Finding a Sense of Belonging in a Himalayan Valley

A writer revisits their childhood home in Bhutan's Haa Valley, now on lists of 25 'must-visit' destinations for 2025

- Teja Lele

As an eight-year-old, I recall having to convince another child I was playing with in Hubli, Karnataka, that I lived in Haa. Fiddlesticks and fairytales, he said, for there's no such place. I agreed with him about the fairytale aspect. Life in the quaint Bhutanese hamlet was idyllic: running in green meadows, climbing up small hills and loping along Haa Chu, the river that ran behind our house.

Haa, which translates to "the hidden valley of rice," is one of the 20 dzongkhag, or districts, of Bhutan. The second least populated dzongkhag in the country after Gasa, the isolated Haa district largely remains off the tourist map as travelers typically land in Paro and head to Thimphu, Punakha and lately, Bumthang.

My childhood connection with Haa, which has been opened to international visitors only in the last 20 years, was because of my father's posting to Indian Military Training Team (IMTRAT), an Indian Army mission responsible for the training of Royal Bhutan Army and Royal Bodyguard of Bhutan personnel.

I returned to Bhutan recently, keen to go back in time and discover whether my childhood utopia lived up to my memories. I asked for a seat on the left side of the aircraft, supposedly the best place to see the descent into Paro, a landing so tricky that only 50 pilots are qualified for it. It was thrilling to see the plane find firm footing on the short runway between two 18,000-foot peaks.