“A Pleasant Hotel in a Beautiful City”
This photo of Hotel Wangchuk is courtesy of TripAdvisor
Travelling to Bhutan is not the same as travelling to some other popular Asian vacation destinations like Malaysia, Thailand or even Nepal. The mass urbanization, and to a certain extent, westernization that is prevalent in many Asian cities is surprisingly (and pleasantly) absent from Thimpu.
The country and its leaders have decided to develop Bhutan without losing the cultural roots and heritage. All buildings share a similar design, and hotel staffs are required to wear traditional clothes.
The Wangchuk hotel in Thimpu is a one hour drive away from Paro Airport. We were informed by the tour operator that it is a three star hotel. However, three star in Thimpu might be quite different from a typical three star hotel.
Check in process was easy. I was surprised to find an almost all female staff in the hotel. It felt a bit awkward to see female porters taking up our heavy suitcases via the stairs. We checked in around 2 PM and was served lunch within a short time.
The food was delicious, and had a good level of variety. The package included all meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner). Our tour operator allocated standard menus for us, but we customized a few meals and most of the items we tried (including a very tasty dish called Ema Datshi) were good. They have a wide selection of food items that can appease the taste buds of people from around the globe. We were delighted to find South Asian delicacies like Fish and Egg curry, chicken, lentils, steamed rice, matar paneer for lunch/dinner and luchi (an Indian bread variant) and potato curry in the standard menus. An English breakfast menu was also available that included bread, butter, jam and eggs.
The room was spacious and had a very nice window view. In the morning. I could see the great mountains shrouded by dark clouds and people walking around lazily in the streets. The view was exceptional on the day of our departure. I stared through the window for more than 30 minutes, transfixed and I kept on pondering over my life. Both my wife and child was sleeping peacefully, and that 30 minute alone made my trip worthwhile. I can't remember when was the last time I've experienced such a peaceful time. There was literally no noise, no interruptions and zero stress on my part.
The hotel is just opposite to a football stadium; so you either get that view or the mountain view. My room number was 308. A number of shops and restaurants are at a stones throw, so the evenings are not too boring. Most day activities in Thimpu will end by 6 PM, and you can spend 2 hours strolling around doing window shopping. You can buy local food, clothes, handicrafts (damn expensive, though) and also try out the music cafes.
The room had a nice toilet with both hot and cold water available 24/7. They don't provide shampoo or tooth paste, so it's better to bring these. The room was equipped with a electronic kettle, which can be very handy if you have little ones travelling with you. The tap water is safe for drinking as it comes from the Springs, but if you are over cautious, you can always buy cheap mineral water from the nearby shops.
Everyday, we found clean rooms upon returning from our day activities, and all meals were served on time. The staff were courteous and friendly. Whenever we sat for a meal, one of the staff members offered to hold my baby while we ate. They were always serving with a smile.
However, we did find a few issues with their food serving. We had to ask for plates, cutlery and water almost every time. They never got it right. 6 plates given when we are 7, no water, items not refilled on time, etc. But these are minor inconveniences and they replenished the food and gave the missing items as soon as we asked for them.
There was free Wi-Fi coverage in the dining room and the lobby, but the speed was not that great. The coverage was only strong at the far end of the dining hall, and in the lobby, it was virtually non-existent. But it's a good to have feature as we had too many activities planned and done to miss logging on to our facebook. And for more avid users, there was a internet equipped PC on the 1st floor which any occupant could use, whenever they wanted.
We went as a large group. 9 of us, including two childs enjoyed our 2 day stay thoroughly. We went to Paro on the second leg of our journey, but we kept on missing Thimpu and Wangchuk hotel due to its comforts and pleasant location.
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