back from travels
We got back from a trip to Bhutan, Cambodia and Thailand just before Thanksgiving. Bhutan was a pretty amazing country.It was striking in several ways: for a relatively small and poor country, there really wasn't the levels of destitution and begging that I have seen in other third world countries. Even the back village farmers were living in very well put together houses that were pretty spacious and clean. In two weeks we only encountered two beggars (both at the same locale.) And the places and trappings of the monarchy were not over the top resplendent. Here was a monarchy that had actually lived the idea of nobless oblige and it showed. When there was a military action to be taken in 2003 against Indian insurgents who were using southern Bhutan as a refuge, the king and his son lead the troops from in front. Which is a pretty amazing thing if you're a medieval king, but leading a contingent of modern riflemen? And then this monarchy decided that to ensure long term happiness and prosperity for their subjects that they should become a democracy. The people didn't really like the idea, they loved their king... so the king went around to every village in Bhutan to explain to them why it was in their own best interests for them to become a constitutional democracy, and so this country held its first elections in this year.
Their guiding philosophy of governance is one of pursuing Gross National Happiness instead of Gross National Product. So policies are decided with what will bring the most long term happiness to the populace. Smoking tobacco is outlawed. Logging is kept minimalized. People are required to wear the traditional Bhutanese outfits to work. Tourism is limited to about 30,000 people a year. The internet was only allowed in in 1998. Cell phones in 2005. They don't allow people to climb their highest mountains because they consider them the homes of the gods, so they forego the money that climbers would bring in. So they're trying to modernize, but do so in a thoughtful way that won't too disrupt their way of life. It may be an ultimately futile battle, but they're doing their best.
8th-13th century Bhutan was often in conflict with Tibet and there are many stories of some leader fleeing regime change in Tibet and fleeing to Bhutan and taking artifacts with him and then the Tibetans want to get them back. So the Tibetan and Bhutanese cultures are very reflective of each other. Bhutan practices a very Tibetan flavored Bhuddism and the place is lousy with prayer flags and prayer wheels. It is still very heavily forested and very clean. Several people said it was like an unspoiled Nepal. It is definitely a place to check out if you get a chance... I sort of wonder if it is like the glacier on Kilimanjaro, that you'd be better off seeing it sooner than later as the place that it is may soon no longer exist? Also, as a pleasant side note, English is their second language there, so many people understand English, and the dollar is a pretty widely acceptable currency.So I wholeheartedly recommend traveling to Bhutan if you get a chance.
Cambodia was not nearly as nice of a destination. The temples at Angor Wat are definitely worth seeing, the night market at Siem Reap was interesting (especially seeing the fish pedicure stand!), the floating village of Tonle Sap was fascinating, and at Phenom Phen S-21 and the Killing Fields are good to have seen, if not enjoyable to have seen. I didn't much care for Phenom Phen, though there are some sights worth seeing. Of course I was getting a bit more tired of travel by that point.
The last bit of excitement was escaping Bangkok airport by about an hour before the P.A.D. stormed it and trapped hundreds of thousands of tourists there. So, gave us that extra glad to be home feeling.
Their guiding philosophy of governance is one of pursuing Gross National Happiness instead of Gross National Product. So policies are decided with what will bring the most long term happiness to the populace. Smoking tobacco is outlawed. Logging is kept minimalized. People are required to wear the traditional Bhutanese outfits to work. Tourism is limited to about 30,000 people a year. The internet was only allowed in in 1998. Cell phones in 2005. They don't allow people to climb their highest mountains because they consider them the homes of the gods, so they forego the money that climbers would bring in. So they're trying to modernize, but do so in a thoughtful way that won't too disrupt their way of life. It may be an ultimately futile battle, but they're doing their best.
8th-13th century Bhutan was often in conflict with Tibet and there are many stories of some leader fleeing regime change in Tibet and fleeing to Bhutan and taking artifacts with him and then the Tibetans want to get them back. So the Tibetan and Bhutanese cultures are very reflective of each other. Bhutan practices a very Tibetan flavored Bhuddism and the place is lousy with prayer flags and prayer wheels. It is still very heavily forested and very clean. Several people said it was like an unspoiled Nepal. It is definitely a place to check out if you get a chance... I sort of wonder if it is like the glacier on Kilimanjaro, that you'd be better off seeing it sooner than later as the place that it is may soon no longer exist? Also, as a pleasant side note, English is their second language there, so many people understand English, and the dollar is a pretty widely acceptable currency.So I wholeheartedly recommend traveling to Bhutan if you get a chance.
Cambodia was not nearly as nice of a destination. The temples at Angor Wat are definitely worth seeing, the night market at Siem Reap was interesting (especially seeing the fish pedicure stand!), the floating village of Tonle Sap was fascinating, and at Phenom Phen S-21 and the Killing Fields are good to have seen, if not enjoyable to have seen. I didn't much care for Phenom Phen, though there are some sights worth seeing. Of course I was getting a bit more tired of travel by that point.
The last bit of excitement was escaping Bangkok airport by about an hour before the P.A.D. stormed it and trapped hundreds of thousands of tourists there. So, gave us that extra glad to be home feeling.