Bhutan Calling - March 2011

I have been planning a trip to Vietnam & Cambodia for quite some time now, and for some reason or the other I am not able to make it. However, decision to go to Bhutan happened in two minutes, when my Rotarian colleague gave me the details and the price! The price was very attractive and though I had not traveled with a group till now, I said to myself, that I should not let go of this offer. The price quoted by WOW ( http://wowsumitra.com/) was Rs49,000/- for 6days, 7 night trip which included Delhi-Paro-Delhi ticket , Stay, BLD and a guided tour.

The group that was traveling to Bhutan, organized by WOW Club was consisting of 17 women from various places of India and of the age group between 28 years to 73 years! So, it was like, I am yet to see life vs I have seen it all!

We left Delhi early in the morning via Druk Air and reached Paro at 9.40am Bhutan time. From Paro we left to Thimpu and on the way visited a small four wall building, which is supposed to be the oldest monastery of Bhutan. I was very disappointed to see the barren landscape while traveling from Paro to Thimpu and wondered if it was the right season to visit Bhutan. The winter had just concluded and spring set in, most of the agricultural land looked barren and the small hills covering them also looked very barren. This was not the impression I had of Bhutan. I was questioning my decision making at this time!

Thimpu is a small town with Parliamentarians, business men staying in the town. Hotel Khisa is where we stayed for the night. We didn’t have much to do at Thimpu, except for visiting a memorial of a King and visiting the Buddha statue under construction. I believe the statue made of Copper is supposed to be at the highest altitude.

In Bhutan, Education and Health facilities are sponsored by Government and sometimes the Government sends students on scholarship to various parts of the world. People are nice and smiling (probably that is the reason the GNH is high). I did not see anyone not having smile on their faces. They seem to be generally happy and content in what they were doing and not disturbed by others! Be it in the market, on the streets, at the hotel, at the Monastery.

The first night food was Bhutanese style with Aura (rice wine). The country was going through the 30 days or 45 days of no-meat (or less meat!) time. Hence only for the visitors meat was cooked. It is funny that Bhutanese never butcher their meat, as it is considered sin to kill animals. They import all their meat from borders to India. They however, consume a lot of meat. One wonders what is sin? Killing or eating?

Most of their vegetarian food is cooked in cheese; generally it is potato with cheese (and green chili). Variety of greens and other vegetables mostly cooked with Cheese and green Chili. If you like spicy food (green Chili) then Bhutan is the place to be. One should try their traditional green Chili with Cheese dish called Ema Datshi. We did have Rice wine out of curiosity on the first day but then the enthusiasm of having it in the coming days waned away. Probably there was inconsistency in the taste of the wine from place to place as mostly it is made at home by the Bhutanese families. Though it is kind of their national wine, one could not find this in the airport to buy.

Throughout the trip, Food in general was very good with a mix of Bhutanese, Indian, continental. There were some of us (that includes me!) who could not end the meal without curd. I had seen Tibetans having curd in their restaurant when I had gone to Tibet, I assumed that it must be the same in Bhutan as well. However, to my surprise they did not have curd and they do not have it as part of their meal like the Tibetans. We did manage to have some curd for the last three days of the nights at Paro!

The hotels and the rooms were very good and took me by surprise. Every hotel we stayed was value for money. (http://www.hotelkisa.com, http://www.gangteypalace.com).

We traveled the western part of Bhutan covering 3 -4 small towns of tourist’s interest. Thimpu, Punakha, Phobjika and Paro. Like in any Bhuddhist country the tourist spots are Monestray, Zhong (Fort) in all the towns. There were very interesting stories associated with each of these spots giving an overview of the cultural and political influence that Bhutan had from Tibetans and of course India & China!.

The guide told us that the land of Bhutan has shrinked in the recent years due to occupation of China in the northern part. India is funding most of their hydroelectric projects both for want of power as well as to have an eye on Bhutan!
The guide said to us that smoking is not allowed, cutting of trees is not allowed etc., etc. At Thimpu, I had gone to a local cobbler to get my shoes repaired and there were three girls getting one of their shoes repaired. They were chatting and giggling continuously in their language. Once their work was done they paid and went out. Within two minutes one of the girls came running and was searching for the Cigarette packet that she left behind! So much for “no smoking” Bhutan! Like in any country, people do what they want to do hiding from the law makers.

The disappointment I had while traveling from Paro to Thimpu, faded away as we went to Punakha and Phobjika in the coming days. The landscape is very beautiful and green surrounded by forest. Though I would have preferred to stay in Phobjika for another day, the travel itinerary did not allow this. We got back to Paro seeing Monastry and Zhongs on our way back. Every second son in the family is given to Monastry to become Monks and Monsatry plays an important part of the Bhutanese lives starting from naming ceremony of the child till the death.

In Paro we did go to the local market and also had a brief sitting at the Sunday sport event – Archery. In India people would go to play cricket on Sundays and probably have beer, lunch etc., the same way Archery, being the national sport of Bhutan is played every Sunday or in the evenings in the clubs and grounds.

Another aspect that intrigues one is that the Bhutanese houses are decorated with drawings outside the house. Most of the houses have Phallus drawn on both sides of the entrance to the house. This is supposed to protect the people of the house and also ward away any evil! It is very fascinating and lots of stories are being told to strengthen the belief of decorating the house with Phallus!

Traveling in a group was very interesting and fun. It took a while for people to get to know each other, probably two days or more. In the 18 seat van that we had throughout, the younger lot sat in the front and the older lot was most of the time seated at the back. One had to be vocal to the younger lot requesting them to take the seats at the back! I was really surprised at this. We had 70 year old sitting at the back row and the 28 year old sitting at the front complaining about back pain!

There was lot of chatter during breakfast, lunch and dinner at the table. Sometime one could not hear what the person next to you was talking! Lots of photo sessions and lots of shopping! The national dress of Bhutan for ladies called Khira was purchased by most of the ladies.

I realized that one had to be fashion conscious while traveling with a group of women. At the breakfast table, people see what dress is one wearing. There were looks gauging people from top to bottom! Thank god, I had a good roommate who helped me in matching colour concept! For me all the colours go well with all the colours, every person is beautiful and whatever they wear looks good on them! So, it was really a tough call as to judge oneself whether I am wearing the right colours and the right accessories! I never thought to be fashionable was an important aspect of life. But after this trip, I have changed this opinion, and vehemently say that being fashionable is an important aspect of life! I think I must enroll to some short crash course or so where Fashion and trends are taught. Being alone, and mostly mingling with men who generally are more bothered about my mood than my dress, my fashion sense is in the negative. I need to push it up and start watching the lifestyle channels and be more observant on the roads and social gatherings. I am so disappointed about this aspect of my life after this trip!

Though the age gap was varying in the group, I could not see any so called “generation gap” incidents in the group. This was amazing. The older lot was very active and very young at heart, of course needless to say physically fit as well. I think being fit and healthy is important whichever age bracket one belongs to. There was a seven kilometers trek to one of the Monastray (Tiger’s nest- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paro_Taktsang) on the last day of the tour. All the women trekked the stretch up and down except for 3 who chose not to come and relax in the room with stone bath and massage. A Brazilian TV crew which was on its way for a documentary was impressed with one of our fellow 73 year old traveler and interviewed her for about 5 minutes!

I must say that traveling in a group is good fun, however I did miss talking to local people and spending time where I wish. Probably, I shall take another group trip sometime after 2 or 3 years and resume traveling alone or in a smaller group of 2-3. I get to know more about the local people and their style of living, culture when traveling alone.

Nevertheless, though traveling to Bhutan is recommended after Monsoons, this season was not bad when traveling in the high altitude range. I think our own range of Himalayan region in the north east has the same landscape as Bhutan. It is the Monastery; Bhuddism (of course coupled with local and lots of Hindu rituals) makes Bhutan an interesting place to see.

Some pictures from Bhutan at : http://www.flickr.com/photos/12177005@N04/