Beautiful Bhutan - Part 1

Punakha Dzong (Palace of Bliss)

 It has been some time since my wife & I visited the beautiful country of Bhutan, and I thought I will write a short blog to capture our experiences for the benefit of people who plan to visit.

At the outset let me heartily recommend a visit to this lovely country which is India’s neighbour on the Northern side, and which has Gross National Happiness (GNH) as its goal rather than GDP. It has a benevolent Monarchy and its young King, HM Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, has taken a lot of efforts to developing the country and, at the same time, maintain its culture & values. One example of his love for his subjects is that during Covid lockdown, when tourism the mainstay of the nation was not there, he provided free monthly payouts and rations from his pocket (not from Government Treasury).

The first thing that strikes us when we enter the country is its cleanliness – no one can be seen littering or spitting or urinating or defecating or otherwise spoiling the environment. Very few people smoke here while drinking is common and, although a few also chew betel leaves, none spits out the contents. The other noticeable thing is that there is almost zero noise pollution – during our entire stay of a week, we must have heard only a handful of car honks.

People are patient and pleasant. One incident which I recall was we had gone to a restaurant to have our lunch and when we returned, we found a car parked behind ours making it difficult for us to move. Our driver and guide were not perturbed and waited for the other guy to come at his time. When he came, I was surprised to see that there was no exchange of harsh words. In fact, they exchanged pleasantries, and both apologised to each other for the trouble caused. Unthinkable to ever experience that in India or, for that matter, in any other country.

With Pema Wang, our Guide

People are also courteous to each other. Give respect and exchange greetings as a natural habit. One can sense a feel of comraderies among all its citizens which a very unique and interesting. There are very few opportunities for careers / jobs within the country and income levels are rather low, but people don’t seem to be too depressed or unhappy about it. Few of them have migrated to US / Europe / Australia in search of livelihood but most of them end up doing menial jobs there as they are not highly educated.

Bhutan’s size is a about 38K square Kilometers which roughly the same size of Kerala in India. Most of the country’s natural beauty has been maintained with a strong sense of protecting the environment even at the cost of development which is in line with the GNH philosophy. There are only 3 main urban areas in Bhutan and only one international airport at Paro. The rest of the country is beautiful mountains, valleys, rivers, forests etc. Perfect getaway for tourists who prefer natural beauty.

Indian tourists please note that Indian SIM card does not work here. If you prefer to stay connected all the time, you may need to purchase a Bhutanese SIM card (easily available for short periods) and subscribe for data plans which are slightly pricey. All hotels have free Wifi which are fairly good and takes care of file downloads / uploads. Indian currency notes of all denominations are welcome in Bhutan and one need not carry dollars.

There is no requirement for VISA for Indians to visit Bhutan. One can go there with either passport or Election Voters ID and one needs to take a permit which is described in more detail in following blogs.

Will write more about the trip in the following blogs. Keep following for more about Bhutan.