Travelogue: Bhutan: It’s a small world after all

We rode up and down, but almost never on flat. Many climbs went on for 15 or more miles. Most remarkable was a descent more than 30 miles in length — it took so long that it was the first time I’ve developed an appetite riding downhill.

We encountered a great many Buddhist shrines called stupas. Stupas come in a wide variety of sizes. One is supposed to circle a stupa three times to show devotion, pay tribute, cultivate one’s mind, and accumulate merit. We did it to honor the tradition. It was also sort of fun.

The people we met were kind, mindful and on some level Buddhist. As our primary guide Spring explained, he lives by Buddhist principles but is not religious. Another guide who lives by Buddhist principles, Tashi, smoked cigarettes in secret. The smell of stale smoke on his clothes betrayed him.

Our meals were good, simple, and followed a theme for lunch and dinner.

The staples were rice, fresh and perfectly steamed vegetables, pumpkin or squash soup, dumplings, some sort of meat, chili cheese and watermelon for dessert. Chili cheese is what it sounds like: A cheese sauce filled with lots of chilies. The chilies range from pretty hot to really damn hot.

Most interesting were some of the underlying complexities in this otherwise peaceful, spiritual place. Bhutan is a unique country. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it is landlocked with China to its north and India to its South. Known as the Druk Yul or the Land of the Thunder Dragon, it is a place of yin and yang, a balance of opposite but complementary forces.

The government of Bhutan is led by descendants of Ugyen Wangchuck. In 1907, after a period of civil war that his side won, Wangchuck was unanimously chosen by selected Buddhist monks to serve as the country’s monarch. The family remains in power today. The Wangchucks, beloved by the people, have transformed the government from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary form of government. The Wangchucks later helped create a constitution that protects both the parliamentary government and the environment.

One environmental protection is that it is unlawful to climb more than 6,000 meters. That’s just shy of 20,000 feet. As a result, Gangkhar Puensum, Bhutan’s tallest mountain at 24,480 feet, is the highest unclimbed peak in the world.

The balance of spirituality, monarchy and electoral politics is demonstrated by the national flag. A very simplified interpretation is this: A white thunder dragon is equally spread between a balance of yellow and orange. The dragon represents power and awareness of things we cannot see. The yellow represents civil tradition: The government. The orange stands for Buddhist spirituality: The people.

The jewels in the dragon’s claws represent perfection and wealth.

Animals in Bhutan also enjoy governmental protection. It is unlawful to kill an animal. Dogs — friendly, happy dogs — are everywhere. They don’t beg too much, are quite responsive to being told to “knock it off,” but are readily available for offerings and clean-up duty.

As the self-proclaimed happiest country on earth, the Bhutanese government employs a Gross National Happiness (GNH) Index. The GNH is based on nine categories, including such things as health, education, and community vitality. Within the nine categories are a total of 33 considerations. Community vitality, for example, is calculated based on donations of time and money, and the quality of community relationships, family and safety.

Keeping score, Bhutan is a country where the environment is constitutionally protected, a beloved monarchy is balanced by an elected government, the people’s perception of the quality of life is regularly calculated and considered; they are nice to animals, and they live in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Shangri-La? In many ways, yes. In some ways, like anywhere else on earth, no. Here are a few wrinkles that echo issues faced by other nations, including our own.  

In the 1980s, the government established a policy of “One Nation, One People.” It was intended to nationalize the country. The policy promoted singularity in language, dress, and culture.

There was a slight problem. Bhutan, like most other nations, contains more than “one people.” Specifically at issue here were the Lhotshampa, Nepalese speakers in southern Bhutan. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, there were violent clashes between Bhutanese government forces and this Nepali ethnic minority. Ultimately, more than 100,000 people ended up in ethnic camps in Nepal. Many were later relocated around the world.

There is a more recent variant of this. We saw a lot of construction and road work, where the workers did not appear to be Bhutanese. Spring explained that is because they are from India. Indian nationals work in Bhutan under limited duration “guest worker” visas. We were told that the India workforce is willing to do jobs that Bhutanese nationals decline. Many locals hold out for government jobs with retirement benefits.

The contradictions include the treatment of animals. While Bhutanese animals are protected, some type of meat was available at all our meals. The workaround is importing meat products from India and China. An outsourcing of guilt? The trade-off is that the quality is poor.

What then is the takeaway from these substantial dichotomies between principles and realities? As a travel mate and I discussed, it boils down to a simple fact. Notwithstanding the differences in culture, politics, food, scenery, architecture and cities, wherever you go, in the end, people are people. Yes, it is a small world after all.

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Paul Crowley lives in Hood River. More photos from this Travelogue are available to view online at columbiagorgenews.com.