The Kingdom of Bhutan

In the 90's I read that Katmandu walking trails were littered with fast food wrappers and decided it would not be a destination for me. The Kingdom of Bhutan in  the East Himalayas has virtually been untouched by tourism and I decided to plan a trip there . Part of its isolation is due to the government tax on tourists of 200 US a day and also it is not very easy to get there . 

So in 2005 I took my trip and landed near Paro in November of that year. To get to Bhutan you  fly into Bangkok and take Druckair the Bhutanese national carrier and when I was travelling in 2005 I  stayed overnight at a Bangkok airport hotel as  flights leaves early in the morning, I learned that this is arranged as landings in Bhutan get more difficulty later in the day due to weather changes.

The excitement began as I checked out of my Thai hotel on noticing the Druckair flight attendants. These people were wearing the most exotic cabin crew attire I have ever seen

In the 1980's the King of Bhutan, having been challanged by an overseas economist because of a slow capital growth in Bhutan stated that 'gross national happiness was more important than GNP. Bhutan has as a result soetimes been known as 'The Kingdom of Happiness"

Bhutan was one of the last countries in the world to get television and in 2005 was reported to have only one set of traffic lights. 

A Buddist country, there are many famous festivals and my trip coincided with the Thimpu , Punaka and Tongsa festival

To get to the festivals I travelled on narrow roads through beautiful mountainscape, this is what I saw-