A virtual tour of the Land of the Thunder Dragon with serial traveler Moshe Klein

Photos: Moshe Klein, AP images, Personal archives

I’d venture to say that few readers of this magazine have ever heard of Bhutan, a landlocked eastern Himalayan kingdom.

Also known as the Land of the Thunder Dragon because of the severe thunderstorms that can sweep the area, Bhutan deals in extremes. It has no traffic lights and no indoor heating, despite the fact that winter temperatures can dip below freezing. It had no television or Internet until 1999, and its main airport is reputed to be one of the world’s most dangerous. It is the only carbon-negative country in the world, and every single one of its citizens marks their birthday on the exact same day.

Given those realities, is it any surprise that serial traveler Moshe Klein found himself drawn to Bhutan?

And while some might be put off by Bhutan’s hefty daily tourist fee and the obligation to sign the kingdom’s pledge of friendship, these only added to the tiny country’s allure. Just weeks after Succos last year, the 29-year-old Satmar chassid from Williamsburg, New York, and his wife Esther boarded their Drukair flight from Nepal to Bhutan.

Inspired by his personal mission to document lesser-known Jewish communities, especially those that are on the verge of disappearing, Klein made his first foray into the world of serious travel seven years ago, with a pre-Abraham Accords trip to Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. By the beginning of last fall, he had already been to 89 countries, with visits to better-known locales offset by trips to Iraq, Ethiopia, and Djibouti. Typically, the Kleins had been averaging trips three times annually, but with an extensive bucket list of countries to cover, last year they decided to take some time off from their jobs, spending seven months on a 24-country trip.

As in previous jaunts, the itinerary blended locations that offer conveniences for the Jewish traveler, like Hong Kong and European countries, with others that are considerably more challenging, like Myanmar, Eritrea, and Turkmenistan. Klein, who often lectures about his travels, is the first to admit that staying in a place with zero Jewish infrastructure isn’t easy, especially on Shabbos, and that sometimes you just want to see another heimish face.

“If we’re coming from New York, we bring along tuna, crackers, and energy bars, and if not, we live on what we get — fruits, vegetables, and preparing whatever we can in a small pan,” he says. “Sometimes we catch fish, but I did lose 15 pounds in some of the more hard-core places we visited.”

Bhutan was the fourth stop on Klein’s post-Succos itinerary, which had him heading from the United Arab Emirates to Nepal, one of the few places with direct flights to Bhutan.

Obtaining permission to enter the kingdom is a multistep process in which prospective visitors need to affirm their commitment to respecting Bhutan’s holy sites, preserving the country’s peace, and leaving its wild spaces, flora, and fauna in pristine condition. Bhutan’s daily Sustainable Development Fee — priced at $200 at the time of Klein’s visit, but recently halved to $100 — is mandatory for every visiting adult, and has tourists subsidizing the free health care, education, and vocational training that is offered to all citizens. The collected monies also help support the kingdom’s infrastructure, environmental preservation, and conservation initiatives, as well as its tourism and hospitality industry.