Glimpses of Bhutan

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Maggie

We now have to say that Bhutan is our favorite country to visit in the world, much is because of our experience with fabulous company: Wind horse tours, treks, and expeditions. We were graciously met at the Paro airport by our guide, Yeshi and driver, Dawa. We spent five incredible days with these guys touring Social cities and beautiful countryside including villages and monasteries. We even got to have lunch at a private home which was delicious and unique. We spent the first afternoon and evening in Thimphu. Hotel Druk was wonderful and we were Jeanette to catch the local weekend market.. The place was amazingly clean and well organized. (We soon realized the whole country was like this!) .. The next day we traveled the wonderful scenic drive over high mountain pass to Punakha then experienced the Quintessential “temple of the divine madman” which is not to be missed… even got a special blessing!! We then spent two nights at the gorgeous Zhingkham Resort which overlooks the old fortress. The hotel has beautiful views and lovely rooms, however, we found the food to be boring. Once Yeshi was made aware of this, he and Dawa took us to an authentic local hang out in town for Momo’s ..which were incredible! Upon our return into Paro, we were treated to a lovely homestay luncheon (already mentioned above) then stayed two nights at the lovely Tashi Namgay Resort. Beautiful hotel with lovely rooms and great local food!! No complaints there!! Our trip culminated with the 8 mile round trip hike to “Tigers nest” which was worth every step. We were sad to leave our new friends ..Yeshi and Dawa.. but hope to return again to explore more of this absolutely gorgeous wonderful pristine country!! Thank you again all folks at Wind Horse for terrific coordination of our amazing trip!

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Rhonda

Dear Anand,

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Sorab

Our Party of 4 visited Bhutan in October 2018. Our Guide, Pema Gyeltshen was always attentive, very punctual & professional and always helpful. When we went to Tiger's Nest Monastery, his calm demeanour and knowledge of the terrain helped us immensely. We descended when it was dark and it would have been very difficult without his help. Our Driver Dawa Tshring drove long distances carefully & never kept us waiting. We always felt safe with his driving. Thank you for making our trip enjoyable and memorable.

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Joris Elko Hensen

Thank you for your mail. We have just arrived in Germany after visiting friend in Delhi for a few more days.

The trip was amazing and just what we were looking for. The moment we arrived in Bhutan, it felt like a comfortable bubble because the driver and guide took very good care of us. Both were really excellent. The driver always drove carefully and fully concentrated while the guide was very knowledgeable, flexible and provided just the right amount of information.

Personally we enjoyed Bhutan a lot. It is a really nice country. Our highlights were the tiger nest (obviously I guess :)  and the monastery in Punakha. Also the hotel in Punakha had a wonderful view whereas the hotel in Thimphu had wonderful amenities and a nice restaurant.

We will definitely recommend your agency to others and also Klaus and Verity still plan to go. We reassured them that they should definitely book it through you.

My wife Sylvie enjoyed it so much that we will for sure return and see the tiger nest again. Perhaps in a different season.

I was just searching for a tripadvisor page to leave an excellent review but could find the right one. Do you have like a general page of the compan

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Thomas Micheal Lutz

I have traveled a lot--around 130 countries--and I almost never use an organized tour. I thought I didn't like them. But this trip changed my mind. Mr. Pema, my guide, was impeccable, as was my driver, Mr. Ugee. They anticipated my every need, were beautifully friendly and polite and quite interesting people. I felt like I was traveling with friends. Mr. Pema was very skillful and knowledgeable as a guide to both the sites and the culture, and we had philosophical as well as historical conversations of some depth.

Windhorse made all the arrangements painless, kept in touch just enough, and everything, top to bottom, was perfectly done. The wifi in hotel rooms, as it is in many countries with a similar economic base, left something to be desired, but that was outside their control, and I'm sure it will continue to improve as the tourist infrastructure continues to grow. My only wish was that I had been able to stay longer and go further into the country.

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Natalie Juliet Yeates

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Yuhong

Thank you very very much for arranging our Bhutan trip and assigning Gaki and Tenzin to take us around.  We had a wonderful time.  From the time we exit the airport that Gaki greeted us with her warm smile, till the time we were dropped off, Gaki provided us with good information about Bhutan and helped us with whatever we needed.  She is very capable.  Both Gaki and Tenzin are so sweet, smart, and natural, they often sensed our need without us asking. We were very lucky to have them. I created a small problem right after arriving.  Having lost a debit card in Italy, I panicked at an ATM machine about losing my Indian debit card.  It turned out that the card was already in my wallet.  Gaki and Tenzin helped me so much and I felt I could trust them all the way. We want to thank you for the Uma treat; it was a very good lunch.  The view from the dining room is beautiful and calm.  We were so pampered in Bhutan! Other than getting to know Bhutan, the culture, the people, and the architecture, we successfully climbed Tiger’s Nest.  We want to thank Gaki for suggesting that we started early.  It took us 7 hours.  We also like to thank Tenzin for giving each of us two poles, it helped a lot.  All in all, this is an adventure that we completed without any incidents, for that, we are very grateful. Your travel agency cares about your clients.  We certainly will recommend your agency to our friends if they will travel to Bhutan.  Thank you very much.  We wish you a successful business and we wish Bhutan a prosperous future.  Thanks once more.  

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Robert T Isham

Hi Anand,

Apologies for taking so long to write this review. We did a tour with Wind Horse in January 2016 (Trip ID 8855) as part of our honeymoon. We had a wonderful time! The Wind Horse staff was very helpful, from booking the tour, flights and visas with Ugen in the Minnesota office to working with our guide, Namgyel, and our driver, Dawa Tshering, in Bhutan. Everything ran smoothly from start to finish.

Namgyel was a great guide - friendly and full of information and suggestions for extra sights. He was a big part of making our trip so enjoyable. He also had us well prepared for the Tiger's Nest hike by taking us on the Lungchu Tsey pilgrimage the day before, so that our legs were warmed up! We appreciated Dawa's driving skills, especially with the dirt roads from Thimphu to Punakha. We took many photographs, some of which now hang in our home and others are posted on Facebook (Namgyel can show you).

Our hotels were also nice, especially Hotel Druk in Thimphu and Tashi Namgay Resort in Paro, and the food was delicious everywhere we ate. We enjoyed trying the Ema Dahtse at every stop, and salted butter tea at our farmhouse lunch!

We loved our time in Bhutan, recommend the country and Wind Horse to all, and hope to come back someday soon! Thank you!

Best

[gallery order="DESC" ids="13911,13910,13909,13908,13907,13906,13905,13904"]

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Marcos D

Anand, Apologies for the belated reply and not having shared a few words re: our experience earlier. After we returned to NYC, we just resumed our routine and our promise slowly faded. Alas, it is not lost. See it below.

In a few words, we loved our trip to Bhutan. We went to Tibet in 2013 and could notice that the two regions share a lot of similarities: strong Buddhism faith, the Himalayas, blue never ending sky and humble people. However, the "small things" found in Bhutan made it unique and I dare say more special than Tibet in our view: the architecture (limited Western / Chinese influence), the size of things (smaller rather than large), the people (friendly, wearing their gho and with a different understanding of the world), the valleys and the food.

We were there for only five days, but could see a ton of things, mix physical and intellectual activities, and see people minding their own lives in the cities and farms. We struggled to give Namgey any tips on areas of improvement, but the things that come to my mind are: (1) alternative of upgrading to a different hotel  (e.g., Uma) without having to incur the whole charge of another booking, (2) more saying on the hotels we will be staying (we really liked them all, but I generally like to have some control over the itinerary), and (3) suggesting to future travelers the hikes going out of Dochu La Pass more often.

My highlights are generally tied to physical activities so the Dochu La Pass (the monument, view of the Himalayas and hike), Tiger's nest and the farmhouse. In 10 years, I will remember the three over all else. We truly enjoyed the pleasant presence of Namgey and Sonnal. Overall, we have a number / variety of memories to cherish, some souvenirs to remind us of the trip and we would def. recommend you to any friend expressing an interest in Bhutan.

Many thanks,

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Arnoldus Alvin B

TID 8757, May 17- 22, 2015, guide - Tashi Gyaltshen Dear Ugen and Wind Horse Travel,

Our trip was wonderful. Perfect. Bhutan was indeed the happiest place on earth and it was truly beautiful. The only thing we regretted was we only had five days. If Bhutan were only a few hours flight from California, we would visit every year!

Tashi, our guide, and Tashi, our driver were wonderful, welcoming, friendly, accommodating, and enthusiastic about showing us the beauty of Bhutan. We wanted a balance between nature and culture and Tashi delivered exactly that. The hiking trails that Tashi picked for us were fun and adventurous. Tashi was very welcoming and friendly. On the very last day, he took us to an archery field, he taught us how to do it, and we played for an hour, before we had dinner at his family's house! We took a bunch of videos playing archery and showed them to our family and friends. We really enjoyed our last hike to the Tiger's Nest. It was definitely the highlight of our visit. We took hundreds of beautiful pictures of Bhutan and the monasteries.

All in all, our Bhutan trip was amazing. We both loved it. We would definitely refer Wind Horse and Tashi to our friends. Thank you!

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Chris L

TID - 8736 (April 19-24,2015) Guide - Pema 

Our guide, Pema, and our driver Chimmi were both very good. They were both professional, helpful and pleasant. I very much enjoyed the entire trip. The Tiger's Nest was definitely the highlight of the trip. My one criticism would be of the food. It wasn't bad, but it was always basically the same buffet. More opportunities to experience some different variety outside of a hotel restaurant buffet would have been nice.

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Jana & Kenneth B

Glimpses of Bhutan for Bednar TID: 788 (Oct 03- 08,2014) Hello, Thank you so much for such an incredible trip!!! First, let me say that we traveled thru Southeast Asia for a month and by far, we loved your country the most. It was truly perfect, from the time we were met at the airport until we left the country. Awesome! The accommodations were very comfortable, clean, and all offered good buffet meals. I noticed there were other tour companies that were much more expensive, yet they were doing the exact same tour as us. Being able to experience the festivals and visit the Tigers Nest had been a life long dream of mine and I wasn't disappointed. Your country is full of such loving, happy, kind, people, we feel so honored to have been able to share that. But what made our trip most memorable was our guide Kinley Wangmo and our driver Rinzin Dorji. Rinzin was an extremely experienced driver. I felt completely safe with him on what I considered to be dangerous roads. He not only was a safe driver, but knew all the secret places to pull over for the perfect photo opportunity. He was also very aware of all the road conditions, because of the road repairs, one might get stuck behind a road block for a couple of hours...that never happened with us because of his expertise. Kinley was a perfect guide for my husband and I. She has the perfect personality to be a guide. She personalized our trip to meet our interest. Her warmth in conversation made us feel so comfortable it felt like we were spending time with a friend and not just a guide giving a tour. Because she was so well liked and known throughout the towns we visited she gave us a true insight to the customs and beliefs of the people. Her knowledge of the area, people and places we visited was the highlight of our trip. Because my husband and I have worked in the travel industry we expect the most from our guides. Having traveled around the world, we can honestly say that Kinley was the best guide we have ever had! Kinley is now not just a guide to us but truly a lifelong friend. We would love to tell anyone traveling to Bhutan to use Windhorse tours. Please feel free to use whatever photos you have. We have also included a few of our favorites. Thanks again an awesome trip! Jana and Kenny Bednar

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Mr James Arthur H

TID 8586 Glimpses of Bhutan (19 Oct to 24 Oct,2014) Dear Wind Horse Staff, I would like to thank all the Wind Horse staff for arranging a wonderful visit to the Kingdom of Bhutan. Although I have traveled extensively this was my first time to Bhutan. Having no experience in your country I did not know where to start. Fortunately through a series of questions Wind Horse was able to determine my area of interests and developed a tour that was customized to my desires. The length of the tour, and the locations we visited were arranged to meet my specific interests. This was very important to me as I was not interested in package tours that meet someone else’s needs. The six days in October allowed for a detailed visit to three different regions. On a future visit I would like to take more time and explore further to the east. Through a couple of detailed emails I was provided with helpful information. What to bring, what to wear, visa arrangements, contact information, a packing checklist and numerous other general suggestions all helped to make this a trouble free visit. The pre-payment procedures, visa support, hotel check in and so many other details all were taken care of with extreme professionalism. Kinley Wangmo, my tour guide, was great. Her knowledge of Bhutan and the sites we visited made all the difference. Every day she was on time, willing to make adjustments when required, and her knowledge of Bhutan culture was a big part in making this a successful visit. From the moment she picked me up in Paro until I was dropped off for departure she was on-top of every detail. Her personal experiences in parts of Bhutan outside the capital city were most interesting and I thank her for sharing them with me. Please tell Kinley kuzuzangpo for me and thank her for all her assistance. Bhutan is a wonderful country and a “once in a lifetime” place to visit.I would like to wish all of the Wind Horse staff the very best in the future.

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Mr. Fabrizio F

Dear mr. Jambay I'm home since a week now, and finally I found some time to send this email, in order to say thank you for your services and for your patience and assistance with my needs. Everything with the program went smooth and my trip and what your agency and you have done was above my expectations. Kencho, your guide, and your driver (sorry, I don't remember his name) were invaluable in their help. They stayed beside me when needed but never forced me to do anything I don't wanted to. This is extremely important in my opinion; I'm a seasoned traveler; I've been in many countries in the word and sometime guides and drivers try to push you to do something for their profit or to work less and this is extremely annoying. Kencho is really a good guy. He's not only a good guide, very informative, but he's also acted like a friend, dispensing good advices on what to do and were to go, without being pushy. Please say thank you again to him for me. I can't imagine a better guide and a better travel mate. I hope for him and for the driver good luck for anything they hope for their life and their families Bhutan is a wonderful country, its colture and its people will forever sit in my heart in my mind. May be in the far future I'll be back with my wife and for sure I'll use your services again. In the meantime let me know if I can do something for you: will a review on Tripadvisor (where I've posted many reviews and so I'm credited) help you?

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Brett H

TID 8520 Glimpses of Bhutan (May 05 - May 10,2014) We just got back home from our full trip so I apologize for the delay. We had a great time in Bhutan and Namgay did an excellent job as our guide. He set up an extra hike for us that was really fun. As we've talked about our trip we have a really positive opinion of your company and Bhutan. Our only real negative experience was the amount and condition of the stray dogs. I realize that problem is largely out of your control but anything that can be done to help the situation would be worthwhile.

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James O

[caption id="attachment_10067" align="aligncenter" width="700"] James with Kinley (Guide)[/caption] Glimpses of Bhutan for James & Friend TID: 8577 (June 30 -July 05, 2014) Dear Windhorse team, I recently travelled to Bhutan with yourselves and was lucky enough to have Kinley as our tour guide. I wanted to express to you as a company my great thanks for the tour and how well it was run and set up and in particular the professionalism of Kinley Tenzin and our driver. My trip to Bhutan has been a dream for a long time and I was lucky enough to finally get a two week break in my dairy that allowed me to plan it. I came directly to your company less than a month prior to my journey and from the start find the process smooth and easy and well managed. I was very keen to work with a locally based company not only as this was far cheaper than western based companies that added on high margins but I also wanted to support a local company. The trip was well planned, the car of a high standard, all chosen accommodation was good, everything was taken care of and we achieved everything we planned. As with many travellers I fell in love with your country, its people and the beauty of both but my particular thanks and praise goes to Kinley. When you have a guide for an intense period like the trip provided the relationship and the personality of the guide will make or break the trip, Kinley is an Ambassador for Windhorse who ensured that everything ran smoothly, had great knowledge a passion for his job and his country and faith and I genuinely enjoyed spending time with him. I view it as a blessing in my life to have been able to share the journey with such a beautiful soul. I would be more than happy to write you a reference/quote on your website and please do praise Kinley for being himself! Thanks for a very grateful,

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Laurel L

Window to Bhutan TID 8510: April 28 - May 04,14 Dear Ugen, Namgay, and Anand, Thanks to all of you for making our trip to Bhutan so special. My husband is finishing up his last few days at the hospital in Thimphu and has found his month's volunteer work to be rewarding and hopes helpful as well. I feel fully re-integrated into my life in the US but remain deeply moved by my experience there. In your previous email you said you would be pleased to hear from me about our experience overall which I am happy to do. The first thing that comes to mind is that we had the most special person, Tashi Gyeltson, guiding us. The itinerary you worked out for us was perfect. Our days alternated between exertion and rest either at a restaurant, picnic or relaxing in the car. Tashi's knowledge about various sites, geography, botany and wildlife was deep. He shared information with us both in the car to make the ride interesting and as we hiked. He prepared us for what we were going to see beforehand with background information about the history of various temples and monasteries. When at the sight he pointed out things we might have missed and reported the significance of various things. He recounted myths, and since I am a Buddhist he made sure I felt welcome doing prostrations and receiving blessings. Tashi's interest in people was charming. There was not an elderly person sitting at a prayer wheel or young child playing alone he did not briefly speak to. We grew very attached to him and he was willing to talk about himself, his life and his family. I would like to think he felt the same attachment to us but he has many good memories of various clients so perhaps we weren't as special as we felt. It is an unusual situation...to spend many days with people and then perhaps never see them again. But we cannot say enough about his knowledge, his way of imparting it, his personality, sense of humor and thoughtfulness. Dawa was a perfect driver...careful, collected, unruffled, extremely polite, and helpful. The car was always clean and filled with petrol while we were otherwise occupied. The only time he was a bit late picking us up was when he had a flat tire! Other than that, they were there when expected and we were always ready, excited at the prospect of the day. When we met him after being in Thimphu a couple weeks later it was like seeing an old friend. We were happy with all of our accommodations and food. We learned enough about the cuisine to be able to be adventurous when buying at the market to cook for ourselves or visiting Bhutanese restaurants. The lodge in Haa was very special and the chef prepared the best food we had anywhere. Not only was it delicious, it was presented in an artful manner. The people we interacted with were helpful, kind and unfailingly polite. Tashi and Dawa were wonderful company the entire week and we felt well cared for. It was effortless for us to be happy and accommodating in their company. Namgay, special thanks to you for helping me change my reservation and listening to my tale of woe. It was a smart thing for me to return I was truly needed at home. I enjoyed 12 hours showering (HVO provided house ran out of water a few days after we arrived), sleeping and eating at the luxurious hotel in Delhi and ended up catching Lufthansa flights home at 2:35 the next morning. While in Thimphu I asked directions to a bank from a gentleman...we ended up spending the entire day together. A few days later he met David and we all drove to visit Cherie and Tango monasteries. He took us home to meet his family and last week he and David ate dinner together one last time. His name is Gem Tsering and he is executive director of GAB. He was interested in my brother's books so I hope to send him one and include something for Tashi which he would deliver to your office in Upper Motithang. Thanks to all at Windhorse. We will recommend you highly to anyone thinking of visiting your most special country!

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Alan & Gayle F

Hello Jambay and Ugen, we have just returned from Bhutan and wish to thank you for a very enjoyable and well organized trip. Our guide and driver were both excellent. Bhutan is indeed a wonderful country Unfortunately I was remiss in paying the $25 outstanding to our guide and apologise for this. Is it possible to pay by credit card. If so let me know the easiest way. It was also great to meet you both at the dinner in Thimphu.

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Alejandra F B L

Alejandra & Andre Glimpses of Bhutan Tour TID: 8524 Dear Anand, My sincere apologies to reply to you so late! These past weeks have been quite hectic for Andre and I. Andre is already in Brazil working and I am in China preparing to join Andre as soon as I can. Honestly, it was such a pleasure to meet you. It was so nice to talk to you and share our experiences. It really felt more like we were meeting a friend of a friend.Apart from being so astonished with the beauty of Bhutan and its people, it was such a pleasure to travel with windhorsetravel. It was a unique experience and most of all we felt like we were travelling with good old friends. It was so special for us to travel with Leiki and Kinley (I am sure I am still not getting the spelling of their names right!). We shared so much together in 5 days. Our schedules were flexible and they were very detailed in proposing activities that would suit us particularly. Since the first time we eat the famous chili-cheese dish, we could not stop saying how much we loved it. On our last night, Leiki and Kinley had dinner with us in a charming restaurant and organized with the chef to teach me how to cook the chili-cheese dish. Our experience with the windhorsetravel was very professional, yet very personal. We will never forget our experience and will always recommend you to friends who are planning to travel there.Most importantly, our hearts are with Leiki and Kinley through their stories and future life plans. We also discovered that our lucky number is 9, which it has always been for me, and that our first son's Buddhists name will be Kinley Wanchuk

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Winnie S

Dear Mr Thapa Thanks to our daughter Kirsi we have been able to make the trip to your beautiful country. We came home yesterday after a stay in Malaysia. I must say both our two guides and the driver were perfect!!!!We really hope you can keep the traditions in your country going for a very long time.We were very satisfied about the hotels and the programme except for the last hotel in Paro. We thought the room was rather outlived and the food was not so good. Sonam arranged for us another place for dining! Moreover the hotel was situated too far from the Centre. Besides that, we have no complaint if that was a complaint.We shall certainly recommend your organization but I am sure our daughter will do more and she is young! Best regards, also to Mr Jambay who was so kind as to come and meet us.

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Anna D H

Glimpse of Bhutan  Hudson & Friends TID 751 (March 07-13,2014) Dear Anand - First and foremost all four of us wished to thank you all at Wind Horse for a most enjoyable and well run trip. We had a wonderful time and the care and kindness shown to us by Penjor and Sonam could not be improved upon. The hotels that you chose for us were excellent too, very comfortable and the food good. However, you asked me if there any things we could think of to improve your service in the future. Obviously you would not want to repeat our experience of the mini bus breaking down, so perhaps your drivers should check oil water tires etc. every morning before starting? On Bhutan’s bumpy roads 2 or 3 small cushions on each bench seat would help protect the boney bits and possibly seat belts or grab handles to help one from sliding around on the many sharp bends? Better still if you are buying new vehicles at any stage, if you could have ones with individual seats with folding arms such as the white ones that (?) Bhutan Travel Bureau have, it would solve all those problems and be far more comfortable and secure. One problem we did have was being able to hear what our guide was saying over the noise of the engine so perhaps the guides could sit in the back of the vehicles....... amongst the guests to overcome this? Lastly, Penjor was very helpful and patient in explaining the finer points of the Buddhist faith to us but we were still confused with all the different saints and stories. If we could have had an 'idiots guide' to Bhutanese Buddhism to print out and study before we came and be able to refer to while we were looking at all the Temples and Stupas it would have been a great help! I hope these points are helpful, and thank you all again for your excellent service. We will not hesitate to recommend you to our friends should any of them be lucky enough to be able to visit your beautiful country.

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Vivian M

TID 718 Bhutan Tour (24.11.13 – 30.11.13) Dear Mr. Tshering, Dechen, Jamtsho, Dorji and Wind Horse Travel Staff: Happy Tuesday! We hope this email finds you all doing well. My husband (Juan Ochoa) and I just came back from the beautiful and breathtaking Kingdom of Bhutan. We spent 6 amazing days (Nov. 24 - 30) and the trip was beyond our expectations! Our unforgettable travel experience started here in the US working with Jambay Dorji and Ugen Tshering. They provided us with timely and detailed responses about the trip and the alternatives we had while visiting Bhutan. In Bhutan, we were lucky to have both Kinley Tenzin (KT) as our tour guide and Jam Rosh as our driver. KT was extremely professional, knowledgeable and was always willing to answer our questions. Jam Rosh was a very skillful driver and navigated the curvy roads with excellence. They both were very attentive to our needs. Overall, our trip was well-organized, educational, comfortable, inspiring and filled with unique and unforgettable memories. We will always have Bhutan, its landscapes, spectacular mountains, monasteries, history and people in our hearts.Thank you for your professionalism and for making this trip an unforgettable and enriching experience. Kind Regards,

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Tiziana S

TID 710 Glimpse of Bhutan (19.07.13 – 24.07.13) Hi Ugen, Thanks very much for your follow up on our trip. We had a really lovely time in Bhutan and the visiting your country was truly impactful. Thanks for helping us to organize this wonderful trip. Overall, we were happy with the service provided by Wind Horse. Some of the more disappointing aspects were the hotels and restaurants. While the standards were fine, there seemed to be a real lack of hospitality and personal experience in these hotels. It was clear in some hotels that the staff didn't care much about providing good service to customers. I realize that this is out of Wind horse’s control and that the tourism industry is quite young and small in Bhutan, but perhaps this is something that Wind Horse could consider urging hotels to invest in. In fact, it probably would have been much more interesting and memorable to stay in a very simple homestay then to have stayed in those hotels. It also would have been great to have the option to eat our dinners outside of the hotel...i understand that there is not a lot of selection, but it would feel much less confining to go somewhere new. Again, a meal cooked in a local home could be a really fantastic and unique experience for tourists.I hope some of these ideas might be useful to you. They are things that I have experienced in other countries that have worked very nicely. So thanks again for the wonderful experience and opportunity to visit your country. It was really a privilege. Best,

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Thomas T

TID 697 Thornton Bhutan Tours (5.10.13 -10.10.13) Hi. The trip went well, I really enjoyed Bhutan. I sense the philosophy of the people is one that highly values kindness to all things, people, animals, and the environment. I had no complaints about anything on the trip. I'd love to return to see and experience more of Bhutan but the high costs are prohibitive. Thanks so much for a wonderful experience Wind Horse,

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Sylvia B

Sylvia and Family Bhutan Tour Dec. 2011 Dear Ugen and Jambay: I am back home and am looking over the photos that I took during the trip to Bhutan in December 2011. The photos are very beautiful. It is not because I am a skilled photographer but simply because the places in Bhutan, the dzong, the goemba, the lhakhang, the people, and the landscape are very beautiful and it seems that I couldn't get enough photos to capture these beauty. I would like to thank both of you to all your help and information during preparation of my trip. The trip went very well and I am very satisfied with the service provided by your tour guide, Karma, and your driver, Baliman. Karma is very young but he is funny and he knows all the histories of all the places we visited. He explained about Buddhism in great detail with so much enthusiasm to the point that I pulled out my diary and started to write down what he said. We have difficulties recognizing all the gods and deities in the paintings or sculptures. Karma was very patient and repeated what he explained previously. We specially thanked him for helping our mother climbing up and down to Takshang Goemba. My mother has difficulties going down the hill and Karma was literally holding on her hands and trying to find non-slippery stepping stones for my mother all the way down. Baliman is a very skillful driver. I was a bit worried about the road conditions in Bhutan, especially the long drive between Thimpu to Pobjikha Valley. We brought so many ginger teas from Indonesia to combat the nausea but we didn't even have to drink one since Baliman was able to maneuver those crazy turns safely. We never feel nauseous while he was driving us in Bhutan. He managed to keep the car and the window clean all the times. Again, thank you very much and if I ever have a chance to come back to Bhutan, I would certainly give you a call. Regards,

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James Weiss

James Weiss from 09-15 April Dear Kinga + Pema Thank you for the excellent trip that we had in Bhutan. First, let me say to Mr. Kinga that you found the correct balance between showing us your beautiful country and meeting our individual personalities and likes. Mr. Pema, Thank you on your excellent driving skills around those sharp curves along the mountain roads. Your travel customers + Friends Jim Weiss + Gail Hochfeld

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Christine F

Dear Windhorse Directors, We have just returned from an excellent holiday with Windhorse in Bhutan and would like to thank you for the great experience. We had 5 days "Cultural tour " as a group of 6 people, followed by 5 days on the Druk Path Trek (just George and me). For both sectors Sonam Loday was our guide. We all thought he was excellent at all times. On the trek we had disappointing weather, but even so, Sonam managed to keep us cheerful and went out of his way to make the trek a success. We have had a few thoughts about the way Windhorse operates and now list these as feedback for you. We hope this will be of assistance in finding that leading edge in the tour business. 1. Making Bookings: We found the process of making a booking quite frustrating. Good communication is the key to success, and this didn’t happen for us. We needed early confirmation of the flights as we were all making connecting flight bookings that depended on the Druk flights into and out of Paro. This didn’t happen and we found ourselves paying for connecting flight tickets before we had assurance of the Druk flights. Only after several international calls did we receive an OK. 2. Flight booking from Kathmandu to Paro (Sept 16,2010). Our itinerary clearly stated that we were on KB 401 at 11:00 am. It was only at Kathmandu airport that we discovered that in fact only one of our party of 6 was on this flight, and the rest on a second flight several hours later. Surely it makes sense that ALL of a group should travel on the SAME flight! As it happened, we all did travel on the 11:00 flight at the last minute. (This was last minute changes Druk Air made without informing us) 3. Your on-line system: You have an impressive on-line system which the client can access. Use it ! and most customer emails and frustration will vanish! This information should be kept up-to-date from the time of payment of a deposit. It should accurately reflect the flight status, the itinerary, the accounting (with final payment due date), and eventually the Detailed Itinerary/Trip Notes. We suggest you add a field to the main screen – "Last updated – (Date)". Had this system been operational for us, many of our worries would have disappeared. (This is in Beta stages and it will be fully operational by the end of 2010. It has already improved a lot since you have last checked) 4. Final Payment Due Date – this was important for us as we were closely watching the exchange rate Australian $ / US Dollar which varies quite a lot. If the final payment due date is known, clients can pay when the rate is favourable for them. In fact Windhorse gave us just a few days notice of Final Payment 5. Itinerary: we were happy with the itinerary before we left home. In retrospect though, there are things that you could add to give a real insight into Bhutan and give your trips the leading edge… - who makes the costumes worn at the festivals? - who makes the masks worn at the festivals? - who paints the houses and dzongs? - who creates the Thangkas? - Bhutanese cuisine. Demonstrations of some of these would have made a very interesting itinerary. 6. Windhorse Head Office – We think it’s important for you to state that your Head Office is in Bhutan. The current perception is that Head Office is Minneapolis, US. We appreciate that the US market is important to you…BUT most of our group (coming from Canada, UK, France & Australia) did not want to book with Windhorse because it was American! I had to do quite a lot of convincing that Windhorse is in fact a Bhutanese company. Wind Horse is a registered in Bhutan, Darjeeling, Delhi, Cochin & in US. We also have staffs in Nepal & Tibet. Head office is the opertion office of the each destination and therefore the head office for Bhutan is in Thimphu and head office for north India is in Delhi, but head office for Sikkim and Darjeeling areas is in Darjeeling. US office is the sales office and also acts as the co-ordination offices between different offices. 7. Cultural Night in Thimpu: Our group was lucky to experience a cultural night, courtesy of Windhorse. This was a very nice gesture and we enjoyed it very much. It could be improved though, by having an introduction to each dance, explaining which region of Bhutan the dances and costumes represent. A large map on the wall would also help. 8. The Druk Path Trek: we think you should change your advertising to say the best time for this trek is "from the end of September……" . We were very disappointed that the weather made the walking muddy and slippery, the campsites quagmires, and that views of the Himalayas were elusive. It’s an expensive trek to have this happen. 9. Litter: Our impression of Bhutan is far from the "pristine" reputation we’d heard about. Littering is a real problem and really detracts from the beauty of the country. I refer especially to the Tigers Nest hike and the Druk Path trek. Perhaps Windhorse could lead the way with a clean-up campaign – making it an advertising feature – with all staff picking up litter and cleaning up campsites. Perhaps you could adopt a motto such as the famous " take only photographs and leave only footprints" . We hope you accept these points as constructive, and that you are able to action some of them. We wish you all the best in your operations Regards, Christine Floyd

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Margery N & Susan S Family of 5

INDIA BHUTAN TOUR (17 FEB - 14 MARCH 2009) MARCH 29,2009 LIFE IN BUFFALO HAS RETURNED TO NORMAL AFTER A SPECTACULAR TRIP TO INDIA AND BHUTAN. THE SMERDS AND THE NOBELS THOUGHT THAT YOU WOULD BE INTERESTED IN OUR COMMENTS ABOUT OUR EXPERIENCE. WE CANNOT SAY ENOUGH GOOD THINGS ABOUT OUR TWO GUIDES, BRIJ AND TSEHWANG. BRIJ WAS ATTENTIVE, PERSONABLE, INTERACTIVE AND ACCOMMODATING. HE WENT TO GREAT LENGTH TO MEET OUR EVERY WISH AND EXPECTATION. IN ADDITION, HE HAD ANNOYING TASKS AROUND ITEMS FORGOTTEN ETC WHICH HE DID WITH GOOD GRACE AND HUMOR. WE HAD NO CONVERSATION WITH OUR DRIVER IN INDIA BUT PEMA WAS SWEET, HELPFUL AND ALWAYS READY TO CARRY ON A CONVERSATION. HE IS AN EXCELLENT DRIVER. DESPITE THE TREACHEROUS CURVES MADE MORE THREATENING BY ANIMALS, WALKERS ETC., WE FELT CONFIDENT WITH HIS DRIVING. THE CAMEL TRIP WAS GREAT. THE CAMEL DRIVERS AND ACCOMMODATIONS WERE GOOD AND THE TIME IN THE DESERT RELAXING AND MEMORABLE. OUR TIME IN BHUTAN WAS ENHANCED BY HAVING TSEH WANG AS OUR GUIDE. HE IS KNOWLEDGABLE INTELLIGENT AND WAS WILLING TO SHARE HIS OPINIONS AND LIFE STORY WITH US. HE ALSO WAS %100 ATTENTIVE AND HOSPITABLE. HE INVITED US TO HIS HOME (WHICH WAS A REAL TREAT FOR US) AND BROUGHT ARA TO OUR FINAL DINNER WHERE WE ENJOYED A LITTLE CEREMONY WITH EGGS AND ARA – QUITE GOOD. WE WERE PARTICULARLY PLEASED THAT TSEH WANG WAS FLEXILE WITH OUR SCHEDULE. EXTRA HIKES WERE ENJOYED AND APPRECIATED.IN ADDITION TO OUR PRAISE, WE THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE INTERESTED IN SOME CONSTRUCTIVE SUGGESTIONS. (1) TIPPING INFORMATION ON YOUR “HELPFUL INFORMATION SHEET” WAS UNCLEAR. YOU SAY “TIP ABOUT $7-10 PER DAY FOR THE GUIDE AND ABOUT HALF FOR THE DRIVER OR OTHER CREW MEMBERS” . WE DIDN’T KNOW IF THAT WAS PER PERSON, PER COUPLE, PER GROUP! WE ASSUMED IT WAS PER COUPLE AND TIPPED ACCORDINGLY. IN FACT, TIPPING WAS A SOURCE OF ANXIETY. WE WERE CONSTANTLY WONDERING IF WE SHOULD LEAVE A TIP IN THE ROOM FOR THE MAID, PAY THE PORTERS, LEAVE MONEY FOR THE WAITRESSES AT THE END OF A STAY. HOW MUCH TO LEAVE WAS ALSO AN ISSUE. OUR GUIDES WERE ALSO NOT SURE. IT WOULD BE HELPFUL TO FUTURE TOURISTS IF YOU OFFER SOME GUIDANCE BEFORE THE TRIP. (2) PEOPLE TRAVELING DURING COLD WEATHE SHOULD BE ADVISED IN WRITING TO BRING WARM CLOTHES THAT COULD BE LAYERED – LONG UNDERWEAR WAS INVALUABLE FOR US. WIND BREAKERS FOR LATE AFTERNOON WIND ARE ALSO INVALUABLE. (3) HIKING BOOTS FOR TIGER’S NEST COULD BE SUGGESTED. THEY WERE HELPFUL. (4) A FLASHLIGHT IS ALSO A GOOD SUGGESTION. IT CAME IN HANDY ESPECIALLY IN GANGTEY AS WELL AS AT THE CAMEL CAMP. (5) INFORMATION CONCERNING ALTITUDE AT EACH STOP WOULD ALSO BE HELPFUL. THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP IN PLANNING OUR TRIP. IT WAS 100 %100 HELPFUL.

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Prof. Dr. Sybille Sachs

Dear Mr. Jamtsho, My family and I visited Bhutan January 2009 with Wind Horse Tours as our travel agency. Sonam Gyembo, our guide, is an excellent man. He could show and tell us so many things that without him we couldn’t have experienced the social, spiritual and environmental beauty of Bhutan as intensively as we did. Sonam is punctual and reliable. He was also very flexible and adapted with great respect to our particular requests due to the fact that my husband and my daughter had the flu and therefore couldn’t participate fully in the foreseen program and activities. Never-the-less our days were filled with great impressions and experiences, thanks to Sonam. He could offer us equal great moments whether we were visiting places of cultural importance or went hiking to the Tiger’s Nest or in the valley of the black necked cranes for instance. Leki Tshering, our first driver, is a very good driver and speaks English well. He was never nervous or inattentive which was very comfortable for us. Gudu Mahat Chettri, our driver from the fifth day on, is a very nice young man. Not only does he speak good English but drives calm and safely. Even when we went to Phobjikha, a 5 hour drive from Thimphu, Gudu was not a moment absent or nervous when driving. He brought us on time and pleasant everywhere we went and we enjoyed his company. We would like to thank you and your team for this excellent trip to your country and we will keep Bhutan in good memories. Warmest regards Prof. Dr. Sybille Sachs Head of the Center for Strategic Management Member of the executive board of the HWZ University of Applied Sciences for Business Administration Zürich

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Karin B. Sinniger

Dear Kinga We would like to thank you and Ugen for a wonderful time in Bhutan. We loved your country and the friendly people there. Thank goodness there are still places like Bhutan to remind us Westerners of the values and priorities we have forgotten. Gudu and Jambay were perfect. Jambay even made sure to order our favorite local foods for our last lunch. Truly touching. We were also very impressed that you took the time to have lunch with us and very much enjoyed meeting you. We will recommend Windhorse to our friends for sure.

I provided Gudu and Jambay with a CD with the pictures I took of them during our trip but forgot one of Jambay at the Art Cafe in Thimphu. I would be very grateful if you could please e-mail Jambay this picture.

Many thanks again for everything

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Emma M

Thanks for your email. I only returned to work this morning, so had not received your email until now. Our trip to Bhutan was wonderful and everything we expected. All service and accommodation were fine and staff very friendly and helpful. We hope to return to Bhutan in the future. I will keep in touch