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Safety
For the tourist, Bhutan is an extremely safe county. Bhutanese however are advised not to criticize the king.
Costs
Apart from your basic 200$ fee per day, other things you'll have to pay like drinks are pretty cheap.
Accommodation - Hotels are OK, but it's not because you pay 200$ per day that your accommodation will be accordingly! Most hotels look like they were built in the fifties, although in reality they are rather new. Furniture and bathroom will look rather old, but service is always friendly. A lot of these hotels are owned by people related to the government like an ex-governor or something.
- Some big international chains were buying and restoring some hotels like the Four Seasons in Paro. I guess that with the current crisis in tourist industry, it might take a while.
Political situation: Is Bhutan a dictatorship or a kingdom?
This is really a difficult topic, and you won't find a lot of info on this. Most guidebooks like LP and Footprint merely give some facts like:
- The king is head of state and he appoints the ministers
- There's an assembly of 150 people, 40 directly appointed by the king, 100 appointed by the governors and 10 appointed by the monasteries, so none are directly elected by the people. They come together once a year.
- Only the head of villages are elected by the people.
- The judges are the governors, so there are no separate judges. In fact, there are no lawyers either. So there is no distinction between judicial and executive power.
So the question is: can you have a democracy with these kind of institutions? The answer is obviously no. But maybe we shouldn't be so harsh for Bhutan and it's rulers. In fact, it is a very poor country, so maybe they can't afford a democracy like we know it in the west, and after all a lot of developing countries are not real democracies.
There are other things which crossed my mind:
- Maybe the 200$ per day fee is not just to "preserve culture" as we always hear from the government. Maybe this 200$ fee serves 2 purposes:
-you avoid too many people coming into the country, so it's easier to give all of them an individual guide (watchdog?), so you can control where they are going and with whom they talk. Example: I was watching guys in Paro doing archery. They were obviously well off because they all had American bows of 1000$ a piece. I started talking with 1 of the guys about the rules of their game. Suddenly he said: "With which company did you come", "where is your guide?".
- At 200$ per day, you also avoid that people stay for too long time in the country. This makes it of course impossible to start talking with people who might disagree with the government.
- The people you will meet are:your guide who works for a company which is government controlled. If the company looses it's license, their business is finished.people working in hotels. Most of the hotels are owned by people belonging to the government. This is because only they have the money to build a bigger hotel for tourists. This is also a way to keep all the big money from tourists within this elite clique.
- There's 1 newspaper Kuensel which is published by the government once every week.
- In 1989, all antennas in the country had to be dismantled, so that foreign TV channels could not be received anymore.
- There are plenty of checkpoints along the road where you have to report each time.
- There are no political parties, let alone political parties. The Nepalese refugees have some parties, but they have no representation in the government.
- When you drive through the country, you'll see there's a large difference in wealth between people driving big 4x4 Pajeros and Landcruisers on the one hand, and the poor people carrying heavy loads on their back, or working on the road.
- Why don't the guidebooks write more openly about it? That's easy. These writers go to Bhutan very often, they have a lot of friends there. If they would start writing about politics in their book the way I do, they could forget about the next edition of their book AND they would jeopardize a lot of the people they know in Bhutan.
- Does religion play a role in this? I don't think it does so deliberately, although there is clearly a link between government and church. Still, Buddhism is a religion which suits the king and his government very well, because if you don't protest against your current situation and you lead a devoted life, you will have a better reincarnation.
- On the other hand, I must admit it's probably not an easy task to lead such a poor country into the 21st century. Remember that till 1962, there were no tarmac roads, and till 1973 there were no tourists allowed. And probably a real dictator would have done a much worser job....
Medical matters
Altitude sickness
- This is a problem, which a lot of tourists will experience. It consists of shortness of breath, headache, heart beating etc. once you descend above 3000 m too rapidly (it has been described at lower altitudes as well). If taken lightly, it can progress to more dangerous forms like HAPO (high altitude pulmonary edema) and HACO (high altitude cerebral edema). It is a potentially lethal disease, and statistics from CDC show that people traveling in-group have a higher mortality, probably because they are less eager to split from the group to descend.
- You'll only get problems if you do a high altitude trek, otherwise you should be OK. Most cities are below 2000m, there are only certain passes like Dochu La which go above 3200 meter.
Malaria
There's no malaria in Bhutan except in the lower areas bordering India (WHO area A).
Hepatitis A
- If you travel with a backpack and don't mind eating in cheap restaurants, it's easy to catch Hepatitis A. Chances of getting infected range from 1/300 to 1/50 per month depending on your standard of traveling. It's not dangerous, but you will be sick for some weeks.
- There is a good vaccination for Hepatitis A nowadays, so ask your doctor. You need 2 shots (used to be 3 shots) at 0 and 6 months, although if you can it's even better to postpone the second shot till after 12 months. They are expensive, but they protect you for 10 years.
Hepatitis B
- You can only get this through sex and blood transfusion. Since prevalence of Hepatitis B is much higher in SE Asia then in the Western world, it might be wise to get vaccinated.
- Get your shots at 0, 1 and 6 months. They are equally expensive as hepatitis A.
Typhoid fever
There is also a good vaccination consisting of 3 pills to be taken every 2 days. Take them early enough before you leave since it's better not to combine them with malaria pills, although these guidelines have recently changed (meaning you can combine them). The vaccination works for 3 years.
Travelers diarrhea
We always have antibiotics at hand in case of severe diarrhea. We take Ciproxine 250 mg two tablets at once and then another 3 tablets, one tablet every 12 hours.
Polio
This is a disease which is often overlooked. Most Westerners were vaccinated after birth, but since the disease doesn't exist anymore in Western countries, antibodies have fallen to a very low level at adulthood. Therefore it's best to get a boost every 10 year before going to developing countries. The injection costs 3 to 4 Euros.
Outdoor activities Bhutan is now also promoting some outdoor activities. Trekking was of course already longer developed, but it is of course much more primitive then in Nepal (no tea-houses f.i), and much more expensive as the fixed tariff of 200$ per day is still in order.
There is also 1 section of river (near Punakha Dzong) where rafting is possible during or after monsoon season. Lotus Tours is specialized in that.
Finally mountain biking is in the stages of development, and Yu-Druk f.i. was busy educating their staff to become guides.
When to go - Traditionally, it is said that the best period is October to November, especially if you plan to do some outdoor activities as it doesn’t rain a lot, and views in the mountains are clear. During these months, there are also some festivals.
- Another good period is March-April. I went in March, and this was indeed a good period, although not really excellent. Views were often obscured, it did get cloudy after 2 pm and we did have rain in the night now and then. It did get cold at higher altitude (I even had snow in Phobjika valley at 2700 m). It's a good time for festivals.
- I would definitely avoid monsoon (June till August) for several reasons.
!! Make sure there's a festival included in the planning of your trip !!
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