Crossing the Border - Moving on? Talk about countries that surround India. Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Tibet, etc...

Bhutan - The Lost Shangri-La


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old Jan 24th, 2008, 10:58   #16
barefeet indian
 
natasha chanda acharya's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: India
Posts: 566
Oh, shut up, Somnath! I will never hear the end of the wild horses! FYI, wiki says: The Kiang (Equus kiang), also written khyang, is a large mammal belonging to the horse family. So there!!! I wasn't that far off the truth. And before I die, even if it is the last thing i do, I swear I will get deer pictures from Ladakh!
natasha chanda acharya is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 24th, 2008, 11:09   #17
Maha Guru Member
 
somnath's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Calcutta
Posts: 2,371
Talking

Quote:
Originally Posted by natasha chanda acharya View Post
I wasn't that far off the truth. And before I die, even if it is the last thing i do, I swear I will get deer pictures from Ladakh!
...........

and you’ll bring another winky i men wiki link that will explain yes, these goats are from deer family. He he…
__________________
Learn as if you were going to live forever. Live as if you were going to die tomorrow.

* My Travel Pix...
somnath is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 24th, 2008, 11:11   #18
Naan.tering Nabob
 
PeakXV's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Abode of Glooscap
Posts: 4,195
Quote:
Originally Posted by natasha chanda acharya View Post
So sorry, PeakXV.
I should have put a disclaimer saying "all of this applies to Indians only". But the $200 a day for foreigners would include guide service, transport, accomodation and food, and all of it good quality service. You know that, right?
Yup - and as we say here in Canada - That's A Real Bargoon!

Okay Okay, $100.00/day and I'm in like Flynn - & that's my final offer.
__________________
We shall not cease from exploration and at the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started ...and know the place for the first time.
T.S. Eliot

Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?
PeakXV is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 24th, 2008, 11:14   #19
Not Your Guru Member
 
machadinha's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: yörp
Posts: 10,571
Thumbs up

Great post, Natasha. Couple more visa and entry details for Indian passport holders were discussed here: Legal & cheap way into Bhutan?
__________________
Reading tips, all picked up at IndiaMike : INDAX's A Comprehensive Guide To India / Dinoj Surendran's Desi Humor / ITHVC on Culture Shock & Travel Health / JetLag Travel Guides For the Undiscerning Traveller / India Travel Links
machadinha is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 24th, 2008, 12:37   #20
Landscape Photographer
 
Bhaswaran's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Kolkata. INDIA bhaswaran@redifmail.com
Posts: 964
Thumbs up

Excellent post Natasha. I am planning for Bhutan in the future and this will help me a lot.
__________________
....life is a journey.....and the journey is more important than the destination........

http://www.indiamike.com/photopost/s...0/ppuser/15496

Darjeeling trip Video : "Darjeeling - The Queen of Hills" DVD
Bhaswaran is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 25th, 2008, 10:34   #21
barefeet indian
 
natasha chanda acharya's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: India
Posts: 566
Thank you, Bhasvaran, machadinha, edwardseco.
And Somnath, have you finished reading YET?
natasha chanda acharya is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 30th, 2008, 01:34   #22
zed
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 2
very interesting and informative account of your trip. thank you for posting this. i'm in the process of planning a bhutan trip, and your thread already has me rethinking a few things.

if you were to travel beyond thimpu and paro into the not-so-urban bhutan, how hard is it to arrange accomodation without reservations in advance? what about permits?

did you use any particular book/resource to plan your trip? i'm curious as to what the best way is. until i read your post, i was under the impression bhutan had just one TV set. :-\
zed is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 31st, 2008, 10:13   #23
barefeet indian
 
natasha chanda acharya's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: India
Posts: 566
Hi Zed, thank you.

I'd only planned to go to Punakha and Wangdeu. You can get the permit for these places in Thimphu immigration office. Your hotel manager can help with this. My plan was to cover Punakha and Wangdeu in a day trip. Thimphu to Punakha is appoximately 77 KM and Punakha to Wangdeu is some 15 KM. So I planed to go out early in the day and return to Thimphu for the night. I doubt Punakha has any accomodation, but Wangdeu will definitely have some local hotels, nothing plush, but as I've written in my post, even the standard fare there is quite comfortable. And I doubt reservation is required in terms of availability. You can get more info from the hotel phone number I have given, or from Bhutan Information Centre (I don't have that no.). There is very little information on Bhutan on the net. All the info that I got before my trip was from http://www.kingdomofbhutan.com/ I think it is the more famous of the travel agencies in operation. You need not book through them, but you will get a good idea of the places and what they have to offer from this site. Hope you have a good trip. Come back and tell us all about it.

FYI: The first thing the bell boy at our hotel said when we entered out room and saw a TV was - "The cable hasn't been working since morning!" He was quite distressed about it as I imagine the rest of the local people were. TV is definitely an integral part of their lives now.
natasha chanda acharya is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 31st, 2008, 10:17   #24
(in charge of navel affairs)
 
capt_mahajan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: India
Posts: 10,105
Natasha, great post.
capt_mahajan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Feb 14th, 2008, 07:22   #25
Administrator
 
nadreg's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: NY, USA
Posts: 1,733
Natasha, I've moved this article to the Articles section. Wonderfully written and extremely informative.

I'd love to annotate it with some of your pics, though. Would you mind sending some of them to me, or uploading them onto IM?

Thanks!
__________________
In pursuit of the Only truth: I Am!
nadreg is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Feb 14th, 2008, 13:05   #26
Discombobulated Elsewherean!
 
PRIYA's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: nether regions
Posts: 1,125
As usual, Natasha brings her journey's to life with great descriptions, narrative and photos.

Excellent!!!
__________________
Happiness is for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched and those who have tried. For only they can appreciate the importance of people who have touched their lives. (Anon.)
PRIYA is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Feb 15th, 2008, 05:44   #27
Administrator
 
nadreg's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: NY, USA
Posts: 1,733
Thanks for the pics, Natasha. I've moved them to the article.
nadreg is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Feb 15th, 2008, 06:42   #28
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Beautiful Bondi (not Bundi!)
Posts: 1,479
Quote:
Originally Posted by PeakXV View Post
Yup - and as we say here in Canada - That's A Real Bargoon!

Okay Okay, $100.00/day and I'm in like Flynn - & that's my final offer.
Can you just explain that again slowly for the very stupid? Do you have to pay $200/day when you get your visa? How does it included everything? Are you meant to spend that..how do they know you have?
kristinm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Feb 16th, 2008, 02:19   #29
Senior Member
 
dumb_bacchus's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: New Delhi
Posts: 158
2:16 AM. About 12 hours back a thought struck me - to travel to Bhutan on my bike. So I log into IM, maybe to write a post and check people's view, but to my surprise I see this article. If it was some other day, I would have said "Nicely written", but I guess now I would "Thanks for helping me dream on!"
dumb_bacchus is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Feb 16th, 2008, 02:57   #30
Naan.tering Nabob
 
PeakXV's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Abode of Glooscap
Posts: 4,195
Quote:
Originally Posted by kristinm View Post
Can you just explain that again slowly for the very stupid? Do you have to pay $200/day when you get your visa? How does it included everything? Are you meant to spend that..how do they know you have?
The $200.00/day($165.00 offseason ??) is the upfront daily admission fee( X number of days in your visit) that includes your food, accommodation, land transport within Bhutan, guides/porters services, pack animals for treks, & cultural programs. I believe the vias is $20.00.

Too be honest it's not too bad a deal for, by the majority of accounts, a trip of a lifetime (especially if you are the outdoors/energetic type) .... unless you are one who takes issue with any of these two-tiered tariff schemes based solely on your nationality/passport designation/fate or are specifically interested in a frugal shopping vacation.

I understand that Bhutan, as a rule, is nevertheless expensive for the average Indian ... but can somebody reveal -what a budget-travelling Indian National might pay per day there - for the record?
PeakXV is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply



Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Shangri-la at the Foot of Himalayas Hari K Sud India Expat Area 4 Feb 25th, 2006 00:45
shangri la hotel in new delhi kj1234 Delhi 7 Feb 16th, 2006 13:53
Goa for Shangri-la Jamminjarjam Lodging and Hotels in India 1 Nov 3rd, 2005 22:23
BBC2 9pm tonight. Searching for Shangri La seventies'hippy Chai and Chat 0 Oct 9th, 2005 18:45



Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.5
Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. LinkBacks Enabled by vBSEO 3.1.0
indiamike.com ©2001-2008

Syndicate this content on your website with rss or javascript data feeds.