A week ago was when we arrived in Bhutan. We flew from Bangkok, Thailand and, after a short stop in Kolkata (Calcutta), India, we were finally approaching our destination: Paro, Bhutan.
As our A319 plane, and its 150 passengers started to descend, some kind of miracle happened. I was suddenly in a 2-seater private airplane, feeling like the hero from “Out of Africa” when landing in the impressive landscape of wild Africa.
Here we were descending deep in a valley with the strong white waters of a river running below us. And on each side of us, high, impressive, steep slopes of the Himalayas… one or two thousand meters high slopes.
The mountains were magnificent. And the plane was following the valley, banking right one time as the river bent right, banking left as the river bent left.
That had to be the coolest feeling. And if nature was not beautifully enough, traces of human life were just as impressive. Dozens of wooden painted houses perched everywhere on the cliffs, with bright green fields of high rising rice.
Finally, here we were, entering the last valley, the long straight landing strip right in front of us… landing in Paro, Bhutan.
That had to be the most incredible landing I ever experienced. At that instant, I knew the week ahead would be as extraordinary as we imagined.
If paradise exists, it must look like Bhutan, I thought. Bhutan is pure beauty…