Dear Ulli
My daughter and I returned from a trip to your country last Monday. We booked the trip through “Bhutan Insight” in Munich. From Ms Maite Baumann we received excellent advice and support.
In Bhutan, your office “Bhutan Homestay” was there for us. Ms Sonam Pelden was our guide and Mr Shoedra our driver.
It was a wonderful trip with incredibly impressive experiences. This was especially due to Sonam and Mr. Shoedraa. My daughter Veronika and I were primarily interested in the culture of the country. Mrs. Baumann from Bhutan Insight arranged the trip for us with the appropriate focus – presumably in consultation with you.
Sonam was an excellent companion for this. You have a wonderful, always friendly and courteous tour guide in her. She has a very in-depth knowledge of Buddhism and was able to answer all our questions in detail in the temples. This made the visits to the temples particularly valuable for us. We felt very well looked after by her. She was open to all our sightseeing wishes and accompanied us on our little walks with her local knowledge. And no matter where our hike ended, Mr. Shoedraa was already there with the car and had also laid out fresh water bottles.
Mr. Shoedraa, as a former monk, even fulfilled our somewhat unusual wish for contact with a monk and astrologer without further ado. In this way we had touching hours with this monk. Almost unbelievably, Sonam said that this monk was the king’s astrologer.
The homestays or hotels you chose for the overnight stays were always “quite to our taste”. The lunches in the homestays that Sonam organised not only gave us an insight into daily life, but we were also always served extremely tasty food.
Later this summer I will give a talk about the trip in my Rotary Club in Friedberg/Bavaria. For those who are interested in a trip to Bhutan afterwards, I will recommend without any reservation a booking through “Bhutan Insight” in Munich and “Bhutan Homestay”. I will also advise them to request Ms Sonam Pelden as their guide and Mr Shoedra as their driver.
I would like to thank Mrs. Baumann, you, Sonam and our driver Mr. Shoedraa, also in the name of my daughter Veronika. All of you together have given us unforgettable experiences. Please pass on our thanks to Sonam and Mr. Shoedraa.
Kind regards
Robert Bachfischer
The photo shows us after we had hung up our previously consecrated Prayer Flags high above the valley of Paro with the help of Mr. Shoedra and Sonam.