Bhutan is the land of the Thunder Dragon. It is a remote Himalayan kingdom with troves ornate temples and dzong fortresses. Its isolation has preserved the heavily Buddhist-influenced culture which on the surface is very similar to Tibetan Buddhism culture.

To go to Bhutan you must use a Bhutanese Tour company. We used Keys to Bhutan. They set up all the hotels and suggested the route based on our interest. They were great and highly recommended.

The country/tour guide charges $200 a day per person. That includes your guide, driver, car, meals and hotels! What a deal! It also keeps the back packers out of the country. So unlike Nepal, Bhutan doesn't have that gritty youth hostel feel to it. It's much more genteel.

You basically have two choices to fly in to the country either from India or Bangkok. Druk air is the national airline and the only one flying into Bhutan so seats are limited during popular Sept-October high season. When you fly into Bhutan from India you go right over the Himalayas. When you fly in from Bangkok you fly past them but they are far in the distance. Coming from Delhi we got a great view of them and it was pretty awesome.

Once we landed in Paro bhutan we headed right out to Thimphu, the largest town in Bhutan. It's a bustling place compared to the rest of Bhutan but it's pretty sleepy. It's also not particularly attractive.

The hotel however was really nice. It was the Taj hotel. It's huge compared to all the other places in town but it blended in ok.

After settling into the hotel and having lunch, our guide and driver picked us up and we walked up to Tango Cheri temple. In the temple we found a mystical astrologer that told patty to pray to the statue of the White tara. We aren't sure why but this set us off to find the white tara.

Bhutan: Day 1