Bhutan (13 Oct 2006 to 23 Oct 2006)
We are a group of seven : Ric, Frank, Wendy, Luca, Avis, Molly and Sammy.
As the flight from Paro to Bangkok on 21 Oct 2006 was very full, we had to stay in Bhutan until 23 Oct 2006. We had plenty of  free time and therefore I could record down very detailed itinerary below.
I love the valley, rivers, tall green trees, red trees, grassland, forest, blue sky, waterfalls, golden paddy fields, ......in Bhutan.

General Information
High season : Mar, Apr, May, Sep, Oct and Nov
Low season : Jan, Feb, Jun, Jul, Aug and Dec
Tour package includes airport transfers, overland transport, accommodation, meals, sightseeing, local guide and museum fees.
Tour package excludes airfares, visa, airport departure tax and tourism development fund.
For a group of 3 or above :
- Tour package costs USD 200 per person per night in high season
- Tour package costs USD 165 per person per night in low season
For one or two persons, FIT (individual) surcharge
- one person, USD 40 per person per night
- two persons, USD 30 per person per night
Tourism Development Fund, USD 10 per person. It is a one time payment for the entire duration of the tour.
Single room supplement, USD 20 per night.
Round trip air ticket of Bangkok and Paro - USD 720
Round trip air ticket of Hong Kong and Bangkok - HKD 2400
VISA USD 20
Luggage can be checked through all the way from Hong Kong to Paro.
Recent photo is not needed for VISA.

Reference
http://www.bhutankingdom.com
http://www.global.com.hk
http://www.museumfriends.org.hk/events_0506.htm


13 Oct 2006
We arrived Hong Kong airport at 20:00, but it took very long time to check in. It was because we had only the approval letter of VISA. The Cathay staff knew nothing about Bhutan and he was responsible to make sure that we could make our VISA in Bhutan with this letter. Although the Cathay staff told us that we could not check through the luggages to Paro, in fact we did it successfully, no need to go out and in for the luggages and no need to pay the Bangkok airport tax.
We took rest   in the new Bangkok airport (just opened on 28 Sept 2006). I had Thai massage in the airport. The new Bangkok airport is very big. The gate segments are quite far away from each other. Many shops in the new airport    and we noticed same shops appear in every section. The flight stopped at Calcutta of India before arriving Paro of Bhutan   .

14 Oct 2006
Our tour guide was Rinchen Tshering (Rinchen means jewellery and Tshering means long life). He was a nice young (24 years old) man. He taught me to speak  Dzongkha (Official language of Bhutan, Kha means language). Every Bhutan man with age over 18 has to wear Bhutan traditional clothes (gho) in office. Rinchen looked very different in gho and in modern clothes. Our travel bus  was a medium one, maximum 24 passengers and 1 driver. Paro is a beautiful valley  with a big Pa Chu (Chu means river)  . The weekly market in Paro opened every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The King  has four Queens and the Queens are sisters.
The King has already reigned the country for 40 years and he will pass his reign to his son in 2008 and ends the monarchy in the same year. The country will turn into democracy then ! The Crown Prince  is now the Trongsa Panel and every king must be a Trongsa Panel before he become a king.
Fishing without license is not allowed in Bhutan. Fish is usually imported from India. Other goods are mainly imported from India and Thailand. Unauthorised cutting down timber was a serious offence in Bhutan.
We visit shops  in the street  (shop's name is usually boss's name,   "TSHERING" is a name and "DORJI" here  is a name, "DORJI" also means a kind of lama's weapon). We visited a art gallery   .
After early lunch, we drove to Satsam Chorten for Taktsang hike. Usually the hike starts in early morning. As Frank would go back on 20 Oct 2006, we had to hike on 14 Oct 2006. On the way to the Taksang Lhakhnag, we saw many prayer flags  (pray by the wind), prayer wheels and water prayer wheels   (pray by running water). As we did not have time, we just hiked to Taktsang Cafeteria  instead of Taktsang Lhakhnag (Lhakhnag means temple)  . We took photos   and had tea  in the Taktsang Cafeteria. The Taktsang Lhakhnag was on fire on 1997 and the rebuild work was finished by the end of 1998. The work was done by prisoners.
The first traffic light was introduced to Bhutan in 1994. As drivers were not familiar with this, it caused traffic jams and accidents. Finally, it was removed.
Bhutan started to have television and internet in 1999, mobile phone in 2002.
Traditional Bhutanese buildings are in red and white colour. The red colour signifies sun and the white colour signifies moon.
The big lama stays in Thimphu in summer and stays in Punaka in winter.
Only the king and the big lama can wear yellow scarf.
We stayed in Hotel Pegyel, Paro    . Bhutanese eats very spicy food. Our tour guide Rinchen had ema datsi (ema is chilli and datsi is cheese) for every meal.
Every night, we played majong in the hotel  .

15 Oct 2006
After breakfast, we took photos with most Hotel Pegyel staffs before we left   . On the road from Paro to Thimphu (capital), the road is blocked for traffic for a few hours everyday except on Sunday. A new express highway was being built from Thimphu to India. About 10% of the new highway was completed and it will be finished in 2010.
The three major income of Bhutan are hydro-electricity (selling to India), tourism and agriculture.
We took photos near a famous iron bridge   .
Stupas are usually built in dangerous spots e.g. river confluence, bridge and road junctions, where accidents happened frequently. Stupas are for good deed, memorial of dead people and safety of travellers.
In the Pa Chu (Paro river) and Wang Chu (Thimphu river) confluence, there are three stupas  . One in Bhutanese style, one in Nepalese style and one in Tibetan style.
The chilli season was just finished. We found many red chilli on the roofs    and the chilli is reserved for winter use.
We arrived Thimphu and visited the Memorial Chorten  which was built in honour of the third king who introduced free hospital facilities and education. He promoted friendship with other countries. He also collected all lands in Bhutan and evenly distributed to all Bhutanese.
The top level of the Memorial Chorten  offers good view of the city, we saw buildings including hospitals and schools. There is only one university in Bhutan. It is not in the capital, it is located in the eastern part of Bhutan. Only students with very good examination results can study in this university.
Then we visited Changangkha Lhakhnag (Lhakhnag means temple)   . Many parents bring their new born babies to the temple and invite lama to give names to the babies.
After having lunch in Conifers restaurant    , we went to a zoo to see the national animal Takin  . It was said that a lama used his super power to change cow and sheep into one animal - Takin   . It has a cow body and a sheep head !
Then we visited a Nunnery  (from where we can overlook down by the riverside, Thimphu Dzong   ).
A Dzong is composed of government administration office and monastery. We visited the Thimphu Dzong, Trashichhodzong  . It is the king's office. Tourists are not allowed to get in until 17:00 when the king leaves the Dzong.
Bhutanese admire and love the king. The king is very hardworking, clever and handsome. He is very friendly and always visits villages. He also conquers terrorists and donates a lot of money.
In the carpark near the Dzong, Rinchen introduced the format of car registration mark to us. Registration mark starts with "BP" means private car  , "BT" means taxi  and "BG" means government vehicle  . Then we visited a handicraft shop.
We had free time from 15:00 onwards. We went shopping   , had ice-creams, made telephone call back to Hong Kong (mobile roaming did not work, only One2Free works, because there are too many local subscribers) and walked around the Sunday market.
We had dinner and stayed in Hotel Dragon Roots, Thimphu    .
During dinner, we asked Rinchen many questions about Bhutan. Bhutanese gets married at the age of 26 to 28. Rinchen might go to Japan to study Japanese for five months.
Chicken is not common because people believe that killing small animals is a sin.
Therefore, eating chickens and fish are very sinful. Moreover, very few chickens are imported from India to avoid bird flu.

16 Oct 2006
We went to the post office to buy stamps and went to the bank to exchange local money, Nu (1 USD = 44 Nu)  .
Avis did not feel well, we went to a hospital  and consulted a doctor  . To our surprise, it was free of charge. As we could not wait several hours for the free medicine, we bought the medicine in the pharmacy  . We asked for some other medicine because we found that she gave us expired medicine. We also found something expired in general shops.
We took photo for Simtokha Dzong  which is the first Dzong built in Bhutan.
Then we went to Dochu La pass (la means pass). There are 108 stupas  in Dochu La pass. We walked around the stupas in clockwise direction because walking anti-clockwise direction is a sin. We could not see eastern part of Himalaya from Dochu La pass because it was very foggy ( Himalaya just behind us). We had lunch at Dochila Cafeteria (long queue for the restaurant toilet  ).
Punakha is the old capital. Our bus stopped near Punakha Dzong  . This Dzong was built in the male river and female river confluence and the Dzong is protected by the two rivers. As expected, we found a stupa there  . There are 21 temples inside Punakha Dzong. The Dzong was damaged six times by fire, flood and earthquake.
On the way to Punaka Dzong, we saw a secondary school  . Therefore, we requested to visit the school first. Then we visited the Dzong     , took photo for the wishing tree  and wheel of life  . The heads of the villages  were having meeting about the election in 2008. We visited a temple in the Dzong  , only the left and the right side of the stairs can be used, the middle one  is reserved for the King and the big lama.
We had dinner and stayed in Dragon Nest Resort of Wangdi      .

17 Oct 2006
The only activity was travel by bus. Our driver drove from Wangdi to Trongsa for more than five hours. After having lunch in Trongsa, another drive from Trongsa to Bumthang for more than two and a half hour.
During the long drive, we listened to iPod, we saw some notice board about AIDS  . The Queen advertised about the use of condoms to prevent AIDS. Free condoms are available at check points. We passed Black Mountain  and Pele La pass. We peed in natural toilets ( girls had to climb up a slope for it). We saw some yaks  . We met school truck  , local bus, a bridge build for Japan and Bhutan friendship  . Many lovely children waved hands to us. Of course, we saw many stupas. It is quite crazy that some stupas are built in the middle of the roads. We also requested to stop to take photos when we saw beautiful scenery    . We arrived Trongsa   and had lunch in Hotel Norling, Trongsa.
Tourists have to take long long drive to Trongsa because there is no flat land to build airport.
After lunch, we were on the road again. We requested to stop to take photos of boo (penis)  . Local people hang a big penis at the four corners of  the roof (  see the flying penis ?) or draw big penis    or fixed the penis at the entrance  to drive away devils. On the way, we visited a small weaving factory    .
Finally, we arrived Wangdicholing Resort, Bumthang    . We met a Singaporean who has been  working in Bhutan for four years. He built hotels and it was his first time to meet tourists from Hong Kong. The hotel rooms looked like sauna rooms   . There were special "fireplace"  . Late at night, Avis found that she left her watch in Dragon Nest Resort and we asked Rinchen for help.

18 Oct 2006
The staff of Dragon Nest Resort told Rinchen that no watch was found. Rinchen requested confirmation from the manager again, but unfortunately they gave the same answer.
We visited Jambay Lhakhnag  . Some day between the end of Oct to the beginning of Nov, a very famous naked dance is performed by monks and local men. They dance to bless women. This year, the date of this event is 04 Nov 2006. In ancient time, a king ordered to build 108 temples within one day. One location is Bumthang, it is Jambay Lhakhnag. Another location is Paro. All others are in Tibet. Old people always pray and walk clockwisely around stupa in Jambay Lhakhnag. They put one stone after each round and when they finish praying, they count number of stones because the number of stones represent the number of rounds.
We visited Kurjey Lhakhnag (Kur means body, Jey means print)  . There is a body print in the temple. We could not take photo for the body print because it is not allowed. There is one big tree in the temple with branches growing downward. It is believed that the tree is a up side down walking stick. There are 108 stupas in the temple. All stupas are white in colour except the one for devils which is black  . I passed through two rocks     . People believe that all sins will be washed away if one passes through these two rocks. Very bad guys cannot pass through these two rocks even the bad guy has very thin body.
Then we hiked    to Tamshing Lhakhnag  . We saw a Tibetan truck  (with eyes) which were quite common in Bhutan. We passed a swing bridge . There are small monks studying in the temple : they read aloud while swinging their bodies back and forth   . The statue inside the temple is looking upward because the statue was looking at the three flying angels.
We visited cheese factory  (Datsi for ema datsi  ) and bought some cheese.
We hiked to Mebar Tsho (burning lake)  . Long long time ago, a lama wanted to show his special power. He went down the lake with a lamp and then he came out from the water with some jewellery. The fire in the lamp still on. That why it is called "burning lake". Some students fell down in the lake every year and local people believe that the water pulls down kids.
Then we had a big lunch   in Kaila Guest house   .
Again, we had another two and a half hour drive back to Trongsa. We pass Yontong La pass  .
When we arrived Trongsa, we visited Trongsa Dzong       . Rinchen explained wheel of life  to us.
We went to Hotel Norling, Trongsa again  . We had dinner and stayed there. There was no electricity twice in the hotel.

19 Oct 2006
We visited Phubjikha valley     . We ate our packed lunch at a stupa  which is built at a road junction  .
We went back to Dragon Nest Resort, Wangdi for toilets   and for Avis's watch, but we could not find her watch.
On the way to Thimphu, we requested to stop and take photos    .
We arrived Dragon Root Hotel, Thimphu again. We went out to town before dinner. That night, we did not have dinner in the hotel. We had dinner in a restaurant "Bhutan Kitchen"   near the travel agent office in Thimphu  . The managing director of the travel agent is Rinchen's father  . He is Gembo Tshering. He greeted us and gave us souvenirs. He told us that the tourists visiting Bhutan are mainly from USA, Japan and Europe. He also introduced the manager   to us because the manager would take Frank to Paro airport early next morning. We told him that Bhutanese food was good, but every lunch and dinner in every restaurant and hotel the food were the same. Actually, we were not complaning, but something changed later. Luca had lower back problem that night.

20 Oct 2006
Avis had problems with her nose, ears and head. She could not sleep. Wendy and Avis went to Paro airport with Frank and the manager. Rinchen's father had already been in the airport in the morning to see his wife off to New Dehli. He was very busy for fighting a flight seat for Avis, traffic arrangement for Wendy from Paro airport to Thimphu (everyday road block except Sunday) because the Customs and Immigration officers did not allow Wendy to wait in the airport with Avis, also traffic arrangement for Avis in case Avis could not get a seat. Alhough the flight was very full, finally Avis got a seat in business class in the last minute. The rest of us visited the art school, watching painting, wood curving  , sculpture  . Exact measurements for painting  and sculpture are very important because it is a sin if a god is not drawn in scale.
We visited the national library  , but it was closed.
We requested to go to BBS tower   to view the whole Thimphu city. We saw Rinchen's house (one white house  ) which is in white in colour and quite near to the Queen's palace.
We visited a paper factory   .
We had lunch in a Chinese restaurant   and Rinchen asked us to make our order.
After lunch, it was our free time. We saw dancing for the king's birthday in a private school, and saw the Memorial Chorten  again.
After 17:00, we visited Trashhodzong  again. The Dzong  is very crowded in Thimphu festival (last for four days) and everyone wear expensive jewelleries and expensive gho.
In the clock tower near Hotel Dragon Root, some workers were preparing the art exhibition which was to be held in the next morning  . We knew that the queen would come for the open ceremony.
We had dinner in Hotel Dragon Root (painting in the hotel restaurant  ) . Rinchen told the hotel to cook something new for our dinner. We had steam fish.
Every night, dogs were having parties and we heard dogs barking all the night. That night was very quiet because the dogs were hiding from heavy rain, lightning and thundering. Stray dogs and dogs kept by citizens is a major problem in Thimphu because dogs attack people at nights especially when one walked alone.

21 Oct 2006
We requested to see the queen in the "Crafts Fair 2006"  before we left Thimphu. We saw the queen, queen's father  and queen's daughter  . We also visited the national library again, but it was still closed.
We waited in our bus because there was road block.
When we arrive Paro, we had "momo"    for our lunch. Momo is dumpling with cheese and vegetable, or pork inside.
We visited the National Museum (Ta Dzong, Ta means watch)  . Taking photos is not allowed inside the museum. We took photo outside the museum  and we saw Para Dzong  beneath the museum. Driver drove us to Paro Dzong, we walked down passing Paro Dzong   without going inside the Dzong.
We went back to Hotel Pegyel, Paro again.
Rinchen and the hotel staff assisted us to set our own dinner menu. We spent quite long time because we asked quite many questions about food   .
As Frank and Avis were in Hong Kong, Wendy, Luca and I had single room.

22 Oct 2006
Ater having breakfast, we adjusted our dinner menu.
On the way to Sunday market, we saw local people playing archery. Therefore we requested to stop and watch the archery tournament    . The distance between the player and the target is 145 yards!
We visited Sunday market   and bought some fruit  in the market. We also bought three pairs of dart  .
We visited the Drugyel Dzong    which is in the northern part. We saw a beautiful valley   and Tibet is just behind the mountain   .
We vistied Kichu Lhakhnag. There is a twin temples   which is one of those 108 temples that the king ordered to build within one day.
We had lunch in a restaurant   .
We visited a farm house  . It is a property of Rinchen's grand father. The farm house was managed by Rinchen's aunt. Rinchen and his younger brothers showed us the bow given by his grand father  .
Top level of farm house is for storage     . Middle level is the living room   . Farmers keep livestocks in ground floor  for three purposes : easy to feed, protect livestocks from wild animals and keep living room in middle level warm.
We went back hotel to play darts.
We had hot stone bath     .
After dinner, guys wore gho and ladies wore kira     .

23 Oct 2006
After having breakfast, we went to the airport.
Wendy took photos for the snow mountain  in the restricted area. While airport staff were busy with shooing Wendy away, Luca got the chance to take photos for the snow mountain  .
After taking photos, we got into the plane. In the plane we took photo for Himalaya



Below are just some of our photos. Actually, we took loads of photographs and movies.