The Journey

Bhutan presents some formidable logistical challenges to the traveler. It has only been open to tourists since the late 60s. As it does not have any domestic air service, does not possess any helicopters, and does not include an inch of railway track, the only way is by foot with ponies and yaks as "porters". There is only one main road, the National Highway which winds its way up and down mountains, across clattering bridges, among the side of rock cliffs, and over high mountain passes. Traveling on the highway at some point during one's visit is inevitable. Traffic moves on the left, and you will be lucky it average 40km/hour on the hairpin bends of roads in the hills. Within the capital town of Thimphu as it is often referred to as the only world capital without traffic lights, traffic police keeps the traffic flowing throughout the day using elegant, exaggerated gestures. They disappear at night and leave drivers to sort things out among themselves.

Unless one can tolerate the bouncing and rocking in the stretch of tarmac road, I had a hard time, feeling nauseous. After leaving the last road upon arrival, I took nearly a week to trek to the northwest corner of the Kingdom. It is the most isolated place I have ever been. Yaks have been described as "semi-domesticated" highland oxen.

I had chosen the shortest trek to hike. Still it goes to an average high altitude of 12,000 feet, making it moderately strenuous for a novice trekker without any physical training for over a year. Most visitors would trek 3 to 4 hours a day for a total of 7 days for this trek. I was a little ambitious, partly due to the fact that travel is a time/money trade off and opted for 7 to 8 hours a day for the whole trek to be completed within 4 days.