WIX SQUARED BHUTAN CHALLENGE
This 9 night itinerary in Bhutan incorporates beautiful luxurious boutique hotels and cultural interactions from a football match with Bhutanese monks, to photography challenges, an archery tournament against local guides, traditional Bhutanese celebration dance competitions, hiking and cooking contests, and mastering some local Dzongkha phrases.
Here is an example of what we could create in Bhutan:
Start in Bhutan’s capital, Thimpu where guests can use their phone camera to create the best postage stamp at the Bhutan Post Office.
The winner will be rewarded with a ‘Dragon’s Breath’ or an ‘Under the Cloud’ cocktail from the Namkha Bar at the Six Senses “Palace in the Sky” lodge and five postcards to send home.
Wildlife lovers will then time at the exquisite Gangtey Lodge (as seen in BBC’s Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby) in the Phobjikha Valley, one of Bhutan’s most stunning valleys in the heart of Bhutan, home to exotic and rare wildlife, including the endangered black-necked cranes that migrate annually from the Tibetan Plateau. Hike, cycle and meditate with the monks before challenging the monks at Kewa Temple to a football match.
The winning team receives a Buddhist Blessing and ceremonial Kadhar (silk scarf).
There will be a momo making competition with Gangtey Lodge Chef Wangchuk.
Whoever makes the tastiest (or spiciest) dish is treated to a soak in a luxurious Bhutanese Hot Stone Bath.
The first hiker to spot a monk, a yak and a black necked crane on the morning’s trail is treated to a foot massage back at the lodge.
The inner adventurer will then be awakened as guests are taken to Punakha, an enclave inthe Bhutanese Himalayas, overlooking the river and mountains. Over the next few days, guests will lunch with monks, hike the King’s Lake route, visit the ancestral home of the four Queens in Talo Village. Stay at Pemako Punakha, the newest hotel in the region, before enjoying a warm welcome at Ama Om’s Homestay for a third night- the family home to Asha Kuma, one of Bhutan’s pre-eminent artists. Guests will also white-water raft the whole way to the Palace of Great Happiness.
There will be a race to see who can get dressed up in the national costume (gho for men and kira for women) the fastest. The best and quickest dressed earns a string of wish fulfilling prayer flags to hang at a high mountain pass (or take home with them).
Try to earn a cocktails / mocktail from the Five Nectars Bar at Pemako, by learning and then reciting various Bhutanese (Dzongkha) phrases.
Whoever can best perform the traditional Bhutanese archery song and dance in celebration of a bullseye will win an audience with a Buddhist Astrologer.
