Bhutan - Wrap Up

Bhutan is a fascinating country with beautiful rugged landscapes, pretty temples, and imposing fortresses.

Temple at Palace Museum

Fortress above a temple

The country is trying hard to modernize while still keeping its cherished religious and political culture intact.  Since the 1960's it has gradually been changing with much discussion along the way about each change.  Things that really stood out to me (in no particular order) are:

• Bhutan is a great example of the 80-20 rule where 80% of the work takes 20% of the effort and the last 20% of the work takes 80% of the effort.  Constantly throughout the country you see this in their infrastructure - once it works, they seem to stop working on it.  Although a lack of money may be a partial cause - the government runs a deficit each year - I think a lot of it is the culture.  Every place, even the recently restored or newly built ones had nicks, holes in walls, crooked walls or floors, and unfinished parts.
• The hotels for foreigners try very hard (e.g. they always carry your luggage like a fancy hotel), but do things that make no sense such as putting the toilet paper dispenser behind the toilet where you have to contort yourself to get it.  The shower head to the right of the toilet is their version of a bidet. Most faucets were loose and often the shower was set up to make the entire bathroom wet instead of just the shower stall.
  
  
  
• The roads are primarily built by hand with Indian labor and only maintained if cars cannot get through (e.g. potholes, sections of road washed out are ok as long as a car get by the washed out section).  Due to the terrain, it would take the entire Bhutan GDP to fix them up to western standards.  They are very winding and steep so the speed limit is just 31mph which makes for a few days to drive the length of the country (some 360 miles). Before 1961 there were no roads and it took over a month to travel the country on foot (this route is now called the Trans Bhutan Trail).  The cross country road was completed in the late 1970's.
• The Kings have been incredibly good for the country.  The first king was crowned in 1907, the 4th in 1974.  The 4th changed the country from a strict monarchy to a constitutional monarchy (took several years of discussions) and then abdicated in favor of his son in 2006  as he realized that while Bhutan has had good kings, it could get a bad king.
• Before 1958, the country was more like 11th century Feudal Europe than a modern country.  That year the 3rd king forced large landowners to distribute their land to landless people in Bhutan.  Think about it, in the short time of 60 years or so, the Kings have taken a country like 11th century Europe and brought it into the modern age while keeping most of their culture intact.
• Today, Bhutan has complete cell phone coverage (even on the trek) and most folks pay for things via an app on the cell phone. Unfortunately, they also have some of the addictions that come along with cell phones according the the guide. 
• In the 17th century, the unifier of Bhutan, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel, created a set of guidelines called Driglam Namzha that cover behavior, dress, and architecture which is still followed today.  For example, the men's gho and women's kira clothing that must be worn when working with tourists, working in offices, going to school, etc.  He also set up the idea of co-equal, but separate religious and political branches of government.
• Tourism started in 1974 as a lot of dignitaries attended the 4th King's coronation so they had to create hotels and restaurants. Afterwards, since they had the hotels and restaurants, they started tourism where each tourist pays a daily fee (for us was $100/pp/day) which helps pay for education and healthcare throughout the country.
• There are no chain stores.  Any business must be owned by a Bhutanese and any foreign investments must be turned over to the Bhutanese owner after 35 years.  So no Starbucks, Amazon, etc.  A side effect is that Bhutanese have very limited access to things that we all take for granted.  If a local store does not have something, then no way they can get it unless a family member working outside the country sends it to them.
• The food is very hot and spicy.  Most of the time the guide and driver ate separately from us as the food we ate was way to bland for them.  So the hotels and restaurants for foreigners all produce special food.  The guide would often bring us a small bowl of his food and it was very hot.  
• The big project of the current king is Gelephu Mindfulness City in South Central Bhutan. He is trying out several modern ideas (automated cars, new airport transfer point like Dubai, healthcare, technology, etc).  It is set up with a completely separate government to try out new ideas.
• The guide grew up in a small village in South Central Bhutan - wood heat, had to bring water in by buckets from a creek, subsistence living, etc.  He went to boarding school at age 6 as there were no schools in his village and eventually ended up as a guide.  Most schools teach in English as the native Dzongkha language was not standardized until 1971 and there are not enough textbooks or teachers of the native language.
• The guide's 2 brothers work in Europe while his sister stayed local and has two kids.  The sad thing is that her kids speak mostly English and speak very little Dzongkha and can barely communicate with their grandparents.  Only a few generations difference and not even immigrants to a different country.
• Bhutanese do not kill anything so there are cows and dogs everywhere.  The dogs sleep during the day and bark all night (Sawako had a very hard time sleeping).  They do not even ship cows to India for slaughter even though they happily import lots of meat from India.
• Bhutan is a Buddhist country, but really do not care what religion you practice.  As long as you do not try to convince people of your religion you are free to practice it.
• You really need cash (remember they are just a few decades from a barter system).  Even though cell phones work well, credit card machines were really hit or miss.
• A good guide like ours is worth their weight in gold.  He made several changes to the itinerary to make the trip more enjoyable for us along with making sure the food and hotels were ok.

  

  
  

Finally, ignore all weather forecasts on western sites.  Every single site I checked had change of rain chance for every day of the trip ranging from 58 - 99%.  In reality we had a rain a few nights and only one afternoon for a little bit that did not change our trip plans.