Chances are good you’ll never get to Bhutan. Which is too bad, actually, as one of us was there on a recent trip with her travel buddy, and absolutely loved it. It’s not the Meandering Minimalists’ usual style of travel, not by a long shot. But it was certainly worth it! And by worth it we are thinking of the fact that visitors to Bhutan must travel with and pay for a guide, and must also pay a sustainable development fee of US$100 per day (less if you are from India), both of which are on top of the actual trip costs. All of which can get fairly pricey fairly quickly. So why bother?
Well, for starters, this democratic constitutional monarchy is the happiest place on earth. (You maybe thought it was an amusement park in Florida? Hah!) Where other countries measure Gross National Product, the people of Bhutan measure Gross National Happiness. The visionary fourth king of Bhutan put in place a long-term plan, which focuses, in part, on sustainability and responsible tourism over the long haul. What does that look like on the ground? For one thing, Bhutan was the first carbon-negative country in the world. And its constitution mandates that at least 60% of the country remain forested.
Or, to take another example, although its mountains are nearly as high as the famous ones in Nepal and Tibet, there is no mountain climbing. Why? Because the people who live on the mountains, which are sacred, don’t like the idea of tourists on them. No problem, said the king, there shall be no tourists there. Which means that Bhutan contains the highest unclimbed mountain in the world, Gangkhar Puensum.
Bhutan, then, has a different perspective on things. And it’s beautiful, too, as you can tell from these gorgeous shots, with enormous biological diversity and interesting national architecture and dress. Then there are the people. Friendly, curious, generous, thoughtful, religious, and very, very patriotic. Also, mostly wearing traditional national dress (see last picture). Is this a gimmick? Yes, almost certainly. But it’s a good one! Our guide met us at the airport and explained that, since we were spending all of the following eight days together, we were family now. ‘You are like my mothers’, he said. We’d been hoping big sister or maybe cool aunt, but fair enough: he is in his twenties, after all.
Bhutan is a Buddhist country (ca. 80% of the population, with 10% Hindu), and there are shrines and temples everywhere, full of pilgrims. And on the street, just about everyone stops to turn a prayer wheel to ‘make merit’, or recites the compassion mantra throughout the day.
Bhutanese history is packed with wise men and monks, and the mythical is woven throughout the historical in a way that is a little confusing for outsiders, but utterly charming. For instance, it’s clear that local deities are thought to play an important role in even recent events. And reincarnations of bodhisattvas are credited with finishing the tasks of their ancestors. (A great way to accomplish more, incidentally…)
Being off the beaten track not only means fewer tourists, it also means that Bhutan was never colonised by the west. And that gives the place a rather lost-in-time air. As does the fact that television and the internet only came to Bhutan in 1999. There are no railways, though there is an awful lot of wind – which is put to good use in the sale of hydroelectric power to Bhutan’s neighbours.
We wouldn’t be the Meandering Minimalists if we didn’t devote at least a little space to the food of Bhutan. Which was great, but SPICY. Ema datse is the national dish, and it consists of chilis and cheese. Not cheese and chilis: think a bowl of spicy peppers with a bit of cheese tossed on top. This is served at pretty much every meal, along with lots and lots of rice (ideally, Bhutanese red rice) and several curry-like meat and vegetable dishes.
Butter tea is another Himalayan delicacy, which is just what it sounds like: salted butter in tea. This is, as you can imagine, an acquired taste – which we did not, alas, manage to acquire. This is also the category into which fall the dried and fermented cheese blocks, readily available in roadside stands. Momos, on the other hand, the Himalayan dumplings, were always warmly welcomed. Good thing too, as they are everywhere!
If you have heard of Bhutan at all, it is probably because of the Tiger’s Nest Monastery, which seems as though it ought to be the lair for a Bond villain or at least to have a chase scene set there. Apparently, though, it hasn’t (there’s that lack of exploitative capitalism again…). See its list of famous visitors, though. Among which is now one of us.
Other highlights of the trip were visiting many monasteries, meditating with monks, witnessing a tiger dance, hoisting prayer flags on the top of a mountain, taking a hot stone bath, visiting sanctuaries for takin (the national animal of Bhutan) and black-necked cranes, staying with a local family, loads of walking, including across a suspension bridge, learning a little Dzongkha (the national language), and watching Bhutanese men enjoy the national sport of archery.
Honestly? It was mostly highlights. And (this is not a sponsored post!) that was entirely thanks to Green Heart Bhutan tours and our guide and driver, who regularly went over the top in looking after us. Presumably lots of tour companies in Bhutan are good. But we didn’t see anyone else’s guides hustling around to make us tea on the top of a mountain, and then give us chairs to sit in. So, in the end, we really did feel like family!
