BHUTAN: Dragons thunder peacefully in this friendly kingdom

            Bhutan is reputed to be the last Shangri-la of South Asia and it has conjured ecstatic and desirous moods of many an Asian who has never stepped into this mountainous kingdom.

For one, Bhutan’s native name, Druk Yul, has been translated as “the land of the peaceful dragon” (Khoo, Life!, January 31, 1997) in Singapore English to “better reflect its peace-loving people and policies”.

 In actual fact, Dzongkha, the national native language of the Drukpas (most Bhutanese call themselves Drukpas for historical and religious reasons), the words Druk yul mean “land of the thunder dragon” because yul is thunder while druk is dragon.  The Drukpas are divided into three broad sub-groups, namely the “Sharcops, Ngalong and Lhotshampa” (Tashi Delek, April-May-June 2004).

Nevertheless, native meteorologists rationally ascribe the name to the monsoon thunderstorms that occur in Bhutan and across Nepal and North India in the months of June and July and the frequent night thunders that can be heard in the mountainous, rhododendron and blue poppy filled valleys or passes amidst mountains of Bhutan all year round, including Mount Chomolhari (7,329 m), the highest point with a round shaped peak that makes it look like an ice-cream cone.

            Druk Yul has been the Dzongkha word for Bhutan’s official name, Kingdom of Bhutan, since 1616 when the country’s father, Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, from Tibet, united the nomadic people under the Drukpa subsect of Tibetan Buddhism.

            The Bhutanese are friendly, honest, hospitable and helpful to tourists, journalists, external government officers and foreign expatriates visiting the landlocked kingdom but they are not necessarily so on the Internet. This mannerism may be due to the Drukpas’ cultural pride as the children of the thunder dragon.

Although Bhutan is an easy search on Internet, hardly any Bhutanese will reply to an e-mail enquiry posted from Singapore or elsewhere, even though the Internet facilities of Bhutan are facilitated with help from Singaporean expertise. They prefer to exchange with their comrades ideas and viewpoints about Bhutan in IRC chat rooms or at the website of Bhutan’s national English newspaper Kuensel first started in Singapore since February 1997 and moved over to Thimphu in the 21^st century. So, an external tourist enquiry from outside Bhutan may be ignored because the Bhutanese has no time to waste on attending to unprofitable activities.

            The Bhutanese strike in our chords not only their mannerisms, their national costumes kira and gho have also striked many Asian costume designers how similar they are to their national costumes. The Bhutanese women’s ankle-length dress known as kira, which is made of bright coloured fine woven fabric with traditional patterns like the thunder dragon, is similar to the Japanese kimono, the Tibetan costume and some tribes of northern Myanmar. Unique is the Bhutanese costume for men, the gho, longish robes tied around the waist by a cloth belt. They epitomize a solemn respect for Bhutan’s cultural values.

            Bhutan is not only the Land of the Thunder Dragon, but also the Land of Takins. Takin, the national animal of Bhutan, is a buffalo-like animal that throngs between Bhutan and North India. Tourists going to Bhutan should not miss takins, golden languor, snow leopards, blue sheep and red panda while they trek the valleys and forests.

            To visit Bhutan under normal circumstances, individual applications for visas need at least three months for clearance though there are private tourist agencies in Bhutan that provide visas by fax.

            Usually group trekking tours of at least 10 are preferred because traveling within the country individually, lodging and accommodation are very expensive though affordable it tourists hold visas or travellers’ cheques.

            Itineraries are planned and prearranged by the trekking guides of tourist agencies especially appointed by Bhutan Tourism Corp in Paro, the tourist capital of Bhutan where the country’s only international airport is located.

            Bhutan’s national airline, Druk-Air Royal Bhutan Airlines, has fifth-freedom serving flights between Bangkok, Kathmandu, Kolkata and Dhaka from Paro at only selective seasons of the year. Regular flights join Paro with Kathmandu and Delhi in one sector, Yangon, Dhaka and Bangkok in another and direct flights to Kolkata and Kathmandu are frequent, although flights to Dhaka are currently suspended. It plans to launch direct flights to Bangkok and Hong Kong and to operate to Mumbai and Gaya via Kathmandu under a code-sharing basis with Royal Nepal Airlines after gaining two Airbuses to replace its regional fleet of BAe-146s. Bhutan has land routes from Phuntsoling to Bagdogra and Varanasi.

            Singaporean tourist agencies handling group tours or executive tours with special permission from Bhutan include Country Holidays Travel Pte Ltd and Mike Imperi Destinations.

            Druk-Air’s web-site is www.drukair.com.bt.