stimpy

Ever since I heard of Bhutan years ago, I have wanted to visit. A mysterious Shangri-La like place, hidden for centuries up in the eastern Himalaya’s. Hmm. A Buddhist Monarchy no less! Transcendent meditation in the mountains. Peace and harmony with nature. I decided that I must go there.

However Bhutan is not an easy place to get to. I’ve read that tourists cannot go there alone, but must travel with a tour group and apply for a visa far in advance. I hate both tour groups and planning in advance, so I never actively pursued my desire to visit Bhutan. Then, last year a colleague told me she had been invited to go to Bhutan by a government agency to educate them about the Internet. She got a business visa and had an easy time of it. So I eventually found a business reason to go and a client there arranged for a business visa in 5 days.

Doing the minimum of research, I learned that only the government airline Druk Air was allowed to fly to the Kingdom. The Druk Air website said they fly from BKK, DEL, CCU, DAC, GAY, & KTM. However the website is not the most complete airline site. More on that later.

As I happened to be working in PEK, it seemed to make sense to fly to BKK and catch a Druk Air flight from there. Since the flight (KB125) from BKK to PBH (Paro, where the Bhutan International airport is) left at 5:50am, I chose to spend the night at the Novotel which is on airport property at the new BKK. I have to say that this is one of the finest airport hotels I have ever stayed at. Easily the best pool of any airport hotel, nice gym with steam and sauna, nice Club area with good eats at cocktail hour, & great staff everywhere. It is also the finest Novotel I have ever seen or heard of. Novotels in Europe are 3-star. This place is somewhere between 4 and 5-star IMHO.

I checked out of the hotel at 4:45am and took the shuttle over to the airport. Airport check in was easy and they have a partner lounge for biz class. Boarding was by bus which took us out to the A319 with Druk Air’s logo painted on the side. I was told the government of Bhutan bought the plane from China. Business class is 2-2 with wide comfy seats, while coach is a normal 3-3.

But then came my first surprise. The flight isn’t BKK-PBH. The FA announced that we were going to Calcutta! It’s BKK-CCU-PBH! What the Hey? Nowhere on the Druk Air website does it state this. But apparently it is true. Also I learned that the Druk Air flight from DEL stops at KTM. Had I but known, I would have spent the night in CCU or KTM rather than BKK. I could have slept an extra hour! It seems I was the only passenger that didn’t know this. Everyone else on the plane was Bhutanese or a tourist who booked long in advance. The airplane was nearly full.

The FA’s were great, the food was not too bad and after less than 2 hours we landed at CCU. We had a 40 minute refueling stop and they added a few passengers. Apparently the weather can be a bit tricky up in the Himalayas (who knew?) and KB flights sometimes have to circle around for a while before they attempt a landing. So there was good reason to take on extra fuel even though the flight is less than an hour to PBH.

The FA’s brought around some sandwiches and the pilot said the weather was fine today in PBH (whew!). It was a routine Airbus flight until we descended into our approach. This was fun. We got down into a valley between two mountain ridges and zigged and zagged our way through the valley with a close up view out of each side of the plane of homes on the ridge. Before as we were high above the ground, these mountains looked just like any other mountains. It could have been the Alps or Rockies. But as we got lower I could see the unique Dzong buildings. Then I saw the prayer flags and I knew I wasn’t in the Alps or Rockies.

Bank left, bank right, bank left, bank right, until we lined up a few seconds before touchdown and the pilot put on a heavy thrust to get us over the last few rice paddies onto the runway. Then serious reverse thrust after touchdown. No way could a jumbo land at PBH. Not to mention the fact that the airport is over 7000 feet above sea level! The landing reminded me of HKG’s old Kai Tak Heart Attack in a B747. At the end of the runway, we did a 180 and headed back to the tiny airport terminal. I guess they only have 2 or 3 flights a day arrive here. I was off quickly and made my way to the immigration, handed over my visa, passport and landing card. The landing card said cigarette smoking was illegal in the Kingdom, but the airmag said that you could bring in 200 cigarettes for personal consumption. After immigration a customs guy asked me if I had any cigarettes and then waved me through. Later I saw some Indian kids smoking on the street.

Before my trip, I checked Yahoo and CNN weather a few times and it said thunderstorms every day and cool at night. So I bought a cheap jacket along the way. Naturally when we arrived the sun was beating down from a blue sky. It was not as hot as low-level India, but still quite hot. The locals blame global warming.

I had a driver waiting for me and a local worker from my client’s office. The driver was in traditional dress and didn’t speak English. Fortunately the local rep from my client did and we went over to a local Paro café for breakfast. We had to wait a couple of hours or so since the road to Thimphu is close for road work every morning except Sunday. So after some “mo-mo” (like dim-sum in soup) I was “forced” to do some tourism. We drove up to the Paro Museum which is in an old Dzong high up on the hill. The views are incredible. You can see the airport and the long twisting valley you just flew through. But the local rep wasn’t allowed into the museum because he wasn’t wearing the national dress. I’m not sure if that was due to respect or to keep the tourists happy. Most of the guys on the street wear t-shirts and jeans, but a lot also wear the national dress, with long dark or argyle socks and dress shoes. Looks pretty weird. I toured the museum alone which was fine as everything was labeled in English. The museum is interesting enough, but the Dzong was really neat. As far as I can tell, they were most all built in the 1600’s and the builder didn’t use blueprints or drawings or nails. Consequently even though they are all the same style, they are all unique as well. From up on the museum perch we could see the huge Rimpoche Dzong which houses both a Buddhist school and some government offices. My guide had to go down there to pick up some family members so I got a rare look at the place. Later, after 11am or so we headed out on the road to Thimphu. The sign said 55km. Little did I know…

It turns out the Indian government is conducting a road-widening project. The old road was in pretty bad shape so they have hundreds or perhaps thousands of very poor looking Indians out beating rocks into rubble to widen the road. I saw women helping their husbands in back-breaking labor and I saw babies sleeping by the side of the road with umbrellas shading them from the scorching sun. I saw only one working bulldozer. They claimed the road would be done by December, but I could not see how that could happen with 90% of it being done by hand. The road goes all the way past Thimphu to the Indian border.

We pulled up to a bridge where the roadwork began and the gate was closed for another 15 minutes or so. Strategically located here was a makeshift tent with an old woman selling drinks and Indian snack food. I was seriously lacking sleep so I went for the only caffeine I could find which was a bottle of Pepsi. I was sitting in this tent to stay out of the sun with a very wide variety of Indians, Bhutanese, and some other ethnicities that I would be hard pressed to place. I am sure I looked pretty odd to them, but the kids playing around had fun with me. I could see mini-buses filled with Euro and American tourists, but they stayed in their buses to wait. That is why I was happy to not be with a tour group. The group leader probably told them to stay inside for their safety.

Soon the gate opened and we were off to the races. Literally. Bhutanese love to drive fast. Even on a gravely winding mountain road with no railing between you and the raging river a hundred feet below. They love to tailgate and honk so I got a mouthful of dust from the trip. I couldn’t roll up the window as there was no aircon. Not a smooth stretch anywhere. It was brutal. At many places there was only room for one lane to get by so there were plenty of traffic jams. But there were not a lot of cars really. The entire population is less than 700,000 and the car population is much less. The scary parts were when there was about 1.5 lanes and we had to squeeze by with huge dump trucks going the other way. Of course we were the ones riding on the edge of the cliff! It was a mark of my exhaustion that I actually nodded off a couple of times while being bounced around so hard my head hit the ceiling a couple of times. It took over two grueling hours to go the 55km. Where was the peace and transcendent natural beauty and harmony?

Well there was beauty. Waterfalls and rushing rivers everywhere. Bhutan is landlocked and doesn’t have a lot of resources, but they do have water. So they have added hydro-electric plants and they are selling the electricity to India.

Finally we entered Thimphu and pulled up to the Wangchuck hotel with me thinking Dave Letterman repeating over and over “Wangchuck”. Wangchuck is the family name of the royal family. They are about to have the coronation of the 5th Wangchuck king. It was a pleasant 2 star hotel (IMHO) and after a shower I went to lunch at a local restaurant. The food is quite good. I would say it is a mix of Indian and Chinese cuisine. Thimpu is laid out like a lot of other mountain towns in Europe. No buildings very tall. There are several new hotels being built. The country is about to go through some major changes next year. First, the old king is abdicating so his son can be king. That will be a heck of a party next summer. But bigger than that is that Bhutan is becoming a democracy. That will bring some major change and not all of it good. I fully expect that the leaders who get elected will be the wealthy ones who will profit from tourism. And it turns out that at least one of the ministers is building a hotel. He must know that tourism will increase soon. If you want to visit the Kingdom of Bhutan, you had better go quickly because soon it will be the Democratic Republic of Bhutan. They say the model will be like Thailand and they will still revere their king. We’ll see. The newspapers write about election stories every day. It’s all people are talking about. I don’t think the natives of Bhutan know what is about to hit them.

Anyhow, enough politics. My client’s office was on the 5th floor of an office building and the elevator was out. I think we were at about 8000 feet so climbing those stairs had me breathing a bit. Later around 6pm I walked back to the hotel. The streets were filled with young Indian men, all of them construction workers imported to work on the roads and build the hotels, etc. They were all looking for one thing and they weren’t going to get it. Many were playing some kind of game that looked like a cross between fooseball and tiddely winks. Also roaming the streets were dogs. Hundreds of dogs. All kinds of dogs. Yet they were happy peaceful dogs, or so it seemed. Happy and peaceful by day anyway. At night they had wild parties, just like coyotes. They make a hell of a racket. I used to live surrounded by coyotes so I know you can get used to it, but I didn’t get a lot of sleep in Bhutan.

I went to my hotel for dinner and they had a buffet on. At each table was a group of tourists. There was a separate table with one French guy and a Chinese guy eating alone. I joined them and we talked in 3 different languages and had a nice hearty dinner. I was too exhausted to drink beer, but they were drinking one of the local brews that is 7% alcohol! I told them I wanted to sleep in my bed instead of the dining room.

Dinner was great and I went straight to bed, but I was soon in for a rude awakening. Literally. I woke up at midnight to find my arms covered with mosquito bites. I haven’t had bites like this since I was a kid in Wisconsin. But it is hot and wet from evening rain so I guess I should have expected it. I went down to wake up the staff and they gave me one of those plug-in citronella things. Why the heck didn’t they give me one earlier? I spent the next couple of hours hunting and killing mosquitoes in my room before going back to sleep. They blame the mosquitoes on global warming.

The next day I went to work and we drove up to one of the hills overlooking Thimphu. I think we were at about 9000 feet, but it was still kind of warm. There may be something to this global warming thing. We took a side trip to see a Takin preserve. The Takin is sort of the national beast of Bhutan. It looks like a cross between a cow a goat and a pig. The Takin children were head-butting each other while the momma Takin slept nearby. Tourists were snapping photos like mad.

I found this about the Takin. In the 15th century, Saint Drukpa Kuenley, popularly known as " the Divine Madman", went to attend a large congregation of devotees gathered from around the country to recieve a blessing from another Saint. A group of people mockingly demanded to see his magical power. The saint, in his usual unorthodox and outrageous way, demanded that he first be served a whole cow and a goat for lunch. He devoured these with relish and left only the bones. He then took the goat's head and stuck it onto the bones of the cow. And then with a snap of his fingers he commanded the strange beast to rise up and graze on the mountainside. To the astonishment of the people, the animal arose and ran up to the meadows to graze. This animal came to be known as the Dyiong-gyem tsi (takin) and was later selected as the national animal based on both its uniqueness and its strong association religious history and myth.

Later around 5:30pm I was driven back to Paro. This time there was less traffic and as it was Sunday there were no road crews. As we passed the labor camps, we could see random people out for strolls. They had all put their finest clothes on. The day before they were wearing rags and beating rocks with hammers and Sunday night they were out strolling with their finery. The human spirit is amazing at times.

Reaching Paro in just over an hour we pulled up to a new hotel that hadn’t even a name yet. It was quite nice though. There were some guys watching English Premiership football on the TV in the lobby so I joined them for a few minutes while my colleague got me checked in. Then I went up to the room which was a bit nicer than the last. They said there would be no mosquitoes, but they gave me a Citronella anyway. Then, because they noticed I was interested in the football, they brought up a TV. Rather nice I thought. So I watched football for a few minutes and thought, what the heck am I doing watching TV in Bhutan?

So I went out into the evening and walked the streets of Paro. Everyone else was out too. However I was the only foreigner on the street. I didn’t see any tourists around at all. And the most amazing thing was that nobody paid me any attention! In any other city in Asia if I walk around (imagine a relatively giant white thing lumbering around) everyone looks at me and most people rush up to try to sell me something. I thought ‘what is the difference between Paro and every other city in Asia’?

The answer is clearly that there is no free tourism in Bhutan. They don’t try to hawk their wares to me because they haven’t learned that such a thing is possible. There were plenty of stores with junk to buy, but they left it up to me if I wanted to go in and buy something. Moreso, they gave me the human respect of trusting in my ability to know what I want. That is the thing I most hate about Asian cities. The hawkers will never bother other Asians. Why? Because they realize that other Asians aren’t stupid enough to buy their junk. But white tourists? They are plenty stupid. You can go back and read Mark Twain’s travel books (Innocents Abroad, etc) and see that American tourists have been screwing up the world for as long as there has been an America. It is one of the things I hate most about travel. So when I come to an unspoiled place like Bhutan I am in heaven. The ability to just walk around a precious place like this and have the locals treat me just as another human being is wonderful. It reminded me of many years ago in Cambodia, but Bhutan even more unspoiled. I really hope they can hold onto that for as long as possible.

I walked into a restaurant and had another nice meal. This time I tried one of the local brews, Red Panda. It was a Weissbier! Just like Bavaria. Almost. A chicken curry dinner with meal was only 190 rupees (they accept India rupees and it is pegged to their own currency). You could live pretty cheaply here. I walked back to the hotel at around 11 and went to bed. I wasn’t woken by mosquitoes, but the dogs were doing it up outside my window. Still I managed some good sleep. I woke just before 6am and the town was magically still. The only thing I could hear were the crickets. There aren’t many cities with international airports where you can get that kind of quiet. So I put on my clothes to go out for a stroll along the river. I crept downstairs to find that like the previous hotel, the staff was asleep in the lobby and the door was barred. Dang! I didn’t want to wake them not knowing when they usually rose. So I went back to my room to read a book.

At 8:30 we went to the breakfast café. I asked about food in Bhutan. The national sport is archery, but they don’t hunt any animals. All the meat and fish that they serve comes from India. Most, but not all Bhutanese are vegetarians. Later we went over to the airport and I said goodbye to my client. I was only there for two days, but I learned a lot. Still he thanked me for all I was able to teach him and invited me back. He said now that I have visited once, I could come back anytime on a “guest” visa. He said the Coronation would be a great time to visit. I will seriously consider this.

The airport terminal was empty. I walked up to the check in desk about 45 minutes before departure and they said “Mr. Stimpy, we’ve been waiting for you. For the return I was booked in economy. A sign on the counter said “business class upgradation available”. So I asked how much to be upgradated and they said $50. I said “upgradate me!” It was a good idea to do so since the return trip was long. I spent a few minutes in their surprisingly nice business class lounge before me and one other guy were called to board. We passed security quickly and walked across the tarmac to the A319. Unlike the flight to Paro, this one was pretty empty. The flight was scheduled for 10am and the wheels left the ground at exactly 10am! When does that ever happen? Take off wasn’t as exciting as landing and we were soon up in the clouds.

I had assumed we were going to Calcutta again. But as we came in on approach it looked quite different. I saw canals lined with palm trees. It looked quite nice down there and quite unlike the Calcutta I knew. Then we reached the airport and it was clearly not CCU. It was GAY! I had never been to Gaya, so another first. After we parked, a delegation came to the plane and the pilot descended to chat with them. They had a long animated discussion. I wondered if they did this every day? Shortly after we took off again but this time I was paying attention and it turned out we were going to Dhaka! What a crazy route. Flying into DAC I got to see all the floods. Water everywhere. Bangladesh looked like an archipelago nation. What looked like houseboats were actually houses. The central city was above water, but not by much. At least this was a proper airport with plenty of 747’s at the gate. We parked at a remote spot and some people got on, some got off. By this time I was familiar with the crew and the only guy in business class so I stood at the door and chatted with them. It was a rare treat as I got to witness all the happenings at the cockpit for the first such time. I saw the fuel bill, the manifests, mail, etc. Some guy had a laptop open in the cockpit and he was wirelessly connected to a website doing something. Then we took off again to BKK and it was back to the real world and the end of a two-day travel fantasy. I don’t think I will ever be able to repeat such a trip.

Kiwi Flyer

trip stimpy and a nice report also, thanks ^^^


BTW when I was trying (unsuccessfully) to get to Bhutan (as a tourist) I also found the Druk Air website frustrating but I do recall seeing info on the transits. Indeed if I had been able to pull it off I would have flown in from DEL and out to CCU.

spanishflea

Great read stimpy, fascinating stuff!

I have fond memories of flying a full motion Airbus simulator into Paro on numerous occasions, and have been trying to find ways of getting to Bhutan ever since I first did that.

You've certainly solidified my desire to go there!

yvrguy

Thanx for a great report stimpy. My friend went to Bhutan for a wedding and had a wonderful time. I have often thought of visiting, but, the effort of obtaining the visa has deterred me. The crown prince(?) of Bhutan is well respected here in Thailand. His last visit to Thailand was something similar to a rock star....albeit very tasteful and royal.

stimpy

That's the truth. I met some Lao girls and they said the prince was the hottest guy on the market. Not that he is actually on the market.

Freebird

One of the reasons Asia is such agreat part of the planet (my favorite), is it's 'unexpectedness'. That's what came to mind when reading this trip report.

stimpy, I could have told you about the stop in CCU.

You missed one opportunity here, though: And the flooding is going to get worse because of global warming.

Jailer

Absolutely fascinating, thanks for taking the time to write it up.

camsean

Wow! Thanks for a very intresting trip report. ^
You were lucky you only transited through DAC. I sent a week or so there last September and it is one of the most unlovely and difficult cities I have ever visited and I live in Jakarta which is pretty unlovely and difficult itself.

Swanhunter

^ Cracking stuff, and another place firmly on the to-do list.

sarming

Just to clarify. You do not have to travel in a "group."

Here's the deal. It costs US$240/day all inclusive ($200 a day if three travel together). This includes all meals, hotel, car, guide and entrance fees. That's less per day than many people on this board are paying for hotel accommodation alone.

Give a local tour operator 10 days notice and they can set it all up for you, though flights are usually full and this may require some date fiddling.

For a list of tour operators look at the Association of Bhutan Tour Operators site at http://www.abto.org.bt or the Dept of Tourism at http://tourism.gov.bt or click on some of the google ads that show up at the end of this page.

PM me for help on Bhutan travel.

NotHome

Thanks for the trip report. I am headed there for 7 days in November and I have not heard much first had about traveling there. We had already decided to limit the time spent on the road and it sounds like a wise decision!! I am looking forward to the landing in Paro, imagine being on a plane and really feel like you are flying.

JHIN

AWESOME read Stimpy - my soul desires this journey so much including Tibet.

Any dates in 2008 of when the royal events will take place?

stimpy

As far as I know, the date for the coronation hasn't been chosen yet. Someone said it will probably be in June. You can read some of the Bhutan newspapers on line if you check Google. I'm sure they will be talking about it endlessly starting in 2008.

tfung

Great report!

SylviaCaras

They are trying to develop more year-round tourism. I'm thinking of going next December. I saw announcements this year for week long Buddhist retreats in Paro.

(For another forum) I'm thinking of a Star Award SFO FRA CCU. Currently, the connection is 1:25 at FRA. Would it help at FRA to try for a first award instead of a business?

Are there hotels right at the airport at CCU (Calcutta) ?

What are the Druk Air baggage restrictions? I don't see that on their web page.

Sylvia