After taking this photo, I thought to myself, this really captures what I feel about the trip

Took me long enough to write up this post - came back last Saturday but was reminiscing about the whole trip the past few days and completely stuck thinking about the wonderful place I just came back from. Lemme tell ya, when I woke up on the day that I was to return home, I felt like crying. I laid on my hotel bed feeling sad. I didn't know why, and I still cannot explain why. I guess I simply had an amazing time.

The title of the post also says it all, it was a very special trip because it was one with my dad and just my dad. I don't know if I've mentioned it here before but he wanted to go on a trip with each of his children to a place where he/she desired. I picked Bhutan, simply because it was the one place that I'd always alwaysss wanted to go to since my uni days. Even despite the high costs (250USD per day for visa), I was intrigued by the culture and heard plenty of good things about the country. We had planned to make this trip happen a year ago, and my dad prepared himself physically by building up his leg muscles - he had a knee replacement not too long ago in June last year - because there was a lot of hiking to do on the trip. I am sosososooo proud of him for making it all the way to the top of a mountain where a monastery was! So proud! He was even walking faster than me at one point, amazing.

So this trip is very much dedicated to him, and I'll remember it for a longgg time to come.

I'll post some photos highlighting the trip - there were so many beautiful sceneries, but I promise you I'll show you the best and only the best. I won't bore you with too many words, just a few nice photos and words to go along with them :)


FESTIVAL

Thimphu Tsechu - a Buddhist festival in the Bhutanese capital, Thimphu

Thousands of Bhutanese came in their finest ethnic wear to celebrate this festive Buddhist occasion. I was told, almost the entire population believes in Buddhism, only a handful in Christianity and Hinduism, and one or two in Islam

Us too in pretty costumes, hehe :) We felt really warm wearing it, great insulator. Also, all those who dressed me up, asked if I had bought the costume, I shook my head and said it was my guide who loaned it to me. I asked why? They all told me "It's very expensive". Well, we truly were royalty then bahah

And that's our guide Sonam! He lent his own traditional Gho to my dad, and his sister's Kira to me :) He was there every step of the way for 9 days, also always armed with a smile.

Made some Bhutanese friends who told us all about the performances going on in front of me. Duptho Zangmo is the name of the girl right beside me. Spoke english fluently - I found out they learn english at a young age just like us - from 5 years old onwards. I reckon they follow the Singapore system quite closely. She's got a lovely character as well, and we still keep in contact through Instagram ;) I was astonished by how they're all so well-versed in social media as well! The use of technology is slowly spreading across the country - considerably fast since they only started watching TV in the 90s!!

CAMPING

Camped overnight for one night among the mountains with the river flowing right next to us. One of the major highlights of our trip :)

My dad was really happy here :) So peaceful and quiet and... magical. I spotted a shooting star that night!

Toilet was 5-stars hahah. But seriously I was expecting a hole in the ground, they actually set up a tent with a toiletbowl fwah, A-star standard.

All of it, while being surrounded by this gorgeous landscape!!!

HIKING (loads of it)

... at simply one of the most beautiful places on earth.... spot the lady in the middle harvesting rice!!

happy_cool_dad this was at one of the villages on the way from Thimphu to Punakha (Bhutan's former capital)

for someone living in the city, to see rows and rows of golden rice plantations was simply wonderful

Longest suspension bridge in Bhutan - about 200m long - is at Punakha. Look at happy_dad once more haha

View from a hike to one of the temples at Punakha Isn't this... just amazing. I really couldn't believe what was before my very eyes - it's a frakking oasis!

We were very lucky to see paddy fields full-on green. Imagine if we were to come at a time when all the rice got harvested nuuuu

And are you ready for one of the most magical places......?

whyyy just look at thatttt aaaah!!!!! Welcome to Phobjika Valley - somewhere with way higher altitude, therefore thick jackets

i was sooooo fkin happy. can you spot tiger's nest? yeap we saw its roof from up here.

hahahah look at my stupid face we were literally the only two people up there, it was amazing and I thanked Sonam for taking me here. I was beyond happy :')

lol what a poser

Hahah cheers! They always serve rice wine, called Ara. I always have difficulty finishing it, it's really strong. And yeap, my dad and I decided that we should don the traditional clothes again on our final night :)

THESE CUTIESSSSSS!!!!!! AH!!!!!

Girls are the best la, they know how to play along by doing these kissy faces haha, boys won't.

With the entire family :)

And then eventually, my dad and I parted ways with Sonam and our driver, Kencho THIS was our lil family portrait :)

Then it was goodbye at their airport the next day~~ We kept waving goodbye as we parted ways... till the very end. Oh and how could I forget... we were on the same flight as the King and Queen of Bhutan as we made our way back home. I know, it's super hard to believe but it's true. At the start of every announcement, the pilot would say "Your Majesty, Her Royal Highness, Ladies and Gentlemen...." Every passenger on board was ecstatic. I should've taken a photo of the red carpet being rolled out!!

That's pretty much my Bhutan trip! There are still so many things I could go on about - like their food, interesting airport, road signs, road etiquette (no seat belts needed! 50km/h driving only), people, traditions, culture, prohibitions (no smoking, no drugs) but it'll simply take many many more days for me to complete this post.