Our trip to Bhutan was nothing short of magical and special

Dear Sonam,

Thank you for your welcome back to Singapore!

Regarding my comments on the tour provided by Druk Asia, prior to my departure from Bhutan, I have manually returned a completed feedback form provided to me by our guide, Kinga Rinchen. To add to the travel tips, I think it may be useful for future travellers to bring motion sickness pills (especially if they are not used to rocky, winding roads). Mosquito repellent and insect repellent would also be recommended - although I would say the ones we brought from Singapore didn't help us much, only the mosquito lotion we bought at a pharmacy in Thimphu was more effective. On a whole, the tour was very well-planned thanks to Druk Asia! I will be recommending all my Bhutan-intrigued friends and family to you if they should wish to make the trip there. I think this is saying a lot as a keen traveller who usually shuns tours (I like my free and easy trips getting lost with a map in a new city, but of course, Bhutan does not allow for that)!

Our trip to Bhutan was nothing short of magical and special. I have many things to share about my experiences in your lovely country, and have been raving to all my family and friends about my week in Bhutan (I believe I will be talking about Bhutan for a while to come as I have yet to catch up with many wide-eyed traveller friends who encouraged me to take more photos as they ALL have their eye on Bhutan). The mountains and valleys in Bhutan are simply stunning, untouched nature combined with warm hearts and smiles from the locals wherever we went made our time in Bhutan a trip of a lifetime for sure. This was my family's first time in South Asia, and we LOVED it (especially me)! Although I have travelled a lot (have lived in Australia, Singapore, Sweden and South Korea so far and made many travels spanning Finland, Russia, Germany, France, Poland, Switzerland, Italy,Thailand, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, etc.) can't believe I had never travelled to South Asia before this trip - and I'm now very inspired to explore more of the region.

I am especially thankful for your kind help in organising the ECD centre visits with my contact, Mr. Karma Gayleg from the Ministry of Education in Thimphu, Bhutan. Mr. Karma, along with our guide and driver, accompanied my family to the three schools around the Thimphu region. Going to the community school, private school and work-place based school was a real experience and it really inspired us as Early Childhood educators and professionals (especially myself, as I work for a regional network for Early Childhood - who works in conjunction with partners like UNICEF and Save the Children, to name a few). We met with so many gorgeous children and teachers and principals, and I would be very keen to contribute to the development of Early Childhood in Bhutan in the future should opportunities arise.

We have so many photos to share of the breathtaking views of the valleys and mountains we came across during our time in Bhutan, as well as photos of schools and children. Perhaps when we sort out our photo stock, I will be able to share a photo or two with you. In fact, my siblings and I are thinking of doing a write-up on our experience in Bhutan with Early Childhood education and sharing it with members of the network that I work for - the Asia-Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood (www.arnec.net). When that is up and running, we'd love to share the write-up with you too (and I was thinking that if my network permits - for intellectual property purposes - it'd be nice to share it with Druk Air for future publication in their in-flight magazine, Tashi Delek).

Anyway, pardon my long email...there is just so much to share! Simply put, I was touched by my trip to Bhutan - it was exactly what I needed, a break from city life (to see beautiful nature after being holed up in crowded and unnecessarily grumpy/stressful Singapore), to be immersed in another culture so as to broaden my perspectives for my personal and career life, to spend quality time with my family (we all live in different countries so it was the first time our entire family took a trip together - my sister just got married so we have a new addition to the family). Thank you once again for all your hard work and for making our trip happen!

Looking forward to keeping in touch (and actually, I would also love to hear your perspective as a Bhutanese living in Singapore - both places are like completely different worlds, what is your perspective?)! Have a nice Tuesday afternoon ahead.