the Dochula Pass to Thimpu where we again had lunch at Plums. There were more clouds this time, but I had a nice visit with a Bhutanese Army officer who was leading a security contingent guarding the pass in anticipation of the king%26#39;s visit to Punaka the following day. After lunch it was off to Paro. We stayed in the Namsey Choling Resort. Though it was at the end of a lousy road, we had the best room of our trip - aginn with a nice view. The coffee maker and the hair dryey were a treat for the wife. We had dinner on the hotel - average at best.

The next day it was off to the Tiger Temple locaited on the side of a cliff about 2,700 feet above the valley. The first portion of the climb ends at a small restaurant and is somewhat steep but not difficult. I%26#39;m 65 and my wife is 64. The next portion goes up for another hour and you reach a point that is about even with the height of the temple. The next part is the adventure. You climb 300 steps down one side of a cliff, cross a stream with a beautiful waterfall and then climb another 300 steps up to the temple. You repeat the process on the return trip. We made it, but it was tough going climbing those 300 steps back up. We had lunch at the half way restaurant ( I needed that Druk 11,000 to cure some of the muscle aches)and returned to the parking lot at four. We had a nice dinner in a local Paro restaurant. Needless to say, we had no trouble sleeping that night. They could have imported the whole Thimpu dog population and we wouldn%26#39;t have noticed.

The next day we visited an ancient fort at the head of the valley that offered great views of Bhutan%26#39;s second highest highest peak. We then visited the national museum, had a nice lunch and then visited the local dzong and watched an archery tournament. My wife wanted to view a local cultural show, so the guide arranged that. In the evening we had probably our best dinner. It featured local trout and roast yak with spinach. It tasted like excellent pot roast.

The next day brought us to the airport at 7:30 for our 9:30 flight back to Bangkok. Paro airport has a business class lounge which allowed us to pass the time in comfort. The flight left on time. We were on the right hand side and had great views of the mountains - especially Everest. After a stop at Gangtey India we were off to Bangkok. Service on the flight back was good. We arrived in Bangkok on time and proceeded on to Siem Reap in Cambodia for three days.

In summary, we were pleased with Nirvana and really had no unplesant experiences. It%26#39;s a wonderful country, that%26#39;s working very hard to improve the lives of it%26#39;s people while retaining its heritage. If you have a chance, go.

Thanks to Bhutan Traveler and Ozchuck for their many forum contributions.

Trip Report

Hi BluePhantom,

Thank you so much for taking the time writing this report. I%26#39;m very happy you had a wonderful time in Bhutan, and were lucky with the weather.(Out of 8 times I passed Dochu La, I saw the mountains once).

The strong parts of Bhutan are nature, its people and the cultural sights. For excellent food it is not known, but as you noticed, there are some nice places. Did you have a chance to eat at Sonam%26#39;s Trophel in Paro? That was one of the best I think.

I agree that the relative small surcharge for buisiness in Drukair is well worth it, but also in economy they give good service. And the views are the same, wherever you sit.

Glad to have helped with some advise.

Trip Report

Dear BluePhantom, very great to hear that you had great experience with your trip to Bhutan.I am from Paro, Bhutan. It really makes me feel so happy to know guest coming here have had very good time. Oh, by they way your flight stop in India must be at Gaya( Gangtey is in Phobjikha). Have a great time...Ugyen

BluePhantom

We passed your group on the steps of the of the Namsey-we were the Brit group,just arriving.

You were all off to Tigers Nest.

Great report-I have done earlier posting but full one to follow,eventually.

Very nice report. Bhutan is such an amazing place. My partner and I are heading back for our second visit in January.

Sorry to hear you didn%26#39;t like the Ema Datse (chillies and cheese). I love spicy food and thought they were great.

We are going with Nirvana in March and so we are interested in your report. I am wondering if you could give me some more info about the guide. You didn%26#39;t mention much. Anything the guide could have done better, or any suggestions we should give to the guide to make our experience more enjoyable? I read another trip report where the travelers were not very happy with their Nirvana guide. We are not going with a group, so it will just be the 2 of us and the guide and driver, so having a good guide is really paramount. I also have wondered if not going with a group will affect the caliber of guide we get, since obviously our tip will be far less than what they would get with a large group. By the way...how much did you tip?

Hi Jeanie:

Actually, it was just my wife and I with the guide and driver. I%26#39;m not sure how they selected the guide for us, but he worked out fine. Other than hotels, and the routing, I think you can change things within that. We%26#39;re not shoppers, so we didn%26#39;t spend a lot of time in shops. If we wanted to go in town to a restaurant in Thimpu and Paro at night we were taken there. The guide did say that if we wanted to make changes we could. We were quite pleased with most of the regular schedule so we just made minor changes. My wife wanted to go to a cultural show and that was arranged. I think that if we had any difficulties, I would have been very comfortable letting Dechen or Sonham know about it.

We tipped the guide $120 and the driver $60.

Please let me know if you have further questions.

I%26#39;m not sure of the names of the three places we ate at in Paro but I suspect one of them was that place.

I knew going over about the food situation and it was a distant consideration behind the items you mentioned. I just think that a lot of readers, like myself are curious about food, so I thought I would expound on the subject.

You%26#39;re correct about the class of travel. However after travelling for 28 hours, six hours of sleep in the Novatel, and a 2:30 check-in for a 4:30AM flight, the extra space and service was just what the doctor ordered!!

Ugyen:

Thanks for your kind reply. You are blessed with a wonderful country. Thanks also for the heads up on Gaya. After 18 days on the road, six different countries, eleven different airports, and fifteen different flight segments the names started to run together!!

Hi ho Silver!

Sorry I missed you. We could have hoisted a Druk 11,000 together! I needed two after the Tiger Temple ordeal.

I did note that most hotel breakfast spreads threw a bone to you Brits by serving those mystery baked beans and tomato sauce!!

Hi YYC:

I wish I could go back. I suspect that January will be less crowded. Yeah, I ate everything put in front of me but the chilies and cheese has never been a Maine staple and try as I did the stuff was just too much. Even the Druk 11,000 couldn%26#39;t extinguish the fire!!