HAPPYTOGETHER
archy, and abdicate the throne to his son, the crown prince Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck. In light of the country’ s rising tourist numbers and increasingly steady clop into the 21st century, I went to find out if Bhutan really was a wonderland of the happiest people and most pristine landscapes on Earth— and if so, whether that could possibly last.
Never colonized and largely isolated from the world until the mid- 20th century, Bhutan, a Himalayan Buddhist kingdom half the size of Indiana and located south of Tibet, is still, in some ways, a stronghold of centuries-old traditions, customs, and beliefs that seem deliciously romantic to busy, overindulged Westerners like myself. With a population of fewer than 800,000, the country is home to more than 2,000 monasteries and tens of thousands of monks who practice Mahayana Buddhism. Many villages are still only reachable by tiny, snaking footpaths through the mountains, and more than three quarters of the population still relies on the land for subsistence.
This quotidian life passes in front of a backdrop of wild and beautiful landscapes, including 20 peaks over 23,000 feet. More than 70 percent of the country is covered in forest and more than a third of the land is federally protected. The government places a premium on cultural and environmental preservation through the governing concept of Gross National Happiness. Instead of considering the impact of legislation on the economy, the king considers the impact on the culture and environment. The results of this seemingly impossible fairyland approach to government are real world policies, like the minimization of timber extraction to save the forests for future generations.
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Prayer flags send written messages to the heavens( top); a detail from a colorful mural( right). y own journey started with the notoriously precarious flight into the country that only a handful of pilots are qualified to make. After my pilot casually mentioned that we could see Everest and Kangchenjunga, the third-tallest mountain in the world, from the left side of the plane, he banked hard, stomach-testing turns, navigated tight valleys as our wings barely missed the steep mountainsides, and descended with gusto before skidding to the very end of the minute airstrip, delicately positioned on what seems like the only patch of flat land in the country. We were in the province of Paro, in western Bhutan.
Because there are so few roads and services in Bhutan, my itinerary, out of necessity, was pretty much the same as most tourists’. I traveled from Paro to Thimpu, the capital city, to the beautiful lowland valley of Punakha, which is garnished with a spectacular dzong, and through the
monasteries and highlands of central Bhutan before backtracking. My small ad-hoc group included another solo traveler, Enrique, a Spanish trekking guide who was preparing for a group trip he plans to offer in April, and two Bhutanese guides, Chencho and Dorje Phuntsho, from Bae-Yul Excursions, the requisite tour service I hired.
No matter how wide and far a person may have traveled, it’ s nearly impossible for anyone to resist Bhutan’ s trance, brought on mostly by the intense spirituality infused in every aspect of life. I was no exception. Before setting off for Thimpu, I visited Taktshang Goemba—“ Tiger’ s Nest”— a monastery hanging off a cliff that requires a long, breathstealing uphill hike. Bhutanese believe that Guru Rinpoche, the eighth-century religious figure who brought Buddhism to Bhutan, flew to the perch on a tiger and meditated there for three months. To me, the idea of building a monastery on this precarious spot seemed downright harebrained at first, but after I received holy water from quiet monks in front of golden Buddhas, then ogled the view from the small balcony, it seemed unmistakably obvious. Amid only the breezes, sunshine, and views of unmarred forests and mountains, this was a singularly perfect place for spiritual practices of any ilk.
A few days later, I began the 35-mile trek to Thimpu on the Druk Path, which Phuntsho said his grandparents had traveled on horseback before the road between Paro and Thimpu was built. Most visitors travel this leg by car, so I only saw two other hikers over the course of four days. Soon, though, the Department of Tourism plans to transform the Druk Path into a community-based trek. Such treks will be aimed at dispersing visitors around the country and throughout the year( nearly half of all international visitors currently arrive in March and April), and will benefit remote villages by allowing the local people to offer camping, cooking, entertainment, and handicrafts. In November 2006, the first communitybased trek, Nabji Korphu, in the central Bumthang region, officially opened to visitors. Best hiked in winter, when temperatures are mild, it leads through the low, tropical broadleaf forests of Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park, inhabited by endangered golden langurs and rufous-necked hornbills, and scattered with tiny mountain hamlets. Money from the visitors who trek the seven-day route goes to projects like building irrigation ditches, renovating monasteries, and organizing community events and festivals.
42 | Feb / Mar / 07 plentymag. com