Pinewood Hotel Thimphu

... actually gets to the host country is very small. In Bhutan, tour operators are given the chance to receive revenue directly from the price of the holiday, and the Bhutanese people receive an income from the tourists by way of the government royalty. This royalty collected makes up one sixth of the country's income, and one third of all foreign exchange earned. This is an important source of revenue for the Bhutanese people since all ...

... we provide tours on Culture, Treks,
Textiles, Festivals, Flora & Fauna, Bird watching, Religious Tours,
Biking and other adventures.
We will also design a farmhouse visit or home stay so that our
guests can experience an authentic Bhutanese lifestyle firsthand. This
is based on individual interest or client request and must be booked in
Thimphu, Thimphu, Bhutan dolpinso

... food and Wiz was even offered to have her ears cleaned by a small man with large tweezers. We scurried back over the border with T and Sonam for our final Bhutanese meal of Chilli Cheese and rice, before boarding our bus, hearts heavy, mouths burning and wishing we were staying longer. we weren't ready to go back to India. It felt as if we had arrived again for the first time and within minutes, the crowded bus was rambling away along a dusty road and away from the land of the Thunder Dragon.

... phones, etc. Its clearly a country in transition. To do their best to maintain their traditional culture, the gov't has imposed rules such as men and women must wear their traditional dress when conducting business, they must build houses to code, in movies you can't kiss or depict violence, etc. On the flip side, in the city most homes have cable TV with HBO (it costs $5 a month), and kids play Playstation after school. Movies are $3 and in the theaters are ...

... The crafts are fascinating, but the tour book says most are made in India. From the woman I met in Varanasi, Karen, it sounds like Nepal is cheaper than India so I'm going to hold off on my artifact purchasing. However, there are these beautiful handmade textiles (about 4 ft by 3 ft) with gorgeous and evocative puffy clouds on them that surround a painted Buddha. They're $1200, which is crazy expensive, but maybe I can find a cheaper version of just the material.

... of the reserve, we proceeded further up the mountainside to the broadcast tower of the Bhutan state radio station, which afforded amazing views of the valley and city below. It was also breathtaking given that the whole of the mountainside - including virtually every tree was covered with colourful prayer flags, fluttering in the breeze. I have many, many pictures from this spot and they are amazing! We moved on to a monastery and a nunnery ...

... from Emirates airlines a day earlier, and it was the Emirates tags that got the clearance stamp. While I got through, Kitty did not and was sent back to the initial security gate for another stamp. All this 10 minutes before flight time! I can tell you that it was a bit hectic but we both made it. I can tell you that the flight was amazing, and the stop in Kathmandu, Bepal was completely unexpected. We were not allowed to disembark the plane ...

... my own business here !!! The town however is tiny. All little shops built upon a ridge, and in two minutes, you've seen it all !!! But it has a certain charm, which will be lost as the country is building a new Wangdue, which is sad, but then again, that's progress !!! And Finally Day three had been good. The sites were impressive, the weather great and was so much better than yesterday. We are glad we took the decision to move on, and things did indeed get better.

... camp. Although we were already at 12000' the peak dominated the horizon. Where other peaks had residual snows from last winter, Cholmolhari remained completely blanketed in the snow fields and glaciers that would come nowhere close to melting before next winter's snows returned. The contrast of a thick white snow capped mountain against the lush flower filled forest was a reality check that we had plenty of vertical ahead of us. We plodded along ...

... is ready. His father the 4th king has decided that it is time for his son to take over. I took my guide and driver to the movies. They seemed quite happy about that. My guide translated the story for me, it was actually not to difficult to follow. Most movies made in Bhutan are quite simple and with a moral/religious value. This one showed a lot of places where I went to in the country. I had a really nice encounter at the Chorten when I went walking ...