I am getting worse with writing. I have came across a lot of travel blogs detailing personal experiences, guesthouse and food recommendations, tips etc but I just cannot complete my own writing with such grace.
So anyway, since my memory of my travel experience is so scattered and chaotic, I decided to just list down the things based on what I remember.
1. Bhutanese people are sweet, pleasant folks. They are by far the sweetest people I have ever met. "Commercialized" is definitely not a term to describe this beautiful country. No one will harrass you to buy anything from them (read: Indonesia).
Tour guides practically babysit their guests. They help you carry your heavy bags and follow you around wherever you go so you won't get lost. They make sure you get your tea and toilet breaks while on the road. That's us on our way to Bhumtang enjoying our tea and amazing view.
They even ask you to write down your wishes on their prayer flags. See photo below, he's our driver. :)
One time, I saw a tour guide carrying a caucasian baby while hiking who turns out to be his guests' baby. Beat that! They are the best. Seriously.
2. Bhutanese kids are so adorable and I have photos to prove that.
3. It's all about chili. Food in Bhutan are very basic. I bought a cookbook and the recipes all revolve around 2 basic ingredients: chili and cheese. I lost weight after the trip. But please don't get me wrong, I lost weight because I got sick due to dehydration from climbing Tak Tzang and couldn't eat much afterwards. Another thing, dessert is apparently non-existent in Bhutan. hahaha. I can't imagine not eating anything sweet for one week but I actually did and easily shed those unwanted pounds.
4. Hilltop dzongs and temples are common. I am not good with hiking. My knees are bad and I realized that after training myself to be able to run 10k on flat land, I am still not strong enough to handle extensive hiking. So if there is one thing about traveling to Bhutan I would like to share to people ... do it while you are still young. By the time you hit 40, you're probably too old to handle climbing hills and mountains already. Oh well, I guess this does not just apply to Bhutan. it applies to life. Please don't delay things or you.
5. Bhutan is a very laid-back country. Would you believe that it took us 3 days before we can finally have our money changed? That is because we arrived on a weekend which means no banks. By early morning Monday, we were still not able to change our money because they start operating at 930am and we could not afford to wait that long as we are driving up to Thimpu from paro. So, one important tip, don't forget to change money at the airport.
6. Still very manual. The only disappointment we had during our trip was when the hotel that we were initially booked for at Bhumtang all of a sudden cancelled our reservation. We had to be moved to another hotel. Based on our conclution, these hotels tend to cancel smaller groups in favor of bigger ones, which in my opinion, is not a good practice.
7. Festivals are a bit boring for my taste. You see I came from the vibrant and energetic land of the philippines. In our book, festival equates to loud music, flamboyant costumes and crazy crowd. No inhibitions.
Tsetsu and Prakhar festival unfortunately did not live up to this expectation of mine. Somehow, the state of uptightness was lingering while watching the performance. To each his own I guess. I did enjoy people watching and taking random photos of strangers though. Photos below.
8. Monks are everywhere. As you know or don't know, Bhutan is primarily a buddhist country. Many kids are sent to temples to practice and study buddhism. According to our tour guide, some of these kids decide on their own that they want to be monks while some are being sent down by their parents. But looking at them play and get rowdy at the temple, I still view them as boys. Monk or not.
9. Last but not the least, the mountain views are simply breathtaking. I cannot remember how many times I whispered, "thank you Lord" for being able to witness such beauty.
