Bhutan is a mountainous country sandwiched between two of Asia’s and the world’s biggest super powers: China and India. Unlike many other Asian nations, Bhutan managed to escape a history of colonialism and has one of the youngest monarchies in the world. A Buddhist country, Bhutan very recently began the process of modernization and only became a democracy in 2008. In less than 30 years, the country went from the bamboo pen to Internet, from a complete monarchy to a democracy. Needless to say, it is a fascinating nation.
It is easy to become smitten with Bhutan. Virginal landscapes, hospitable people, and Buddhism. It is a land of happiness. Or at least that is what my snack box on the plane ride over had told me. “Bhutan: Happiness Is a Place.” Bhutan is the land of Gross National Happiness (GNH). This means the government measures its success and prosperity off of the happiness of its people, not the money that is being spent or exchanging hands. GNH has four pillars: 1. Sustainable development, 2 Environmental conservation, 3. Preservation and promotion of cultural values, and 4. Good governance. It is an interesting way to run a country and even the UN is looking into it as a viable means to measure success. Nonetheless, during my travels, I am quickly finding there is no perfect way to run a country. While trying to measure success by the citizen’s happiness is admirable, I am not sure if these four pillars actually do it or even if happiness is something that can be quantified.
Happiness has become the way the country markets itself, and it works. For a country with a population of about 700,000, there are quite a few tourists pouring into Bhutan. Tourism, however, is not cheap. It costs 200 dollars a day for a tourist visa, basic accommodations, and meals. If you want anything fancier or more, it costs more money. Since a trip costs so much, Bhutan attracts a crowd that is largely over 60 with money to spare. One day I asked an older tourist at a temple why she had decided to come to Bhutan. She told me, “It is just special. It is special. You can feel it.”
What I liked about Bhutan though was not the one-dimensional happiness the tourist companies advertised. Since I was able to explore a large portion of the country and build relationships with college students my own age, the Bhutan I saw felt real. People had problems. People had worries. They were not 100% happy all the time, and I liked Bhutan better for this. It was a lovely country. One I would go back to if I had 200 dollars a day to spend.And on that note, let me explain my lack of blog posts this past month. I often did not have Internet and never had fast Internet. Thus, writing posts fell to the wayside when sending a single email took sometimes around an hour. Now that I am back in Kathmandu, I am hoping to get back to my blogging and may even try to post a photo or two.
