Bhutan - The Most Romantic Place on Earth
If Tibet was a surprise, Bhutan was a love fest. Literally, the most popular monarch on the face of the earth was about to marry his true love and his country of 300,000 subjects were about to burst out of their skin with happiness. This, being the land where they measure their nation’s “Gross National Happiness” as well as their Gross National Profit, was no small matter.
Straight out of central casting and hollywood plot lines, this Asian Cary Grant had defied tradition and chosen a commoner to be his bride. To introduce her to his subjects they had taken off on a pre-wedding journey across the country that lasted months. They traveling by car, horseback and foot to reach as many of the far off, isolated hamlets as they could, sleeping in tents and eating in the kitchens of their humble hosts. By the end of their trip this gorgeous, well educated modern girl was as beloved by the people as their king.
Straight out of central casting and hollywood plot lines, this Asian Cary Grant had defied tradition and chosen a commoner to be his bride. To introduce her to his subjects they had taken off on a pre-wedding journey across the country that lasted months. They traveling by car, horseback and foot to reach as many of the far off, isolated hamlets as they could, sleeping in tents and eating in the kitchens of their humble hosts. By the end of their trip this gorgeous, well educated modern girl was as beloved by the people as their king.
The only other place I have been to that is like Bhutan is Burma, now known as Myanmar. They are both like walking into a photo from the 19th century, The land, the houses, the outfits haven’t changed in a hundred, maybe 600 years. But unlike Burma, or, for that matter Tibet, the Bhutanese are free to elect their own government, practice their own religion and have a free press.
Bhutan is the calmest country I have ever visited. I don’t know if this is because of Buddhism or the overwhelming number of monks leavening the population or simply because it is still so rural and pastural. I know we were there during a special time so I assume this is as crowded as it ever gets which would make it normally even more calm and quiet. Nowhere did we see anybody getting upset or angry in public. If a vendor wanted to get your attention instead of getting in your face or pestering you, he or she would simply gesture to the wares, and if you kept moving, well, that was that. All the children spoke excellent english and were super polite. The monks of course oozed confidence and serenity. In fact, the funniest thing about the monks was how crazy they were about Miriam and Leontine. Everywhere we went, they wanted to take their photo with the girls. It was very sweet.
To be fair, it is also a slightly wacky country. After all, the most famous monk in this place is one who so regularly displayed his penis that now little wooden penises are sold as charms and painted on the sides of houses. Yes, those figures on the side of the door are exactly what you think they are.
Practically every single temple is built on top of some Ogress or Demon who was magically subdued by a powerful Lama, sometimes by changing into a lion form, sometimes an eagle. The most famous temple in Bhutan has an underground cave where the tiger the lama flew in was supposedly kept till they rode off together again. Another monk walked into, under and out of a river holding a lighted butter lamp. A sense of drama and strong imagination is very close to the surface here.
After we left Bhutan we saw the movie Travelers and Magicians which was filmed there. It is so Bhutanese. In the end the protagonist realizes that love, friends and family are more important than glitz and money. But it is a warning also as many comments are made about how “young people today” are no longer interested in the Tsechus and festivals of the Dzongs. We stopped at the spot they filmed a crucial scene. They had left behind a prayer in which all the actors, directors and movie workers are asking to be freed from the need to be admired and “wanting to be known”. I think that could only happen on this set.
Some practical things about Bhutan - get used to buffets, breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is pretty much the same food everywhere and the national dish of cheesy chili was way too hot for any of us but it is a great place to be a vegetarian. I think it was the best vegetable dishes I have ever had besides India. Yes, the roads are bad, but nowhere near as bad as Nepal or India since they co-operate when trying to pass each other on narrow roads.
Drivers keep to one side of the road and don’t speed or use the horn except when actually needed. Nonetheless, it takes a long time to drive between one village stopping point and the next. The kids got a lot of homework done on those 7-9 hour drives! They could read, do math and grammar workbooks and write their blogs on the computer. The only thing they couldn’t do was write in their journals since it was too bumpy.
Drivers keep to one side of the road and don’t speed or use the horn except when actually needed. Nonetheless, it takes a long time to drive between one village stopping point and the next. The kids got a lot of homework done on those 7-9 hour drives! They could read, do math and grammar workbooks and write their blogs on the computer. The only thing they couldn’t do was write in their journals since it was too bumpy.
The long and short of it is - we fell in love with Bhutan and the Bhutanese people. The whole country is a shining example of what humanity could be if we just listened to each other and thought about what was really important.I hope we caught a little of that country's magic and can bring it home with us.
