In every one of my posts about Bhutan I will at some point use the word unique. I’ll try to come up with alternatives – but why mess with the right word?
Bhutan is untouched by the hoards of tourists that have descended on the rest of Asia – granted tourism is expanding and if the sheer numbers of new hotels I saw under construction is anything to go by, they expect it to continue. But they are still going to be true to the Low Impact, High Value Tourism they expound today.
You will still have to pay the daily fee, you will still have a driver and a guide and there will still be places you cannot go, and cannot photograph. But rather than the hinderance I was worried having two people around constantly was going to be – for an introvert like me – it was incredibly helpful.
When I first started planning my trip I was overwhelmed by the options – you can only enter the country with a tour group… but which one? The list of approved companies is intimidatingly long. So I started googling things like “Best Tour Company” and “Solo Female Travel in Bhutan” – and came up with Druk Asia.
I sent them an inquiry email and I was off. I cannot recommend them enough – and I am not being compensated to say that. They handled everything with absolute professionalism and when plans needed to change I was hardly aware of the work it would have taken to pull it off.
Traveling Solo in Bhutan is a relative term – as I’ve said before, but after finding our feet on the first day my guide and driver were happy to leave me be, staring out the window, only occasionally checking in to make sure I was still alive in the back seat of the SUV.
My guide Tshering Pelden (also known as Tee Pee) was exceptionally knowledgeable, she put every bit of her previous career as a History and Geography Teacher into my tour. I don’t think I ever stumped her with a question, she was full of knowledge without being a know-it-all and her English is impeccable. Tee Pee is one of the only female senior guides in the country, a fact she rightfully takes much pride in. She’s been a guide for 12 years and knows the entire country like the back of her hand. She also has eyes like a hawk and would spot wildlife before I even knew there was wildlife to look for. But the thing I loved most about Tee Pee was she was always quick to smile and laugh, and when we would run into other guides from Druk Asia, or even the all locals she seemed to know personally, she was playful and teasing. We stopped at Dochola Pass after a snowfall that had closed the road the night before and one of the other guides joking threatened her with a snowball – bad move. Tee Pee has the arm and aim of a former tomboy and the tenacity of a woman used to being surrounded by men – needless to say he got back in his SUV brushing off snow.
Our driver was the young, but consummate professional Tshering Wangchuk. Wangchuk too was always quick with a smile, and although he was shy and happy to listen to Tee Pee and I chat on the road trip portions of my trip, he would occasionally add anecdotes of his own, more often than not making fun of himself. On the day my itinerary said we were to go from Bumthang to Gangtey there had a a big snowfall the night before. Both Tee Pee and Wangchuk had been making calls to fellow guides, drivers, hotel owners and any other contacts they had in the area and after much consideration we decided to abandon our trip to Gangtey due to the road conditions. That still meant getting from Bumthang to Punakha – in a snow storm. Now, I’m Canadian so driving in snow isn’t new to me, but I’m used to driving on pavement covered in snow. Wangchuk had the unenviable task of driving on snow and ice that was occasionally on top of pavement, occasionally on top of potholed frozen mud, and occasionally on thawing gravel – but he handled the whole drive like a Pro. I never once felt concerned, or questioned his abilities – which is saying something for a control freak like me.
Bhutan is a place of great natural beauty – I kept fighting the urge (and failing) to compare it to other places I’ve been. The rolling hills around Thimphu brought to mind the Interior of British Columbia in Canada, the next valley the Swiss or Italian Alps, the one after that the Blue Mountains outside Sydney in Australia, the curved, steep fields reminiscent of parts of Vietnam – every valley was a new world. As I said in my previous post “This is Bhutan too” – the constants were the houses and the people.
But the people, all quick to smile, the children always waving, knowing most SUVs have foreign passengers, make it different. The infamous Bhutanese happiness was always on display, but it never felt like a display. Because these people, some of whom are subsistence farming, are actually happy. They have pride in their country, a King who loves them, and a faith that grants them a serenity most Westerners (this one included) struggle their entire lives to find.
Buddhism is an everyday part of live, entwined with every aspect of day to day living. The peaceful Temples, slower pace of life and lack of other tourists for whole days at a time left me with the impression that I had this earthly version of Shangri-La to myself. There were times, most memorably inside the breathtaking Temple in Punakha Dzong and when the Tiger’s Nest revealed itself from the clouds, that I had to remind myself where I was – to enjoy the moment and revel in how truly unique my experience was. More people go to Disneyland in 2 days than went to Bhutan in all of 2017.
So just go.
The price tag is enough to keep the riffraff out, but when you do the math, it’s not actually that expensive – and it’s worth every penny. And even as tourist numbers do increase the 4 pillars of Gross National Happiness will keep Bhutan as unique and breathtaking as the day it opened itself to the world.
And honestly the only times I had to adhere to my mantra – Be brave, be smart, but be brave – was in my transfers in Bangkok to get there. With Bhutan I just had to be smart in booking with Druk Asia, then go. After showing up at the airport in Paro everything was taken care of. Tee Pee was always quick to remind me we could change my daily program and we did a couple of times, but everything was a marvel, so honestly it didn’t matter where we went, everywhere was amazing.
Just go.