{"id":14789,"date":"2024-01-05T09:50:38","date_gmt":"2024-01-05T09:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/?p=14789"},"modified":"2024-05-29T12:32:31","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T11:32:31","slug":"why-you-need-to-go-to-bhutan-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/why-you-need-to-go-to-bhutan-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Why you need to go to Bhutan now"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle” css=”.vc_custom_1556556769335{padding-top: 60% !important;background-image: url(https:\/\/www.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/DSC_2328_DxO_edited-12-e1556556716198.jpg?id=14792) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/3″ offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-9 vc_col-lg-3 vc_hidden-md vc_col-sm-offset-4 vc_hidden-sm vc_col-xs-offset-3 vc_col-xs-6 vc_hidden-xs”][vc_column_text css_animation=”fadeIn” css=”.vc_custom_1556555966727{padding-top: 24px !important;padding-right: 24px !important;padding-bottom: 24px !important;padding-left: 24px !important;background-color: rgba(0,48,83,0.7) !important;*background-color: rgb(0,48,83) !important;}”]<\/p>\n

Paro Festival<\/span><\/h2>\n

All photos in this article are taken by\u00a0 ETG client, Steve<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content” equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle” parallax=”content-moving” css=”.vc_custom_1515677389520{background-color: #003053 !important;background-position: center;background-repeat: no-repeat;background-size: contain !important;}”][vc_column width=”5\/6″ offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-3 vc_col-lg-6 vc_col-md-offset-1 vc_col-md-10 vc_col-sm-offset-1 vc_col-xs-12″ css=”.vc_custom_1515677437883{padding-top: 10% !important;padding-bottom: 10% !important;}”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Even having travelled all over the world (including seven holidays to Asia with Experience Travel Group), Steve and Joanna were taken aback by Bhutan: its culture, its beauty and its incredible sense of identity that is unlike anywhere else on earth. Their only fear was that it surely can\u2019t stay this way for long\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

We caught up for them after their trip to find out more about their experience and ask why they feel travellers need to go to Bhutan now.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” full_height=”yes” equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle”][vc_column offset=”vc_col-lg-8 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_single_image image=”14794″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][vc_column css_animation=”none” css=”.vc_custom_1562929652572{padding-top: 5% !important;padding-right: 5% !important;padding-bottom: 5% !important;padding-left: 5% !important;}” offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-0 vc_col-lg-4 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_column_text]\u201cI don\u2019t know, to be perfectly honest, what I was expecting,\u201d Joanna says. \u201cI knew it would be a lot of forest, a lot of mountains and agriculture. But it exceeded all my expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laughing, Steve adds: \u201cI thought it would be a bit like India, but a bit further up in the hills! I obviously didn\u2019t do my homework properly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Steve and Joanna, many travellers are curious about holidays to Bhutan<\/a> but have little idea what travelling there will actually be like. Having been closed to tourism until 1977, Bhutan still retains an air of mystery. And indeed, on arrival there, Steve and Joanna quickly realised that it was not at all like anywhere they\u2019d ever been before.<\/p>\n

Steve tells me, \u201cWe\u2019ve travelled with you to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, and we\u2019ve found there is nowhere as intensely Buddhist as Bhutan. There\u2019s no billboard advertising except pictures of the king, no big adverts like you get over the border in India. And I would say two thirds of the people in the street are wearing traditional clothing just routinely, men and women. It\u2019s just utterly different.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” content_placement=”middle” css=”.vc_custom_1515676545726{background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][vc_column parallax=”content-moving” css=”.vc_custom_1515676642847{margin-top: -35px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”14797″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1556557311684{margin-bottom: -35px !important;}”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle” css=”.vc_custom_1515593851408{background-color: #faeee7 !important;}”][vc_column offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-3 vc_col-lg-6 vc_col-xs-12″ css=”.vc_custom_1515683270935{margin-top: 10% !important;margin-bottom: 10% !important;}”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Joanna agrees that it was full of pleasant surprises, especially in terms of accommodation: \u201cI expected [our accommodation] it to be \u2018of a standard\u2019, obviously, but it was really excellent. In Punakha<\/a> we stayed in a beautiful hotel that had rooms built into a forest. Where we stayed in the Haa Valley was charming too, because it was a converted farmhouse, so they could tell us the dining room was the old stable and so on. And looking out of the window on the first morning, I was eye-to-eye with a chough \u2013 we were 12 inches away from each other. The birdlife was wonderful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As it stands, Bhutan only receives around 70,000 international travellers per year, a relatively tiny number when you consider that Thailand receives up to 39.8 million. As such, on a visit here you will never get the feeling of being overwhelmed by tourists \u2013 as Joanna describes, \u201cYou bump into people sometimes at night in the hotel, but during the day not really at all. \u00a0Even when we climbed up to Tiger\u2019s Nest there were a lot of Bhutanese people there as well, so even when you felt you were doing something touristy, it wasn\u2019t exclusively<\/em> a tourist thing. That\u2019s what we feel is bound to change as more tourists go.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” full_height=”yes” equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle”][vc_column offset=”vc_col-lg-8 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_single_image image=”14817″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][vc_column css_animation=”none” css=”.vc_custom_1563211391799{padding-top: 5% !important;padding-right: 5% !important;padding-bottom: 5% !important;padding-left: 5% !important;}” offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-0 vc_col-lg-4 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_column_text]Already, modern influence can be felt creeping in at the seams. Steve describes how \u201cin the cities you could see that most of the kids had mobile phones, everything was run by mobile phones.\u201d And Joanna notes how rapidly the capital city, Thimphu<\/a>, is developing: \u201cThere is a huge amount of building work going on, and someone told us that 10 years ago half the city was rice paddies, so they really are building at quite a rate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steve likens it to Myanmar in this way: \u201cWhen [Experience Travel Group] first launched holidays to Myanmar in 2011, you said that people needed to go now before it changes. So we did go then, and it was wonderful. Bhutan is the same sort of category: you can see that they don\u2019t want to change, but they will change because they\u2019ve opened the door to modernisation.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it stands today, Steve describes that Bhutan \u201chas such a strong self-identity that was very traditionally based on history, but\u2026 they are sort of living that history now. The temples that they\u2019re building now look like the old ones, it\u2019s not like going to see some old palace which is part of the National Trust – everything is part of the National Trust there! Everything has this very strong Bhutanese character.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” content_placement=”middle” css=”.vc_custom_1515676545726{background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][vc_column parallax=”content-moving” css=”.vc_custom_1515676642847{margin-top: -35px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”14818″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1556614119914{margin-bottom: -35px !important;}”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle” css=”.vc_custom_1562929429851{background-color: #faeee7 !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][vc_column offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-3 vc_col-lg-6 vc_col-xs-12″ css=”.vc_custom_1515683290351{margin-top: 10% !important;margin-bottom: 10% !important;}”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]With this special atmosphere, you can have some truly phenomenal encounters on your travels there. I asked Steve and Joanna to share a couple of their favourites.<\/p>\n

Steve says, \u201cWe went to Paro<\/a> festival, an annual tradition which is not put on for tourists – it\u2019s put on for [Bhutanese people]. The audience was as interesting as the performers: they all dressed in their finest clothes and looked amazing. We sat all afternoon on these concrete steps, just spellbound. Experience Travel sorted this out for us \u2013 you managed to get us in at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joanna says, \u201cI know it\u2019s a bit clich\u00e9, but getting to the Tiger\u2019s Nest was a highlight because I wasn\u2019t sure if we were actually going to make it, to be perfectly honest! Our stay in the Haa Valley<\/a> was another: our second morning when we woke up and there was this fantastic frost and all of the cyprus trees and fir trees on the mountains had this dusting of snow that looked like icing sugar. And we had brilliant sunshine. We were very lucky with the weather. It was quite magical.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” full_height=”yes” equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle”][vc_column offset=”vc_col-lg-8 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_single_image image=”14809″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][vc_column css_animation=”none” css=”.vc_custom_1563213101338{padding-top: 5% !important;padding-right: 5% !important;padding-bottom: 5% !important;padding-left: 5% !important;}” offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-0 vc_col-lg-4 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_column_text]As a final thought, I ask Steve and Joanna what they would say to travellers looking to go to Bhutan. Both came back with a resounding, \u201cGo now!\u201d<\/p>\n

As Steve put it, \u201cGo now while it\u2019s still got its traditional lifestyle because, with the best will in the world, I can\u2019t see how they can continue protecting it without being led astray by all the access to internet and more travellers. They\u2019re very concerned about change, and trying to avoid it, but I\u2019m not sure quite how you do it. It\u2019s a balancing act, I suppose.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Joanna: \u201cI thoroughly recommend Bhutan – it is a fabulous place to go. You do have to be aware of altitude, take good sturdy boots and layers of clothing, but all the information was in the Experience Travel Group booklet which worked very well.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” content_placement=”middle” parallax=”content-moving” parallax_speed_bg=”1.2″ css=”.vc_custom_1515683379061{margin-top: -35px !important;background-position: center;background-repeat: no-repeat;background-size: cover !important;}”][vc_column parallax=”content-moving”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]This blog was written a few years ago, yet Bhutan remarkably preserves its allure, continuing to be a bastion of traditional values and untouched beauty. Despite the passage of time, this hidden kingdom still offers a rare glimpse into a way of life that has remained unchanged for centuries. As the world around us evolves, Bhutan remains a poignant reminder of the importance of preserving cultural heritage amidst the encroaching influences of global tourism. Now, more than ever, is an opportune moment to experience the magic of Bhutan, to see it in its authentic splendour before the inevitable changes that tourism may bring.<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”14806″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1556557728723{margin-bottom: -35px !important;}”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content” content_placement=”middle” css=”.vc_custom_1562929463921{padding-top: 10% !important;padding-bottom: 10% !important;background-color: #003053 !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][vc_column width=”2\/3″ offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-3 vc_col-lg-6 vc_col-sm-offset-2 vc_col-xs-offset-1 vc_col-xs-10″][vc_separator color=”white” el_width=”80″ css_animation=”none” css=”.vc_custom_1563213122994{padding-bottom: 24px !important;}”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Curious about Bhutan?<\/span><\/h1>\n

You can reach our Bhutan specialist Sara on 020 7924 7133<\/span>\r\n \t or by clicking the button below.<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”ASK ABOUT BHUTAN” style=”flat” shape=”square” color=”turquoise” size=”lg” align=”center” css_animation=”none” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.experiencetravelgroup.com%2Fmake-enq||target:%20_blank|”][vc_separator color=”white” el_width=”80″ css_animation=”none” css=”.vc_custom_1563213130891{padding-top: 24px !important;}”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” content_placement=”bottom” css=”.vc_custom_1562929473530{background-image: url(https:\/\/www.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/17-0069R-_MG_0104a-e1513765138690.jpg?id=11796) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][vc_column width=”5\/6″ offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-3 vc_col-lg-6 vc_hidden-md vc_col-sm-offset-1 vc_hidden-sm vc_col-xs-offset-1 vc_col-xs-10 vc_hidden-xs”][vc_single_image image=”11636″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1515671078794{padding-top: 10% !important;padding-right: 25% !important;padding-bottom: 10% !important;padding-left: 25% !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1515684084547{margin-top: -15px !important;margin-right: -15px !important;margin-bottom: -15px !important;margin-left: -15px !important;padding-top: 48px !important;padding-right: 48px !important;padding-bottom: 48px !important;padding-left: 48px !important;background-color: #003053 !important;}”]We don\u2019t believe in standing still. Watching the world go by through a window. Hearing it through the stories of others. <\/span><\/p>\n

You want to be in it, out there. Asking questions and finding answers. Finding yourself in worlds unknown. Finding the path less trodden. Meeting people with a different story to tell.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just ask why, what, how, who?\u00a0We\u2019ll never stop helping you find the answers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our travellers come home with stories to tell, memories to keep and new ways of seeing their lives around them. That\u2019s what happens when you truly connect with a destination.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1515671203130{padding-top: 48px !important;padding-right: 48px !important;padding-left: 48px !important;background-color: #faeee7 !important;}”][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1515670566021{background-color: #faeee7 !important;}”]<\/p>\n

FREE YOUR CURIOUS SIDE WITH\u00a0<\/strong>EXPERIENCE TRAVEL GROUP<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

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Find out why you need to visit Bhutan now, as described by two ETG travellers, Steve and Joanna. See the amazing traditional culture, before modernisation takes hold. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":14792,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1301,1314],"tags":[1350],"coauthors":[1261],"class_list":["post-14789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bhutan","category-your-travel-story","tag-travel-community"],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":5087,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14789"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=14789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}