This spring break we were so happy to be able to take the kids on a short trip to the Kingdom of Bhutan, a tiny country in the Himalayan Mountains north of India. Here are two things I didn't know about Bhutan before I traveled there.
#1 You have to leave home in the middle of the night to travel to Bhutan. Druk Airlines, the Royal Bhutanese airline is the only commercial carrier that can fly into and out of Bhutan, and they only have one direct flight from Delhi each day, leaving at 5:00 AM. All flights arrive in the morning, when the light is right for pilots to navigate the crazy landing, and flights are often diverted if conditions aren't perfect. The only upside to this timing was the amazing sight of sunrise over the Himalayan Mountains.
Once safely on the ground, and after a quick rest at our hotel, Greg was off to meetings with important government officials and the boys and I were free to explore downtown Thimphu.
#1 You have to leave home in the middle of the night to travel to Bhutan. Druk Airlines, the Royal Bhutanese airline is the only commercial carrier that can fly into and out of Bhutan, and they only have one direct flight from Delhi each day, leaving at 5:00 AM. All flights arrive in the morning, when the light is right for pilots to navigate the crazy landing, and flights are often diverted if conditions aren't perfect. The only upside to this timing was the amazing sight of sunrise over the Himalayan Mountains.
As the sun rose, and the clouds cleared, we had an amazing view of the highest peaks of the Himalayans. Mt. Everest in the middle, with Mt. Lhotse (the 4th highest peak) on the right and Mt. Makalu (5th highest peak) on the left.
And then as we passed the peaks, the view of the Bhutanese side of the mountain range was breathtaking.
#2 The airport in Bhutan is considered one of the most dangerous and technically difficult to land at. The airport is so challenging there are only 10 pilots in the world who are qualified to land there. The airport is about 1 1/2 miles above sea level and surrounded by sharp peaks of up to 18,000 ft. Add to that the fact that the runway itself is only 6,500 feet long (one of the few in the world that is shorter than its elevation!) and it's location in a steep valley means that there are often strong winds, and you have yourself an adventure!
This is a BBC travel show that talks about landing at Paro Airport.
Pictures of the valley show the changing terrain as we leave behind the highest peaks, and as we twisted and turned through the valley approaching Paro we got our first glimpses of Bhutan's countryside.
All of this twisting and turning has to be done completely with visual controls, no auto pilot, and you don't actually see the runway until the plane comes around the last corner in a valley, less than 10 seconds before you touch down!
We did a little shopping for t-shirts and souvenirs, and then found a nice place to have afternoon tea with chocolate and peanut eclairs. Yum!
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