Happiness in the Shangri-La Kingdom

By Miss  Melissa Chee- Singapore -” 

This is the end of my second visit to Bhutan and I can honestly say I cannot get enough of this beautiful country (Boey will know this so well). Although my mind is addled by fatigue and jet lag right now, I really want to say thank you to everyone who joined Miki, Leng and I on this trip with Yelha Bhutan Tours.

You guys made great company and there was never a dull moment. Many of us came as strangers but left as friends. Thank you for contributing your energy and vibrant personalities to this group. We made so many great memories that I actually have a lot of thoughts to pen down but I’ll write a quick and relatively succinct one so I can let off some of the happiness my heart is bursting with (and finally calm down enough to go sleep).

For the friends that I roped into the tour, I am honestly so thankful that you put your trust in me and decided to join me on this trip. I was worried that you guys might not like the food, or any other parts of the tour, but I was extremely touched when all of you gave positive feedback and mentioned how enjoyable the trip was. Thank you for being my friends, and I look forward to the next time we can meet or travel together again.

For my Bhutanese friends both old and new, thank you for welcoming me to your country once again. Instead of entering a foreign country last Sunday, I felt like I was coming back to my second home. Words cannot describe how thankful I am for your friendship, and for going the extra mile for myself and my family. I can only wish we had more time together..

My Travel Journal– 

I had already dedicated 8 full pages in my bullet journal to my Bhutan travel log, but I’ve had this full page spread in my mind ever since and couldn’t wait to put it on paper. Now my memories of Bhutan have also taken pictorial forms and are immortalized in my bullet journal ? Bullet journaling has been a great catalyst to get my creative juices flowing – I’m not gifted with incredible artistic talent, and I tend to be OCD so I hate seeing uneven lines or smudges but I’ve actually made so many mistakes and imperfections in my bullet journal, which made it even more endearing to me because it’s mine. Hahahaha. Bhutan has been nothing short of magic, her gorgeous landscapes were my muse and source of inspiration to spur me into doodling. Being a straight-laced science student all my life, my parents and I never even knew I was able to draw like that ? so incredibly blessed to have been able to see parts of this beautiful country and be inspired by her!

I have so many more things to be thankful for during my short time in Bhutan – so I’ll try to be succinct and cover them all in this post.

I’m incredibly thankful for all the experiences I’ve had in Bhutan – especially the hikes and food! First time having to hike under high altitude and thin air conditions, and it was an entirely new experience. I couldn’t believe I felt breathless climbing up four flights of stairs, especially since I’d finished my department’s fruit day/vertical challenge a little while back. The hike wasn’t super hard, I’d say Tub Kaek in Krabi is still much more tiring, but it was an amazing experience because I wasn’t keeled over dying of exhaustion hahaha. As for the food, I was really pleasantly surprised. FAQs online had mentioned that Bhutanese food was similar to Indian food, so I actually packed the cup noodles that I’d bought for my Finland/Norway trip (don’t judge pls) just in case. Turns out the food is actually more Chinese-style and it’s super delicious.

Everyone loved ema datshi (chilli and cheese)!! I’m a sucker for cheese so chilli and cheese, mushroom and cheese, or any dish with cheese is a sure winner. I loved the sausages, buckwheat pancakes, momo, soft bread, and chicken curry that we had