Previous Post: Bhutan’s Snowman Trek Preview: Part 1 – Paro To Shana To Laya

The previous post described the trek from Shana to Laya over 10 days; this route is sometimes packaged as the Jomolhari Trek or Laya Trek and has yet other names. From the end of the trek at Laya, trekkers descend to Gasa and a vehicle ride back to Punakha and Thimphu.

Now we were off on the second half of our Snowman Trek.  The trail from Laya to Upper Sephu Via Chozo or Thanza is often called the Laya Lunana Trek,  with the name Lunana Snowman Trek applied to the entire route from Shana.  This second half of the Snowman includes seven high passes and campsites, mostly at or above 4000 meters.

The expected views of Himalayan peaks during the first half of our trek were scarce due to almost daily rain and low cloud cover.  After a relatively cool and rainy rest day in Laya, we hoped for better weather and clearer skies as we set off from Laya for Lunana.

After ten days on the trail,  the concern about acclimatizing properly was no longer an issue.  Unfortunately, the combination of dry air and increased breathing rate can cause problems;  one of our trekkers had to end the trek at Laya because of a cough that only seemed to worsen. I had seen a fellow trekker hit by the same respiratory problem on a 22-day Everest region trek a few years ago.

The day’s 17.6 km. walk was a tough one. Starting in Laya at  3800m, we would descend past a military camp/checkpoint to the left fork in the trail at 3240 m.  and then scramble on some relatively rough and, in the forest sections, muddy “trail.”  Cloud cover and occasional rain made me wonder if we would ever get some decent weather. We were back up to above 4200 meters by the end of the day!

• See Day 12 – Laya To Rodophu for maps and more pix and detail

The next day was a shorter one – 11 km. and included another pass, Tsemo La (4905 m.)

• See Day 13 – Rodophu To Narethang Via Tsemo La for more

See Day 14 – Narethang To Tarina Via Kang Karchung La for maps and more detail on this part of the route.

We walked into this stunning vista just around the corner from where the dog was; it was perhaps the most spectacular of the trip so far.

See Day 15 – Tarina To Green Lake Via Woche for more pix and maps of this section of the trek.

Some two hundred meters above is Keche La (4666m). The following images show the initial section above the campsite and the nearby Keche La itself.

Then it was over the pass and down the other side.  Now we were definitely in the isolated district of Lunana with its river, the Pho Chhu flowing down from the three glacial lakes above Chozo and Thanza.

Day 16: Green Lake To Chozo Via Keche La

In 1994 a glacial lake outburst flood had a catastrophic impact on the swollen river down to Punakha.  In reading about the event, I had worried about our campsite location at Chozo.  The village of Lhedi, pictured below, sits high above the floodplain.  I remember thinking -“I hope the same is true of Chozo.”

After a lunch stop at the east end of Lhedi (just beyond the school), we continued to Chozo, sometimes walking on a rocky but dry “trail” on the floodplain itself and sometimes on one side or the other – as in the image below.

Chozo was another point on the trek at which one horse team would turn back to its starting point (Laya, in this case) while a local team would be hired to take us to the next point (in this case, to the very end of the trek at Upper Sephu).

We spent two nights in Chozo.  Since the second day out of Laya, the blue skies in most of the post’s pictures show that the weather had improved. We’d get more sun in the days to come.

The resident monk would let us enter the dzong and see the second-floor shrine room.

See Day 17: Chozo Rest Day for more photos and info on Chozo.

As I look at that team of horses crossing the bridge below Chozo in the image below, I realize now that they were some of the horses the Yangphel guide had hired for the last leg of the trek. They would take us from Chozo down to Upper Sephu.

Day 18 – Chozo To Tsho Chena Via Sintia La

The next morning at our campsite to the west of Tsho Chena, a brief snow shower dusted everything!

Less than forty-five minutes later, here is what things looked like at the same campsite!

There are two days of dramatic passes – Loju La (5115m) above and Rinchen Zoe La (5300m) in the two images below!

No matter where we were, lunch involved a full sit-down with folding tables, tablecloths, plates and cutlery, and super comfortable Helinox chairs!  Three horses and three staff members made sure that it all happened quickly. The food was prepared at breakfast and then kept in heat-retaining containers until lunch.

Here is what it looked like on the day we crossed Loju La – it was a rather exposed spot on the high-altitude plateau we were traversing.

Day 19 – Tsho Chena To Jichu Dramo Via Loju La has maps, more images and info.

In the next couple of days, we would go from the stark and treeless vistas of high-altitude Himalayas – what you would expect to see on the Tibetan plateau – to increasingly luxuriant foliage as more and more plants appeared.

We covered almost twenty kilometres on the last morning before arriving at Upper Sephu. To greet us were staff members of Yangphel, the Thimphu adventure travel agency that had organized the actual trip.  I learned that this was the second year that Yangphel had made the trip for the out-of-Bhutan company through which I actually booked the trip.

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The Yangphel staff had prepared another sit-down lunch, complete with red and white wine and beer. I stuck to apple juice and water, knowing how the alcohol would affect me after the 20 km. walk that morning and a four-hour ride on Bhutan’s winding roads!

[I booked the trip through World Expeditions, an Australian-based company I have used before. Their website attracts clients and creates small groups that make theadventures possible for solo travellers like me. My contact was their sales office in Ottawa. The agency prompted me on the things I needed to take care of before departure –

• the Bhutan visa requirements
• a current passport,
• an Indian visa ($110.) since I was flying to Paro via Delhi,
• mountaineering-level insurance,
• special dietary requirements, etc.

The Toronto-Delhi return was $1200; the Druk Air flight to Paro (and return) was another $450. Also, add in two nights in a New Delhi hotel – one on the way and the other on the way back. I picked a hotel close to the airport.

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Who Gets How Much? 

Note: I did the trip in 2019, before Bhutan’s total revamp of its tourism policy.

The trek itself cost me US $7800 + tip.   Before 2022, the Bhutanese charged their “high value, low impact” (that is, non-Indian) tourists a minimum of US $250 all-inclusive a day to be in Bhutan.  Therefore,  $6750. (27 days x $250.) went to the Bhutanese government and to the local trekking agency.

Of the $6750.

• The Bhutanese government’s share – the sustainable Development Fee –  was $65 a day or $1755  for my entire 27-day stay!  
• Yangphel, the local trekking agency, got the rest, $5000. 

The World Expeditions charge for making the trip happen and paying their own assigned non-Bhutanese guide was about $1000. ($7800 – $6750). 

Also, note that the “voluntary” tip is expected by all. It was clearly a concern from the very first day of the trek and added another $400 to the final cost.

Post-Covid Update:

A new tourism policy was introduced when Bhutan opened up to tourism again after a two-and-a-half-year shutdown during the worst of the Covid pandemic. This would have quite an impact on the cost of visiting Bhutan.

In 2023 the same World Expeditions trip costs US$16900 ($18590 CDN), more than double the $7800 I paid in 2019!

• One reason is the Bhutanese government’s tripling of the “Sustainable Development Fee” (i.e. non-Indian tourist tax) from $65. a day to $200! The Bhutanese tourist tax for a 27-day stay in Bhutan in 2022 is now $5400.US, up from $1755 in 2019.
• Assuming the figure is correct, it means that World Expeditions and Yangphel’s share increased by $5000! So, instead of the $5000+ $1000 they got pre-2022, their share of the total is now $11,000. That is quite the increase.