Yeshi Penjor

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!

I recently returned from my 2nd trip to Bhutan and my 2nd tour with WindHorse Tours. Both trips were well organized and fantastic. The first tour was a group tour, the second tour was a custom tour which included a 5-day horse trek. The 2nd tour also happened to occur during the onset of COVID-19 (March 2020). With everything changing daily, WindHorse continued to do an outstanding job of ensuring that my tour was the best it could be and that I well taken care of and well informed. My guide, Yeshi, and driver, Tenzin, were the absolute best. Yeshi was always professional and worked hard to ensure that I was taken care of in constantly changing times (which wasn’t always easy). The riding trek was the highlight of my trip. On the last two days of the trek, we followed ancient walking trails over mountain passes and the landscape was surreal. As a lone female traveler, I never felt unsafe, not once in the 20 days I was on tour. WindHorse Tours went above and beyond what you would expect to ensure that, once travel restrictions began popping up worldwide, I had the best information possible and they bent over backwards to help me get on the correct flights that would ensure that I made it home safely. Thanks to Yonten and Dorji from the office in Thimphu for all the hard work in ensuring I did not get quarantined in India – but re-routed appropriately so that I did make it home. If/when I travel back to Bhutan – it will be with WindHorse Tours.

Hello!
First of all I want to let you know how much I enjoyed this trip and my visit to Bhutan. Amazing country and people! Beautiful scenery!
Pema, Yeshey and Gudut were top notch! They went above and beyond in making sure we had a fantastic experience. And always with a smile and in the most sincere way. I would give them a 10 out of 10 rating! I think of them as my brother’s now.
All the staff that were part of our trek – the chef, 2nd chef, helpers etc.were so great! The food was really delicious and the service fantastic. I felt like I was at a first class resort!  The bonfires at night were a perfect ending for each day and the time when we got socialize not only with our co-travelers but with the crew. The trek was my favorite part of the trip.
A few suggestions:
*Make sure everyone has cash with them (rupees or Bhutanese ngultrum). We ran in to the issue of having access to cash when needing to pay/tip the local porters etc. Luckily some of us had extra cash to lend to others. We found that ATMs are not very reliable once we found one. Often out of service or not connecting with foreign cards. Very important to know so you can prepare and bring local currency or rupees with you. Also important to let travelers know that the Bhutanese currency can not be used outside of Bhutan like the Indian rupees can. 

*The trip program is wonderful but it would have been nice to have some more free time, especially the days we were in towns etc. There were a few times when I felt very rushed. It may not be necessary to visit every temple, Dzong etc. 

In mid Febuary into early March; we were a group of 11. (10:1 women to men, ages 39->71yrs.). Along with 3 male guides from Wind Horse Tour and Trek. Some of us were picked up at the airport in Guwahati, by Yeshi. He saw us before we saw him!
As a group, we all walked into Bhutan by way of Gelephu. What a stark difference between the chaos and pollution of India to the calm and relative clean of Bhutan. My favorite part of our adventure was the trek; although the rest of the trip was amazing and beautiful as well. Our trekking crew from Wind Horse were kind, fun and gracious hosts.The meals on our trek were the best! Chili Cheese! Villagers from homes near places we were walking by; greeted us with local oranges and arra (local rice wine). Some would also be porters for our camping equipment, (bedrolls, tents, kitchen and seating). We would do a kind of walking leap frog with them on the trail.
The hotels and restaurants, we visited along our way to Thimpu (and Tiger’s Nest!), got progressively more populated. So by the time we got to Tiger’s Nest, I felt Our guides- Pema Dendup and Yeshi Penjor, as well as our very skilled driver Gudu Mahat gently prepared us for our last big hike together. They absolutely made my experience of Bhutan! Knowledgeable and passionate about sharing in their home’s culture, rich history, hospitality and Yeti stories. They were playful and curious about each of us, as we were of them. Pema and Yeshi even learned how to make snow angels!
We stayed in Bhutan for 11 days. I have memories to last a life time and new stories to tell. Wind Horse Trek, and our beloved guides absolutely made my experience a positive, life changing adventure. Thank you so very much!

Some highlights that were possible because of the flexibility & willingness of Pema, Yeshe & Gudu.Visiting with village people especially the first camping night when they came down to our bonfire at dinner & we celebrated together a birthday of one of our group. One woman made her a scarf, 3 young girls choreographed a few dances to Bhutanese music. Chef made a bday cake. It was very festive & wonderful. The lovely tents having been set up, in all of our camping nights was a blessing & accommodations were way more sophisticated than expected. 

In another village we were all invited into a home of an extended family who served us tea & baked rice goodies. All spontaneous & very loving & out of the blue.

Saving the puppies was a highlight. It could not have been implemented without the gracious permission & help from P,Y & G. I can’t praise them enough!!!!!!

Some of us were interested in the 1/2 marathon that was being held close to hotel on departing day. They arranged it so that we could stop & participate in the cheering on of the first finalists. Same with an archery meet. We passed by, had interest so we stopped & watched.

Compliments to our cooking crew who were excellent!!!! 3 hot meals a day with snacks & all very very good. I wondered what the media meant when they said you don’t go to Bhutan for the food. I was expecting not to be able to eat anything. We all commented on how much better our camping food was than the hotels. Don’t get me wrong. Choice of hotels was great.

I was not prepared for the difficulty of the climbing. I had been sick in India & less in shape than I thought. Also the oldest of the group.

Excuses aside, I loved the hiking but was humiliated (I guess that’s a personal issue. Was very difficult to not measure up). Once again Pema & Yeshe were there for me & Gudu also on the Tiger’s Nest climb. I only made it 1/2 way which was disappointing (again personal-ego)

So, this is just a little more of details of tour.

We all felt so taken care of being treated like royalty really. Dream come true.

THANK YOU very much for gifting me / us with your BEAUTIFUL BOOK of Bhutan & car sticker.

Book is magnificent & I will proudly drive around with sticker.

The mountains, rivers, forests and rice fields are beautiful and all considered to be alive and intelligent in Bhutan culture. The monasteries, Dzongs and markets are fascinating. But is the kindness and generous hearts of the Bhutanese people that made my trip so pleasant. In particular, the patience and kindness of Yeshi and Chimi, my guide and driver, that make the experience more wonderful than I could expect from any tour company.

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

Thank you for your email and apologies for the late reply. I am traveling and I am not checking my emails very often.

The trip was very interesting. Buthan is a beautiful country. My guide was very knowledgeable and also a nice person to talk to. Also the driver was really good. I was surprised that I was not feeling bad even once, considering how curvy roads are.

I must admit though that I was a bit disappointed and at times frustrated with the program. I think that 0.5 day in Thimphu and 1 day in Paro would be enough (I spent there 1.5 and 2 days respectively). The remaining time could have been spent on visiting another site.

Apart from the above, I was very happy with the tour.

Sorry it’s taken me awhile to get back to you, I’ve been rather busy writing and doing book layouts.

My trip was great thank you. I thought you matched my guide with me very well. Yeshi and I got on great.

The first driver I had till my trek was great too. However I’m sure you’ve heard about the young driver I had from Gasa to Phobjika valley! He was literally dangerous! I’m not a nervous person at all and I tried joking first en route and then as it continued I I started to be more firm.

I’m aware that Bhutanese do not like confrontation and Yeshi said he just closed his eyes!

However once we arrived I asked not to be driven by him and Yeshi sorted the problem out quickly so that I had a great driver for my return. The ideal would be to have the same driver for the whole trip especially if you are a single traveller as you build a relationship.

I did have one massive frustration and that was the cultural aspect of Laya. On your website and even in the Lonely Planet guide book they say exactly the same words (so I’m not sure who copied who or from where) :

“They dress in black wooden jackets with silver trims ….wear lots of silver jewellery on their backs; on many women this display includes an array of silver teaspoons.

The village women are easily encouraged to stage an evening ‘cultural’ show which consists of Bhutanese circle dancing accompanied by traditional Bhutanese and Layap songs.’

None of that is true. It just doesn’t exist anymore. And when I interviewed an elder Dema aged 79 she said that has not happened since she was younger. so it must be a minimum of 15-20 years out! It was a problem for me because it was the main focus of my trip apart from the festival. I was pretty disappointed and maybe had I known before I could have arranged to go to the Lunap village if that was any different or go somewhere else. You must get the company to change their information about Laya. I intend to write to the Lonely Planet to inform them too.

One small point regarding trek guiding is that while I enjoyed walking on my own a fair bit of the time I did twice start to go in the wrong direction. The first time a local corrected me. But the second time was over half an hour and I was right near Laya but hadn’t seen Yeshi for about 40 mins and started to worry. He then turned up. But as a tip…the track has some sheer drops and as I was on my own should something have happened he would have been too far away to help. It might be good to advise on this for single trekkers. Thanks.

I do have some advice about the accommodation at the Hot springs in Gaza too. It is not good. Even the first room I had the bathroom was pretty horrid and that was a good room. I was given the option to camp but didn’t know what the room would be like. The room had a bed and was fairly clean so it was ok for one night. However on the return I had to have a different room and it was pretty disgusting and the guys tried to set me up nicely but once I heard rats in the floor I asked to camp. I think it might be advisable to suggest that people view a room first them decide or just say that it is camping. A much nicer version for me would have been a homestay up in Gaza as I would have liked to be up there as it is so beautiful and didn’t get time to look around.

The $30 thing was fine. However I think you  forgot to tell Yeshi about the contact I wanted to meet from the cultural institute. He said he would find out but it didn’t happen and in the end we didn’t have tie to arrange a meet.

Just as an observation – I think what I found was that due to the sheer politeness of the Bhutanese and wanting to give you an answer to questions I noticed that I was given the wrong information a number of times when I double checked. I guess this won’t matter to many people but as I was on a fact finding mission that left me feeling like I wasn’t sure which information was 100% accurate.

One helpful piece of information which I didn’t come across anywhere before I went was that it would be impossible to see any ritual prayers or cultural events other than the festival due to the dates only being fixed a few days before by astrologers and because of having a fixed itinerary being unable to see any. One was taking place in the Punakha farmhouse the next day and one in Laya the day after I left so that was very frustrating.

Obviously I had more specific standards than most people visiting but I just thought that I would be honest with you in case it helps you in the  future.

Sincerely, Nina

Overall, the trip was fantastic and I am truly grateful that you suggested India before Bhutan. However, the hotel in Delhi was superb. They upgraded us to a fabulous room the the 2nd and 3rd times that we were there which was lovely. Our guides in India were fine. I do have a couple of suggestions….I think we could have done with 1 night in Rathombore. We saw 1 tiger on all our safaris, although others saw many more…just lucky. We really liked Jaipur and maybe should have had 2 nights there instead. Darjeeling. Bhutan was really spectacular…we loved it. But there are some suggestions…It was a long drive to the Probjika Valley and we were not excited about it. The hotel was pretty bad and after we hiked a bit and saw Karma the crane, we were ready to leave. We thus stayed only 1 night and went back to Thimphu and stopped for a long hike en route. This was fine. We enjoyed trekking around Paro. However, our trip to Tigernest on May 29 was the same day as a major Buddhist holiday. Could not stand the idea of hiking in the crowds so we convinced out guide to substitute another trek

We went to Tiger nest about 3PM and started walking up as hordes of Indians were descending. Our guide tried to convince us to stop…turned out he and driver did not have a hotel to stay in and I think they were mostly worried about where they would be. The previous night they had to stay in Thimphu and I think they were anxious about getting back….Not clear to me why they had not booked their own rooms when they new the schedule. They did try to be accommodating to us and were very concerned that we were “happy,” although there is no question that they would have preferred we just look at the Tigernest from the highway rather than climbing up. I had a difficult time separating what was convenient for them from what was in our interest. As an example, they left us at Paro airport at 7AM for the 9:30 flight. I realize that it is important to be early but that was really very early…we were the first to check in.

A year of planning to the Land of happiness and the Dragon led to a life time of memories. We as a girls Whatsapp group of Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam embarked on the idea of a reunion in Bhutan. Based on the web reviews chose Wind Horse Tours and they took care of all queries, substantial and silly from us 17 ladies for a period of nearly 10 months as the plan started taking shape. The tour commenced on Nov. 6th 2017 for a period of 8 days and 7 nights. Our group included a mix of Indian and non-Indian(US/UK) passport holders. The WH Manager Yonten Jamtsho was prompt in replying to our emails and coordinating with us all. From our arrival into Paro till our departure every minute details were taken care of by our exclusive guide Yeshi Penjor and his team which included the luggage van driver Prem and the tour bus driver Guddu and Raje.

I do recommend Wind Horse Tours for a comprehensive Bhutan tour for their individual, personalized and flexible plan.  However, I have to mention this that although we had made the advance payment by March beginning, i.e almost 8 months in advance, they did goof up on the hotels. Hotel Tenzeling instead of the desired Tashi Namgay was nice too. But a farmhouse turned hotel for half of the group in Gangtey did not go down well as our initial request was on the lines of Dewachen Hotel. We refused to stay there for personal inconveniences. Our ever resourceful guide Yeshi managed to find alternate hotel rooms of our liking. All ended well but did cause a dent regarding the efficiency of WH Tours.

Hi Anand
Sorry for the late report. I had a good time in Bhutan. I was able to have so many questions answered by my tour guide.  I did the cultural tour. I was expecting fast pace tour but I guess I will need to schedule trek tour next time.I am vegan and I mentioned this to my tour guide. Some hotels did not have breakfast or any meal for vegans.

The quality of transportation provided was great. My driver Guddu was awesome!

Unfortunately, I suffered an accident coming down of Tiger’s Nest. I twisted my ankle and one of your tour guides Tashis carried me on his back all the way to the bottom of the hike.

Wind Horse was an incredibly wonderful company to work with. They catered the trip to my specific wants. Trekking with Yeshi and rest of crew was highlight- 12 days with pack horses- the planning, care, food was fantastic, never mind the most amazing scenery! I owe such thanks to the sweetest, most thoughtful crew anyone could ask for! They even gave me a surprise birthday party at 14,000 feet! This was followed by two weeks of traveling the country and visiting monasteries where we were invited in.
I hope to return and see more of the country. Everyone I met was so kind and I felt such appreciation for traveling in such a beautiful, unique, special country. I will trust Wind Horse again to help with all the details.