Land of the Thunder Dragon Bhutan Trip Summary
22 August, 2011Having busted some of the myths of travelling to Bhutan, we will be sharing more of our trip experiences over the next few weeks. This post will provide a quick summary of the interesting experiences we had over this 5 Day 4 Night magical Bhutan experience.
The journey from Singapore started with a flight to Bangkok where we stayed the night at Novotel Suvarnabhumi Airport hotel for next morning’s 8.45am flight to Paro, Bhutan. The check-in counter at Suvarnabhumi Airport opens at 6.30am so be there early if you want to select your preferred seats – DrukAir does not offer any online check-in facilities so seats are on a first come first served basis. Bring along your Bhutan visa as it will be required before they even process your check-in to the flight. Request for a seat on the left side of the plane for your flight into Paro if you want to get a great view of the Himalayan mountain ranges.
Upon arrival at Paro, we then embarked on an hour-long drive to Bhutan’s capital – Thimpu. The next few days of our tour were then filled with visits to Dzongs, experiencing local culture and life as well as long drives to Punakha valley.
Feel free to download this itinerary of our 5 Day 4 Night Magical Bhutan experience prepared by DrukAsia. Some of the visits have been rescheduled and replaced with other interesting activities e.g. visit to a local farmhouse. The following map highlighted the journey we took during this trip:
Of all the tours we had experienced around the world, the tour guide service we experienced in Bhutan is definitely the best! DrukAsia had arranged Lhawang Dorji and Tenzing to be our guide and driver respectively for this 5-day trip (see picture – third from left is Lhawang and to his left is Tenzing). It is the attention paid to the small details that really impressed us.
Let’s start with our driver, Tenzing. He is a quiet guy who is serious and conscientious in his work. He ensures that each day, before we start our tour, the van is in its best conditions – it doesn’t matter if we had did a muddy hike the previous day and left the vehicle in a mess with mud, grass on the floor, the next day the condition of the vehicle is as new as when we first started out this tour. On days of long drives e.g. the 4-hour drive from Thimpu to Punakha valley, pillows will be in place at our seats in case we want to doze off during the journey. And most important of all, his years of experience in navigating the long winding roads of Bhutan had kept us safe throughout the entire trip.
Our guide, Lhawang is very knowledgeable in all matters to do with Bhutan – ask him about the concept of Gross National Happiness in Bhutan and he would be more than happy to discuss it with you. Any facts you want to know on Bhutan or just about anything about Bhutan, he should be able to help you with it and if he can’t, he would Google it on the road (using his mobile broadband) to provide you with the answer! He is also incredibly fit and knows the ground well i.e. despite muddy trails or steep slopes, he is able to navigate them with no difficulty and even help you with it. He shared with us a story where he had to carry an elderly lady tourist (who was in his tour group) on his back down the road from the Tiger’s Nest monastery! Thankfully, we did not need this service during our exploration of the Tiger’s Nest. Because of his fitness, you do have to manage your own expectations when he say certain hike takes a few minutes – simple double whatever he says and that will be the exact time needed to reach that destination. 🙂 For travel on vehicle, there is no need to double the time as his estimation are quite accurate.
Stay tuned to PassportChop.com as we share highlights from our Bhutan trip over the next few weeks. (the following will be updated with links when the respective posts are up):
- Debunking myths on Travel to Bhutan – Cost, Travel Restrictions and Weather
- Flying with Drukair – Food onboard, spectacular view on the flight into and out of the airport, surreal experience of being in an airport that serves only 1-2 flights daily
- An Introduction to Bhutanese Cuisine
- What to Expect from Hotels in Bhutan – Review of Thimpu Kisa Hotel and Punakha Meri Puensum Hotel
- Luxurious Villa Stay at Uma Paro
- Exploring Thimphu – Capital of Bhutan
- Visit to Bhutan Thimphu Weekend Farmers’ Market
- Windhorse Prayer Flags in Bhutan
- Interesting Hike to Chhimi Lhakhang Temple with Phalluses-painted house and Story of the Divine Madman
- Top 4 Places to do Yoga in Bhutan: Punakha Meri Puensum Hotel , Chhimi Lhakhang Teahouse, Uma Paro, Tiger’s Nest Teahouse
- Visit to Ancient Bhutanese Fortresses – the Dzongs
- Understanding Local Culture with Visit to Bhutanese Farmhouse
- What to expect from the Tiger’s Nest Hike Challenge
A typical 5-Day 4-Night trip to Bhutan will cost you about upwards of S$6000 (including airfare) and much more if you choose to stay in luxury hotels e.g. Uma Paro and Uma Punakha. Holidaying in Bhutan is not cheap but well worth it considering that it is an all-inclusive package with hotel, food and guide services all included. However, if you need the cash flow, OCBC Cashflo Mastercard allows you to defer payment for your holiday in Bhutan without incurring any interests (if you pay back on time of course!)
OCBC Cashflo is designed for people who are looking to manage their cash flow smartly and pay for expenditures in instalments. OCBC Cashflo customers can break expensive holidays into 3 or 6 months instalments without any interests. That way, it helps to manage their customers to manage cash flow better and smarter. Furthermore, you can earn rebates of up to 1% to offset your bill (treat it as a 1% discount for your Bhutan holiday! – potential saving of at least S$60 just by using OCBC Cashflo). Plus you can enjoy movie discounts, dining and motoring privileges when you use OCBC Cashflo Mastercard!
For more information on OCBC Cashflo and how it can help you plan your financials for your holiday, see this link: http://www.ocbc.com/personal-
Getting to Bhutan
To book a trip, contact Bhutan-travel specialist Druk Asia (www.drukasia.com; +65 6 338 9909; email info@drukasia.com).
Comments (42)
Gerad Teo
24 August, 2011 at 10:16 pmHello,
I would be visiting Bhutan in October so your posts are certainly very informative to me 🙂 May I know what sort of currency was used in Bhutan? You mentioned changing money in USD, is it a currency into USD or USD changing to Bhutanese currency (whatever that is). Are Indian rupees accepted in Bhutan?
Cheers,
Gerad
Zhiqiang & Tingyi
24 August, 2011 at 10:28 pmTo buy stuff from Bhutanese shops, you should use Bhutanese ngultrum. For the more touristy areas and shops, they accept USD.
At the airport money exchanger, they accept USD and even Singapore dollars for changing into Bhutanese ngultrum. Indian rupees are accepted but only the smaller notes.
So for convenience, I suggest you change a small sum of money into Bhutanese ngultrum.
Sharon
25 August, 2011 at 4:10 pmR the stuff over there expensive? What can i buy there?
Zhiqiang & Tingyi
26 August, 2011 at 12:18 amyou can buy Bhutanese souvenirs e.g. prayer wheels, textiles and wooden phallus (more on this later during our Chimmi Lahkang post). most food products are imported from neighboring countries e.g. India, Nepal as well as Thailand. Prices are reasonable.
Nottingham
31 August, 2011 at 10:35 amBhutan has cool tourist spots. I knew that all along. Well, we have lots in Asia. No wonder most of the featured spots in seven wonders were taken in Asia. That’s because the continent is really rich in nature.
Rio
27 September, 2011 at 11:39 amHi Zhiqiang and Tingyi,
I want to ask from your notes above i see you mention luxurios stay in Uma Paro. Is the stay in Uma Paro is included in basic tourist packages or you need to top up some more for staying there ?
Thanks,
Rio
Zhiqiang & Tingyi
3 October, 2011 at 4:21 pmNo its not included in basic tourist package. You will need to top up to stay here.
Mrslimvoyage
17 October, 2011 at 9:19 amThank you for taking time to write up on your Bhutan trip. The articles have been useful for my upcoming trip to Bhutan (also with DrukAsia). Will there be any more update? I see there are more articles to be lined up from your article above. Looking forward to see them! 🙂 Many thanks!
Zhiqiang & Tingyi
29 October, 2011 at 11:58 amYes there will be more articles about Bhutan coming up starting today. Sorry for the lack of updates as we have been busy with our wedding and honeymoon prep 🙂 Hope you enjoy your trip in Bhutan.
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25 May, 2013 at 8:50 amHi Daphne – you cant exchange for Bhutan ngultrum here in Singapore. I suggest you bring US dollars or Euros to exchange for money at Bhutan Paro airport (change your money there as it will be quite difficult to find money exchangers in the city).
Plan Your Dream Holiday with OCBC Cashflo Credit Card & Win $500 Travel Voucher | Singapore Travel Blog
17 July, 2013 at 2:58 pm[…] where to go and some places are not exactly cheap, for example travelling in the mystical Land of the Thunder Dragon Bhutan where a typical 5-Day 4-Night itinerary could cost you upwards of S$4,000. Read on to see how you […]
I Love Bhutan
10 October, 2017 at 11:57 pmactually 5day 4 nights is not enough to explore Bhutan. There are so many nice places in Bhutan is waiting for you 🙂