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Tiger’s Nest Monastery is Bhutan’s most famous landmark, perched on a sheer cliff 900m above Paro Valley. It is the main reason many tourists choose to visit Bhutan and is the iconic image used in pretty much all the country’s advertising. We left the hotel before dawn, with the aim to start making our way…
Bhutan is one of the few countries in the world that is a net carbon sink, meaning that it absorbs more CO2 than it emits. This is largely thanks to its extensive forest cover of ~70% of the country. And nearly all of Bhutan’s electricity is generated by hydropower which is a low-carbon energy source.…
Bhutan sits on the Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT) where the India and Eurasia plates collide (same as Nepal). This plate-boundary fault system is capable of very large earthquakes of Mw 8+. However the seismic hazard is not uniform across Bhutan. The southern part of Bhutan, nearer the Himalayan front has the highest earthquake hazard because…
Bhutan recognises thirteen traditional arts and crafts, known collectively as Zorig Chusum. They form the foundation of Bhutanese material culture and aesthetic tradition, blending spiritual symbolism with practical purpose. We visited the Institute of Zorig Chusum in Thimphu where these arts and crafts are still taught and had the chance to walk around the classrooms…
The word dzong means fortress in Bhutan’s national language, Dzongka. Most dzongs were founded in the 17th century during Bhutan’s unification under Ngawang Namgyal, who built or rebuilt many of them to consolidate power and defend against Tibetan invasions. Every district in Bhutan has at least one major dzong that houses both the secular administrative…
Bhutan is famously known for not introducing television until 1999, the last country in the world. In fact, tv and internet arrived all at once in 1999, after decades of waiting so that it could be introduced after building the cultural and institutional foundations first. Bhutan has modernized step-by-step. First roads, then schools, then electricity.…
Phobjikha Valley is absolutely stunning and worthwhile the 3+ hour drive from Punakha. It sits on the western edge of the Black Mountains, about 135km from Thimphu and is famed for being the winter home of the endangered black-necked crane. Unlike most of Bhutan’s valleys it is broad and u-shaped, carved by ancient glaciers rather…
The flag of Bhutan symbolises the country’s deep Buddhist heritage, its monarchy and its connection between spiritual and secular power. The upper triangle is golden yellow and represents the power and secular authority of the King. The lower triangle is orange, symbolizing Buddhism, particularly Drukpa Kagyu and Nyingma traditions, which are dominant in Bhutan. At…
Bhutan’s pre-7th century history is not very well-documented and no written records survive. The area that would become Bhutan was a mosaic of isolated highland valleys inhabited by small communities practicing animist (Bon) and shamanic religions, and worshipped mountain, river and forest deities. These communities were part of the broader Tibeto-Burman cultural sphere that extended…
Bhutan’s Gross Happiness Index is one of the most distinctive national development frameworks in the world. Gross National Happiness (GNH) is Bhutan’s alternative to conventional economic measures like GDP. It aims to measure the holistic well-being and happiness of the population, combining economic progress with cultural, spiritual, environmental and social health. The concept was introduced…
As we departed Thimphu we briefly stopped in at a paper factory on the outskirts of the city. Jungshi Handmade Paper Factory is a small workshop where you can see the traditional craft of making paper from the bark of the Daphne tree. This is officially one of Bhutan’s thirteen traditional arts. Handmade paper, known…
Thimphu is the capital of Bhutan and is located in a high-altitude valley in western Bhutan along the Wang Chhu river, surrounded by pine and oak-covered hills. The valley was inhabited for centuries by farming and herding communities with scattered hamlets and monasteries. The valley has a mild climate and fertile terraces making it suitable…
My second attempt at the scenic Everest flight from Kathmandu was a success. And right on the day I was departing Nepal and heading to Bhutan. Every day 2 airlines, with the fantastic names of Yeti Airlines and Buddha Air offer flights from the domestic terminal of Kathmandu airport that fly along the Himalayan mountain…
So my time in Nepal has come to an end and I am heading to Bhutan. The flight time from Kathmandu to Paro, in Bhutan, is about 1 hour and you get a fantastic view of Everest on the left-hand side of the plane as you head out of Nepal. The countries do not share…
There are still many reminders in Kathmandu, ten years on, of the catastrophic earthquake that hit Nepal in 2015. In all three Durbar Squares of Kathmandu Valley, repair and reconstruction work continues on the temples and stupas that collapsed on that day (although it is also surprising just how much survived undamaged). And within residential…
I had the chance to be invited into 2 local homes during my stay in Kathmandu Valley, to have a cooking class in both and just generally interact and talk to the family. These experiences can be a little daunting at first, because you feel a little like you are intruding in someone’s life. But…
Nepal’s geographical position between the great civilizations of India and Tibet and being stretched across some of the most extreme altitudes on earth has made it a crossroads of trade and culture but also a land of isolation and independence. Its mountains, valleys and rivers have acted through history as both barriers and conduits, keeping…
The Tharu and Kumal people are two of the oldest and most distinctive ethnic groups in Nepal’s lowland region bordering India, known as the Terai region. Both groups have deep connections to the land and forest ecology of the plains and their lifestyles reflect an adaptation to the hot, malaria-prone environment that once kept outsiders…
Chitwan National Park was established in 1973 and lies in the subtropical lowlands of south-central Nepal. If the traffic is good, it takes about 5 hours to drive here from Pokhara, although our journey took a little longer as we had to pass a section of the road where the outer lane had collapsed down…
Our time in Pokhara was a bit of a short whirlwind, but we managed to pack in almost all the activities that were supposed to spread across 1.5 days into one morning, before leaving the city to head to Chitwan National Park. Pokhara is about 200km west of Kathmandu and lies along the Phewa Lake.…
Colette's Grand Detour 