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This blog post is the last of four posts covering my trip to Bhutan. This last post focuses on the Phobjikha Valley, and a mountain trek in the Bhutanese Himalayas, with an overnight stay in a camp on Bumdrak Mountain, near Paro. In order to see the previous blog post, which dealt with Punakha and Bumthang in central Bhutan, click here.
WEDNESDAY, September 26th
After breakfast we checked out and started our long drive back west. I needed to fly back to Europe via Bhutan’s only international airport in Paro. However, my flight wasn’t for another few days, so there were a couple of points along the route left to explore. Our destination for the next few days was Phobjikha Valley. It’s an area known for the migration of the endangered black-necked cranes, which use Phobjikha Valley as a breeding ground in winter, along with other valleys in Bhutan and Tibet.
We however stopped first in Trongsa to explore the Ta Dzong Royal Museum. It is housed inside of the watchtower on the hill above the dzong (temple-fortress) itself. The museum explains the history of Bhutan, particularly in relation to its royal family. There are personal effects and clothing used by members of the royal family on display, as well as some diplomatic gifts and important religious statuettes and items. No photos were allowed.
After visiting the museum, we had lunch in a restaurant at the bottom of the watchtower. It was quite a nice buffet with several different items on offer. Then we walked down towards the Trongsa Dzong itself. As we reached a road running between the watchtower and the dzong, we spotted macaque monkeys.
I have seen macaques before elsewhere in Asia, and they are truly annoying. They usually have no reservations about coming close to humans, in order to steal food, or anything that looks edible. However, we scared them off and they kept to themselves.
We entered and explored the Trongsa Dzong, which is the largest of all the dzongs in Bhutan. It is also historically one of the most important dzongs in Bhutan. The main trail between western and eastern Bhutan used to pass right through the building itself.
This strategic location gave great power to the governor of Trongsa. Today, that position is usually held by the royal heir. The newer, main west-east road still runs through the city of Trongsa.
The Trongsa Dzong traces its history back to 1541, when a small meditation room was built here. It was then continually enlarged. An earthquake in 1897 damaged large portions of the dzong. It was repaired at the beginning of the 20th century.
The dzong has several courtyards and inside of the complex are 23 different temples.
Not all of the temples are open to the public. Even if you had time to see all the temples, you probably wouldn’t be able to locate all the different caretakers to be able to get in.
We saw the several courtyards and a few of the more impressive temples.
After touring the Trongsa Dzong, we got back in the car and continued driving. We drove west along the same main road between Trongsa and Punakha that we had driven on a few days prior. A couple of hours after we left Trongsa, we turned left off the main road to head towards the Phobjikha Valley.
Just before arriving in Phobjikha, we saw a group of grazing yaks.
We finally arrived in Phobjikha Valley at our hotel just before sunset. It was probably the nicest and most luxurious of all the hotels I stayed at in Bhutan. I unpacked a few things, then went for dinner at the hotel’s buffet. I relaxed for a little while in the room after a long day of driving, before it was time for bed.
THURSDAY, September 27th
On Thursday, we were going to depart Phobjikha Valley and continue our road trip back west to Paro. However, we were not going to do so without exploring some of the main sights in the Phobjikha Valley first. I ate breakfast at the hotel and checked out, then met up with my guide and our driver. We packed all our bags in the car and drove off.
The main draw for visiting Phobjikha Valley is the endangered black-necked cranes that visit the valley during the winter. However, we were in Phobjikha Valley before the migration would have taken place.
Because of the valley’s popularity for visitors, particularly avid birders, a “Black-necked Crane Information Centre” has been set up by Bhutan’s Royal Society for Protection of Nature. Before entering the information centre itself, we actually got to see one black-necked crane, although not under ideal circumstances.
An injured bird, nicknamed “Karma”, is housed at the information centre in a temporary rehab shelter. It was injured a year ago and was unable to join the rest of its flock when it migrated back to Tibet. The Black-necked Crane Information Centre put together a temporary shelter to house Karma.
However, the centre never intended to house injured birds in the first place, so the shelter is less than ideal. They realized that there will likely be a repeated need for rehab shelters, to protect the endangered birds who get injured. The centre is planning to build a permanent and better-equipped shelter facility. Any of the birds who get injured and can’t migrate are in danger of being attacked by larger animals and predators that roam the valley.
We entered the Black-necked Crane Information Centre itself, which has some exhibitions and a video room detailing the migration patterns, characteristics and local cultural importance of the black-necked cranes.
There’s a room with windows facing the valley floor, with binoculars that would give a good view of the cranes, if they were present.
Visiting the centre was essentially a free part of my entire pre-paid Bhutan tour package. Before we left, I made a small donation for the planned rehab facility.
Another sight that we visited before leaving the valley was the Gangtey Goemba monastery.
The complex is over 450 years old. However, most of the temple has been replaced and rebuilt in the early 2000s due to a beetle larvae infestation. The woodwork is exquisite, and it has some really incredible details on the exterior.
Unfortunately, the complex was undergoing further renovation, presumably the reason why the main temple was closed. Perhaps the caretaker was simply gone.
There were a couple of wood carvers working on new panels for the temple outside. We had to settle for experiencing the exterior of the Gangtey Goemba only.
We left Phobjikha Valley and drove towards our final destination Paro. The entire drive was going to take about 5 hours on its own.
Not long after we left Phobjikha, we spotted grey langur monkeys sitting in a group of trees by the roadside.
Eventually we arrived in Thimphu, where we stopped for lunch. We did have a bit of time on our hands. Before departing to continue to Paro, we visited the Thimphu Market.
It is a large market hall where individual vendors are selling mainly produce and fresh vegetables.
A sign referring to those who chew betel nut, where some of the contents are spat out, leaving noticeable red stains everywhere.
There are also some stands selling incense and herbal products. There’s even one stand with meat, which is usually imported from India.
Although Thimphu does have Western-style supermarkets, many locals prefer buying their groceries at the market.
We left Thimphu and continued for the hour-and-a-half long drive towards our final destination, Paro. Upon entering Paro, we first drove towards the Kyichu Lhakhang, a temple which we couldn’t visit the first time in Paro.
It is however one of the most important sights around Paro, as one of the oldest temples in Bhutan. According to legend, it is believed to have been built in the year 659, in order to pin down the left foot of a huge demoness that stretched across most of Bhutan and Tibet. Other temples built around the same time held down other “body parts” of this demon. There is usually a significant group of elderly locals that circle around the temple to spin the prayer wheels. We entered inside the temple to have a look at a few statues of important Buddhist figures.
As we departed Kyichu Temple towards our hotel, the Tashi Namgay Resort, I noticed a Bhutan Airlines Airbus A319 descending over the mountaintops for an approach to runway 15 at Paro Airport. This meant flying parallel to the valley and then turning around to fly into the airport from the north. I asked my guide and our driver to stop at a viewing point on the road, just beyond the runway axis. Few minutes later, bingo!
The timing was perfect, and the location, just about 7-800 meters (~2400 ft) from the runway was incredible. The plane flew just above us. What was spectacular was seeing how it was practically still turning until a couple of seconds before touching down, a very difficult maneuver.
Unfortunately, I got so excited that I tried to film the approach on my DSLR in one hand while taking photos with my phone in the other. My DSLR camera slid out of my hand during it, so the video got shaky and stopped at the end. But the pictures were worth it!
We continued to the hotel, checked-in, and had dinner there. The Tashi Namgay Resort was the first Bhutanese hotel I stayed in when I first arrived in Paro at the start of the trip. Their buffet was certainly one of the better ones, with a larger selection than most other places we slept at in Bhutan.
FRIDAY, September 28th
We had breakfast at the hotel, then we checked out. We drove towards the Sangchen Monastery to start the Bumdrak Trek from an elevation of 2,900m (9,500 ft).
Setting off at 9 AM, we began on a slow pace to allow our bodies (or well, just mine) to acclimatize. With each passing minute, the air got less dense as we walked higher and higher.
A recent forest fire left many burnt out trees at the start of the trek. Eventually, everything around us got greener.
We reached a little temple at an elevation 3,560m (~11,700ft) around 12:30 PM to have lunch. Someone had brought down the food from our destination, the Bumdrak Camp, further up.
Considering how the food was prepared and brought down from camp, I certainly can’t complain about the quality. Honestly, the food was quite nice. At that point, every bit of protein and carbs were most welcome, as we still had some trekking to do.
After eating, we took a break of about 45 minutes to rest, digest the food, and take in the view of Paro Valley below us. Then we continued the trek.
It was a fairly short climb before the path became quite flat for a long while. Essentially, we had covered most of the elevation. We still had a bit of distance to go before reaching our destination though.
About an hour later, we caught our first glimpses of not only the Bumdrak Monastery, but the camp itself as well.
Shortly before 4 PM, we arrived at the camp. It was a nice opportunity to sit down and relax our legs for good.
After we arrived at the camp I was told to sit inside one of the larger dinner tents. I was given some hot tea and snacks. It was nice to just sit down for a while.
Afterwards I was shown where my assigned tent was. I went over to drop off the stuff I had carried up the mountain, all in a small gym bag.
The camp is not at the very peak itself, being on a meadow about 250 meters (750 feet) below the peak. My guide, Ugyen, offered that we could go to the peak of the mountain before sunset. It would take about an hour to an hour-and-a-half. We definitely had the time. However, I preferred to remain at camp, because I had a minor headache that could possibly have been due to altitude sickness. I had taken some pills to prevent the worst symptoms of altitude sickness though.
All things considered I felt fine, but my legs were a little tired as well. I figured it was better not to exhaust myself and simply rest for the evening and get used to the elevation. Considering that the Tashi Namgay Resort (our hotel for the previous evening) sits at approximately 2,240m (7350ft), and the Bumdrak Camp at 3,880m (12,730ft) above sea level, we had already covered a huge chunk of elevation in one day.
We decided on going to the peak in the morning instead, and simply relaxing at the camp for the rest of the evening. That being said, there wasn’t a lot of things to do at the camp. Forget having internet. I was surprised that my cell phone had reception up there, but I had no data roaming anyway. Personally I didn’t need any of those luxuries, I’m used to being off the grid sometimes when I travel to remote places.
There were three other couples at the camp with their guides. The guides got together to play some Bhutanese darts, while the rest of us watched and chatted a bit with each other. Eventually a group of local Bhutanese arrived, with a few more people arriving within the next hour, just before sunset. All of them came from the same large group. It was noteworthy that they brought tent equipment and food also. The tents we slept in were permanently in place at the camp, and mine even had an actual bed inside!
Food was provided to guests by staff members of the camp, who received supplies several times per week. It turned out the Bhutanese group, which had brought their own supplies, were future tourist guides undergoing training.
Because Bumdrak is a “luxury” trek, where most facilities and food are provided at the camp, it’s a relatively easy trek from a logistics point of view. There are other treks in Bhutan which are not only longer, but also in more remote locations. You would need to bring camping gear and food along. Those trips might include having mules to carry some of the equipment though.
These Bhutanese guides needed to learn how to set up tents, make fireplaces and cook food by themselves, before they would be licensed as guides. We had a brief chat with them as well, as they set up their fireplace just in front of our camp.
As it started to become dark, the camp’s “kitchen tent” had finished cooking our dinner. My guide told me to come to the dinner tent.
The food was similar to what I had eaten elsewhere in Bhutan, meaning rice, fried vegetables, broccoli, and chicken. That was actually a really nice meal since we had food cooked for us on the top of a mountain. I ate the food by myself though, as the other trekkers were in a group in another tent, rented by a different tour company. My guide had to eat his meal with the other guides in a separate tent. This is the custom in Bhutan, even at a mountain camp.
After I had finished the meal, it had become completely dark. The night sky was amazing. Ugyen, my guide, called the Bumdrak Camp the “Thousand Stars Camp”. This is referring in part to the luxuries we had on top of a mountain, as well as all the stars visible at night. There were at times some clouds that covered parts of the sky, but mostly it was clear. On top of a mountain, there was next to no light pollution. The nearest villages were much further down in the mountain valleys. I’m no expert on nighttime photography, and I had only recently started using my DSLR camera. It was difficult for me to adjust the exposure and aperture enough to get a good, clear photo. The best shot I got is the one you see below.
It doesn’t do any justice to how absolutely stunning the night sky was with all the stars.
At one point, thunderstorms were visible over India. It was likely caused by storm cells that formed over some of the highest peaks of the Himalayas. We got no storms at all, barely any wind. The thunder cells were anyway several mountain valleys away.
It had started getting cold, with a couple of degrees freezing temperature. After I had taken in enough of the night sky, I went to bed. It wasn’t even 9 PM yet, but everyone else had anyway gone back to their own tents. This was by far the most comfortable night I have had in a tent in a while, because I slept in an actual bed!
To compensate for the cold, the blankets were incredibly thick. I didn’t have to wear more than a t-shirt and shorts to bed despite being in a tent. But going outside to the “restroom tent” definitely necessitated adding a couple of layers of clothes. Yes, there was actually a separate tent with a primitive toilet inside of it.
SATURDAY, September 29th
When I woke up, the camp was lit up by the light of the sun.
At Bumdrak Camp we were so high up, that clouds covered the valley below us. It was quite an incredible sight to wake up literally right above a cloud layer.
Before getting a true breakfast, my guide and I set off for the peak of Bumdrak Mountain, an extra ~300 meters further up. I drank a cup of tea and ate some fruits before we left camp. The trail zig-zagged for a bit, until reaching a point where you could see the hundreds of prayer flags at the top.
It was a bit of a question how much we’d be able to see from the peak. The weather looked as if it could have just as well been foggy. But at the top, it was quite clear.
The clear weather was awesome. It meant that we could see some of the higher peaks of the Bhutanese Himalayas. This included Jomolhari, a snow-capped mountain that stands 7,326m (24,035 ft) tall. On the picture below, it’s visible in the background, in the centre of the photo.
Being at the top of Bumdrak Mountain was the first time ever for me above 4,000 meters of elevation. According the GPS on my phone, the elevation at the peak, between all the prayer flags, was 4,130m (13,550ft).
After taking in the view, we made our way back down to the camp.
It was now time for our breakfast.
All the other visitors at the campsite had already left to trek down the mountain. Only the campsite staff was still there. The Bumdrak Trek is an overnight trek. The camp is not intended to be a place you’d stay for a long time.
The timing obviously meant that we would start our downhill trek later than usual, but that was no problem at all. We had no other plans for the day after completing the entire trek. My guide knew of a nearby temple down in the valley that we could visit as well, if time permitted. But for me personally, going to the peak of Bumdrak was the priority. We were anyway going to visit Bhutan’s most spectacularly situated temple, the Tiger’s Nest, on the way along the trek.
After eating a solid breakfast with yogurt, cereal, fruits and toast and a short break to brush my teeth out in the open, it was time to pack together my stuff that had been sitting overnight in a small cupboard inside the tent. Being the luxury campsite that Bumdrak is, most of what you see below was actually provided by the camp.
Then we set off downhill. It was going to be another long trek, and the constant downhill movement could be tough on the knees. However, the advantage was that the lower we got, the denser the air would be, making it easier to breathe. I had no altitude sickness though, as the pills I took to prevent that were very effective.
About an hour-and-a-half away from the camp, we reached a pair of benches in the middle of the forest. We sat down to rest a little. It was one of the last spots from which the peak of Bumdrak was still visible.
We had already made it a considerable distance, and were already down several hundred meters to a lower elevation. It took another half an hour, and we reached a small temple that is technically connected to the Tiger’s Nest complex, despite being relatively far away from it.
We didn’t enter the temple itself, but we took a break to admire the views. The look down upon the upper Paro Valley was quite nice. We could still see the top of Bumdrak, another reminder of how far we had come.
It was not much further until Tiger’s Nest. After less than 30 minutes of further walking downhill, we caught our first sights of the rooftops of the main temples of the Tiger’s Nest.
About 20 minutes later we were at a lookout point that’s at the same height as the Tiger’s Nest, along the cliffside. From there, it was easier to appreciate the size of the Tiger’s Nest complex.
The Tiger’s Nest, or officially the Taktshang Goemba, is called so due to legend. It is believed that Guru Rinpoche, one of Bhutanese Buddhism’s most important figures, rode on the back of a tigress from Nepal to Bhutan, to subdue evil spirits. This is the spot where he landed, according the legend. That’s the reason that a temple is sitting in this spectacular cliffside location today.
The shortest route to Tiger’s Nest is from the bottom of Paro Valley. It still takes about 3-4 hours as a roundtrip hike from the valley floor. The Tiger’s Nest is very popular to visit, because it’s easily do-able as a day hike, particularly for those who don’t want to commit to an overnight trek. Another reason for its many visitors is the proximity to Paro, where most travelers go through given that it’s Bhutan’s only international airport.
We continued over to the temples of Tiger’s Nest, which is accessible via a 15-minute path that winds its way down the cliffside to a small bridge. Once you cross the bridge, you have to climb a long staircase to reach the entrance to the Tiger’s Nest complex.
Unfortunately, photos are not allowed inside the Tiger’s Nest. It’s a set of multiple, beautiful temples. However, their appearance is actually not too different from other major temples throughout Bhutan. My guide was able to explain the history of the temple in great detail.
There were a lot of Indian visitors at the temple. They are the only nationality that can travel throughout Bhutan without a guide. This however led several of them to follow us around and eavesdrop on what Ugyen, my guide, was explaining. They asked questions and sort of used him, without paying a single dime. Not even a tip. I thought that was quite rude of them, but after a short while they left anyway. Had they not left by themselves, I definitely would have told them off. It’s disrespectful to use a guide without at least giving them a tip, unless the service is already paid for.
After having visited the temple, we hiked back down the staircase, up the hillside path, and then further downhill along the main trail. We stopped at a lookout point situated below the Tiger’s Nest, where there’s a restaurant. They serve a lunch buffet, so we stopped there to have some food, and rest our legs. It was nice to get something to eat, and to get a longer break.
After lunch, we trekked the remaining 45 minutes, relatively flat, to the parking lot at the bottom of the Tiger’s Nest trail. Our driver Tandin picked Ugyen and I up, and by then it was late in the afternoon. I was pretty exhausted from the past two days of trekking and my legs were sore.
I elected that we simply went back to the hotel to get some rest, instead of going to another temple in the valley. Granted, it was my last day in Bhutan. However, I had already seen all the significant temples in the Paro Valley that I wanted to see.
We arrived at the hotel, a different place than where we had been sleeping up until then when staying in Paro. I started packing my bags before going to the hotel restaurant for dinner. It was a buffet, but none of the food seemed really fresh.
I didn’t have much of a choice. You can’t simply walk out into the city and eat at a different restaurant. In Bhutan, your restaurant visits are usually coordinated through your travel agency in advance. Oh well, at least the buffet was already included in the hotel stay. However, it’s quite possible that the buffet made me sick. I got ill while traveling home via Delhi, India. That part of the journey will be covered in the next blog post, which you can read by clicking here.
After dinner, I returned to my room and finished packing everything. I needed to wake up early to go to the airport with my guide and our driver the next morning.