A couple of years ago I came to the decision to visit some friends in Bhutan. I had never been to Asia before and was very excited about it. After having just completed my visit to Kathmandu and having just experienced my first culture shock (it had been my first visit outside North America and Europe), I found myself literally trembling on the flight to Bhutan; not because I was scared (the experience in Nepal was amazing and once the initial shock had passed I loved my little adventure and the fact that I was there on my own, discovering so many new things) but I was going to spend a couple of weeks there and had no idea what to expect at all. The flight was short and calm, the most impressive bit being the landing. Because the Bhutan International Airport is located deep in the Valley of Paro and surrounded by mountains a very skilled Pilot is required and this particular landing is well reknown, most people in the Aviation industry will already have heard about this (my Father used to be a Bush Pilot in Canada when he first came to Canada and thus knew all about it, asked me about a million questions after I arrived). By the way, make sure you sit on the left side of the plane when flying into or on the right side when leaving Bhutan in order to catch a glimpse of an amazing view of Mount Everest on a clear day.
It was quite a funny experience, as previously mentioned I already was a bit under the influence of culture shock (my flight neighbour seemed amused by it and kept me engaged in a conversation, was a very friendly man from Bhutan who was traveling with a friend, a journalist, who also was visiting Bhutan for the first time). As I looked out the window I saw the mountains and the Valley. The Aircraft descended quite quickly, I noted, as I had been on enough flights in the past to know a little bit about flying, having grown up between two countries already and spending a great deal of my youth on transatlantic flights between Canada and Austria. As the aircraft came down it suddenly began to reascend into the air and take a turn to the left, seems the Pilot wasn’t satisfied with his landing conditions and decided to give it another go, successfully so after having done a complete 360. This landing is one of most famous to do, due to the nature of the valley it is one that requires great skill and the Pilot must undergo extensive training in order to perform it. For this reason the flight alone is extraordinary and interesting to anyone that knows a little bit about aviation. My father, who was a Bush Pilot in Canada back in the day was very interested in my experience of this flight which made it all the more interesting to me.
As I exited the aircraft I remember looking up at the cute building which was the International Airport and thinking “how cute” to myself (then again I did think the same thing in Nepal so I wasn’t going to base all my expectations on the first impression of the airport). The building was built in what I later learned was the typical style of a Bhutanese building. Architects must get their designs approved by the government before building anything in Bhutan (like in Brussels), this is all part of the Sustainability program that the country practises. The Valley was green and reminded me strongly of Austria, now I could understand why there seemed to be a strong connection between Austria and Bhutan, many people who I have met in the two places knew and were very fond of the other country. I was picked up by my friend and I stayed in Paro the first day before continuing to Thimphu, the Capital of Bhutan. When I checked into the hotel, I was greeted by a lovely little receptionist girl. She was alone and once we had completed the check in, reached to take my suitcase. I was startled at this and told her it was alright and that I could take it but she insisted. I felt bad and wanted to help, because this cute girl was much smaller than me, my suitcase actually almost seemed twice her size. I experienced this at several hotels in Bhutan, the cute girls always wanted to help me with my suitcase and each time I found myself wondering where the men were?
My friends were opening a resort and asked me to help them with the recruitment, which of course I agreed to (and very excited to have been able to be a part of it), can you imagine anything more exciting than being part of the launch of a new project? We put together an ad and placed it in the paper and decided to hold a general recruitment day, on which we would meet all the applicants and try to put them in an appropriate position. We did this by asking things like that they like to do etc because people usually will like their job and do them better when they actually like what they are doing. Hiring staff was a really funny experience in Bhutan, I told my friend about my experience with the cute Receptionists and insisted that we needed a Bellman because any visitor will most probably feel the same way and want to take their own luggage to the room, not because they don’t trust the employee but feel sorry for this petite cute Bhutanese girl to be carrying a suitcase twice her size. The best part of the interview was when one guy came and introduced himself. We asked him what he had done in the past to which he replied that he was a tour guide and took people on tours. We asked him why he was applying at the resort and he said that he would like a more stable job and also better working hours, a routine, I guess. I was very excited to meet him, because he was perfect and exactly what I had imagined as part of the Reception staff, able to help with the luggage as well as greet guests. We asked him what he would like to do, expecting to request the front office, because that’s what everyone always wants to do and were surprised when he answered that he would like to clean rooms… (long silence – blinking of eyes), turned out he really liked a clean room and thus wanted to do this to make sure the rooms would always be perfect, what an experience that was haha one of the things I look back on and have to laugh about, but those are the best experiences, the ones in which we create memories to look back on and make us smile.
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I stayed in Bhutan for a total of 5 weeks, in which I was able to learn a lot about their culture, their political situation and their GNH policy (Gross National Happiness), their religion, food, history, got to meet one of the princes and the actor from the Bhutanese movie “Travelers and Magicians” who, by the way is also the man so often mentioned in the probably most popular book of Bhutan by Jamie Zeppa called “Beyond the Sky and Earth”, the story of a Canadian girl who came to Bhutan and found love and so forth (Bhutan is a small place, where everyone knows everyone and so it’s normal to bump into people like this). They have amazing facilities, roads from Paro to Thimphu are paved, the most common drink over there is Whiskey and Apple juice, as it is Whiskey they produce over there locally and even their club impressed me, where it was actually nice and cool as opposed to the hot and sweaty clubs of so many places I have experienced in the past. I heard a remix of a famous Indian song called Chaiya Chaiya there, a song that I later used to train for the 20km of Brussels a couple of years later, can hear a remix of the song (I think it was the one I heard in the club) here.
The highlight of my visit though, without a doubt, was my visit to the Valley of the Mad Monk and Trongzha, the former capital and preferred town of mine, located high up in the Himalayas, surrounded by the mysterious mist and massive trees, so great that I was instantly reminded of the California Redwoods. It was a truly enriching experience and although I was able to experience and learn a lot, my one regret is that I wanted to go across the entire country and was only able to make it half way and also only had a brief visit to the Tiger’s Nest as well, so I’d like to go back there and redo that, complete this journey that I started. If any of you want to join me for this just let me know, I have the resources and can put the trip together, would seriously go for it in order to complete this quest I had set and probably will one day, just have to wait for the right time.
A trip to Bhutan has to be planned by an Agent because of many reasons, one being the Country’s policy of “high value low impact” (all part of their sustainability plan) and the other being providing the opportunity for people in Bhutan to make a living of their country. This means that even if you contact the large national travel agent of your country, they will be working with a local Bhutanese Travel Agent, who will be responsible for your visit, because it is only them that have the right to sell tickets with the national royal airline known as Druk Air and also are able to make the necessary arrangements for the Visa (isn’t that nice? I like that idea because it means we’re bringing benefit to their country). Bhutan used to limit the number of visitors to the country per year, but it seems that this policy has been lifted, the Visa policy still applies; however, while most people may be put off or under the general impression that Bhutan is an expensive place to visit, they seem to always forget the value they are receiving for their payment. To visit Bhutan costs $200-$250 US a night, depending on the season. This fee; however, includes your Visa, Transportation within the country, accommodation with full board, Guide and a complete Itinerary. I mean no offense, a night in Paris cost €180 for the lowest category of room in the hotel I used to work for and that didn’t include breakfast, considering that I really think it’s a good package, don’t you? Although there is a high and low season to visit Bhutan, I went in the middle of the Monsoon (low) season and, to be honest, I found the weather pleasant enough, was warm and although the occasional shower would pass, these merely lasted a couple of minutes each time and were kind of fun and interesting to experience, as long as you were close enough to something for cover. To arrange for your trip please fill out an enquiry form or contact me directly and I will be happy to make the necessary arrangements, the price will be competitive with anywhere else, as I will be working with my contact in Bhutan directy, who has been doing tours since 2005.