BHUTAN - THE LAND OF HAPPINESS

Basil Paul K, Deputy Manager - Exports

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page” is a famous quote by St. Augustin of hippo, a philosopher who lived in North Africa in AD354. In this blog I would like to share my experiences and events of my Bhutan trip. It was a great opportunity given to me by our company to become a part of the special task to be completed with my Manger Mr. Jinu Mathew in Bhutan. This was my first international trip in my life.

We started our journey on September 2nd, 2021, with all necessary preparations and precautions from Cochin international airport to Bangalore and then to Kolkata through a connection flight. The fact that there is only one flight a week from Kolkata to Paro (Bhutan) surprised us a lot. Paro is the only international airport in Bhutan, and it is one of the dangerous airports in the world due to its geographical location. I couldn’t accompany with my manger that day due to my passport validity issues. I effectively utilized that one week time at Kolkata with our Agappe teammates and explored Kolkata city. Finally, I reached Paro a week later. As per the covid protocol, I entered a 14-day quarantine provided by the Royal government of Bhutan. Staying alone in quarantine is a tedious task so I tried to stay with my Boss Mr. jinu Mathew, already in quarantine at Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. Those were the most difficult days that I have experienced during my first quarantine. The fear towards COVID-19 Disease in Bhutanese were 100 times more than in Indians. The Bhutanese caretakers would keep the food at doorsteps at regular intervals and had special instructed us not to go outside of the room. Even face to face conversations were prohibited. I truly missed Indian food in my quarantine, some days I only ate snacks and biscuits and had to put off days. On the bright side I got a chance to taste Bhutanese own tea named “Suja” which was made up of butter, milk and salt.

The view through the balcony revealed the beauty of Bhutan, which was amazing, the view itself was relaxing, this is how I escaped from my frustrations. They conducted covid test once a week. Whenever I was going to be tested, I could see the fear of corona in their eyes. After the completion of my quarantine period, I met my manager at Thimphu. As per our work plan, we have to visit Jigme Dorji Wangchuk National Hospital located at Thimphu in order to rectify the issues of the TBA 2000 FR biochemistry analyzers used in their lab. We also visited some other general hospitals around Thimphu and Paro city. On the way we got a chance to visit some of the natural waterfalls in Bhutan and one of the largest Buddha statues “The Great Buddha Dordenma” at Thimphu city.