2026-08 Bhutan - Kingdom of Fungi Ura Tour

20 Aug – 5 Sep 2026
17 days soaking in the culture, community and forest of Bhutan. It's a hiking trip, photography trip, mycology education trip, cultural trip, all brilliantly made possible by Peter and Uygen.

Kingdom of Fungi

21 Aug – 3 Sep 2026
Consolidation of the fascinating fungi moments in Bhutan

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Group Moments

21 Aug – 4 Sep 2026
Special thanks to Rinzin, Sonam, Peter Roden, Punap Ugyen Wangchuk and all the wonderful people we met in Bhutan.

* Mix of photos contributed by Uygen and Peter
Bhutan Mushroom Tours
Gomo Adventures

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Random Moments in Bhutan

21 Aug – 5 Sep 2026
Eclectic mix of whatever catches the eye

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Flight - Singapore to Paro

20 Aug 2026
Onboard the Bhutan National Airline.
Quick 30 mins stopover at Guwahati, no need to disembark.

A scenic flight path among clouds and green ridges as we catch our first glimpse of Bhutan descending into Paro airport.

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Paro Town and Rivervalley Hotel

20 Aug – 3 Sep 2026
After touchdown, stopping in Paro town for our caffeine shot at Mountain Cafe (local Bhutan coffee roaster).

Quick look around town before we proceed to Rivervalley Hotel. Located out of town area, in a serene valley of paddy fields.

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1st Forage

21 Aug 2026
The hotel chef and a local farmer is going foraging with us this morning. The plan was to cook the harvest for dinner.

Found a nice pair of slender caesar mushroom and lots of other species.

Foraging is a new "concept" for me. After many years of diving, the idea that I can touch and puck anything was a bit shocking. Taking time to get pass the mental block. LOL

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From Forage to Table

21-22 Aug 2026
Cooking up the morning harvest in Rivervalley Hotel, Paro

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Rinpung Dzong

21 Aug 2026
The 17th-century fortress-monastery in Paro is also known as Fortress on a Heap of Jewels

The towering white stone walls and wooden architecture. A solemn and calm feeling as we strolled through the compound on a rainy day.

A quick glimpse of the monk practicing their dance in the main hall. Enjoyed the pano views of Paro city from various vantage points.

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Taktsang - Tiger Nest Monastery

22 Aug 2026
Instead of the typical 1.5hrs to the halfway point, we took 3.5+ hours to forage cum hike up to the cafe.

Decided to sit out the 2nd half of the climb as we were not entirely well. Maybe the combination of attitude climatisation, residue flu symptoms and feeling heat exhausted ...

Spent the afternoon sipping coffee and soaking in the best view in the cafe.

Kudos to the group who took another 5 hours round trip to the monastery and back. Thanks Uygen for bringing us the last remaining piece of blessed biscuit for us ... LOL.

Catching the last light hitting the monastery before we make our descend.

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Hot Stone Bath

22 Aug 2026
Hot stone bath with water from sacred stream of tiger nest medicinal water. The water is heated with river stone over open fire.

Nice soak followed by dinner

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Flight - Paro to Bumthang

23 Aug 2026
Early start to catch the 7.30am flight from Paro to Bumthang. Love the arty theme of the airport.

Flight path took us all the way to east Bhutan, stopping at Yonphula Domestic Airport, a high-altitude airport (2845m) among the cloud and peaks. After 30-mins stop, we will flew back towards central Bhutan to our destination Bumthang.

Was initially thinking that I would be catching up snooze on the plane but ended up glued to the aircraft window trying to capture the snow capped Himalayan ridges of Bhutan highest unclimbed peak.

Definitely a scenic flight and no complaints of the detour. LOL

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Drive - Bumthang to Ura

23 Aug 2026
Thanks to Rinzin and Sonam, the 2 strong men who had to haul our luggages on top of the bus multiple times throughout the trip.

Local breakfast of fried rice and eggs. The apple juice from bumthang is excellent, great balance of sweet and sour.

Local general stores selling cheese and general supplies.

Stopping by a road stall manned by a small boy. Picked up 2 pack of local mushroom foraged by the boy's family.

Onwards for the 1.5 hours drive through winding valleys to Ura.

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Ura Mushroom Festival

23-24 Aug 2026
We visited the festival for 2 days.

The festival comes across as a local community gathering. Entertainment by local singer, sporting events and display of various mushroom species by the national mushroom center. Limited amount of mushrooms for sale by the farmers thou.

Sampling the Mushroom Momo, Teppan Matsutake, Ara infused with matsutake.

Being the few foreign guest in this remote valley, the group was invited to vip stand with the rest of the officials. Local ara tastes pretty smooth, no alcohol burns.

We missed the matsutake soup on day 1. Had the opportunity to savour it from the giant pot, after the officials had their opening ceremony for day 2.

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Ura Farmstay and Around

23-25 Aug 2026
Farmhouse stay, ran by a very nice Bhutanese lady boss who spoke good English.

Loved the stone and wood architecture of the building.

Enjoyed the authentic local cooking style with ingredients either produced within the farm, foraged or from the region.

Cows, horse, dogs, cats roam freely along the roads, each house having their own apple tree, radish, cabbage patch, all sort of edible produce.

Strolling through the village, smell of firewood fills the air.

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Porcini and Matsutake Breakfast

23-25 Aug 2026
Thanks to the hardworking folks in the group who left at 5am to the nearby forest to forage for breakfast πŸ˜€ We slept in ... πŸ˜†

A electric blackout did not stop everyone from continuing with breakfast preparations.

The 100% buckwheat pancakes were exceptional, especially with butter from the farm and jam of himalaya raspberry foraged yesterday.

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Search for Sangay Shamu

24 Aug 2026
Matsutake is known in Bhutan as Sangay Shamu, which translate to Buddha's Mushroom.

Uygen got the first prize and found a matsutake. I chanced upon the 2nd prize, a pair of mock matsutake πŸ˜†

Very enjoyable afternoon spent pressing ever piece of moss patch under the pine trees. You can also hear folks humming " Matsutake ... where are you 🀣"

Fantastic variety and concentration of shrooms in the area. Someone found a big porcini today.

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Drive - Ura to Bumthang

25 Aug 2026
Stopping by a buckwheat field for some photo ops.

Watching some painters at work on their very DIY looking platforms.

Red Panda is the only brewery by a Swiss. Beer culture has yet to pick up in Bhutan.

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Gongkhar Hotel, Bumthang

25 Aug 2026
Beautiful garden with lots of flowers and fruit trees.

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Jambay Lhakhang Temple

25 Aug 2026
Built in the 7th century, oldest temple in Bhutan. One of the 108 temples which was built to pin down the demon. This temple pins on the left knee.

Sense of strength and calm as you enter the courtyard. In a very small and intimate setting, it houses the 3 huge buddha statues, where you can walk right up and touch their feet as a sign of respect.

No pictures allowed in all temples' main hall.

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Kurjey Lhakhang Dzong

25 Aug 2026
3 buildings built during different period. The oldest building was built around the cave that has a rock with the body imprint of Guru Rinpoche.

Also known as Cradle of Buddhism, as this is the place where the spread of Buddhism started in Bhutan.

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Jakar Dzong

26 Aug 2026
Castle of White Bird.

Impressive architecture and glad to have the opportunity to sit through 15mins of chanting session, where the head monk and his group of monks chanted to the sound of Nga (drums), Dong , Gyaling, Damaru , cymbals, beads ...

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Drive - Bumthang to Phobjikah

26 Aug 2026
The drive from Bumthang to Phobjikha valley, goes through 2 highland passes at 3400+ meters.

Yotonga La Pass (3435m). Found various species of mushrooms that only grows on dunk and various alpine flowers.

Wildlife sighted while travelling on the bus after Bebela Pass area. A community of Gray Langur and a pair of Yellow-throated Marten.

Keeping fingers crossed for the red pandas but no luck yet. No Tigers or Snow Leopard for Sock yet.

Stopping at a sacred spring water source, said to enhance your vocals power, which accounts for the top local singers in this area.

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Willing Waterfall Cafe

26 Aug 2026
Scenic lunch spot

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Phobjikha Hotel and Around

26-27 Aug 2026
We hopped off the bus and walked the last 10 mins to the hotel. Enjoying our first look of Phobjikha valley in the evening light.

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Phobjikha Morning Light

27-28 Aug 2026
Sitting in the comfort of the room and enjoying the changing morning light and mystical fog in the valley.

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Hike to Gangteng Monestary

27 Aug 2026
Joined the "morning forager" group today. Left at 7am to explore the wetland and hills before the 2nd group joins us for the hike to Gangteng Monastery.

Scenic views of the valley, visited a private temple, sitting among the alpine flowers, funny "conversations" with a local herder who wanted to exchange Peter's shoes ... πŸ˜‚

Highlights are the Amanita mushroom, magic mushroom, yellow coloured caterpillar of moth, striking butterflies, etc

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Gangteng Monestary

27 Aug 2026
The museum in the monastery has an interesting collection of old festivals mask.
Black hat ceremonial costumes which were used by the lamas to perform the rituals prior to the building of new temple. The joker costume, which could only be worn by a very senior learned monk, to mock others during festivals.

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Black Neck Crane Center

27 Aug 2026
As it was off-season, we could only have a quick visit to the education center, watch the intro video and view of the 2 rescued cranes in the center.

A rainbow spans across the valley as we were leaving the center.

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Wangdue Phodrang Dzong

28 Aug 2026
Rebuild in 2022 after a fire in 2012. The original architecture was rebuilt in 2022.

What's interesting of this place were the stories of the mermaid lives in this river. The mermaid is also well represented in various paintings of the temple walls.

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Trans Bhutan Trail, Punakha

28 Aug 2026
Nice easy walk, not many mushroom but great variety of butterflies, dragonflies, praying mantis and other bugs.

Great specimen of the cute but deadly Amanita.

Sighted the long flowered lily blooming in the wild.

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Rivervalley Hotel, Punakha

28-30 Aug 2026
Momo making for dinner

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Paddy Fields Hike to Temple, Punakha

29 Aug 2026
Round trip hike (about 4.5km) from the suspension bridge to the temple and back.

Blazing hot and humid, but definitely worthwhile hike with lots of scenic paddy fields, macro opportunities for butterflies and dragonflies, and amazing pano view at the top of the temple.

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Temple Khamsum Yuelay Namgay, Punakha Chorten

29 Aug 2026
An important temple in this area as it hosts the local deity Gomo of the area.

What an amazing view at the top of the temple.

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Divine Madman Pee Spot

29 Aug 2026
Legend has it that this is where the Divine Madman Pee ... that's how powerful he is. LOL

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Punakha Dzong

29 Aug 2026
If you only have time to visit 1 Dzong, I think this should be the one.

Besides the fact that so many historically significant events are hosted here e.g. the king's coronation, the founder of bhutan ruled and defended multiple attacks from this fort, temple that holds the embalmed body of the bhutan founder, etc

The architecture has so much details. The inside of the main temple hall is amazing.

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Merengma Bristro Lunch and Workshop

29 Aug 2026
A tasty lunch at this modern cafe followed by a workshop by Gabrielle on fun things to do with mushroom that you cant finish eating immediately.

- Fermenting Chanterelles
- Chanterelles salt (blended)
- Mushroom jerky
- Mushroom soak in honey (need to be dried mushroom), about 1 month.
- Dry fry mushroom techniques

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Dochula Pass - 108 Stupas

30 Aug 2026
Was a foggy day, so did not get a view of the himalayan ridges.

Definitely a tourist hot spot. We must have been in rural area for too long such that this concentration of tourist bus triggered a red flag and made us uncomfortable 😬

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Trans Bhutan Trail, Dochula Pass

30 Aug 2026
Save the best for last.

Our final forest foray for this trip and this is definitely the best trail of the entire trip. The diversity is just amazing.

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Trans Bhutan Trail Part 2

30 Aug 2026
Pre-lunch was a "forest picnic", momos, coffee, tea and watermelon juice.

We spent too much time on the first part of the trail. So to make up, everyone agreed that the 2nd half would be a hike and not foraging.

Keep the macro lens and just walk .. lol.
No stopping unless it is a cordecyptes. πŸ˜†

Muddy trails, river crossing and a light shower to bring out a rainbow to end the perfect hike.

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Thimpu City and Around

30-31 Aug 2026
A pre-dinner stroll around Thimpu city after check-in to City Heritage Hotel.

Dinner at hotel was wood-fired pizza with topping foraged from the afternoon's hike. A huge porcini and black trumpet mushrooms. Yummy.

Next day, visited by a contemporary art exhibition and lunch with organic mushroom.

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Royal Takin Preserve, Thimphu

31 Aug 2026
Taking a peek at the mystical takin (a goat head with a cow body)

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Traditional Medicine Hospital, Thimphu

31 Aug 2026
Visit to the traditional medicine museum, a quick overview of bhutan traditional medicine concepts by the curator, followed by a short chat with one of the doctors in the hospital.

Bhutan provides free health care for all (residents and tourists). Everyone has a choice of choosing modern or traditional treatments. Electronic patient records are shared between both branches of medical treatment.

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Farmer's Market, Thimphu

31 Aug 2026
The market has 2 stories. The top top floor is strictly Bhutanese produced only and the lower floor has a mixed of import.

Impressively clean and chilled, no haggling or touting at all.

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Buddha Dordenma, Thimphu

31 Aug 2026
How cool to find out that the main sponsor of this buddha is a Singaporean !

The inner complex was closed as they were setting up to do some repair/ restoration works. So can only use our imagination on how impressive 125,000 mini buddha statues within would be like.

The 1 time I left my jacket on the bus, it turned super windy and cold πŸ₯Ά

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Farewell till we meet again

31 Aug 2026
Keeping a record of Nadia's "song" in my blog. Too bad we did not have an opportunity to hear her perform ... πŸ˜‚

Magic Bhutan

Setting my feet on Paro’s soil
I could feel the air pure and mystical
Through valleys deep and mountains high
I met new souls following clouds in the sky

By muddy path and winding road
Together we carried a curious load
The joy of foraging, eyes to the ground
Where hidden treasures waited to be found

Baskets filled, and spirits too
With Matsutake dreams coming true
Old Temples, many stories told
Days of wonder, the world felt old

Friendships blossomed, new and free
Like mushrooms sprouting silently
So here’s to our Journey, fun and bright
To Bhutan’s destiny, mountain lined light

To our guides and their vision
Making mushrooms a shared passion
And to you, new friends, from East to West,
May we always make the best of this life’s quest πŸ’«

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Drive - Thimphu to Haa Valley

1 Sep 2026
We extended our trip by another 4 nights, heading out to explore Haa Valley. A 3+ hour drive from Thimphu.

Passing by the remaining structure of what would have been the highest longest bridge if it did not collapse during its testing 😬.

Good thing we are travelling there by the old bridge πŸ˜….

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Haa Valley

1-2 Sep 2026
The white temple and the black temple of Haa are the key attractions of this valley.

The black temple is said to be built on top of a lake and there is a door that leads down to it. Image of the mermaid is also worshipped here.

The area feels like a sleepy border town. We were practically the only folks in the streets. Place to be when you really want to disconnect from the world.

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Soednam Zingkha Heritage Home, Haa Valley

1-3 Sep 2026
I would say that this is our favourite place of this trip.

We always had a thing for the charm and smell of wooden architecture. This heritage house is more that 160+ years old, and currently operated by the 5th generation of the Soednam Zingkha family.

We were the only guest during our stay ( It was the low season or MAYBE Uygen reserved the entire place for us πŸ˜‚). Our hostess was so gentle, warm and attentive.

We enjoyed the food a lot. Everything was "farm to table",
E.g. ginger carrot soup, Japanese pears, fresh made yogurt, plum jam, potato with garlic, turnip leave with garlic, etc,

The hotstone bath was relaxing. Although we did not do the contrast bath of alternate cold / hot bath as the river was raging that day πŸ˜‚

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AA Pano Hike, Haa Valley

2 Sep 2026
Hike started with quite a clear day, but the sun did not last too long. Started raining an hour into the hike, making the trails even more muddy and slippery. That's becoming a norm.

Thankfully there is no lack of mushrooms in this area. Some magic were also found here.

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Drive - Haa Valley to Paro

3 Sep 2026
Quick stop at the viewpoint to see the 3 identical mountains which represent the 3 deities.

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Chele La Pass Hike

3 Sep 2026
This highest hike for this trip starting at 3900+ m.

Was telling myself that I would switch focus to alpine flowers for this hike, but cant help that the big rain yesterday made the entire forest floor bloom with mushrooms πŸ˜….

Didnt get a good shot of a small bird feeding a juvenile cuckoo. Caught a glimpse of a large group of blood pheasant scuttering across the forest floor.

Cold windy start at the trail head, very muddy trails, slippery rocks and several wet crossings. Rain came down half way in the trail ... but all worth it.

The hikes ends at the oldest nunnery in bhutan. We did not go up as the rain was getting heavier.

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Back to Rivervalley Hotel, Paro

3 Sep 2026
Back to the same hotel and same room where it all started for this trip.

The dogs are still on night duty ... barking all night long πŸ˜…

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Final hike for this Trip

4 Sep 2026
The plan was to hike to Chumphu Ney.
Unfortunately, the car could not get to the trail head due to a landslide.

Plan B, we decided on Ragoe Monastery. Shorter hike but more climbing 😬

Rinzin and the driver carried our packed lunch all the way up, we ended up having lunch in the caretaker's house.
Visited the 2 temples there and according to those locals, visiting Ragoe Monastery is similar in significance as tiger nest, as both temples are blessed by Guru Rinpoche, and the deity statues were made by the same sculptor at the same time.

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Flight - Paro to Singapore

5 Sep 2026

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