Bhutan – Land of The Thunder Dragon

In an age where most countries measure their achievement by their Gross Domestic Product, Bhutan’s fourth King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, decided to measure his countries’ success by the overall wellbeing of his people.  He thus created his now famous Gross National Happiness (GNH) index.  He believed that “unless an inward change in human consciousness and perception occurs, the mere creation of wealth and economic growth alone cannot guarantee collective human happiness”.  This approach was quite easily implemented in his kingdom for a few reasons.  Firstly, his subjects absolutely admire him and truly believe he is an enlightened and selfless ruler.  There is no other country we’ve been to so far where everyone so universally loves their leader.  They all call him wise, farsighted, and passionate about their wellbeing, and from what I can see that does actually seem to be the case.  Secondly, Bhutan is a deeply Buddhist nation, and Buddhist ideology stresses the impermanence of material things.  The notion that happiness comes from within is deeply rooted in its teachings.  We, on the other hand, are constantly bombarded by commercials that tell us happiness is measured by how big our house is or how many cars are sitting in our garage or how many Apple gadgets we have. Though I’m not saying one approach is right and another is wrong, I think it’s great that Bhutan has a different (and arguably better) take than the rest of us.   If you want to learn more about GNH, I suggest you check out www.grossnationalhappiness.com.  It’s pretty cool stuff and a completely different perspective on nation development than any other county on Earth.

I forgot to mention that the King recently did one thing that was quite unpopular with his adoring citizens.  He abdicated his throne back in 2006 at the age of 51 after ruling for 34 years.  Was it because of some scandal or some ridiculously unsuccessful war effort?  Nope.  It was because research has shown that citizens are generally happier in democracies than in Kingdoms, and he wanted to do what he thought was beneficial to the welfare of his people (from a happiness and a democratic governing standpoint).  Have you ever heard of an all-powerful King doing something like that?  Ya, me neither.

We visited the Western part of the country, staying in towns like Paro, Thimpu, and Punakha.  We hiked high up to the mystical Tigers nest monastery (pictured above) that literally clings to the side of a steep cliff, straight out of the pages of some epic movie.   Punakha has a beautiful dzong (fortress/monastery) that looks like it’s built from what mythical Himalayan legends are made of.  Bhutan even has a unique animal called the Takin.  Legend says it was created by a magical saint/monk who combined a goat with a cow (which is exactly what it looks like) when asked to perform a miracle.  Eat that Napoleon Dynamite, your Liger has nothing on a Takin.  But even with all those spectacular sights, it truly was the spiritual, humble, and peaceful aura of the people that touched us the most.

Bhutan is by no means a wealthy country; you’re not going to be seeing a Porsche dealership opening here anytime soon.  However, it also doesn’t seem like a poor country either.  The roads are all paved, infrastructure is good, cities are quite clean, and there are no signs of homelessness or extreme poverty.  Its citizens are definitely not rich, but they do seem very happy.  In fact, I don’t think we’ve seen more genuine smiles from people of all ages in any other country.  It also helps that the Bhutanese valley is strikingly gorgeous.  Add to that the beautiful, well-preserved and busy monasteries, temples, and dzongs with hundreds of red-robed monks and you’ve got an amazing place.  Driving on the road you’ll have no problems seeing archery contests (where dudes hit small targets 145 m away!) among farmers harvesting rice, you’ll see big penises painted onto the sides of houses as a sign of fertility (awesome), and you’ll see groups of children in traditional Bhutanese wear running to school.  Since it’s so isolated, the almighty tourist dollar doesn’t seem to have seriously affected the monastic way of life or the peoples view of tourists.  English is spoken amazingly well by the average citizen and they had no problem, be it monk or student or waiter, engaging us in friendly conversation.  Bhutan’s strict tourism laws, which everyone groans about, actually seem to be a very good thing now that I’ve seen the results.  For those who don’t know, in order for you to visit Bhutan, you must spend a minimum of 200USD a day per person and be on a personalized tour.  You basically have to wire the money over first to them before you can get a visa.  Though this does include hotel and food, it is still extremely pricey.  This part of our trip has hands down been the most expensive portion.  However, by forcing people to spend that much, the Bhutanese have been able to attract the type of tourist they want.  They’re typically getting the traveller that is very interested in their culture and less interested in drinking as much alcohol as they can at a hotel’s open bar (which very quickly creates a jaded general population).  Also by making it that expensive, it really limits the number of visitors coming into this tiny nation of 700 000 people so the locals really don’t get overwhelmed.

So what do we think of Bhutan?  We love it.  A lot.  It’s a truly, truly amazing place unlike anywhere else on Earth.  Much of the world believes happiness is the physiological response to a favourable stimulus, like a new big-screen TV.  Governments have thus created policies and economies which have the ultimate goal of making more money for its citizens.  Bhutan’s more humanistic (as opposed to materialistic), holistic, and spiritual approach to happiness gives it an unrivalled uniqueness among its peers.  You can definitely feel the positive effects this has had on its populace.  But as with everything, things can change.  Bhutan is still investing in economic growth as well as it does want to increase its level of development.  The younger people (who really are the future) are wearing traditional clothes less and less, and with easy access to the internet they have a larger understanding of the outside world and its many luxuries.  Bhutan has made huge investments into the education of its youth and the promotion of its culture internally.  Only time will tell if they will modernize and progress into the 21^st century while maintaining their distinctive view on what constitutes a happy society.  I’m really hoping that they can achieve their goal of socio-economic development paired with the preservation of their Buddhist and Bhutanese cultural values.  It’s a fine line to walk, but I’m highly optimistic that they can do it.