Bhutan – A Switzerland in the Himalyas

5 days in Bhutan. Not enough. Nowhere near enough in fact. After the madness and instability of Kathmandu; the barren Tibetan plateau and disillusioned Tibetans and the sheer craziness of India, Bhutan really was the Shangri-La that it portrays itself as.

A few facts: It is only 150km wide and has a population of just over 600,000 making it tiny in comparison with its two neighbours: China and India. And yet into this small country is packed a great deal, the Himalayas for one. The flight form Kathmandu to Paro airport was the most scenic either of us has ever taken. On the way we passed Mount Everest and five other mountains over 8,000 metres.

The scenery in general was impressive. We spent most of our time in the valleys, surrounded by beautiful pine forests and chalet style housing that was beautifully painted with monasteric type design. The government encourage all citizens to build in the traditional style giving a neat and uniform appearance. However, on the sides of many houses are painted giant phalluses – believed to be a good luck symbol in warding off evil spirits by the Bhutanese!!!

Into this tiny country is packed some extra-special wildlife. They have tiger; snow leopard; common leopard; rhino; elephant; bears; 600 species of birds and the bizarre thakin – an animal endemic to Bhutan which is sort of a cow/moose/goat – see the pictures and judge for yourself.

The country is deeply Buddhist and it permeates every day living. The temples are beautiful and there are many monasteries throughout the country many dating back to the 7th century. None are more impressive than the “Tiger’s Nest.” Built 900 metres into a cliff face the setting it is nothing short of spectacular. It is said to have been founded on the spot that the great Buddhist teacher: Guru Rinpoche, flew to on the back of a tigress to meditate in a cave for three months. He sure got away from it all. The hike up to it was wonderful, through a pine forest dashed with colour from rhododendron trees. It is home to a small number fo devout monks and the monastery has been literally built out of the cliff, using the natural features to great effect.

Archery is the national sport and tournaments were taking place wherever we went. To the unskilled (us), it was mind-boggling to watch them fire arrows form 200 metres away and not only hit the target but fail to hit any of the spectators, many of whom were only standing a couple of metres form the target. Now, if we had been aiming … well, we did have a few attempts. One if us hit the target and one of us cracked a headlight on the car! I’ll let you guess which of us was responsible!

In many of the countries we have been to, women tend to observe traditional dress and men do not. In Bhutan, both sexes observe this custom. It was great to see the men and boys dressed in their gho; a kind of dressing gown like garment with knee high socks and white cuffs.

The food was good but not outstanding. Much is imported from India and so not always fresh. The national dish and obsession is chilies with cheese! Our guide had it at least twice a day. We tried it once or twice but not without the backup of a large glass of water on standby!

Both of us were tremendously sad to leave but at $220 per day each, we just could not afford to spend any longer. The overall impression that we came away with is one of peace and tranquility – it really is a relaxing country free of the hassles in many of the other countries we visited and it would be a great place to rent a chalet and simply spend more time there, exploring the temples, trekking, or just escaping from the usual everyday hassles of being a traveler. Perhaps another time, when it is cheaper?!