How This Homestay Became A Favourite Part of My Paro Visit

I think they call it 'homestay' because some places truly have the 'Coming Home To' feel.

Bhutan was a bliss. There seems to be no better way to describe it from my end. It was a few days on the road, discovering delicious local food that won my heart and staying in affordable and yet charming properties. While my Bhutan stories will continue soon, today I simply wanted to share one that would narrate how a place I was resting my head became such an important aspect of my visit.

No doubt, every hotel, every hostel I have stayed in has got me my own stories. Where we stay becomes an important part of our trip. But for the very first time, in a very true sense I felt at home.

The place I am talking about is Ama's Village Lodge in Paro.

A quaint looking place that we found on Booking.com and decided to book it since it seemed to fit our budget and requirements. But the day we reached there and found this wooden cottage, traditional, charming, surrounded by greenery, and puppies. It won my heart in an instant. The room we got was small and cute. Basic.

When we met Ama, I exchanged a quick glance with my friend and we realised that we are going to need to be friends with her. Because in the first 10 minutes itself, it was clear that she had a story of her own, but also soooo many more to share with the people that she meets. She told us in the next 10 minutes that we will get simple meals if we wanted (that turned out to be the kind that would make us more at home) and that she makes her own mulled wine and cider in the 5 minutes that followed.

I knew that after moving about throughout the day and especialllly after the Tiger's Nest trek... wait, did I mention that we also chose Ama's since it was closer to Tiger's Nest?

If not, just for that, here is a picture of one of the, if not THE, most amazing experience of my average life.

Coming back to the point, we needed a place that we would want to come back to. Something that is... comfortable.

And Ama made sure that it was.

Some things that might help :)

We paid INR 1200 (approx) a night, we were 2 people

The place was clean and the food was home cooked (in front of us) and cheap.

The wine was delicious and worth a little more because when you get friendly with someone you want something that you can remember, so if you do visit, do carry empty bottles :)

Ama also runs a property (practically next door) called Rimphu Heritage. We had booked a hotel in town and it was a disaster but Ama rescued us :) She even cooked us chicken curry rice that was, well fuel for the soul. 

BTW if you are a single traveling girl (or even two girls like in our case) you are likely to meet uncles and aunties who will ask you questions around the lines  - 'hawwww, you are alone?' 

To them, the best response sometimes is just a smile. 

Right?

My Bhutan Highlights On The Gram: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17979474070286809/