Bhutan Birding and Heritage Travels

Type of Bags:

Large, soft duffle with many grab handles is better than a backpack. This will be put inside a Hessian sack and carried by ponies. Line it with a huge plastic bin bag. Plastic bags are not sold in Bhutan so bring what you need. Pack things like toiletries, first aid kit etc into separate small “stuff bags”, easy to find in a dark tent. Only carry a small backpack as a “daypack” with the items you need during the day’s trek. The rest is carried by the ponies and they go ahead so that camp is set up for the evening.15kgs is the advised weight for your trekking gear.

Clothes: dress in layers, don’t bring too many

1. One thermal vest/top and thermal underwear
2. One Long-sleeved shirt (protects against sun)
3. T-shirts or shirts
4. One fleece jacket (and fleece/shell pants for evenings and early mornings)
5. 2 or 3 comfortable pants (lightweight, easy-dry)
6. Nightwear
7. Down jacket for evenings
8. Rain jacket and rain pants
9. 3 or 4 pairs (or more) good hiking socks, 1 pair for evening
10. Thermal gloves
11. A pair of casual shoes for evening
12. Hiking boots (Gore-Tex/rain proofed)
13. Spare shoelaces
14. Sun hat
15. Fleece hat (and a spare one)
16. Gaiters

Other necessities

1. Hiking stick (collapsible preferred)
2. Sunglasses/spare glasses or contact lenses
3. Sun protection cream and preparation for relief of sunburn
4. Washing kit and toiletries (bio-soap is best for environment)
5. Light-weight towel
6. Scissors
7. Hand cream
8. Insect repellent
9. Lip salve
10. First Aid Kit suggestion: aspirin or painkiller, muscle soother, antiseptic cream, anti-histamine cream, anti-diarrhea pills, bandages, safety pains, big Band-Aid plaster, sore throat lozenges and your usual medicines etc..
11. Re-hydration sports drink/powder
12. Water purifier  (though all water is carefully boiled in camp)
13. Wet wipe tissues
14. Tissues
15. Umbrella/Rain gear
16. Camera, film, Memory cards, accessories, polarizing filters, spare batteries, tripod etc.
17. Books. Notepads and pencils
18. Rain cover for your daypack and camera pack
19. High-energy snacks-granola bars, fruit chews (unavailable in Bhutan ), dried fruit (available).
20. 1 litre water-bottle
21. A few plastic bags ( Zip loc)
22. Penknife, whistle

For Camping

1. Down (sub-zero temperatures) sleeping bag (extra inside fleece or silk liner is nice)
2. Flashlight (a headlamp is very useful and/or one that can hang or stand upright in the tent) with spare batteries.

Your tour payments and airfares should be transferred to either of the following accounts of the Bhutan National Bank, Thimphu Bhutan in New York. Please request your bank to remit money as follows:

1. Beneficiary : Bhutan National Bank
Account No. : 36023474
Bank Address: Citi Bank N.A., 111 Wall Street, 19th Floor, New York, NY 10043
Swift Code: Citius 33
ABA No.: 0210-0008-9
Chips Routing No. : 008
Ultimate Beneficiary : Bhutan Birding & Heritage Travels

2. Beneficiary : Bhutan National Bank
Account No. : 734061
Bank Address: American Express Bank Ltd: 300 Bouleverd East
Weehawken NJ 07087-6702
Swift Code : AEIB US 33
Ultimate beneficiary : Bhutan Birding & Heritage Travels

By John Julius Norwich
Published: July 4 2009 00:19 | Last updated: July 4 2009 00:19

A monk passes a traditional dzong in Bhutan's capital Thimphu

Almost for as long as I could remember, Bhutan had been a dream - and a remarkably familiar one. The old clichés were rolled out again and again: the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH), the compulsory national dress and national architecture, the passion for archery; the dzongs. In a way, I felt I knew it all already. Anyway, the whole thing sounded too good to be true; Shangri-La, as everybody knew, didn't exist. Then, last year, we went there - and found that it did.

The first surprise was Paro airport - and no more beautiful airport building exists in the world. Here was our first sight of traditional Bhutanese architecture - long, and fairly low, surmounted by the traditional three flat wooden roofs laid one above the other, diminishing in size pagoda-style; the walls snow-white, but with all the windows and the entire central section a riot of astonishingly elaborate and brilliantly painted woodwork.

Outside the airport, Hishey was waiting - fortyish and full of charm, enviably sophisticated, his unaccented English as good as ours. He had arranged our trip, planned our itinerary and provided the minibus in which we were going to travel. A superb naturalist and ornithologist, one of the world's leading authorities on cranes, he can instantly identify any animal or bird. The journey along the valley to our hotel was only 20 minutes but we broke it to watch an archery contest. Two teams of 11 were taking turns to shoot, one at each end of the range, 120m from each other. Their marksmanship was astonishing, the whole target being roughly the size of our normal black bull's-eye.

The Gangtey Palace Hotel, the first of the six in which we were to stay, proved to be another show-stopper. Upstairs was a Buddhist prayer-hall, ablaze with every colour of the rainbow. (Never miss the Bhutanese prayer-halls.) The garden, looking out across the valley, offered a glorious view of the dzong immediately opposite.

A dzong is essentially a fortress monastery and it is normally the seat of the local civil and religious power. Every big town has its dzong - though the dzong was usually there before the town was - that, by its size and commanding position, provides an architectural focus and effortlessly dominates its surroundings. The several interior courtyards of each dzong overflow with that dazzling ornamental woodwork of which we could never see enough, and they all seem to be thronged with monks, many of them aged about seven. But Buddhism is everywhere in Bhutan. Wherever you look, you see fluttering clusters of tall prayer flags, or prayer wheels to which you give a spin as you pass.

After one night in Paro, the town looking like a stage set in the moonlight, we climbed into our minibus and began our journey. It was to take 10 days and, to all of us, it was a revelation. We drove, on Bhutan's only major road, built in the 1960s, through high mountains completely covered with trees to their summits. Never was there an advertisement of any kind; publicity is frowned on, and shops are forbidden to display all but the most discreet signs. Frequently we followed rivers, varying from quiet streams to raging torrents, passing the occasional gaily decorated house with its shingled roof. Sometimes we would pass men ploughing a field with oxen or sturdy girls working in the paddy fields. (Some 80 per cent of the labour is agricultural.) Nearly always they would wave to us as we passed. When a restaurant was within range, we had lunch there. Otherwise we picnicked, the meal having been provided by the hotel where we had spent the previous night.

"Lack of variety," said our guidebook, "prevents Bhutanese cooking from ranking among the world's great cuisines." This, it must be said, is something of an understatement. The favourite dish, however, hemadatsi, consists entirely of hot chillies, treated as a vegetable and served in a cheese sauce. Pork fat is another speciality. There is always a dish of chicken or beef, and the vegetables were excellent.

The first stage of the journey took us to Thimphu, described as the only capital in the world without a traffic light. There we called on the delightful chief justice, who had drafted his country's constitution. He was the first Bhutanese to have gained a foreign university degree. Like all ministers, he wore a bright orange toga over his normal costume.

Off the next morning to Punakha, its immense dzong standing like a great ship at the confluence of two rivers, gleaming white and gold in the sun; then another spectacular day's drive to Trongsa, where the first temple was built in 1543.

Our furthest eastern stop was Jakar in Bumthang, the centre of the country. The journey involved crossing an 11,000ft pass, after which the road became more open, hardwoods giving place to pines. Just as we arrived, the weather broke: grey at first, and then a day-long deluge. Undeterred, we visited more astonishing temples that looked even more mysterious in the rain. At 9,000ft or so, our three nights there were cold but every room in our hotel had a wood stove, which transformed the temperature from that of a fridge to that of a ship's engine room.

We headed back westward, and the sun returned. There was one big detour - to the south in the hopes of seeing the almost legendary black-necked cranes, which arrive annually in the third week of October. Alas, they were late; but Hishey is a renowned ornithologist with an eye that misses nothing. His triumph was to spot a colony of golden langurs - the most beautiful monkeys I have ever seen - which exist only in Bhutan and India.

The Tiger's Nest monastery in Paro

And, so, finally we returned to Paro; but one more excitement remained. The monastery known as the Tiger's Nest is the most dramatically situated of them all, perched on a vertiginous cliff-face nearly 3,000ft above the valley and nearly 10,000ft above sea level. The climb takes three hours but we decided to call it a day at the tea house across the valley from which there is a view of the monastery.

And so to the all-important question: can Bhutan survive in the modern world? The fourth king, who developed the GNH philosophy but abdicated in favour of his recently-crowned, Oxford-educated son, believes it can. A country the size of Switzerland, with a population of only 650,000, sandwiched between two giants - India and China - can survive, he believes, only by preserving its unique identity and culture. Tourism is limited by a daily tax, thus keeping out the crowds of backpackers that have ravaged Nepal. Its seat at the United Nations will probably save Bhutan from the fate of its neighbours Ladakh and Sikkim (both absorbed by India) or Tibet. But the country is still largely innocent of the modern world - television arrived only as recently as 1999 - and the pressures upon it will be immense. We can only wish it well.

John Julius Norwich is the author of numerous books including ‘The Middle Sea' and ‘The Normans in Sicily'

Valid passports and an entry visa are essential. Travelers to Bhutan are permitted only as a member of a commercially organized tour group. Visa clearances are given by the Department of Tourism upon receipt of full advance tour payment before the final issuance by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Thimphu and must be obtained before departing for Bhutan. Druk Air will not allow you to board their flight without prior visa clearance. At your port of entry your visa will be stamped in your passport upon payment of US$ 20.

We will provide all assistance in processing your visa for Bhutan. The following information should be forwarded to us along with the advance tour payment for processing visa with the concerned authorities:

• Full Name
• Permanent Address
• Place of Birth, Date of Birth
• Nationality
• Profession
• Nature of Passport: Diplomatic / Official / Ordinary / UN Laissez Passer
• Passport Number, Date of Issue, Place of Issue, Date of Expiry
• Date & Duration of visit

You should bring along two copies of original passport size photographs. This may be required when the actual visa is stamped on arrival in Bhutan. When the visa is cleared in advance we shall inform you of the clearance number, which the Druk Air counter may ask sometimes although all Druk Air counter should have the clearance numbers before hand.

NOTE: Visas cannot be obtained at Bhutanese embassies.