In Bhutan, Trekking in Style

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Similarly, there's nothing in Bhutan similar to the Maoist rebellion in Nepal that is now close to ending the rule of the Nepalese royal family. And unlike the Indians, the Bhutanese don't have to worry about local insurgents or attacks from Pakistan.

Opulent Inns

The focus on high-end tourism has provided an opening for a handful of five-star international hotel chains. Singapore's Amanresorts International, for instance, operates the Amankora, five posh hotels around the country. Guests not keen on walking can easily hop aboard an Aman car to shuttle from one hotel to the next. Taj Hotels, owned by India's Tata Group, has just opened its first Bhutanese hotel, the Taj Tashi, in Thimpu. We stopped by to visit, and while riding in the elevator heard a hotel staff member proudly explain that the lift was one of the first anywhere in the country.

Another international luxury chain with a relatively new outpost in Bhutan is Singapore's Como Hotels & Resorts, which a few years ago opened the Uma, a traditional Bhutanese-style complex of whitewashed stone and intricately painted wooden beams in the hills overlooking the Paro Valley. The Uma, which has all the features that typify a luxury hotel—a spa, a health club, an indoor pool, yoga classes, and an upscale restaurant—offers a standard seven-night package for tourists interested in the Druk Path trek. We went on a few gentle hikes near the hotel for the first two days as we adjusted to the altitude and then, on our third day in Bhutan, we set off on the Druk Path. It was early April, when the thermometer is supposed to be climbing and the ubiquitous wild rhododendrons are in bloom. But for whatever reason—climate change or quirk of nature—the weather has become more unpredictable and temperatures were low enough that we had snow every day. To stay warm, we wore layer upon layer upon layer.

Trekking through the snow was surprisingly easy, though sometimes it turned into slush and mud. We typically started around 8:30 in the morning and went until 4:30 in the afternoon. We weren't exactly roughing it, of course: The mules carried most of our stuff, and the two cooks prepared delicious multicourse breakfasts and dinners as well as elaborate picnic lunches. Time was never really an issue, and we had plenty of chances to stop and enjoy the spectacular scenery. Indeed, had we decided to splurge, we could have gone for even more luxury: The Uma actually offers guests the option of taking a masseuse from the hotel spa along on the trek. Given how many layers of clothing we were wearing just to keep warm, there didn't seem much point in taking advantage of that luxury service.

Stubborn Mules

We quickly realized the importance of keeping the mules happy. Every morning a few of us would set off first, and the pack animals and the rest of the team—who walked at a much faster pace—would start later and then pass us. One day we saw a mule rebellion: One decided it didn't like the looks of the path and suddenly turned around. That led other mules to follow suit. A few even fell off the path, with a cooking stove sliding down the side of the mountain. Would we have to abandon the trek? How could we go on without the animals cooperating? Eventually the handlers managed to restore order and got the mules moving. By the time we got to the campsite that afternoon, the team had already been there for hours, with hot ginger tea waiting for us in the dining tent.

No mules, no trek. So sometimes we had to make compromises to accommodate the animals. On our last night on the trek, the guys in charge of the mules nixed a campsite because they fretted there wouldn't be enough grass there for the animals. So we stayed in a mule-friendly area. Good for the animals. For the people? Less so. The spot had terrific views of the peaks on one side and the Thimpu Valley far below on the other. But we were also exposed to harsh winds that seemed to pick up as the sun went down. Even standing around the campfire didn't make us any warmer, and my wife and I shivered in our sleeping bags much of the night. Turns out we weren't the only ones who spent a restless night: The next morning we heard that many of the Bhutanese guys were also too cold to sleep.

By then, though, the wind had disappeared, the clouds cleared, and we had beautiful blue skies and unimpeded views of some of the highest mountains in the country. Soon we started our descent to Thimpu. We were done. The mules and their handlers set off for their next job, and we drove 90 minutes along the country's main highway—sometimes paved, sometimes not—back to the hotel in Paro. Surprisingly, we had no muscle aches and no blisters, and we had weathered the high altitude without a glitch. We're not about to embark on the Snowman Trek or one of the other insanely difficult treks in Bhutan. But no matter: We had completed—with assistance from man and beast—the Druk Path.

Check out the BusinessWeek.com slide show for a closer look at the Druk Path trek.

Lodging Web Sites:

Uma Paro: www.uma.como.bz/paro/
Amankora: www.amanresorts.com/home.aspx?id=298
Taj Tashi: www.tajhotels.com/Leisure/Taj Tashi,THIMPHU/default.htm

Einhorn is Asia regional editor in BusinessWeek's Hong Kong bureau .