Autumn is Bhutan at its clearest. The monsoon has moved on, the high peaks stand sharp against blue skies, and the terraced valleys of Punakha turn from green to gold as the rice is cut by hand. It is also the season of the great festivals – Thimphu and Wangdue among them – when whole districts come together in the dzong courtyards.
This journey begins in the quiet Haa valley, seldom visited and still deeply rural, before following the harvest east. Ugyen arranges tea with nuns and young monks, mornings in the fields with farming families, and a schedule that puts you at Dochula for sunrise and Punakha Dzong for the last of the light.
