Arriving at the airport in Paro, I was sad to end my time in Bhutan. I feel I barely skimmed the surface of this intriguing country. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my time there and was blown away with the experiences I had. My guide and driver were fantastic and the three of us got along great. We managed to play snooker and table tennis together, which the Bhutanese are fiercely addicted to and had some great laughs, as well. The scenery, architecture and sights were mind blowing and the people I met were very warm and generous.
I guess, for me, the difficulty with traveling to a country like Bhutan is it's mandatory for foreigners to be on an organized tour. Everything has to be planned and mapped out months in advance. All your fees, plane tickets and payments must me paid in full and only then the government will issue a visa which you receive on arrival. I don't typically do well on "tours" and really like to be in control of where I want to wander off to and how long I want to spend somewhere. This isn't really possible in Bhutan as the schedule needs to be followed, although there is a little latitude here and there. The fees a foreigner must pay to be in the country are incredibly expensive and are rising as of February, 2012. As of then it will cost $250 US/day per person to enter the country, not including your plane tickets. This gets you your accommodation, 3 meals a day, entrance to all sights, guide and driver. Not your typical backpacker holiday destination where in a lot of countries you can live for $30-40 US/day quite easily. This is also where the fees start. There's gorgeous 5 star resorts where one can drop up to $1400 a night and that doesn't include the $250/day/person.
A lot of the time I felt like I was being controlled as to where I could and couldn't go. Was this to keep me from seeing something I wasn't supposed to see or to keep the locals away from seeing me and my western influence? I really hope it was the latter. The expensive fees one has to pay are also a deterrent to keeping too many people from coming to visit.
From all the reading and research I did, the government is really trying to keep western influences at bay and fighting to retain the true Bhutanese cultures. I saw mobile phones, internet, televisions and the like everywhere and the majority of people are dressed in blue jeans and sneakers. However, you did see people still dressed in their traditional attire, the 'Kira' for women and the 'Gao' for men. The traditional dress is mandatory to enter anywhere that a Bhutanese flag is flying out front of. Buddhism is the lifeblood here and you see it everywhere. It's one part of the culture I can safely say will never be lost.
This is a country where 'Gross National Happiness' is more important than 'Gross Domestic Product' and it's one of the things Bhutan is famous for in the western world. Other than that most couldn't find this tiny country on a map. Democracy only came to Bhutan in 2008 when the monarchy declared they would set up an elected government. The people were outraged as their beloved King is who they admire and want to rule their kingdom. I questioned my guide quite a lot on the mindset of the people here. He assured me that they unfailingly love their King, their new government and the general state of the country. Although many are extremely leery of their neighbour to the south, India. It's a country where a social welfare system has been in place for 170 years, established by the first King and those who are less fortunate can ask the monarchy for financial assistance. The environment is more important than profit and a system is in place to ensure a minimum of 70% of forests remains at all times. There's free health care, medicine and education available to every citizen of the country, even those in the most remote villages although some still live without electricity and running water.
I found this country to be mysterious, intriguing and contradictory in so many ways. I want to be more than a tourist who's being ushered from sight to sight. To be able to dig deeper and not just skim the surface of this tiny kingdom will be a challenge but it's a challenge I'd like to return to. There's not many countries that I want to return to but this is one of them. I told my guide and driver that the highest compliment I could give them was that I wanted to return to their country and see more.
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