Pursuit of Happiness in Bhutan (Thimphu)
A few days ago, my wife and I visited Bhutan. Inspired by Eric Weiner’s ‘Geography of Bliss’, we set out to explore the nation known for it’s ‘Gross National Happiness’, Tiger’s Nest and Buddhist monks.
Following are few of the images from that trip and some of the stories around those images.
^^ One of the places we visited on the last day of our stay in Thimpu is the Thimpu Dzong. Coincidentally, there was a festival called ‘Drupchen’ which was happening in the Dzong and hence the place was packed with many local people and foreign tourists. The local people in the Thimphu Dzong were dressed in special festival clothes and were keen in participating in the festival. We could barely eke out a place to watch the traditional dance from close quarters once we were inside.
Dzongs were once the religious power houses when Bhutan struggled against the TIbetan army to create a Bhutanese identity. They also served as forts during times of war. Now they are administrative offices. The prime minister works from the Thimphu Dzong.
^^ That we had to pay 300 rupees for the ticket for each of us was forgotten once we started watching the traditional Bhutanese dance in the dzong. We would have watched the traditional dance for about 2 hours or so. Then we thought ‘these guys keep making the same swiveling moves’, got bored and left the dzong.
^^ Earlier we visited the bus stand at Thimphu to book a bus from Paro to Thimphu. The bus stand is right next to a bridge over the Thimpu Chu river. Btw buses are the most affordable way to travel from Paro to Thimphu. Cab drivers can charge you anywhere from 200 rupees (locals pay this much) to 1200 rupees (if you are a foreigner)
^^ Everywhere you go in Bhutan, you will find the photographs of the King and the Queen. In shops, in hotels, in cafes, in dzongs, they are everywhere. I heard that the current king is called as the ‘handsome king’ and that he is an affable, down to earth person who likes interacting with the youth. We also learnt that the people of Bhutan adore their kings so much, that they initially didn’t like the idea of democracy proposed by the king in 2008. Bhutan is now a democratic, constitutional monarchy.
^^ This is one thing which is unique to Bhutan. They consider the phallus/ penis symbol as a lucky sign. Hence you can see them in memorabilia shops, in front of some homes, in stamps, etc.
^^Thimphu is filled with government buildings. This is one such Government building. It’s called the ‘bank of banks’. A bank like the RBI. BTW the currency used in Bhutan is called the ‘Ngultrum’; It has the same value as INR and we kept using both INR and Ng.
^^ Bhutanese love their chillies. On our first day at Thimphu, we went to a local Bhutanese restaurant and had some ‘Ema Datshi’ and red rice. We had been warned by our friends about the chillymania that might hit us in Bhutan. The ‘Ema Datshi’ was the first in a series of chilly + cheese which we got served in the following days. Soon we learnt the fine art of separating the cheese in it and managed to stay away from any major — Thimphu version of Delhi Belly.
^^ One of the first places we visited in Thimphu was this huge Buddha statue called as the ‘Buddha Point’. And luckily for us, we had a student named ‘Tenzin’ accompany us at Buddha Point and take us through the history of the place.
^^ The cab driver who took us to the ‘Buddha Point’ had a strange red colored device in his hand. I got curious and asked him what it was. He told us that it was for counting the number of times he had said a Buddhist mantra — a digital version of a prayer bead. And by the time we finished the ride he had said his chants a whopping 1559 times. Talk about meditating while driving in a city road.
^^ One of the first experiences we had was the taste of mystical Hinayana Buddhism in Memorial Chorten, a prominent location in Thimphu. There were Buddhist chantings and people were walking around the place briskly. We too went around the temple once and then took a traditional bow in front of the temple.
^^ Opposite to our hotel was the Clock Tower in Thimphu.
In the next part of my blog series about our Bhutan travel, i will write about our experiences in Paro, the mighty trek up to Tiger’s Nest and our sighting of the Mount Everest on our way back from Paro airport.
You can see the second part of this story about my travel experience in Paro, Bhutan here.
N.B.: If you had noticed in these images, Bhutan has majority of it’s land covered in forest. About this and more, here’s Bhutan’s Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay talking about Bhutan’s environment conservation initiatives at the TED stage.
