12/12/24 Thurs: Bhutan has been on my travel bucket list since years ago. I remember trying to plan for a trip there in December before Covid-19 days, but dropped the idea because it was very expensive. Well, fate has it I'd be spending even more for PotaTOH's 10D9N trip to Bhutan last December lol~ Tourism in Bhutan was somewhat badly impacted by Covid-19 no doubt, but I also decided to splurge on a luxury trip after my retrenchment from STC. I just thought I wanted a "comfortable/luxurious" trip which we've never experienced before, and Potato was supportive as always.
Started getting in touch with a few agencies that provided five-star travel packages to Bhutan in June last year and I decided on andBeyond in the end because of the details they gave me and the overall customised itinerary they had, at least on paper, felt good to me. They booked the return flights for us (USD2,104), four five-star accommodations, provided private tour guide and driver service, included monument fees and also Sustainability Development Fund (USD 100 per pax per night, which is already at a 50% discount till 2027), which amounted to USD17,273 in total. I did WISE transfer to them twice before the trip, first 25% of the costs in July and then the remaining 75% in September. *Was skeptical before I made my first payment because their bank account is in India lol.* So after the additional WISE transfer fees both times, we paid S$22,713.01. We also bought FWD's travel insurance for S$121.12 for two pax and changed S$274.1 to USD200 for spending in Bhutan.
About two weeks after my last day of work at STC, we embarked on our trip to the Land of the Thunder Dragon, Druk Yul to explore the Kingdom of Happiness! There were limited flights in and out of Singapore and Paro every week, and we were booked on Drukair KB541 at 12.30pm at T3. *Aiyoh my bagpack's zipper broke just before we were supposed to go out, so I had to change to a new bagpack.* Ian kindly drove us to the airport at 10am and we did the check-in half an hour later. Had small bites at dnata at 11am before boarding.
It was a mid-sized A319 flight but it was full. *love the calming Bhutanese music they play on the flight* To our surprise, there were many families going to Bhutan even though it's a high-altitude country. By the time we were served meals, there was only the vegetarian option left. Tasted a bit oily for me though.Arrived in Guwahati airport for a pitstop after four hours or so of flying. It would take another 30 minutes to Paro and they gave us some snacks. Once we took off, I was a bit nervous because I'd been reading online on how “dangerous” the flight into Paro airport was because of the mountains very nearby and the short landing strip they had, but luckily for us, it was a rather uneventful and smooth flight in!
We touched down at Paro (2,200m ASL) at 4.30pm local time and it was quite cold. *Bhutan is two hours behind Singapore.* I thought my knitted wear sufficed because it was probably just slightly colder than air-con temperature, but Potato was shivering and he ran straight into the arrival lounge right after this photo. *Unsure but we thought he could have caught a cold from there or some virus from people on the flight since it's winter.* The airport building was pretty though!
Collected the luggage quickly and I saw the money exchanger. We changed USD100 for 8,620 Ngultrum before buying a Tashicell SIM that had 2048mb data, for 300nu each and valid for 14 days. Once we got out of the airport, we received a warm welcome from Jamyang, our guide and Yeshi, our driver as they draped the Khata over us. *It seemed all the locals were dressed in their national costume, the Gho and Kira.*The car was spacious and they had snacks and drinks in a box in front of us. Jamyang, who has over 20 years of tour guiding experience, spoke rather good English and gave us a brief introduction of Bhutan as a country while we were on the way to their captial city, Thimphu (2,400m ASL), which was about a 1.5-hour drive away. Jamyang said Punakha was their old capital but the Third King saw Thimphu would be a suitable place to be developed, and hence they shifted their capital. There were also no traffic lights in Bhutan for they once experimented with traffic light but it failed lol. We observed that drivers were generally polite and although people do jaywalk, drivers will slow down to give way. There were some windy mountain roads on the way there, so I got a bit giddy too. As it was winter, the sun set earlier at 5+pm, and hence by the time we got to Thimphu city new town, it was already dark.Arrived at Pemako Thimphu hotel located at their main town at 6.15pm. We were given another round of warm welcome by the hotel staff and they provided us with a cup of tea each which tasted so good. *But on hindsight, it could also have been one of the reasons I could not sleep almost the whole night haiz~* While they were preparing our Luxury room for us, we were led outside by Tshering for a short blessing ceremony that the monk had for us. *Poor Potato was already feeling unwell and said he was shaking non-stop while we sat there for about 10 minutes or so during the whole ceremony.* White strings were tired on our hands and we were told to wear for three days and after that, we could tie them to a tree branch.
We were given room 101 and what a surprise when we went in! I think andBeyond staff must have told the hotel side, so the housekeeping team did this up for us in our room! It was our sixth wedding anniversary trip in a way~
It was interesting to see water infused with herbs in the room. Potato drank some of number 3 as he had a slight fever and felt unwell. I also tried a bit out of curiosity but it was only mildly-flavoured. *The soak in the tub later made him feel better though.* The room was big but the floor creaked haha. The heater (at 30 degrees Celcius) had a bit of issue when we first came in but the technician solved the issue later. The heating was not the best as our bathroom area was still cold every time we stepped in.
Also understood from Tshering, whose full name was Tshering Pem, that locals don't have family names. They all have names which spiritual masters would give them according to their zodiac and birthdays and that's why you'd meet many "Tsherings" in Bhutan.
We headed to their western restaurant, which was a few steps below ground level at 7.30pm, in the hotel for our dinner, which was included in our stay. *Whoa I felt myself panting just walking up that two flight of stairs...* Everything on the menu, except for alcoholic drinks, were free for us to order.
I had the wild mushroom soup (450nu) but it tasted like mushroom water oh no~ Potato's tomato basil soup (400nu) was much better. My favourite over the whole course was the tiger prawns in butter chilli garlic appetiser (1,575nu).For mains, Potato ate their pan-seared Norwegian salmon (2,250nu) and he said he could sear better lol. And this was him before his gastric pain later aiyoh~ probably because we had our 1-hour dinner at quite a late timing.My char grilled chicken in red wine sauce (1,250nu) had no taste of the latter at all. I also wanted to try their Aglio Olio Peperoncino with prawns (950nu) but it was so-so too. Anyway, while Potato had fever and gastric pain on the first night, I was just a bit tired and giddy, and kept farting for the first two days lol.
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