Bhutan;land of thethunder dragon(27 Julyuntil3 August)

It all started with our Business Class flight from Kathmandu (Nepal) to Paro (Bhutan), Jordi sitting beside the former Indian minister of foreign affairs. We only found out when we arrived in Paro and we saw an official welcoming committee waiting at the end of the stairs and we were kindly asked to wait until this highly honoured guest and his wife had left the plane. Of course a little dissapointed this committee didn't camefor us we still left the plane with a smile embracing the fresh air and green colors of Bhutan after spending quite some time in Nepal.

You might wonder why we would have had these high expectations in the first place, well it probably has something to do with the price of the trip. Just for being in Bhutan you have to pay $225 per day per person; not strange not to be surprised by a special reception at the airport right? For once we are benefitting from the fact that we are travelling off season at most of our destinations (read; wrong wet rainy period AKA Monsoon) which lowered the price to the little amount of $185 per person per day although we found plenty of travel agencies in Kathmandu we were still happy to charge is $225 but that is a story of it's own.

Enough about the financial details because we can highly recommend to start re-allocate budgets or buying a lotery ticket and visit Bhutan before it's to late.....the goverment is regulation the tourism and hopefully they will succeed to safe their culture, treisures and nature so that is not what you have to worry about. It's the inspiration you get from the attitude of the people and the way they live their life,it'shighly influenced by their Budhist relegion but it's so more natural and genuine than what we have seen and experienced so far during our trip. It's a pitty to wait until you are retired,like most tourist who visit Bhutan,when you can take this inspiration now andbring it along with you for therest of your live!

Bhutan is surrounded by India and China on the Northern side, this partly explains the special relationship between India and Bhutan it's always nice to have a little neighbour in between....
It has the size of Switerserland and people are fond of comparing to Switserland, ok here we go;
Yes it has mountains, roads with steep kliffs that will make the Furka or Grimsel pass fade away when it comes to numbers of hairpins curves, they have cheese in some parts of the countrywhich they also use in theirnotorious chilli dishes, in Bumthang valley you can get Weissbeer and Swiss cheese...all produced by a Swiss guy who is living there for about threedecenia and is one of thevery few foreigners who got hold permenant residence in Bhutan.
I have to say that thisis about it when it comes to the comparison with Switzerland this little kingdom has so much more to offer it's cultural heritage is just infinite and also when it comes to nature it is way morediverse.
Yaks, bears, cows, dogs but we've also got the pleasure to stand face to face with the very poiseness Viper snake, observe a three with over fifty white Mongul Monkeys and see the biggest variety of butterflies i've ever seen in my life. Not to mention the very specialBlack Neck Crane birdwho unfortunately were on summer leavein Tibet when we visited the Phobjikia valley.

Where to start with our dive into this little kingdom, which we love so much?
Our own royalcommittee at the aiport excisted of two people; our guide Tshering and our driver Bibi with their big Toyota Landcruiser. Just to see all the man wearing their Gho and ladies wearing their Kiramadeus realize straigth away that we arrived in a veryspecial country.The pictures will explain probably more than we can express in words. Tshering and Bibi really made us feel like a Royal couplethey had at least a dozen permits on A4which would give us allowance to different regions, Dzongs, museums, roadsand forest areasand it seems that our trip was directed minute by minute and everybody new we were coming (like they have to with all foreigners.....).

We will just try to take you into the Bhutan culture by the pictures although we have to leave the rituals and decorations that can be seen inside the Bhudist monestriesand Dzongs to your imangination since it's strictly prohibited to take pictures inside. You just have to believe us that this is absolutely THE Mekka for Bhudist and anybody else who would like to see and learn more about this interestingreligion or better said attitude towards life. We canreconfirm by this timesince we've visited in the meantime (Dharamsala (Tibetan government in exile, Ladakh; Tibetan enclave inIndia, Bodnath;Tibetan enclave in Nepal). Attending the Puja (morning prayers) in the Bhutan monastries and Dzongsare still the most special andintense thing we'veexperienced so far during our trip, the sound, smell of incense and old timber theatmosphere and concentration of the monksarejust not translatable intowords.

Before you think we might have turned intoBuddhists, that's notthe case we are just impressed by what we've experienced. Please see the pictures although we also have to withold you from thepictures of Jorditrying the famous Bhutan Chilli'sas well as thepics of our visits to Bhutan styleKaraoke bars with Druk (Dragon) 11.000 8% beer served in a 600ml bottle.

We have learnt so many mythsabout the Divine Madman and many other gods we would like to share with you when we come home....we are sure some of the pictures willmake you interested in the background story!