Slow Travel in Bhutan: Pillaging the Secret Villages in Your Own Clock

 

Concally embedded in the eastern Himalayas, Bhutan is not a destination one rushes to.

It is a place where you wander and rest yourself to take a breath and walk in rhythm with lands, people and a philosophy of Gross National Happiness.

When the world is moving like a constant trip to take the next selfie somewhere in the world, Bhutan gives a refreshing alternative to people a slow travel.

The concept of slow travel is different than taking your time. It is having the essence of a place.

In Bhutan, this translates to picking and shopping through serene valleys, drinking butter tea with locals, and being at one with age-old monasteries standing at secluded peaks.

It is finding out villages, which are not mentioned on the maps, where the air still smells of pine and prayer.

Why Bhutan Will Be Just Right for Slow Travel

Bhutan has deliberately selected a direction where quality matters most in the tourism business.

The government charges tourist a daily sustainable development fee which limits the number of people in one place and assures that by visiting, one person helps directly to improve the lives of people in the area and keeps it clean.

This makes Bhutan wonderfully unspoilt, which is perfect in case visitors want to travel in depth, instead of in breadth.

No five countries in ten days tours. You see, you obtain the narrow mountain pathways, villages that are out of the way and olden ways. It is so in Bhutan: each step is meaningful, each pitfall is worth taking.

Travelling Off the Beaten Track

Paro, Thimphu, and Punakha are photogenic places that have a well-built infrastructure and are known to most travelers.

But there is even more to explore, the secret villages of Bhutan where time moves to the tunes of harvest, and tales are told reliant on sizzling stones of a traditional bath.

Haa Valley-The Best Kept Secret of Bhutan

The typical tourist will tend to skip Haa Valley but the region of Haa is one of the most peaceful places in Bhutan.

The valley is surrounded by rugged mountains and dense trees with traditional farmhouses and barley fields with prayer flags dancing in the wind.

It is a homestay involving a family and thus residing here is a lesson in simplicity.

You will also discover how to churn yak butter, make ema datshi (which is a Bhutan signature dish made out of chillies and cheese) and listen to the folktales as the night sets in.

Ura-where time slows down

Ura is a village in Bumthang district, which rises 3800 meters above sea level and is characterized by wooden houses and cobbled streets.

Most of such tourists do not travel this far, to find that those who do get the true beat of the Bhutanese way of life. Go down within a local festival time and you can become part of a circle dance with the villagers in tremendous costumes.

At Ura you do not merely observe culture, you experience it.

Lhuentse- an Arty Inclusion

Lhuentse is the ideal location to be in case you are a lover of textile and craft.

Perched in the northeast part of Bhutan, the hardly accessible corner is well known as a home to weavers making elaborate kushuthara cloths, worn by Bhutanese women.

The path leading towards Lhuentse is an experience alone- curvy, narrow and so beautiful. There you will find long tea-table confabulations, and the satisfaction of exploring art at first hand.

The Slow Travel Ethos

Slow travel in Bhutan means forgetting about fixed schedules and doing things at the spur of the moment.

Go out into the wild due to the appeal of a trail and not an itinerary stroll in pine forests.

Be invited to funerals, village wedding or funerals or archery competition. What local people eat, eat. Wake up to the calls of roosters, and get your evenings in a starlight without Wi-Fi.

A very fulfilling and slows down the process of traveling in Bhutan is community based tourism.

There are numerous villages which provide homestay, enabling you to stay with local families, involve yourself in routine activities and get the feel of the Buddhist way of looking into the world that is so predominant in Bhutan.

Not only are you a visitor, you are their guest — and one day a friend.

The Spirit Pulse of the Land

The landscape itself is energetic, even in Bhutan. Whether you reach the mythical Tiger’s Nest Monastery in a hike or you’re meditating in front of a waterfall, spirituality is not something you can find in temples only, it is in the air. The slower you drive the more you see the rhythm: how monks chant during the dawn, how the prayer wheels rotate without stopping, and how the villagers greet chortens (stupa) by bowing their heads.

Here slow travel refers to the notion that it lets these experiences, these adventures happen naturally, and does not involve the frantic need to visit a place and cross it off the list. It provides you time to see, take in, and finally discover how intricately bound together nature, religion and human beings are.

Warnings to slow travelers in Bhutan

• Prefer district-to-district land transport as opposed to short-distance air travel. The twisty roads have surprise views all along.
• Seek longer visits to less places. It is possible that you should not attempt to see everything, but enjoy to at least two regions in full.
• Wear travelling clothes, and pack accordingly, when living in villages. One needs layers, hiking shoes and an open mind.
• Talk with your guides and hosts: they are likely to be the storytellers and the cultural bridge, who will be able to make your experience much richer.

Conclusion: Go long in’t Long Road Bhutan

Bhutan does not only reward those who take their time, it turns other people into these.

At the world that is obsessed with the speed and instant gratification it is quite calm and soothing to travel the secluded villages in Bhutan at their own pace and it is also in a way a reminder of what is really important to life connection, presence and peace.

Well then take the long way. May the mountains be your teachers, the villagers your friends and the silence your teacher. In Bhutan the end is the goal.