bhutan4

Day 1, Sunday: Arrive Delhi :Clear immigration and customs. Your tour manager/ representative will be waiting for you outside the arrival hall. He will be holding a “High Points of India” placard. Transfer to hotel. PM: Half day guided city tour of Old and New Delhi. Drive past the elegant India Gate, Rashtrapati Bhavan, and Parliament House. Visit the Qutub Minar, Red Fort, and the Jumma Masjid. Optional: Visit the unique Hauz Khas village for dinner.

Day 2, Monday Delhi-Paro: AM: Transfer to airport for the Druk Air flight to Paro. Met on arrival and transfer to lodge. The peaceful silence of the Paro valley is striking. Willow trees line the main road from the airport, and the Paro River provides a richly watered landscape ideal for rice cultivation. PM: City tour: The town of Paro is small, and most of the inhabitants live in the beautiful valley that surrounds the town. The Paro Dzong (1646) commands a stategic view of the valley. It is symbolic as the religious and secular center of all affairs of the valley. It's architecture is impressive and unique, setting the tone for official dzongs throughout the kingdom. Above the dzong is the old watchtower which is now home to Bhutan `s national museum. The museum's collection includes ancient Bhutanese arts and artifacts, weapons and stamps, birds and animals, and an incredible collection of silver tea ware.

Day 3 & 4: Paro: At leisure to explore the beautiful valley.

Day 5, Thursday: Paro -Thimpu: AM : Drive to Thimphu.
PM: Guided tour: Thimphu is the small, charming capital of Bhutan. Its skyline seldom changes as new buildings cannot exceed a certain height, must be designed in the traditional Bhutanese style.

Day 6, Friday Thimpu-Punakha:
The first stop after leaving Thimphu on the journey East is Dochula Pass at 10.500 feet. Only 45 minutes from Thimphu, it offers the first glimpse of the Himalayan range. The road to Punakha branches off left and curls its way down the valley to the relative lowlands of the Punakha Valley. The town of Punakha does not hold many attractions apart from the glorious dzong which dominates the valley floor. Before Thimphu was made capital of Bhutan, Punakha was the winter capital because of its more temperate climate. Thimphu's monk body and the Je Khenpo (leader of Bhutan's religious order) still come to Punakha to pass the Winter.Punakha Dzong was strategically built at the confluence of the Phochu (male) and Mochu (female) rivers by the first Shabdrung of Bhutan, Ngawang Namgyel in 1637. It has been destroyed by four fires and an earthquake in 1897 and has frequently been devastated by flood water coming from the great northern glaciers. The Dzong has now been fully restored to its original splendor.

Day 6, Friday Thimpu-Punakha:
The first stop after leaving Thimphu on the journey East is Dochula Pass at 10.500 feet. Only 45 minutes from Thimphu, it offers the first glimpse of the Himalayan range. The road to Punakha branches off left and curls its way down the valley to the relative lowlands of the Punakha Valley. The town of Punakha does not hold many attractions apart from the glorious dzong which dominates the valley floor. Before Thimphu was made capital of Bhutan, Punakha was the winter capital because of its more temperate climate. Thimphu's monk body and the Je Khenpo (leader of Bhutan's religious order) still come to Punakha to pass the Winter. Punakha Dzong was strategically built at the confluence of the Phochu (male) and Mochu (female) rivers by the first Shabdrung of Bhutan, Ngawang Namgyel in 1637.

It has been destroyed by four fires and an earthquake in 1897 and has frequently been devastated by flood water coming from the great northern glaciers. The Dzong has now been fully restored to its original splendor.

Day 7, Saturday: Punakha - Bumthang: A 45 minute drive from Punakha is Wangduephodrang or Wangdi, as it's more familiarly known. The last town in the West before arriving at the Central region of Bhutan, Wangdi is a typical small Bhutanese town. A bustling market with well-stocked shops and a pretty view over its own valley and Dzong. Wangdi is a good place to stretch your legs and wander around the shops before heading East. Crossing the Black Mountains which separate western and central Bhutan, we enter a part of the country which until the l970's was only reached by mule and foot trails. The mountain road passes through deciduous forests and at the second pass, Pele La, the entire area is blanketed by high altitude dwarf bamboo. About five miles from Trongsa, the road winds around a cliff and takes a sharp turn to the left. The view is stunning and unforgetable. Sloping down the contour of a ridge stands the many-leveled Trongsa Dzong, built in 1648. It takes at least another 40 minutes from this look-out before we arrive in Trongsa proper. Continuing past Trongsa we cross over two spectacular passes into the Bumthang valley, often compared to Switzerland. The terrain changes quickly from rhododendron forests to conifers.

Day 8, Sunday: Bumthang : Exploring the Bumthang valley.

Day 9, Monday Bumthang-Sengor-Jakar: Close by lies Jakar, as charismatic as any of Bhutan's towns.
The hills around Jakar are dotted with monasteries dedicated to Padmasambhava who is said to have cured an ailing ruler and introduced Buddhism to the valley. Jambay Lhakang (monastery in Jakar) is host to one of the most spectacular festivals in October each year when on one evening of the festival, the monastery is lit by a fire dance to bless infertile women with children.

Day 10, Tuesday Jakar-Mongar: The last valley in Central Bhutan, Ura is also the highest in Bumthang. Wide open spaces characterize the valley that sits in the shadow of the Thrumsingla pass, separating the east from the west of the kingdom. Ura village and its new monastery are a charming stop before the climb to the east. Cobbled streets and a medieval feel give Ura an unusual yet attractive charm. The old women of Ura still wear sheepskin shawls on their backs which double as a blanket and cushion. Thrumsingla pass and a seven-hour drive separates Ura from Mongar in the east. The journey is one of the most beautiful in all the Himalayas. Rising out of Ura, the highway climbs steeply to the pass (apx.12,000ft). The descent from Thrumsingla to Lingmithang is rapid, as the road drops from 12,000 ft to 2000ft in only a few hours, passing from pine forest through semi-tropical forest to orange groves. Carved out of the side of the mountain, in parts the edge of the road borders a sheer cliff which descends 1000 feet vertically with nothing to stop the fall. Mongar marks the beginning of our Eastern Bhutan experience. Towns here are built on the sides of the hills, while in the west they develop on the valley floor.

Day 11, Wednesday: Mongar-Tashiyangtse: The village of Dobsum is a few kilometers past Gom Kora, a small temple on the side of the road. Doksum is a weaver's village where the women sit in fair weather on their balconies,. with wooden slats strapped to their backs, rocking back and forth to the rhythm of their looms. Tashiyangtse is a small village and a lovely place to launch a couple of hour's stroll into the surrounding countryside. Chorten Kora is one of the only two such stupas in Bhutan with styles similar to those found in Nepal and is host to a great festival every March which attracts all of East Bhutan's residents. The Chorten is entirely whitewashed and ideally situated next to a running brook.

Day 12, Thursday: Tashiyangtse-Trashigang: Trashigang Dzong sits on a jagged piece of land jutting out from the town and is the first landmark that can be seen from the road winding up to Trashigang. The Dzong was built in 1659 and commands a spectacular view over the valley for which it is the administrative center. Eastern residents use Trashigang to trade, and the town itself is usually a hive of activity especially around the bus station where buses are frequently leaving for Thimphu and Paro in the west and Samdrup Jonkar and India, only a few hours to the south. The unusual Merak and Sakteng hill tribes people come to Trashigang to trade yak's butter, for the provisions that they need in the mountains. Merak and Sakteng are located about 50 miles east of Trashigang close to the border with India's Arunachal Pradesh.

Day 13, Friday: Tashigang-Samdrup Jonkar: Today we drive south to our last town in Bhutan, heading for the Indian state of Assam.

Day 14, Saturday: Samdrup Jongkhar- Guwahati (India): A beautiful drive along the Brahmaputra valley, skirting thick jungles where wild elephants and rhinoceros may be spotted, and crossing pretty tea gardens.

Day 15, Sunday: Guwahati-Delhi- Onward : Transfer to the airport for your flight to Delhi or Calcutta, from where you may take your onward international flight.