An Idea Called Bhutan

8.18.2012

           
                                                 Bhutan will amaze you with the change that it offers

"We'd love to,but we can't travel everywhere.Or we manage to,just to wander around."

Sitting in front of computer along with my brother and making plan for an international journey or an adventurous Indian one,yet cheap was on our list.We noted down a few places we had in our mind:

1)Andamans/Lakshwadeep by ship
2)Thailand by Air Asia
3)Malaysia by Air Asia
4)Nepal by road

We were puzzled.Puzzled to the extent that we googled every possible keyword on cheap + travel option .Andamans by ship was exciting and new,though it was all rains and droplets at Andamans. The best season is Jan-Mar.The last thing we wanted was to get ourselves drenched or flooded in Indian ship bunkers.Besides I had already been to Andamans once.Thailand was equally promising,though I had already availed the Bangkok + Pattaya option before.Malaysia by Air Asia,not bad.But travel in Malaysia is expensive ,at least Langkawi is,which I was more interested in.Nepal,is on my to do list.

On Why Bhutan?


                                                        Bhutan was an interesting choice indeed.

The call of the mountain did not wait any longer when I told my brother "Bhutan,its so near to India,must be cheap!"

Google "Bhutan" and you find the packages that were expensive to our standards,well not as expensive as Maldives,Europe or US but not as cheap as Thailand.Truth is,if you are out to experience International and if you are comfortable by road,there is no better alternative than Bhutan for Indians.In some ways it's similar to Ladakh and Sikkim,but different as its more developed and clean.It's even cheaper than Thailand in some ways,no airfare cost,the travel by public transport is cheap,the currency equivalent,no language problem,and it's squeaky clean and well maintained.

Downside is :

1)Shopping is unbearably expensive(clothes,jewellery,artifacts)
2)Roaming charges are very high.We chose to use a local sim for our calls
3)There isn't much information on Internet.

Advantage is

1)In case,you are sick or ill during your travel,you can contact the Indian Army Representatives at Thimpu. There is a general hospital run in the army premises,the staff is very helpful ,the doctors excellent and they treat the Bhutanese locals as well as Indians.
2)The trek to Tiger's Nest is worth the 2.5 hours uphill and once in a lifetime experience.
3)You get to see a strange animal called Takin,which is also a national animal of Bhutan.

Let me take you through different aspects of Bhutan through my video and the write up in the next post.Till then stay happy,we are entering into one of the world's happiest country soon :) . If you have been there,do not forget to share your experiences.

7 comments

  1. Excellent post and blog. Some of us have the wanderlust and it is so glad to see a fellow blogger who has it. Being in the Navy, I have seen some remote places and would like to write about these. Alas. working six days a week doesn't help. Some close friends have recently visited Bhutan and have gushed over their visits. Your writing has added the lure. Lets see how quickly I am able to go there.

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  2. @Sunbyanyname:Thanks so much..Oh yes,I am sort of crazy about travel,and since I do keep on moving from place to place,I started this blog to help some people out there.Wow,being in navy makes you travel a lot,in fact couple of my friends are in navy,and I understand when you say you don't have time(6 days a week + a blog is a tough task),though you can write on weekends,whenever you feel like.Bhutan video is not yet out,and the article,will make a nice writeup in a day or two,lets see if it makes your travel more easy for you.And do visit the country ,its an amazing place,though if you have been to whole of ladakh or north east,you would find it a lot similar.

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  3. Planning a trip to Bhutan next year with Royal Enfield Folks..Hope it will be exciting. Till then, will keep reading your posts to get the more information. Thanks.

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  4. I've tried the second and 3rd option on your list. need to try 1st and 4th,,,

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  5. @Shrinidhi:Seems like you travel a lot too,beautiful travel blog of yours.All the best for all your future trips.Great to find people with similar interests

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  6. @Avanish:Great.I think Arnab Maity has already done the bike thing in bhutan,I have seen a post on that,you can actually contact him for details and stuff on bike rentals,in case the royal enfield turns out to be costly.http://www.arnabmaity.com/

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  7. Thanks Ankita, Arnab is in my contact list..I will check with him.

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