Not One Stoplight!
Bhutan is a country nestled between India and China, about the size of the state of West Virginia . Until 1969, the country didn’t have a single paved road, and there isn’t a single stoplight in the entire country today! Its population is 2.3 million, but Thimpu, its capital and largest city, has a population of less than 100,000. This is the country whose king declared that their objective is to maximize Gross National Happiness (GNH), not Product. This same king has four wives, somehow marrying four sisters on the same day! Try explaining that to your eleven and nine year old!!
Bhutan has been called the last unspoiled frontier. I can’t really comment on the “last” part of this assertion, but there is no question it’s an unspoiled frontier. The air is clear and fresh. The beautiful mountains had snow-topped peaks as the first sign of winter settles in. And the trees have turned colors, making Bhutan a magical place.
We flew in from Bangkok and had been forewarned about the hairy approach to the airport. We caught clear views of the Himilayas, including Everest on the flight in, and twisted through a valley in finding our airstrip in Bhutan’s only airport. Whew! That’s one landing we’re glad to have behind us. The views of the Himilayas on our flight out of Paro (to Delhi via Katmandu) were even more spectacular. We were on the wrong side of the plane, but our neighbor on the right took this great picture of Everest.
Our visit to Bhutan was short (five days), and we did a lot (way too much) driving around. We started in Paro, moved to Thimpu (the capital, in the center of the country), and then headed west to Punakha. As the crow flies, all cities are quite close to each other. And we were very jealous of these crows by the end of each drive. The roads in Bhutan twist through mountain valleys, and are in miserable condition. About two minutes after our guide explained that we were on Bhutan’s first super-highway, I shot this video to give you an idea of the jolting nature of travel by “highway” in Bhutan. And there are workcrews on the side of the road at very regular intervals (see picture above), mostly brought into Bhutan from India. These crews worked with almost no advanced equipment, often breaking up rocks with a pick-axe. And they almost always had entire families in the crew, including young babies with an older sibling caring for the younger child. Anyway, I wouldn’t hold my breath for when Bhutan’s “superhighway” will approximate even a fairly basic secondary road.
In Paro, we poked around, went to a museum, took in a monastery/fort, and took a couple of short hikes. In Thimpu, we met with a bunch of children at an elementary school there and had a great baseball outing (see my Baseball in Bhutan! blog). And we had a really fun river rafting trip in Punakha, on which we had great views of several amazing birds (including the Crested Kingfisher, the Ibisbill, and the River Lapwing). While we had to work hard for the birds we sighted, Bhutan had remarkable birdlife with some really special sightings (including the red-vented bulbul shot in the photo above).
You can’t go a mile in Bhutan without seeing signs of the national sport of archery. By the roadsides, they have concrete blocks 140 meters apart, and use them to position small targets. The archers then take turns shooting arrows across this vast distance in hope of striking the target. When there is a “hit,” they then chant a song and do a dance (see video) that the NFL might try to copy for touchdown celebrations :-). Watch for Bhutan’s archery team in the 2008 Summer Olympics, and root for them!!
We loved Bhutan, even though our trip there had its issues. We stayed at the Amankora (they have properties in all towns in Bhutan), following our great stay with an Aman hotel in Thailand. In Bhutan, Amankora supplied a mediocre guide, largely inept staff at the hotels (except for Punakha), dreadful room designs (imagine staying in a windowless bowling alley set in beautiful mountains), and an itinerary that involved lots of driving on torturous roads. By the end of our stay, we felt like someone had blasted us with a jack hammer for five days. Ouch! So we’d encourage anyone to visit Bhutan — it’s lovely — but look for other options than the Amankora.
Feel free to check out our Bhutan photos.