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Robin Smillie will lead this cross-country photography tour that will include culture of all forms: dance, song, art, farming, archery (the national sport) trout fishing, wildlife, religion, weaving and textiles. Past participants have all been avid photographers who enjoyed rising at 5 a.m. to catch the fog lifting from a castle dzong, but also enjoyed participating in an archery match, catching a trout for dinner, riding a pony to a monastery, taking a hot stone bath, eating lunch at a Bhutanese farmhouse, hiking through a forest, and many other special events not listed on other Bhutan itineraries. In addition to these special  events, we will attend a mask dance festival in Bumthang and visit all of the usual sites: National art school, cheese/beer factory, paper factory, national museum, weekend market, textile museum, main post office for collectible stamps, and the endangered Takin reserve to see the national animal. We welcome all levels of photographers--digital and film, pocket point-and-shoot, SLR, large format, etc.--and non photographers who are wishing to become photographers.

The main difference between this tour and others is our mode of transportation--cars, not a bus. As a photographer on tour, you may have found it difficult to take the time necessary to capture good images because you were holding up the other tour participants while you worked a great scene. On this tour, you will be in a car with one other photographer (or your traveling companion,) a Bhutanese guide or photography student, and a driver who is ready to stop at a moment's notice. This way, you will have the freedom to ask the driver to stop as frequently as your photographic eye demands. The photography student is eager to carry your gear, set up your tripod, and serve as a cultural guide and interpreter, answering your questions about his homeland.

2007 Rainbow Photo Tour Participants
 

Bhutan is not for travelers who expect five star accommodations and world-class cuisine, but rather for adventurers who are hardy and flexible. We will stay in first class Western-style hotels in Paro, Thimphu, and Wangdue, but as we move further eastward, expect homey but 'rougher' hotels, as the Lonely Planet guide suggests. In the East, beds are thin mattresses on wooden platforms. Bathrooms are simple and showers are sometimes nothing more than a hose with a shower head protruding from the wall and a cement floor with a drain. At one 16th century monastery guest house on top of a mountain, a plastic pail of hot water is delivered to your room for a morning sponge bath. (It's worth it--you'll love interacting with the little-boy monks in training, who will meet you at the bottom of the hill to carry your luggage!) Dinner and breakfast are Bhutanese food, always hot and served buffet style in hotels--lunch is usually sandwiches and

2006 Tour Participants & Guides 2005 Tour Participants and Guides 2004 Tour Participants and Guides

boiled eggs. Special diets are impossible to obtain. Vegetarians will enjoy abundant vegetables since ninety percent of Bhutan's 700,000 citizens are subsistence farmers. Fiery hot chili peppers are not served as a condiment, but rather a vegetable entree. Fresh fruit is rarely served, but sometimes available at roadside markets. It is said that the single mountainous road that traverses Bhutan turns every 9 seconds on average, and while it is paved, road repairs cause frequent slow-downs from the usual 30 mph. This road is also the main foot path and domestic animal trail--there are no bathrooms along the way, but plenty of bushes for your convenience.

Within Bhutan, independent travel is not allowed and must be booked through a licensed tour agency--ours is Rainbow Tours and Treks of Bhutan--and that agency must process your visa and Druk Air ticketing. The tour package includes Bangkok-Paro-Bangkok airfare, visa fee, and all in-country accommodations, meals, transportation, guides, and special events costs. Out of pocket expenses include personal items, souvenirs, bar bill, tips to guides and drivers and religious site offerings. Most hotels will change dollars to the national currency--there is no currency black market.

After signing up for the tour, Rainbow Photo Tours will contact you for answers to your in-country questions and to arrange for visas and Druk Air flights. You will also receive extensive pre-departure information from with suggestions on what clothing, camera equipment, medications, and other items to bring.

Druk Air's In-flight magazine cover photo and article about photographing Bhutan by Robin Smillie! (3.2 MB) View the PDF article

Now enjoy reading this fabulous itinerary that we have arranged just for photographers like you, and we're sure you will want to let us guide you to some of the best photo opportunities that adventure travel has to offer. Visit the Rainbow Photo Tours website.   www.rainbowphototours.com

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