The plane quickly descended through steep snow-capped mountains on each side, the ride getting a bit bumpy as we got closer.  It then took a few pirouetting turns as it banked left and then right between mountains and followed the winding river course. At the last second it dipped its left wing one more time to line up to the runway and then with a big thump hit the target.  Within a minute or two we were walking across the tarmac from our small Druk Airways plane, the only westerners onboard, surrounded by beautiful mountains and the realisation we were in Bhutan.

Bhutan is not going to suit everyone.  For one thing, it is in a fairly obscure and difficult place to get to, nestled in the Himalayas between India, Nepal and Tibet.  Its not a big place and doesn’t have any famous standout attractions such as Angkor Wat or the Taj Mahal.  But its main barrier to entry is purely financial – the novel Bhutanese way of limiting tourism – and thus preserving their unique national heritage – is to charge a minimum all inclusive visa fee of $250 per person per day.  For this fee you get all your hotels, meals, guide, driver and car for the duration of your trip.  Everyone is very flexible and accommodating but I guess that’s mainly because you’ve paid this outrageous daily fee.

But all of that was secondary to Julie and I because we were fascinated by the remoteness, the uniqueness, the mystery and the obscurity of Bhutan.  So we swallowed hard and after some research booked an eight day fully inclusive customised tour for just the two of us to the country known as the Land of the Thunder Dragons.  And there’s only one airline allowed to fly there – the national carrier Druk Airways – and only one airport, in Paro.  So after a stopover in Dhaka we made that spectacular landing and started one of the best adventures of our lives.

But Bhutan needs a bit more background to understand the breadth and depth of the place.  It is a mountainous country of only about 700,000 people with the capital of Thimphu sitting at about 2300 metres (higher than the highest point in Australia) and having a population of around 100,000.  Thimphu is the answer to a trivia question as the only capital in the world without any traffic lights (there are none in the entire country).  Despite our guide warning us that the city was very crowded and noisy we found the pace refreshingly slow and calm, a huge contrast to electrified Bangkok.  The temperature was in the low 20’s, the skies were mostly blue and the mountains around us were just stunning.

Bhutan is 75% Buddhist and 75% covered by forest (although I don’t think there’s any connection between the two).   It has no manufacturing or industry and is almost entirely an agricultural-based economy.  In 2012 only about 105,000 tourists came to Bhutan, most of them from India, and we were told this year the numbers are down by a third.  Bottom line, it lives off growing most of its own food and enormous foreign aid to build roads, bridges, schools and hospitals.  India, bless their heart, are the overwhelmingly largest supporter.

Bhutan is a democratic constitutional monarchy which means it has a king (the Fifth King, having been crowned after his father famously abdicated in 2008) and a parliament that was formed for the first time only five years ago.  Its history has been one mainly of self-imposed isolation, hiding from the world and desperately trying to preserve its unique culture.  It had no currency, schools, police, formal legal system or official relations with foreign countries until the Third King began his modernisation program in the 1960’s and 70’s. But there were virtually no foreign tourists to Bhutan (unless you were personally invited by the King) until the early 1980’s and even then in very small numbers.  So you could say Bhutan sets the highest bar for a unique travel destination.  Which is why Julie and I had to go.

Our drive from the airport followed the fast moving Paro River down the Paro Valley which in some places turned into a dramatic narrow gorge.  Our guide, Mr. Taupo, told us this winding poorly maintained road cut into the mountainside was rebuilt in 2008 for the coronation of the Fifth King.  And he warned us this was the best road in the country, as we travelled further east the roads would become windier and in much poorer condition.  Seat belts tightened!

But the scenery was stunning and we stopped frequently for photos and just to enjoy the cool mountain air.  The colourful Buddhist prayer flags fluttered from all vantage points up the mountain slopes, across the narrow bridges and along the road sides.  The traffic was relatively light which was just as well because the concept of staying on the left hand side of the road, the correct side, seemed like a forgotten notion.  But in our driver Mitthu we put all our trust and enjoyed the scenery instead of watching the road.

Our first stop in Thimphu turned out to probably be the highlight of the day because we were fortunate enough to witness the national final of their national sport – archery.  But these are not professional archers with expensive graphite compound bows who train in the gym and have corporate sponsors.  One team of archers were truck drivers, the others were a mixed group from the capital.  They wore the fantastic national dress called the Gho, they shot bamboo arrows with chicken feathers as their stabilisers from long bamboo bows over an amazing distance of 140 metres while trying to hit a target the size of a narrow tombstone.  Unbelievable stuff.

But even more, there was constant national music and dance at mid field to keep the audience in the stands entertained and each team of five archers would dance, hoop and holler for every respective miss or hit of the small target.  Julie and I sat in the stands amongst the formally dressed men watching this amazing national treasure in action.

We later walked through the modest bustle of downtown Thimphu, including past the main intersection where a policeman wearing white gloves standing in a little pagoda in the middle of the intersection would very formally and efficiently control traffic by the waving of his arms.  We had a delightful six dish lunch, changed money in the chaotic national bank and drove up a steep switchback road to the Buddha Viewpoint.  The main feature at this high lookout was a 50 metre high bronze Buddha statue with its base still under construction.  But by walking to the edge we could look over the entire valley and see Thimphu nestled down below while enjoying the mountains all around us.

We also visited the 12th century Changangkha Lhakhang fortress-like temple perched high on a hill amongst the ever-present blue pine trees and Bhutan’s national tree, the Cypress.   This temple was very cool with its beautiful traditional architecture, surrounding ring of prayer wheels, chanting monks in incensed dark rooms and the ever-present flapping prayer flags.

Our hotel was supremely placed with views over the river and the archery stadium, such as it was, and we explored the town a bit more, stopping in a little local bar for a drink and spicy hot nuts before dinner at the hotel and an early night.  But what a day – our introduction to Bhutan, our culture shock of seeing, hearing and learning so many new things that our heads were spinning and our memory sticks were smoking.  And this is only Day One of our eight days here.  Its already a bargain at any price!