Miscellaneous Travel Tips for Bhutan

1.  There are stray dogs everywhere, but they’re all friendly.  During the daytime, they laze about and don't bother anyone.  I was warned in advance that their barking could be a nuisance at night, but my hotel in Thimphu was a little bit outside downtown and I could barely hear them.  In Paro, though, they woke me up at 3:30.  I don’t know if the Bhutanese people are the happiest in the world, but their dogs may well be.

2.  I was surprised by how warm it was in October.  In Thimphu (elev. 7,000 feet), the day may start out in the upper 30s, but before long, it would get into the mid-70s.  In Punakha (which is at a lower elevation), it was well into the mid-80s Fahrenheit.  On a side note, despite Thimphu’s elevation, I was told it rarely snows there anymore, and when it does, it melts within a day.  My guide and driver both said this has been a big change over the last 20 years.

It's downright tropical in the Punakha Valley in October.

3.  Your tour operator will take care of getting your visa.  Mine was obtained in about 3 days, which helped because I only planned this trip on 17 days’ notice.  One remarkable thing: my visa restricted my travel to the specific places that were on my tour itinerary (which I chose in advance).  I was never given a satisfactory explanation for why this was necessary.  We were even stopped between Thimphu and Punakha and had to show my papers to demonstrate that I was allowed in that particular part of the country.

Thimphu's traffic policeman (there are no traffic lights) did not ask to see my visa -- even though it looks like he's pointing at me.

4.  If I have to report one drawback about a visit to Bhutan, I’m sorry to say that it is the cuisine.  Every lunch and dinner, I would be served roughly the same set of items, which got old pretty quickly.  In general, the vegetarian dishes are better than the meat options.  The Bhutanese love chili peppers, and they’re everywhere, so the food is pretty spicy.  Restaurants designed for tourists specialize in less hot versions of Bhutanese dishes.

5.  Flying into the country on the national carrier Drukair (or its new private competitor, Bhutan Airways), ask for a seat on the left-hand side for the best view of the Himalayas.  Obviously the reverse is true on your flight out.  Only a handful of pilots are qualified to land at Paro Airport and this video of the serpentine landing approach has over 5 million views.  While certainly dramatic, it felt completely safe.

In the Pursuit of Happiness

As I mentioned earlier, the Bhutanese government promotes the concept of Gross National Happiness (“GNH”).  I loved the idea, but I was a bit skeptical.  Were the people really happy?  How do you measure it?  Is this just something for the travel brochures?

Women working in a rice field near Punakha.

There are several pillars of GNH, such as preservation of culture, the environment, good government.  There is free education and free health care.  Bhutan is relatively prosperous for the region it’s in.  The rivers rushing out of the Himalayas create a lot of hydroelectric power that is sold to India.  And while there certainly is poverty here (though no one begs), the country is seemingly doing fairly well.

From the reactions I received, people had nothing but very positive things to say about America.  (As an aside, one local said she thought I was Argentinian - which was definitely a first.)  I asked my guide and my driver about what the Bhutanese think of America.  They said that many want to live in America – that it is seen as a place where one can earn a lot of money, while for the same amount of work in Bhutan, you earn little money.

And, in that moment, the irony was obvious.  Americans come to Bhutan looking for happiness – finding seclusion (and maybe, for some, enlightenment) and immersing oneself in a culture renowned for friendliness and the promotion of the values that really matter in life.  On the other hand, the Bhutanese look to America for happiness, which is equated with money.  In truth, as any half-way decent Buddhist should tell you, happiness can only be found within ourselves.

Bhutanese Lore

Every day on my trip, there has been another dzong (fortress), another monastery, another temple.  And at many of them, there are tales of various miracles and supernatural happenings.  Here are a few of my favorites:

1.  The Guru Rinpoche.  The # 1 tourist attraction in Bhutan is the Tiger’s Nest Monastery, built about 800 meters above the Paro Valley.  It commemorates the site where Guru Rinpoche supposedly flew on the back of a flying tiger to subdue a local demon in the 8th Century.  He then meditated in a cave there for 3 months and subsequently introduced Buddhism to Bhutan.  Unfortunately on the day of my hike, there were no flying tigers available.  The hike took me 1:45.  If you visit the Tiger’s Nest, you are said to be guaranteed to see the Guru in the afterlife, where he will help relieve you from suffering.  In another room at the Tiger’s Nest is the statue of a “talking” Buddha that supposedly spoke on a few occasions a few centuries ago.  And, by visiting the statue, your wishes will be granted.

The Tiger's Nest.  No pictures allowed inside.

The Tiger’s Nest was destroyed by fire about 20 years ago (as many historic buildings in Bhutan were at one time or another), so what you see is a new structure.  But, supposedly, the building was re-built with the help and supervision of a young boy who proved himself to be the reincarnation of the original architect.  Yes, that happened in the 21st Century.

And now, looking up at the Tiger's Nest from the start of the hike.

2.  The Divine Madman.  Near Punakha, there’s a temple and monastery dedicated to the Divine Madman, who in the 16^th Century, shot an arrow into the sky in Tibet and supposedly followed it to its landing place in a house in Bhutan, where he became a travelling mystic.  Most famously, he subdued a demon with the power of his fiery thunderbolt (I’m giving you the G-rated version).  Many homes in the region have phalluses painted on the outside in his honor.  The Divine Madman challenged the conventions of the time & also appreciated a good drink.  At his temple, I was blessed by the monk and noticed that, at the altar, someone had left a bottle of Johnnie Walker Red as an offering.

3.  The Shabdrung.  This story is real, but it’s still a good one.  The Shabdrung was the founder of the modern Bhutanese state in the 17^th century.  While in his 50s, he went into “retreat” inside a room in the Punakha Dzong.  Every day, in case someone was watching, an attendant brought the Shabdrung his 3 meals.  In fact, though, the Shabdrung was dead.  The leadership feared there would be chaos if people knew he had passed away, so they kept this story up for 54 years and issued edicts in his name.  It was the ultimate Weekend at Bernie’s.  Finally, when the Shabdrung would have been 111 years old, they either figured the gig was up or that the country could survive without him.  Today, the room in which he died (and where his embalmed remains are in a coffin) can only be visited by 3 people: the king, the chief abbot, and the room’s attendant.

The building inside the Punakha Dzong where people were led to believe the Shabdrung "lived" until he was 111.  The entire building is off-limits.

My terrific guide through the country would tell me all of these stories and many more.  He is a devout Buddhist and gave every impression of believing that these things all actually happened, but he never asked me what I thought about all of this.  Finally, at the National Museum in Paro near the end of the trip, he showed me one of the exhibits: an egg that was supposedly laid by a horse several centuries ago.  For the first and only time during our travels, he asked me if I believed that had happened.  I smiled & replied, “A horse laid an egg?  That I cannot believe.”

Inconvenience Regretted

One of the hardest working people in Bhutan has to be the individual responsible for the pithy public service announcement billboards on the highway between Paro and Thimphu.  Most are in couplet form and most attempt to rhyme (but don’t always succeed).  I noticed the following:

Eager to Last / Then Why Fast

Let’s Go Green / To Get Our Globe Clean

Enemies of the Road / Liquor, Speed and Load

Some don’t really work:

Don’t Litter / It Will Make Your Life Better

Pleasure Only / If You Drive with Leisure

Some don’t even attempt to rhyme:

If You Are Married / Divorce Speed

Driving and Drinking / A Fatal Cocktail

And one didn’t even make sense:

Self Trust / Is the Essence of Heroism

There was a different sign that I enjoyed most of all.  In areas of road construction, there was a simple sign saying “Inconvenience Regretted.”  I don’t why, but I loved it.  I want to make a replica and hang it in my office.

A sincere message from the Bhutanese Transportation Authority, and from me as well.

And driving around Bhutan, there are some inconveniences.  From Thimphu to Punakha on Bhutan’s National Highway is about 50 miles.  The drive takes 3 hours.  It’s through breathtaking mountain scenery, so I seriously did not mind, but they are in the midst of a multi-year project to widen the road from its current 1/1.5 lanes to 2.  And forget shoulders.  There are rarely guardrails, even though you could be looking down at a 250 foot drop.  Because there are no highways that can serve as detour routes, they’re widening the road as you drive along, and you frequently have to wait for the heavy equipment to get out of the way.  In some places there’s no heavy equipment, just people (men and occasionally women) using pickaxes.  In other places, the road is a muddy mess.  I’m no expert, but I can’t recommend driving on this road during the summer monsoon season or inclement weather.

Pausing while they work to widen the road between Thimphu and Punakha.

Bhutan on $270/Day

One of the most unique aspects of visiting Bhutan is what it takes to get here.  You have to pay a set fee for every day you’re in the country.  At this time of year (high season), it’s $230, or $270 for the solo traveler.  That sounds like a lot of money, and I don’t deny that it is.  But you get a lot for that money.  My $270/day paid for a driver, tour guide, hotel, food (but not drink) and entrance fees to historical sites.  You can pay more to stay at nicer hotels.  For example, my accommodations were probably slightly below the level of an American Motel 6, though they each had a restaurant.  I doubt that more than $40 of my $270 daily fee went to the hotels.  You can pay as much as $1,000 a night at luxury hotels like the Aman chain, which has several locations near the most popular Bhutanese tourist destinations.  But the day I pay $1000 for a night in a hotel is the day … well, that’s just not going to happen.

And it is mandatory to have a driver and tour guide.  Non-Indian or Bangladeshi citizens cannot be unaccompanied.  I’m not sure whether this is a jobs program for the local citizenry, a way to prevent Westerners from harming the natural environment or the local culture, or simply a way to price Bhutan out of range for the $20/day backpackers you find throughout Southeast Asia.

I would add that Bhutan is particularly good for the solo traveler.  For example, 2 people traveling together would pay $460/day for the same driver, tour guide, and hotel room (though obviously they’d get more food!).  Double that for a family of 4.  For the solo traveler, $270/day is a relative bargain. 

The daily $270 fee covers a lot, but if you want this dried fish from India at the Thimphu Weekend Market, you'll have to pay extra.

And while I’m not really qualified to comment, I think Bhutan should be a good destination for female solo travelers.  I have met several along the way.  Bhutan has a surprisingly large police presence in the cities (another jobs program perhaps?) and the crime rate is very low.

How I Met Your Queen Mother

On Day 2 in country, I made my way to Dochu La Pass (approx. elevation 10,000 feet).  I left my guide for about 30 minutes to explore.  There’s a monument to Bhutanese soldiers lost in battling Indian extremists who were seeking refuge in Bhutan in the early 2000s.  There’s also a new temple atop a hill.  I walked up towards the temple and came to a wide set of stairs.  There were a few monks burning incense and some civil servants looking on.  I thought this was a little strange, but no one said anything to me, so I started climbing the 30-40 stairs.

I was almost at the top when I heard someone yelling at me.  I looked down and one of the civil servants was pointing at me and then pointing at the bottom of the stairs.  I turned around and got down as quickly as I could.  He told me that they were expecting the Queen Mother shortly and asked me to please wait to the side.

Before I continue, first a word about the Bhutanese royal family.  About 10 years ago, the king (who, by all accounts, was revered) decided that Bhutan should become a democracy.  And rather than being a formerly all-powerful king sitting around while there's a newly empowered parliament, the middle-aged king decided to abdicate the throne to his son.  The son and his wife (who happen to be perhaps the most photogenic royal couple in the world) now operate in roles akin to the British royal family.

A giant poster of the smiling young current royal couple greets you upon deplaning.

The current king’s mother (and obviously, the former queen) is about 50 years old.  She’s one of the former king’s 4 wives, all sisters.  (I smell a reality show …)  Unsure of all of the royal protocols, I now awaited her arrival with the handful of monks and civil servants.  I was not dressed as appropriately as I would like for an audience with royalty, but I removed my sunglasses and put my hands behind my back.

I was asked to move once more and then the motorcade approached.  First came an Army jeep with several soldiers.  Then came the Queen Mother’s car (license plate: “Bhutan 5”).  Finally came another vehicle driven by a soldier and a camera crew jumped out.  The Queen Mother’s car door was about 10 feet away from me.  I was the only tourist there with these monks and officials.  I could see she was on her phone and then one of the soldiers asked me to move another 5 feet away.  I did and she exited her car wearing an elegant kira (the Bhutanese dress).  She looked right at me, smiled, and said something.  I couldn’t understand what she said, but I didn’t think I should approach her to shake her hand or ask for a selfie, so I just smiled, nodded, and bowed my head.  She turned and went up the stairs.  I snapped a photo when I was sure that no one in her retinue was looking.

The Queen Mother and her retinue after our meeting.

I waited about 5 minutes and then went up the stairs myself.  There was a red carpet laid out for the Queen Mother and I decided I probably shouldn’t step on it, so I stepped over it.  I could not enter the temple during her visit, so I walked around, and saw some staff setting up tea service behind the temple.  I then walked down, found my amazed guide, and told him that the Queen Mother had just said something to me.  He told me that the temple I was visiting had been built by her for the protection and health of her son, the king.  And since my moment was caught by the camera crew, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was in the background on the Bhutanese Evening News.

The Boy Monk and the Videogame

I’ve wanted to go to Bhutan for a long time, and it’s the main stop on my 2015 vacation (a/k/a “The Lengths to Which I Will Go to Get Away from Work E-mail”).  Why Bhutan?  It’s “The Last Shangri-la,” the Land of the Thunder Dragon, and a mystical Bhuddist kingdom in the Himalayas (pop. 700,000) where the government promotes Gross National Happiness as a better measurement than Gross National Product.  And it’s a place that was never colonized, didn’t introduce currency until 1970, television until 1999, and only in recent decades has opened up to the outside world.  But change is here.  Spend some time in the capital Thimphu and it seems almost everyone has a car now.  In a way, there’s a certain urgency to visiting Bhutan.  Visit now, people say, before it changes forever. 

On my first day in country, my guide took me to the massive dzong (fortress) in Thimphu.  In modern times, dzongs form a dual function as both the home of the regional government and centers of monastic life.  There are certain areas that are off-limits to visitors and others that you cannot photograph.  One of the latter is the assembly hall or “throne room” where there are thrones for the king, his father, and the chief abbot (sort of the pope of Bhutanese Buddhism).  Behind the thrones are massive gold statutes of Buddha and various figures from Bhutanese history and Buddhist tradition.  Along the walls are more statues and colorful paintings from the life of Buddha.  The roof and pillars contain intricate patterns and engravings.  

In the room itself, the only souls present were my guide, myself, and a young monk who looked as though he might be 10 years old.  He wore the red monastic robe, had a shaved head, and was playing a videogame on his phone. 

So there, in one of the inner sanctums of Bhutanese tradition, was evidence that yes, Bhutan has changed.

The courtyard and some of the buildings inside the dzong (fortress) in Thimphu.

Frankly, I wasn't happy to see modernity in this ancient place.  But was I too judgmental?  To live, if done properly, is to change.  I’ve never been one to fear change.  It is a fact of life.  And the tourist’s interests may be at odds with the local population.  Take Cuba as an example.  I’ve heard plenty of people in the last 6 months say they need to go to Cuba before it changes.  By all means, go.  But don’t lament the fact that Cuba is changing.  Yes, some old buildings in Havana will be torn down for Marriotts and McDonald’s, and the 60-year old Chevys may get replaced by Mazdas.  But what is charming and picturesque to the tourist may be depressing and backwards for the person who has to live there 24/7/365.  You try spending your life in a building that’s falling apart or depending on a 1958 automobile for your daily transportation.

So, back to the boy monk.  The Bhutan I’m seeing this week is, for the moment, retaining its traditions.  About half of the people still wear traditional dress and the government is working overtime to promote traditional culture.  The architecture, the temples, the food, the friendliness, the mystical beliefs -- they're all still here.  Should we begrudge the kid his videogame?  I can’t really.  Kids like videogames.  But I do fear that in that moment I saw the future.  Maybe it’s generations off, but it’s hard to imagine this culture retaining its incredible uniqueness forever.  Western culture has a pretty much undefeated record so far.  And as much as I believe in change and progress, we don’t want a world where everyone is the same.  For now, Bhutan is blessedly a nation where maybe nobody knows who the Kardashians are.  I hope that never changes and that our two disparate cultures find a way to co-exist.  It could happen.  Bhutan is trying.