We would go back to Bhutan again

Dear Sonam,

It was nice seeing you in Paro! We came back one month ago and our minds are also still in Bhutan haha. Although we were sick, we enjoyed ourselves.

The 10-day itinerary Druk Asia offered was very comprehensive, but unfortunately, we arrived on a weekend in Thimphu. We did not get to visit some of the museums which we wanted to go to. Probably you can suggest future travellers to schedule their arrival in Bhutan on weekdays. The temples and dzongs were really fascinating, and the Tiger Nest Monastery was simply awesome. Now we really feel like we have been to Bhutan! And we really appreciate the cultural performance put up in Metta Hotel, which was an eye-opener for us.

It was very interesting to eat Bhutanese food throughout the trip, however it would have been nice if there could have been more alternatives. We really wanted to go to the Swiss guest house in Bumthang for pizza however the guide said there would be a problem with payment as they did not accept credit card. Is this the case for most foreign dining places? Perhaps then it should either be removed from the itinerary or informed to the guests so we could prepare extra money if we really wanted to visit these restaurants. We were also interested in dining at the restaurant at Uma Paro. However our guide said that it was extremely expensive and we even had to go and ask for ourselves the price and menu at Uma Paro after the hike around it. Is it normally the case that guests have to inquire for themselves regarding these dining matters?

We were a bit confused with our guide’s behaviour. Although he was extremely knowledgeable about the sites and was admirably fit during the treks, he was quite awkward in terms of communicating with us. For instance he seemed to prefer not to speak to us beyond what is necessary e.g. info regarding the temples. Sometimes it ended up that this other tour guide (the Indian couple’s guide) who travelled on the same route, was looking out more for us than he was. In contrast, our driver was so observant and responsive to our needs. He was sincerely concerned for us when we were sick and even tried to advise us on how to relieve the sickness. He even offered to buy medicine for us. In the car he was always concerned if his driving was making us sick. There were also times when he offered to stop the car for us to take photos when we were merely touching our phones aka camera. The last day we were really interested to try archery and while the guide dismissively said that it was unavailable, the driver took the initiative himself to ask around for a bow and some arrows so we could just try it out. We really appreciated it very much.

All in all, it was still a very good experience and if there are new itineraries available in the future, we would consider going back to Bhutan again! Our driver even invited us to a game of archery after we train in Singapore hahaha.

Thanks for arranging this trip and good luck in planning for your future trips!