Bhutan

After visiting Bhutan two years ago, the Land of the Thunder Dragon, a return trip to the last remaining Himalayan Kingdom has always been high on our list of priorities. The deeply Buddhist land, roughly the same size as Switzerland and wedged between China and India, is a truly unique place which until the 60s had no currency, telephones, schools, hospitals or postal service. In 1959, sparked by China taking control of Tibet, the King soon realised that centuries of self-imposed isolation was no longer appropriate in the modern world and a programme of modernisation was necessary to ensure its survival and sovereignty. The development process still to this day deems Gross National Happiness as more important than Gross National Product and every new policy is measured against it. With foreign visitors only very recently having been allowed into the country, Bhutan has a policy of high-value low-impact tourism and sets a minimum daily fee high enough to keep out the backpackers synonymous with its neighbours. Nicknamed as Nepal for the jet set, Bhutan was always going to be right up our street.

Having acquired the taste for trekking in Bhutan on a relatively short four day hike on our previous trip, the focus of our return visit was the twenty four day Snowman Trek across the Greater Himalaya in the north of the country. Known as the most difficult trek in the world, less than half of the people who have undertaken the expedition have finished it as a result of either exhaustion, the altitude or heavy snowfall on the high passes. With October being the only window in which there is a chance to complete it, the challenge was on.

Getting to Bhutan was an experience in itself with the flight from Kathmandu passing eight of the ten highest mountains in the world including Everest before dropping into a valley to weave through the hills and land at what Airbus has called the most challenging international airport in the world. On arriving we were instantly reminded of the storybook-like pristine country with its striking architecture of yellow and red roofed temples and Dzongs (fort monasteries) and houses reminiscent of Swiss chalets, men dressed in gho (traditional dress bearing closest resemblance in the west to a dressing gown) with knee length socks, and vertical prayer flags adorning every hill and open space.

In the hope that we would still be acclimatised to the altitude having just finished our Tibetan cycling adventure, we began our trek straight away from Drukgyel Dzong just outside the town of Paro. With eleven pack horses in tow carrying everything we needed for the entire journey ahead, one guide, two cooks and two horsemen, we were immediately immersed in the virgin forest that covers 72% of the country. For twenty four days we traversed the high Himalayan peaks that form the northern border with Tibet; many over 7,000m, most unclimbed and some not even named. Moving from valley to valley we crossed eleven mountain passes, each revealing a breathtaking vista and many over 5,000m high. One of the most challenging aspects of the trek was the complete lack of any real path. We were constantly clambering over rocks of all shapes and sizes and using stones and bits of wood to balance on as we crossed deep muddy patches and streams. As we moved deeper into the mountains, the scenery became more and more dramatic with enormous glaciers draped over the steep slopes and crystal clear or turquoise blue lakes at their feet like you cannot imagine. The silence was constantly deafening.

The several small villages that we passed in the remote Lunana region were each fully self sufficient with a government funded school and basic health unit although not a single shop. Once a year around October when the year-round snow clad barrier to the rest of the country is deemed most penetrable, residents make the five day walk over the high mountain passes with their pack animals to the nearest road to acquire the necessary supplies for the year ahead. In spite of this extreme remoteness, the adults and children seemed some of the happiest we've come across to date.

Whilst we were blessed with blue skies for most of the time, several late afternoons and early mornings saw the weather rapidly change to heavy snowfall and complete white-out. The threat of an extended period of snowfall always loomed over us with a day and a night apparently being enough to render all of the passes uncrossable. Our only way out would then be to somehow make contact with the Indian military for a helicopter evacuation. Luckily a few inches at a time was all that was thrown at us.

Mountain bush camping for twenty three nights was a new experience, particularly when it was over 5,000m and it became a real challenge to see just how many clothes we could wear at one time. Whilst Dan braved the glacial rivers on occasions in an attempt to wash, the freezing cold water was too much for Susie who resorted to her pack of trusty wet wipes.

The Bhutanese mountains are home to the enigmatic snow leopard and we heard from our horsemen and several of the nomadic yak herders we passed that they had seen one in the area recently. Despite our daily binocular search and our luck with coming across herds of blue sheep, their favourite local dish, the snow leopard not surprisingly escaped us. The whistling from over sized marmots however as they scuttled across the hills provided much amusement.

The last week of our trek required us to switch our supply carriers from horses to yaks at one of the mountain villages in order to cope with the increasing altitude and perpetual snow and ice that some of the route is under. Best described as long-haired bulls with enormous right-angled horns and a vicious rear kick, they seemed to generally do as they please which meant some long and cold waits at the end of the day for them to arrive at camp. The village also gave us a chance to pick up some fresh yak meat from one of the herders which made for a few delicious meals.

After twenty four days in the mountains, we had completed the Snowman Trek and were rewarded with an enormous and much appreciated chocolate cake by our waiting driver. Although the duration, distance of over 350km and total vertical climb of over 10,000m did make for a tough time in places, we feel incredibly privileged to have had the mountains to ourselves each day and to have witnessed the most beautiful and untouched mountain scenery we have ever seen and which so few others have. After finishing in the centre of Bhutan, we made our way back west with stops at the small towns of Bumthang, Trongsa and Punakha to visit their beautiful Dzongs and temples.

Having been closed to the outside world for so long, Bhutan really is unlike anywhere else we've been in that it shows no effects of globalisation and is far from being colonised by tourism. The people seem incredibly content with their way of life, plain to see even just by the complete lack of anyone begging.

After three more days back in Kathmandu, we've just spent five days in Hong Kong staying with friends Annie and Tom which was an incredibly nice way back into civilisation; wining and dining, lazing on a junk boat around the island, wakeboarding and catching up with some old friends. Thank you the Bennetts! We now have a month on the east coast of Australia ahead of us.

Click on the album cover below to see some more of our pictures.

Bhutan

Lots of love,
Susie and Dan xx