Haa
A few weeks ago, we decided to make a trip to the Haa valley, just west of Paro. Our friend David’s partner Britane was here for a month, and it was going to be her last weekend, so we thought we’d all visit this part of Bhutan that none of us had been to, even though it is only a 2-hour or so drive from Paro. As foreigners, we are not able to travel beyond the Paro and Thimphu districts without a permit. So we asked the faculty secretary to apply for the route permit for us, which is usually a simple process. Two days before we were planning to go, she told us that she had been told not to submit the application if we did not have a Bhutanese traveling with us. It was not clear whether she had been told this by the law school administration, or by Bhutan immigration authorities. We are not sure why, but we assume that we were denied traveling there by ourselves because the Haa valley is on the western border of Bhutan, which makes it a very strategic location. ...