Upon an invitation by Letti’s friends after our West Africa trip together, I happily accepted and asked for permission if I could also invite a few monsooners if they’d be interested. As I learned about the process, it came at no surprise that the government of Bhutan highly regulates the tourism industry to make it sustainable as to not overwhelm the tiny hermit kingdom.
Regulation meant that we had to follow along a government approved tour agency to handle everything as a package including the visas, the international flights to and from their airport in Paro, the lodgings, sights, and everything in between. Although it’s not like North Korea where crossing the street would be considered a big deal, it’s enough to feel like big brother might be watching over you. At least a kinder big brother than the one you’d expect from North Korea.
The only thing we needed to do was to arrive into Kathmandu to begin our trip, with an optional flight from Paro to end it in another city like Delhi.
Transferring 90,000 miles from Chase to AirCanda’s Aeroplan program, I was able to find a first class redemption from Toronto to Delhi. It was a close call as a few weeks later, I was invited to give the keynote at the White Coat Ceremony back at my alma mater only hours before my 8:30pm flight from LGA to YYZ in Toronto.
And I made it, with even time to spare at both the Amex Centurion and Chase Sapphire Lounge.
While in Toronto, I then spent time at both Maple Leaf until it closed at 11pm, and then the Premium Plaza Lounge until 12:30am, after which I headed over to board my flight at around 12:35am for a 01:15am flight, approximately 40 minutes before departure and 20 minutes before the gate would be closed. But then at the gate, I learned I was downgraded to economy from first class, and then was denied boarding anyway with my new seat, when gate agents soon found out to their surprise that the doors had already closed and the plane finalized with the take off pushed earlier than scheduled.
The Air India staff agents at the gate then tried to reverse the finalization for me to board, and then using me an excuse to change their minds only after the fact as they yelled on the phone “tell them the customer is standing here waiting to board and we don’t have a reason to deny him boarding!” …but they were unsuccessful in getting me on the flight even though finalization was not yet confirmed. One of the older agents, Radha, then had stayed with me to find alternative flights, after which there was none available due to the late time of night when we tried to contact the Air Canada office.
While she offered to book me a hotel and call me at 9am when the Air Canada reservations office opened, I opted to not risk missing my onward flights to Bhutan. Therefore at her suggestion, I booked an alternative Emirates itinerary on Economy that took me from Toronto to Montreal to Dubai to Kathmandu and transferred 70,000 miles from my Amex Membership Rewards account to upgrade to business class on the crucially long 11 hour flight from Montreal to Dubai. Once that was settled, Radha walked me out of customs at 4:30am to stamp into Canada and went to her office to offer me a $20 food voucher, which unfortunately, was not accepted by any food kiosks as they could only accept Air Canada vouchers.
But at this point I was so resigned I had no more bandwidth to complain; I was just happy to board another flight to get me closer to my destination.
As 5am was far too early for anything to be open other than a lonely Subways’ kiosk, I waited at the gate trying not to fall asleep. I eventually boarded the 6:30am flight from Toronto to Montreal, passing out after my unexpected all-nighter.
Once I landed and woke up in Montreal at 7:30am, I retraced my steps from the time I was last here only 2 months prior when I was returning from Tomorrowland and was able to see Montreal’s airport from the international side. This meant I could access its name brand lounges with my business class upgrade on Emirates; while AirFrance’s lounge provided sunlight and yogurt (but denied any showers for non-Air France passengers), the Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge was able to offer a shower room for me to recuperate and speak to the Air Canada Customer Service what had happened the night before.
Afterwards, this time not wanting to risk missing another flight, I headed to the gate early to board my first time flying Emirates Business Class since a free upgrade I got in 2016:
The cabin feels so wide and large, I felt like I walked into a conference room.
Their complimentary Bulgari amenities bag has improved, including even way more stuff than what I had last remembered.
They even now offer super silky smooth pajamas AND comforter blanket to keep!
And their legendary on-board lamb biriyani has not yet failed to impress:
Once arriving into Dubai, I boarded the super long F gate shuttle to Dubai’s forgotten peanut gallery Terminal 2, where I barely almost missed my flight while eating at their Priority Pass business lounge. But NOT TODAY! I then boarded the FlyDubai’s direct Dubai to Kathmandu flight which I then realized was the exact same one I had flown 13 years ago with Stephanie in my first visit to Kathmandu. Did I just go through all that drama last night with Air India for the universe to remind me “Yo. Stick to the script: it’s always going to be full circle with you buddy.”
Once landing at Kathmandu, I took out money from the ATM next to the visas on arrival counter, paid for the $30 VOA that I had pre-reserved online, got stamped in, waded through customs, and used the InDrive app to find a ride-share taxi to my lodgings where Mel and Sujay had been waiting for me. They had arrived a few hours earlier also with a little drama; although Mel arrived to Doha from NYC on time, her onward midnight flight to Kathmandu had similarly and inexplicably departed without her and a few others (one of named Maria whom she made friends with!), so they were rebooked to a nice hotel to nap and a morning flight to Kathmandu.
After 3 attempts trying to find a taxi on InDrive, all of which seemed to be unable to drive into the airport property, I decided to walk out of the Kathmandu airport and hail one instead at a bus stop outside the terminal, which finally worked. My ride then took me to the Hilton Kathmandu, which had opened only last month. Wildly I was able to book it on Hilton.com for less than $100 a night!
At check-in, they hand out bracelets according to the day and accompanying elemental sign. So when at check out I told them I was a water sign and would like a water sign bracelet, everyone chimed in on how they too somehow knew that we were all Scorpios. Scorpios unite!
After settling in and falling asleep accidentally during my massage at the rooftop of the hotel, Mel and I scrambled to meet everyone for dinner that I had planned for 6:30pm at Bagaan Thakali Kitchen right outside the popular Thamel district.
And while I was waiting to depart to Kathmandu back in Dubai a few hours earlier, I was scrolling on my instagram and discovered Raghav (whom we met back in Sardinia) also happened in Kathmandu on the very same night that we were! Mel also had made that friend named Maria (who lives in NYC!) while their Qatar Airways flight to Kathmandu was getting rebooked. Inviting them both to dinner, Raghav and Maria found out they were both heading to Everest Base Camp at the same time! Who knows where the nexus of these random souls will lead to in the future…
After dinner where all the monsooners + friends got to know one another, we walked around Thamel for dessert and said our goodbyes to Raghav and Maria.
The rest of the group turned in and reunited the next morning at 7:30am back at the airport at Kathmandu. Even though some of us checked in, we had to still head to the counter to show them our e-visas for our flight tickets. Once going through passports, we were immediately yelled at by representatives outside to choose between the two lounges that were right next to each other after passports. I thought someone had dropped something.
After splitting my time between both lounges with Corinna + Ainsley + Sameer at Horizon downstairs, and Melinda + Sampson + Sujay + Mel at Executive upstairs, we reconvened at 8:20am when our group was called overhead to go through security. We then crossed security and boarded our 9:10am flight from KTM to Paro on the national carrier, Drukair.
While on the bus from the gate to the plane, my group of 10 met with Nolan & Martin’s group of 14 to make it a final group count of 24!
When flying from Nepal to Bhutan, make sure you sit on the left side for direct views of the Himalayas and Everest —
We arrived into Paro International Airport an hour and 5 minutes later at 10:30am local time.
I gotta call it early — the award for the most beautiful passports checkpoint goes to Bhutan:
Have your printed e-visas out for them to physically take and stamp you in return:
After stamping into Bhutan, we did our various means of money collection at baggage claims. The local currency, the Bhutanese Ngultrum or BTN, is pegged 1:1 to the value of the Indian rupee.
They also have the most beautiful arrivals kiss & fly!
Our local guides of Raven Tours and Treks, Mohan and Kuenza, picked us up outside with 2 buses for our group with welcome sashes:
After loading our buses and en route from the airport, Mel already expressed her love for Bhutan as we learned about the history and culture from our guide Kuenza. We then first stopped at Tamchog Lhakhang, a temple and suspension bridge dedicated to 14th century saint and engineer Thangtong Gyalpo.
You can cross the bridge, but at the moment, cannot enter the temple as it remains privately owned.
After crossing the bridge we had our first of many encounters with prayer wheels, flags, stupas, etc where we got a crash course into Bhutanese Buddhism worship and culture.
Across the Paro River here you can see 3 types of stupas: Tibetan, Nepalese, and Bhutanese:
Then continuing on our way to Thumphu and to the delight of the group, we stopped at the Gagyel Lhundrup Weaving Center to begin the souvenir shopping early.
I came for the views as my souvenir “window shopping” (quite literally):
Others were drawn to different kinds of souvenirs of memory:
Next stop: big group buffet lunch with suja (butter tea), pumpkin soup, fried eggplant (my favorite), momos, and boiled vegetables.
After lunch and approaching the capital city of Thimphu, we made a stop at Memorial Chorten, a stupa built to in the memory of the 3rd king. This stupa is unlike others in Bhutan in that it does not have human remains.
Not even a rainstorm could stop us, nor the gorgeous views:
You can take off your shoes and enter inside the stupa to explore the 3 floors here.
As the rain cleared and we climbed back down navigating countless rivers of rain puddles. we drove up to the immense Great Buddha Dordenma, an enormous statue of Shakyamuni Buddha located on a hilltop near Thimphu.
With views like this, Buddha can meditate from here for eternity without a problem:
We then headed inside to conduct prayers and receive bracelets based on our lunar horoscope birth year (for 100 BTN each):
Returning outside, we wandered among the prayer ceremonies that were taking place here. I then found out we had arrived on a national holiday — Blessed Rainy Day — where families gather for picnics to celebrate the end of monsoon season, clearer weather and a bountiful harvest season ahead.
With time escaping us, we then stopped at the Motithang Takin Preserve, a wildlife reserve for Takin and the national animal of Bhutan.
We then ended our day with a overlook of the majestic Tashichhoedzong Palace, a Buddhist monastery and fortress north of Thimphu.
We’re now spending the night here at Tower Thimphu Hotel, centrally located in the capital city of Thimphu, where we’d find out it takes only 10 minutes to walk it in its entirety.
During our half an hour walk, we found their knockoff version of 7-Eleven and stopped a domestic violence dispute simply with our random presence as foreigners alone. The assailant got intimidated and stopped what he was planning to do midway, the girl got away safely, and I wonder whether our “random” visit to Bhutan here of all days would be so random at all. At this point, and in a place like Bhutan, nothing is truly random..
To confirm this belief, we’d found out once returning to our hotel for dinner, that we’d be celebrating not only one but TWO birthdays on this short 72 hour trip…and BOTH of them are named Martins, each one from a different group (Martin Christian from the other group and Ainsley Martin from my group) who prior did not know each other until we combined them for this trip!
Tomorrow; Punakha!
- At time of posting in Thimphu, it was 14 °C - Humidity: 98% | Wind Speed: 3km/hr | Cloud Cover: rainy mornings, clear and hot afternoons