Bhutan Travel Specialist, Druk Air Representative (Royal Bhutan Airlines)
Dear Mr. Younten, Thank you for your email. We enjoyed our stay in Bhutan very much. The itinerary was excellent and gave us a very good introduction to this amazing country. The scenery was spectacular, and we loved the architecture (particularly the Dzongs). We were surprised how many people actually wore their national dress for daily living - together with the ornately decorated buildings and the prayer flags, this created a very warm and colorful impression! The drive from Punakha to Bumthang was very scenic, and our driver, Wangchen, was an excellent, safe driver (for which we were very appreciative given the condition of the roads!) and we loved the Ura and Phobjikha valleys. Our Guide, Tshepak, was our one disappointment. He was friendly and likable, but he was young (just 21 years old) and inexperienced (we were only his 7th tour). Tshepak seemed knowledgeable about Buddhism, but his general knowledge about Bhutan was frequently lacking - he would confer with Wangchen (who usually knew the answer better than Tshepak!) He also was not good on follow-through. As you know from one of my emails to you before we left on our trip, I was anxious to see an archery competition (many years ago I used to shoot for Cambridge University in England). I discussed with Tshepak that I would like to see both a modern style competition (using compound bows) and a traditional style (using longbows) - Tshepak assured me that both were held frequently across the country. We had to remind him multiple times, and still only managed to see one modern style competition. In fairness, I think he was focused on ensuring that we covered everything that was in the itinerary (which is probably what the majority of clients prefer) rather than trying to adapt the itinerary to accommodate my somewhat unusual interest. One more thought on the issue of our guide - when you sent me the list of hotels, you gave me the name of our guide as Norbu Tshering and his cellphone number as 975-7767-2837. I gave this information to various people so that they could contact me in case of emergency (in particular, my 94 year old aunt has Alzheimer and I am her guardian, so it was important that people could reach me if her health took a turn for the worse). Neither you, Mr. Younten, nor anyone from Druk Asia's Thimphu office, thought to let me know that the guide had changed and along with it, the emergency contact phone number! On balance, this was a good tour, but follow-through both by the local guide and by yourself, could be improved. I hope this feedback is helpful. Best wishes for 2015.
From United States
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