ARCHERY LESSON
Do You want to try Bhutanese archery? Whether you have previous experience with bow or not, we can guarantee that this would be uneven experience. Archery is traditional Himalayan sport, but in Bhutan it was developed to perfection. Sport is very different to what we know. It’s a team sport where teams of 13 competes against each other. While the traditional bamboo bows are still in use in some cases, most players today prefer to compete in modern compound bow from US which are actually meant for hunting.
During our session you will have experience to try both traditional bamboo and modern compound bow. You should mind safety as the compound bow can be dangerous in case you have no experience with that. We will also give you thorough explanation of the Bhutan archery game rules.
Apart from archery you can also try popular “archery of the poor” called khuru – the darts. These are actually quite demanding and interesting as well.
BUDDHIST LESSON
If you’re interested in Buddhism and you want to experience life of the monks in the monastery, we can facilitate the trip to venerable and historic Cheri gompa near Thimphu.
Here you will have a lunch with monks and after visiting temples and seeing the everyday monk’s life, you’ll get lesson of Buddhism and meditation technique from high lama.
Before you leave, lama will also perform brief ceremony for your good luck.
COOKING COURSE
Bhutanese kitchen is quite original one. While it shares a lot in common with Tibetan, different natural conditions and available crops lead to development of distinctive tastes. While ubiquitous staple called ema datse (chilli peppers in cheese sauce) can be killing hot for most of the westerners, bhutanese people and lovers of hot food in general can get easily addicted.
Our cooking courses are held in traditional farmhouses. Here you’ll not only get acquainted with commonly used ingredients like red rice, buckwheat, chillies etc. but you’ll also experience how to cook on the fire stove. We will teach you how to prepare traditional suja, the salty tea with butter. Also you’ll master the art of datse, the cheese sauce in which you can make either chilli pepper but also potatoes or other vegetables, for those who can’t take hot. You’ll also get thorough explanation how to homemade spirit called ara is produced.
The course will be concluded with the dinner, during which you’ll eat exactly the food you did cook! Hopefully you like it. 🙂
CULTURAL DANCE
If you’re not lucky to visit Bhutan during the time of festival, we can arrange a cultural dance program for you. Even if you have experience of festival, the private cultural dance show will give you opportunity to photograph dancers undisturbed and compose photo at your will.
Cultural programs differs on place and folk groups. Most commonly, the dance groups have four to eight members and they performs folk dances in traditional costumes and some religious cham dances in masks also. In some places, only folk dance can be arranged, though. Venues differs from open ground to hotel dining rooms etc.
The best but also quite costly venue for cultural program is Ugyen Chöling palace in Tang valley Bumthang. Here, in traditional aristocratic palace courtyard, we can can request monks from Jakar to perform traditional religious cham dances with all essentials in totally authentic way and in very authentic surroundings.
Please inquire and we will find the best option for cultural performance for you.
CYCLING
Cycling is very popular activity among tourist and even among Bhutanese. Bhutanese road network has an advantage of moderate traffic, which makes cycling very enjoyable. Highly recommended trails are in Haa, Paro, Punakha, Phobjika and Bumthang although it can be done elsewhere. Apart from hard top roads, there is number of feeder roads connecting smaller villages. In any case, in Bhutan you need to be ready for long ascends and long descends, because it’s always just up and down.
We can arrange renting of Commencal hardtail 26 inch French made bikes from Thimphu, although it’s not a problem to bring bicycle to other places on request. Helmet is included in rent cost. Appropriate clothing, you should bring from home.
If you’re sportsman, you can even consider to sign in to Tour of the Dragon (268 km) or Dragon Fury (60 km) races. See events website.
We can also facilitate dedicated cycling tours. Please contact us for further information.
FARMHOUSE VISIT
Visit to local farmhouse is is interesting experience. You will see how the traditional house looks from inside and how the people do live and perform they chores inside. You’ll taste traditional salt and butter tea called “suja” and local home distilled spirit “ara”.
If you’re interested you can even spend night in farmhouse. Accommodation is mostly very simple but sufficient and clean. You just need to be able to spend one day without shower (while you can have hot stone bath).
The farmhouses are authentic traditional buildings which are still used for living by the host family. Visit or even overnight stay will enable you to interact with local people in the way which would be otherwise impossible.
Visit to farmhouse can be combined with many other special program programs including Khuru (darts), Archery lessons, Cooking course and Try Bhutanese dress.
TRY BHUTANESE DRESS
Would you like to try dress like Bhutanese people? No problem, no matter if you’re male and female, small or large, we will definitely find fitting and beautiful dress for you.
Bhutanese dress for men is called gho and for ladies it’s kira. You can chose from many intricate designs, colors and materials. Dress is beautiful and comfortable, although it take some time to learn how to wear it properly. We will be happy to help you with that.
You can then travel around Bhutan in your new dress and take it home to surprise your relatives and friends!
HOT STONE BATH
Herbal hot stone bath is one of the very great experiences Bhutan can provide. It’s mostly provided in local farmhouses or in hotel spas. While in the hotel hot stone bath is usually more posh, in local farmhouse, it’s quite authentic and we definitely recommend it there.
The bath takes place in wooden washtub. You submerge into temperate water while attendant will put more and more very hot stones into the water. The section with hot stones is separated by wooden bar so there is no danger of getting burned by stones. Water will get gradually more and more hot as you will be virtually boiling. It’s also common to put aromatic herbs into the water to increase healing and relaxing effect.
KHURU (DARTS)
Apart from archery, the dart game called khuru is another extremely popular sport in Bhutan. Nearly everyone plays khuru, as there is no need to buy expensive bow and game is easy enough for everyone. Heavy and large darts are thrown on quite respectable distance of about 30 meters on small bollard size target. It’s not easy for beginner to give the hit but with little practice, you’ll bet better quickly.
Picnic with drinks and ladies dance performance is usually also the part of the event.
We can arrange just private session with khuru, teach you the basics of the game and let you practice. Or, in case of more deep interest, we can arrange a group of Bhutanese folks and arrange a real friendly match with you or your group.
Please inquire for more details.
MARRIAGE CEREMONY
Why not to have a marriage ceremony in Bhutan? You can appreciate that even in case you already had the ceremony in home as a part of honeymoon package!
First you need to go for shopping and select most beautiful traditional Bhutanese dress. Then we will explain you everything about ceremony. It will be held in temple. There will be about 4 monks praying for you. At the end of the ceremony, you’ll get blessing and marriage certificate from head lama. We can also arrange professional photographer, to document unique event of your life.
On the conclusion, we can also arrange celebratory luncheon. Many Bhutanese will be happy to come to celebrate your marriage and wish you best luck.
MOTORBIKE RIDE
As everywhere in Asia, motorbike is very popular mode of transport in Bhutan. The roads are very scenic and traffic is quite moderate so riding in Bhutan is relatively safe and very enjoyable.
We can offer you famous Indian workhorse Royal Enfield (350 or 500cc) which is favourit brand for all traditional bike enthusiast.
If you want extremely powerful terrain ready motorbike, we can rent state of art Austrian KTM 650cc.
Rentals are located in Thimphu, though in one day, you can make good trip to neighbouring districts. We can also transport the bike to the place of your choice. Renting for multiple days is also possible.
PONY RIDE
Riding a bhutanese pony through the beautiful nature is very unique and enjoyable experience.
We do arrange horse rides in Paro valley, going from Drukyel dzong to below the Tiger’s Nest monastery. This trail is leading through fields, pastures and forrest and it’s mostly flat with no dangerous parts. The horse will be handled by experienced and careful horsemen so don’t need to be worried even in case you have no previous experience riding horse.
Ride will take approximately one and half hour. If you like, you can take another 45 minutes to Tiger’s nest cafeteria, although we usually recommend to got this way by foot.
We can also arrange horse rides in other places thorough Bhutan. Please inquire, we will find out possible options.
RAFTING
As Himalayan country Bhutan has a many beautiful rivers ideal for water sports. The most popular rivers for rafting are Mo Chu and Pho Chu in Punakha.
Rafting on Mo Chu river is easier one, ideal for beginners. The rafting starts below Khamsum lhakhang monastery. On the route of 10 km, there are 10 rapids graded as 2- to 2+ (easy). The ride is finished just beside beautiful Punakha dzong.
If you already have rafting experinece we recommend Pho Chu river for little bit more thrill. Here there are around 15 rapids of 2 to 4 grade on the route of 16 kilometers. The finish is also beside the Punakha dzong. The base cost of this route is 50 USD more then indicated above.
The rafting is seasonally possible on other rivers too, but sometimes it can be quite tricky, because of changing water levels and we can’t guarantee it will be always possible. Please inquire if you’re interested.