Despite the attractions in Nepal, it’d be a shame to be here for 2 years and not escape to one of the most remote countries in the world – Bhutan. On the long 4th of July weekend, we took the short flight to a place that is often described as having one foot in the 19th century, and the other in the 21st…
Mari-chan loved all the animals, and was ready to take the express tiger ride up to the Tiger’s Nest Monastery, just like Guru Rinpoche did all those years ago (just check wikipedia for the reference…)
(it was a bit rainy and we made it up about 1/2 way up to the monastery, but was a little too cloudy for photos…if only’d we could have taken the tiger…)
Even snuck in a little golf on what has to be one of the highest golf courses in the world
and my caddy even said I was the best golfer he’d ever seen (and the first golfer he’d ever seen actually…)
For me, it was great to see the Tibetan alphabet on all the signs above the stores
Plus lots of great old wooden buildings, and pictures of the Charles & Diana like King & Queen
As a country, they are way into archery (the national sport) and a bit strict on the dress code (required to wear the robe almost always) but overall a country trying to maintain its tradition while embracing the world (and keeping some distance from its two giant neighbors)
As a bonus, even saw Mt Everest from the plane!
Finally, some of my work has involved Bhutanese living in Nepal, which you can read about here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/29/opinion/bhutan-is-no-shangri-la.html?pagewanted=all
and we were also there as the country was preparing for their 2nd ever elections!
http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/15/experiments-with-democracy-in-bhutan/
but the best part of the trip was that little Mari-chan will now sometimes ask after I come home from work: “Did papa go to Bhutan?” Certainly not something I was thinking when I was her age.
