Bhutan has been positively impacting travellers for decades and there is a clear synergy between their goals as a destination and &Beyond’s goal as a travel company to leave our world a better place.
Travel that transcends time
A transformative journey through Bhutan, where hikes, happiness and harmony feed the soul…
Arriving in India for my final layover, I asked my colleague in Delhi the time difference in Bhutan. “One hundred years behind,” he remarked. And he wasn’t wrong. In less than 24 hours, I would finally be witnessing one of the world’s most dramatic airport arrivals to one of the most enviable and enchanting of travel destinations, but I had yet to fully grasp the time travel part. Because time travel it was.
One of the smallest countries in the world, the Himalayan mountain kingdom of Bhutan is not quite the size of Switzerland and six times smaller than the United Kingdom. A landlocked country nestled in the eastern Himalaya, it shares borders with India and China. Telling people where I was headed, few had heard of it and even fewer could pinpoint it on a map. It was exactly the kind of remote adventure my soul needed.
The window seat is a must for the world-famous descent into Paro International Airport. An entirely manual and by-daylight-only approach to one of the shortest runways in the world, coupled with ever-unpredictable weather and having to manoeuvre the plane at a 45-degree angle between Himalayan peaks on either side, makes it one of the most challenging landings that only 14 pilots in command in the world are qualified to do. And despite this being an international airport, only two airlines, both Bhutanese, are even permitted to land there.
Stepping off the plane, and indeed back in time, the traditional and intricately painted airport, coupled with the friendliest customs officials I’ve ever encountered, were a brief but telling introduction to the country’s deep-seated national pride and genuine kindness that would remain evident throughout the journey.
“Kuzuzangpo la,” (hello in Dzongkha, Bhutan’s official language), my guide Jamyang bowed as he placed a white scarf, or khadar, around my neck. “Welcome to Bhutan.” This welcome gift symbolises respect and good wishes and was a sign of the countless blessings (and laughs) we were about to share over the next eight truly soul-uplifting days.
Throughout Bhutan, a well-known Buddhist folktale graces the walls of monasteries, temples and stupas (Buddhist shrines). Look closely, and you’ll see it everywhere, carved into statues and painted on homes. Dubbed the Four Harmonious Friends, it depicts an elephant, monkey, rabbit and bird, one sitting atop the other, next to a banyan tree. There are different interpretations, but the moral of the story is that these animals, each with unique strengths, realise the potential of working together, not alone, to create overall unity and harmony. By working together—the bird carrying seeds, the rabbit digging the soil, the monkey climbing the tree to hold it in place, and the elephant providing shade and protection—they not only enable the tree to grow, but they can eventually share in its fruits too.
In terrestrial terms, each animal is believed to represent a different earthly element: elephant (land); monkey (tree); rabbit (roots/underground); and bird (sky). Seeing this foursome, over and over, I started to realise how beautifully it depicts Bhutan, with each of the four friends representing the different elements of Bhutanese life that continue to work together to create a national harmony unemulated anywhere else in the world.
Elephant: land worth protecting
As dramatic as the airport descent itself, Bhutan’s mystifying landscape is the stuff of legends. Snow-capped mountains slope into thick, mist-enshrouded forests where webs of old man’s beard hang from the branches like Christmas tree garland. At high altitude, bright bursts of blue poppies defiantly weather the extreme elements, while colourful clusters of rhododendrons bloom lower down. An ancient monastery clings, near impossibly, to a sheer cliff face; glacial fields are overtaken by flocks of endangered cranes; and the fertile valleys flourish with everything from banana trees, citrus orchards and chilli fields, to emerald green rice terraces, pink cherry blossoms and guava trees.
A land this precious must be protected and the Bhutanese are way ahead of their time when it comes to conservation.
To read the rest of this cover story, get your copy of the Bateleur magazine Issue No.3.
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