This year I turn 40 in June and I decided not to have a birthday celebration.
Instead, some of my closest friends are gonna embark on some things they've never done before
with me.
Starting with my best friend Charlene.
She told me that she has never ever hiked a day in her life, right?
Yeah.
Look at her in her cute little pearl sweater!
Charlene: Stop.
So embarking on a mini hike today.
We're going out to Dzongdrakha, a very stunning monastery that's not very often hiked to,
for some weird reason.
Takes about 45 mins to hike up there but we're gonna take our time today.
Acclimatise 'cause we are, after all, in high altitude.
It's about 2200m above sea level.
It's a slow buildup to the Bumdra trek.
This'll be the longest trek I've ever embarked on.
It's a 2-day trek and we'll be camping on top of the mountain and the view of the Himalayas
in the distance.
It's gonna be super dope.
And Dawa is gonna be taking care of us.
What I love about Dawa is that he doesn't even make a sound about it but whenever he
sees trash, he always picks it up.
He brings a spare plastic bag to do it and he never announces it, he just does it.
Way to go.
Thank you.
That's where we're going up to.
And this...oh my god, this is what I love about hiking.
You get to see this beautiful scenery on the way up.
For me, it's all about the journey, not the destination, which is why I've never been
a fan of conquering mountain peaks.
We look like old grandmothers!
So we finally made it to the top.
How was that?
Treacherous at some point.
And here we are.
The gorgeous mini Tiger's Nest overlooking the valley.
This is the lunch place, we are here at a local restaurant.
This is awesome!
This is the menu for today.
And then we go inside.
Oh this is so cool!
So hungry that we didn't even bother taking a video of the food.
Dawa is still going.
Still going strong.
I'm at Kuzoo FM right now, it's Bhutan's only youth-oriented radio station and they broadcast
countrywide.
And I'm here with the boss and radio DJs, introduce yourselves.
Hi, I'm Chuning.
I'm Kesang.
Nice to meet you and thanks so much for letting me explore your space, let's go!
Wah, look at that! So dope!
This is your home ground.
Sorry for all this battle ground.
What is it?
It's Duel Masters.
This is how we resolve conflict in the office space.
We battle it out through cards.
Wow, that's a nice way to resolve conflict, rather than shouting at each other.
So what's cool, I feel, about Kuzoo FM is that they're such a passionate, eager bunch
of radio people.
They've absolutely no exposure - little to no exposure - to the industry outside of Bhutan.
Whenever you're hit with a constraint, you get creative.
That's what surviving is all about.
Farmhouse dinnering today with my friends.
We're at Thinley's house
and I've been here last year and I remember the food to be amazing.
I'm eating with my hands.
We just use rice to clean our hands, so perfectly fine.
Bon appetit!
Tandin, you've been on the Bumdra trek, on a scale of 1 - 10, 1 being the easiest and
10 being the hardest, how difficult is the Bumdra Trek?
It's going to take long, but it's not hard.
So I would say 4.5.
3.
3?!
Yes.
Have you been on the trek, Thinley?
Oh shit.
Can you describe what the terrain will be like?
Just like this, then going like this, going like that,
then going like this, and having a lunch.
And then like this up, and then down, down, down, down, down, and up, up, up,
and up, up.
What the hell!
Today is D-day, we're gonna be hiking the Bumdra Trek.
This is what we're in Bhutan for.
Unlike my best friend here, who thinks that we're just here for a spa.
Yeah...
Like really flinging her into the deep end.
This is her first hike and it's a major one.
Keeping fingers crossed that there's no rain, weather is fine and dry and
we've just arrived at the carpark.
This is the starting point for the Bumdra trek.
Oh my god, look at the view of the Himalayas just right there.
Imagine waking up to this.
That's what I'm promised anyway.
And so it begins...
up this trail.
We're not even at the hard bit yet and I'm already like huffing and puffing.
We're at 2800m right now.
And it's about 3 hours to our lunch stop.
All I'm hoping for is that I don't have a stomachache.
Because there's no toilets up here.
If you wanna go and do your number 1s and 2s,
it's the green bushes.
So it's mostly 30-degree-angled paths at the start, not so bad.
And these are funeral prayer flags.
You see them on mountain tops.
Hiking through the burnt forest.
There was a forest fire here that lasted 2.5 days.
Can you see the all the burnt stumps?
Some paths can be really steep
and we're at this point.
You know, I used to wonder why people never filmed their trekking experience.
That's because it's fucking tiring!
You gotta focus on your foothold, okay?!
And now, we're surrounded by green.
Love how the landscape changes dramatically as you climb.
Well, not really dramatically, it's just green.
It's a nice break from the black.
Never thought I'd say that.
So, a first just happened for me.
The year I turn 40 is also the year I took a poop in the wild.
Never would I have thought that this would happen to me.
But it felt good!
I was looking out to the Himalayan mountain range, perched on a very steep slope, trying
not to fall on my own shit and that's where it happened.
Plop!
One perfect round mound of brown.
The landscape has changed dramatically again.
At this altitude we have the blue pine forest.
And if only we had a scratch-and-sniff function on the screen because it smells divine.
It's like a soothing balm for the soul.
Dawa's made a beard out of Spanish moss.
This apparently only grows when the air is pristine.
Ew, you have it in your mouth!
Super, super close to the lunch point.
It's just, you know, just one last push up the hill.
We made it up here in about 3 hours,
and that's with a lot of stops in between.
I feel like I'm almost on par with the Himalayan mountain range in the distance.
Can you see the mountain range ahead?
This is our lunch.
Couldn't ask for a better view.
This is rice, chilli cheese, some chicken, and some broccoli.
Yas, yas, yas to everything.
Hello from 12,000ft up!
We made it!
It's hailing now!
That's not styrofoam, guys...
it's hail.
It's kinda cold.
Hey buddy, thanks for bringing up my luggage.
And that's the Himalayas behind us.
Oh my god!
Just so glad we made it up here before the hail started.
It would be horrible to have to hike in hail.
Room tour!
Wow!
It's luxury!
Super glamp.
If you're wondering where's the port-a-loo, where to shit...
it is pretty much this.
Smells like what's in there.
Good morning.
It's 6am
and I had the worst sleep ever.
It was just too cold.
I just wore everything I could and it was still really not enough.
Apparently, it snowed!
The snow has just collected all at the sides of our tents, check this out.
One plus point is...
you wake up to this amazing view with the clouds at your feet and the Himalayan mountain
range bathing in the morning light.
Boarded the plane, we're on our way back to Singapore.
Just wanna say that Bhutan has always been a place that I've always wanted to visit.
Is it expensive to visit Bhutan?
The answer is yes.
You have to pay a tourist levy per person per day.
So depending on when you come, whether it's low season or high season, it could cost between
USD200 - USD250.
I paid USD250, out of which goes to your hotel budget, all your meals, tour guide fee, and
your car and your driver.
So essentially, what you're paying for is full board.
Here's a tip though, I found that if you're travelling with a friend and sharing a room,
your budget per night at the hotel increases.
So if you're travelling alone you only get USD50 a night, so you get the not-so-nice
hotels.
But if you share a room with a friend, your per night room budget goes up to USD100.
And you can choose some really good hotels as well.
Visa is USD40 per person but once you get here you won't even think of the price.
It's stunning, pristine nature and I'm so glad that on this trip we attempted the Bumdra
trek.
Charlene: It's beautiful, like the scenery is very nice
and I think if you are fit, you'll find it easy.
For me, I'm not that fit and it was my first trek so if you take it slow, the view is amazing.
On the way up, on the way down.
My highlight was the campsite.
Getting to the Bumdra campsite, that was really beautiful.
Made so many friends this time round.
My Bhutanese family has expanded, my heart has expanded and I cannot wait to be back
to explore more.
One week is really not enough.
I leave this country always gaining weight, gaining a fuller heart, always some inner
peace and I'm so glad to have shared this with my best friend.
Don't forget to download the Clicknetwork app so you can catch the episodes way before
they hit YouTube.
If you wanna check out my travel photos from Bhutan, you can go to #rozzinbhutan.
Bye bye bye!