INCREDIBLE BHUTAN JOURNEY WITH BUMDRA TREK

This trip combines the best of what Bhutan offers with a good mix of both cultural and trekking adventures! Begin in the capital of Thimphu, stunning valley scenery in Punakha and with quality time in the stunning Phobjikha valley before journeying into central valley of Trongsa. 

 

Discover the spiritual pageantry atmosphere Paro valley with the trek to Bumdra. Bask in the beautiful surrounding and breathe in the fresh mountain air and camp in the beautiful meadow at 4000m. And end your trek visiting the most popular Taktshang monastery in Bhutan built on a sheer cliff face.

 

Tentative Itinerary

 

Day 1: Fly to Paro / Drive to Thimphu (altitude: 7,700 feet)                                                        

Fly by the magnificent views of the snow-capped Himalayas on the way to Paro valley.

 

Drive 1.5 hours to Thimphu

 

Explore the capital’s Highlights!!!

BBS Tower viewpoint for a stunning view of the valley before visiting the Takin Preserve to see Bhutan’s national animal along with the view of the majestic Tashichoe Dzong, seat of the government.

 

 

Day 2: Thimphu

Circumvent the Memorial Chorten before mesmerising at the gigantic statue of Buddha (169ft). And visit 12th century Changangkha Lhakhang, see cultural aspect of blessing and naming newly born child from the oldest temple of Wang valley.

 

Later take a walk along the streets of Thimphu.

 

 

Day 3: Thimphu / Punakha (altitude: 4,500 feet)                                                                        

Drive about 3 hours to Punakha.

 

Climb up the mountain road to Dochu-La at 3140m. On a clear day, the pass commands a wonderful panorama of the Eastern Himalayas. Descend through varied forest and finally emerging into the cultivated valley of Punakha. Hike through beautiful rice fields to Chimi Lhakhang (no dog temple).Visit Punakha Dzong located at the confluence of the Pho Chu and Mo Chu, arguably the most impressive Dzong in the country.

 

 

Day 4: Punakha / Trongsa (altitude: 7,200 feet)

 

Drive about 5 hours to Trongsa

 

Morning hike to Khamsum Yulley Namgyel Chorten, built to prevail peace and tranquility before a stunning scenic drive to Trongsa. This is the road where the Bhutanese box office movie “Travelers and Magicians” was filmed. The road winds its way up and across high Pele-La pass (3390m). Visit Trongsa Dzong – the ancestral home of the royal family.

 

 

Day 5: Trongsa / Phobjikha valley (altitude: 9,800 feet)

 

Drive about 3 hours to Phobjikha valley

 

Visit Gangtey Gonpa hidden in the beautiful Phobjikha valley. Take an hour nature trail hike from the monastery through the conifers before emerging on the valley floor. Phobjikha valley is also the last winter grounds of the black necked cranes that migrate from the Tibetan plateau mid-October to March.

 

 

Day 6: Phobjikha to Paro (altitude: 7,400 feet)

 

Drive about 8 hours to Paro

 

Take an hour Nature Trail hike from the valley floor through the conifers up to the monastery. Drive back to Paro valley.

 

 

Day 7: Sacred Bumdra Trek

 

This 2-day moderate to challenging trek on widely varied trails combines a region of remote and incomparable beauty with some of the most sacred Buddhist pilgrimage sites in the country.

 

After breakfast, we'll take a short drive to Sangchen Chokhor (2537m), the most important Buddhist University in the Kingdom, where we begin our trek.

 

The trail climbs steadily up the mountainside through thick forests of Himalayan blue pine, oak and rhododendron to Chochong-Tse (3588m) a small 17th century temple and meditation cave.

 

From here, a short steep climb brings us to a spectacular panoramic viewpoint. Walking along a ridge line trail, high above the valley floors, we are awed by the solitude and awe-inspiring panoramic views of the surrounding lush valleys and towering peaks. Winding through beautiful forests and meadows of wildflower we approach tree-line and our campsite, Bumdra (3880m). Enjoy this idyllic setting and marvel at the panoramic views of the surrounding Himalayas.

 

Approximate distance: 7.4 kilometres

Approximate trekking hours: 5-6 hours

 

 

Day 8: Bumdra to Taktshang Gonpa

 

We visit Bumdra Goenba, a small meditation monastery that clings to the side of an immense cliff face, founded by the Tantric Buddhist Yogini Machig Labdron.

 

After the visit, we begin our descent and the landscape changes from the high country of dwarf rhododendron and beautiful vistas, giving way to the low lands of pine and oak.

 

En-route, we visit the magical monastery known as Taktshang (Tigress Nest) Monastery, one of the most sacred pilgrimage sites in the entire Himalayan World. Set on a vertical cliff face at 2950m above sea level, it defies all engineering logic.

Check into your hotel this afternoon and enjoy a relaxing hot shower and celebrate the magnificent adventure over an exquisite meal.

 

Approximate distance: 8.7 kilometres

Approximate trekking hours: 4-5 hours

 

 

Day 9: Departure

Transfer to Paro International Airport for your onward flight.

 

Tashi Delek

www.sorwabhutan.com

Gross National Happiness: Bhutan’s lesson for all

It’s one of the most challenging international airports in the world, with a hairy approach that involves threading the plane through surrounding Himalayan peaks.

Fewer than 15 people are said to be allowed to pilot passenger planes into Paro airport, near the Bhutanese capital of Thimphu. But getting on the ground safely isn’t the only reason Ron Colman feels his nerves settle each time he sets foot in the country.

'You get out and it’s quiet,' the Nova Scotian said over a recent lunch near Halifax, a day before leaving for his latest stint as an adviser to Bhutan’s government. 'I find it not that hard to live there. It’s a completely different culture and environment and everything, and yet in some way it also, to me, feels more human. It feels more what life is supposed to be about.'

Whether Bhutan can retain that uniqueness, though, is a question that looms large in the remote South Asian country. The modern world is beating at the door.

Some of the changes have been seen as po

sitive for the poor country, where agriculture dominates and per capita income was $1,832 last year, according to the World Bank. The 2007 commissioning of the Tala hydroelectric project, which generates nearly five billion kilowatts annually, all sold to India, helped the country boast the world’s second-fastest growing economy that year.

But there is concern about other developments. Western influences pouring into the country through television and the Internet, unknown only a decade ago, are impacting local culture. People who once walked to work, socializing as they went, want to drive because a car is the latest status symbol. There are traffic jams in the capital.

Leaders of the constitutional monarchy have become increasingly concerned about the possible effects of these rapid changes. They have been working fast to give real meaning to the country’s official attitude, first stated by the king in 1972, that 'Gross National Happiness' is more important than traditional economic measurements.

'To be honest, we spent some years … simply taking refuge in the vision, concept, and the term itself,' Prime Minister Lyonchhen Jigmi Y. Thinley told an education conference last December that Mr. Colman helped organize. 'I now know that this option no longer exists.'

The country’s leaders want to entrench the concept as the guiding principle of their nation’s development. And in the thick of this push is Mr. Colman, director of the progressive Nova Scotia think tank GPI Atlantic. He first came to Bhutan seven years ago on a working visit, at the behest of that country’s government, and has been ramping up his time there. Returning last week, he was unsure when he will be back in Canada.

All decisions are being made by Bhutanese officials, Mr. Colman stressed, but his group has come to play a key role in the country’s efforts to manage development. They’re involved in projects that include incorporating the principles of GNH into the school curriculum, a push to get the country’s entire agricultural output certified organic, setting up a centre to demonstrate the principles of GNH and developing national accounts that incorporate natural, social and cultural capital along with the traditional measurements.

'Our role you might say is a bit of a match-making role, you just try to draw on the best people in the world,' explained Mr. Colman, who emigrated to Nova Scotia early in the 1990s but retains hints of an Australian accent. 'These people, by the way, in our experience, are very enthusiastic about coming and helping. Because they’re frustrated that their ideas, just like we are in Nova Scotia, haven’t taken root in the fabric of the system.'

The lengthening list of people Mr. Colman’s group has helped bring to the table includes Vandana Shiva, the Indian champion of small-scale agriculture and winner of the 'alternative Nobel prize,' and American academic Robert Costanza, a pioneer of ecological eco nomics.

'Bhutan, which looks idealistic, is actually being realistic about what you need for a sustainable society,' Dr. Shiva said from New Delhi. 'They have enlightened leadership that says we will not become a destination for mass tourism, we will not copycat development models.'

The stakes are high.

David Orr, professor of environmental studies at Ohio’s Oberlin College and participant in the December conference, argued there that the Bhutanese have to become 'discerning consumers' of the Western model and its culture. And it needs to start in schools.

'If the Bhutanese are to maintain their equilibrium, part of the curriculum has to be a really in-depth look at Western culture, what worked and what didn’t work,' he said from Ohio.

Bhutan is starting from a different place than many developing nations. Never colonized and effectively isolated by its remoteness, it begins with a fairly clean slate. The effects of modernity are still faint, and progressives think there is the potential to create something groundbreaking.

'If Bhutan can be successful in this more integrated development philosophy – this development approach that tries to integrate the economic, social, cultural and environment variables – then it could be a … valuable model for other countries,' Mr. Colman said. 'Both developing and developed countries. Because we have not succeeded in integrating those models very well.'

***

FINDING MEANING

Gross National Happiness sounds a bit airy-fairy, the sort of idea an idealistic undergraduate philosopher would dream up. And for a long time its practical meaning was never settled.

But as Bhutan faced increasingly rapid change, the country’s leaders decided to flesh out the concept. They came up with a list of indicators that would assess the population’s mood.

Residents were asked to rate their psychological well-being, time use, community vitality, culture, health, education, environmental diversity, living standard and governance. Households were assessed to see whether they rated sufficiently on each category, and the results were crunched into numbers that would allow districts to be compared and trends to be identified.

The process has moved beyond a method of assessing the population. The country’s leaders now have a screening tool incorporating the principles of GNH that they can use to assess whether decisions fit its criteria. And sometimes the result is dramatic.

The country has recently been grappling with the question of joining the World Trade Organization. Nineteen of the 24 commissioners on the GNH commission were in favour. Then they ran the decision through the screening tool.

'The results were reversed, 19 out of 24 then said, 'No, this will not further GNH objectives,’ ' said Ron Colman, a Canadian who is advising the Bhutanese government. 'So it’s interesting because it works, it can actually reverse a major policy decision.'

Oliver Moore

GROSS NATIONAL HAPPINESS : BHUTAN'S LESSON FOR ALL!

OLIVER MOORE; Tuesday, July 13 2010

It’s one of the most challenging international airports in the world, with a hairy approach that involves threading the plane through surrounding Himalayan peaks.

Fewer than 15 people are said to be allowed to pilot passenger planes into Paro airport, near the Bhutanese capital of Thimphu. But getting on the ground safely isn’t the only reason Ron Colman feels his nerves settle each time he sets foot in the country.

'You get out and it’s quiet,' the Nova Scotian said over a recent lunch near Halifax, a day before leaving for his latest stint as an adviser to Bhutan’s government. 'I find it not that hard to live there. It’s a completely different culture and environment and everything, and yet in some way it also, to me, feels more human. It feels more what life is supposed to be about.'

Whether Bhutan can retain that uniqueness, though, is a question that looms large in the remote South Asian country. The modern world is beating at the door.

Some of the changes have been seen as positive for the poor country, where agriculture dominates and per capita income was $1,832 last year, according to the World Bank. The 2007 commissioning of the Tala hydroelectric project, which generates nearly five billion kilowatts annually, all sold to India, helped the country boast the world’s second-fastest growing economy that year.

But there is concern about other developments. Western influences pouring into the country through television and the Internet, unknown only a decade ago, are impacting local culture. People who once walked to work, socializing as they went, want to drive because a car is the latest status symbol. There are traffic jams in the capital.

Leaders of the constitutional monarchy have become increasingly concerned about the possible effects of these rapid changes. They have been working fast to give real meaning to the country’s official attitude, first stated by the king in 1972, that 'Gross National Happiness' is more important than traditional economic measurements.

'To be honest, we spent some years … simply taking refuge in the vision, concept, and the term itself,' Prime Minister Lyonchhen Jigmi Y. Thinley told an education conference last December that Mr. Colman helped organize. 'I now know that this option no longer exists.'

The country’s leaders want to entrench the concept as the guiding principle of their nation’s development. And in the thick of this push is Mr. Colman, director of the progressive Nova Scotia think tank GPI Atlantic. He first came to Bhutan seven years ago on a working visit, at the behest of that country’s government, and has been ramping up his time there. Returning last week, he was unsure when he will be back in Canada.

All decisions are being made by Bhutanese officials, Mr. Colman stressed, but his group has come to play a key role in the country’s efforts to manage development. They’re involved in projects that include incorporating the principles of GNH into the school curriculum, a push to get the country’s entire agricultural output certified organic, setting up a centre to demonstrate the principles of GNH and developing national accounts that incorporate natural, social and cultural capital along with the traditional measurements.

'Our role you might say is a bit of a match-making role, you just try to draw on the best people in the world,' explained Mr. Colman, who emigrated to Nova Scotia early in the 1990s but retains hints of an Australian accent. 'These people, by the way, in our experience, are very enthusiastic about coming and helping. Because they’re frustrated that their ideas, just like we are in Nova Scotia, haven’t taken root in the fabric of the system.'

The lengthening list of people Mr. Colman’s group has helped bring to the table includes Vandana Shiva, the Indian champion of small-scale agriculture and winner of the 'alternative Nobel prize,' and American academic Robert Costanza, a pioneer of ecological economics.

'Bhutan, which looks idealistic, is actually being realistic about what you need for a sustainable society,' Dr. Shiva said from New Delhi. 'They have enlightened leadership that says we will not become a destination for mass tourism, we will not copycat development models.'

The stakes are high.

David Orr, professor of environmental studies at Ohio’s Oberlin College and participant in the December conference, argued there that the Bhutanese have to become 'discerning consumers' of the Western model and its culture. And it needs to start in schools.

'If the Bhutanese are to maintain their equilibrium, part of the curriculum has to be a really in-depth look at Western culture, what worked and what didn’t work,' he said from Ohio.

Bhutan is starting from a different place than many developing nations. Never colonized and effectively isolated by its remoteness, it begins with a fairly clean slate. The effects of modernity are still faint, and progressives think there is the potential to create something groundbreaking.

'If Bhutan can be successful in this more integrated development philosophy – this development approach that tries to integrate the economic, social, cultural and environment variables – then it could be a … valuable model for other countries,' Mr. Colman said. 'Both developing and developed countries. Because we have not succeeded in integrating those models very well.'

***

FINDING MEANING

Gross National Happiness sounds a bit airy-fairy, the sort of idea an idealistic undergraduate philosopher would dream up. And for a long time its practical meaning was never settled.

But as Bhutan faced increasingly rapid change, the country’s leaders decided to flesh out the concept. They came up with a list of indicators that would assess the population’s mood.

Residents were asked to rate their psychological well-being, time use, community vitality, culture, health, education, environmental diversity, living standard and governance. Households were assessed to see whether they rated sufficiently on each category, and the results were crunched into numbers that would allow districts to be compared and trends to be identified.

The process has moved beyond a method of assessing the population. The country’s leaders now have a screening tool incorporating the principles of GNH that they can use to assess whether decisions fit its criteria. And sometimes the result is dramatic.

The country has recently been grappling with the question of joining the World Trade Organization. Nineteen of the 24 commissioners on the GNH commission were in favour. Then they ran the decision through the screening tool.

'The results were reversed, 19 out of 24 then said, 'No, this will not further GNH objectives,’ ' said Ron Colman, a Canadian who is advising the Bhutanese government. 'So it’s interesting because it works, it can actually reverse a major policy decision.'

Oliver Moore

HIKE TO KILA GONPA

Drive to Chelela pass (3810m) the highest road pass in Bhutan through blue pines and rhododendron (Etho Metho) forests for 35km. On a clear day the view sweep away to snow-dome of Bhutan’s second highest peak Mt Jhomolhari (7314m). After a bracing walk along the prayer flag bedecked ridge, you can hike to Kila Goenpa for about two hours through the thick forest of rhodrodendron and siver fir. The hike even swells more with chirping of different alpine bird spieces like Himalayan Monal and Satyr Tragopan.

The vista of the vast Paro valley enfolds in front of the Kila Meditation Centre which is nestled on a cliff. The horizon stretches on. The scenery is a balm to the heart.

The meditation centre was founded in the 14th Century by Chogyal Norbu, a saint from Tibet. Before it became a meditation centre, it served as a shedra, the Buddhist school. The nuns, after they complete their studies, return to Kila Goenpa to enter the three-year retreat. The centre is today home to 6 nuns (including those entering the three-year-long retreat) and a lama.

Hiking in the unspoiled wilderness of Bhutan, where silence and solitude reign, rewards us with a true feeling of accomplishment and discovery, and creates a memory that lasts forever.