Bhutan, Happiest Place on Earth?

In my post Tiger's Nest in Paro, Bhutan,  a reader asked, "So is Bhutan the happiest place on earth? In the Geography of Bliss it leaves one eager to find out!"

I loved this 60 minutes show on Bhutan and the pursuit of happiness and think it answers some of the question and gives a nice glimpse of Bhutan and the vast changes going on there now. Don't miss it!

This photo was taken while my husband and 10 year old child climbed to the top of the Tiger's Nest with our beautiful-hearted  guide. I toured nearby areas with our sweet driver that I will write about soon.  We don't usually travel with a guide and driver, but they were a truly wonderful part of our journey.

I snapped this top photo spontaneously and candidly as our driver came upon  a friend on our trek and they stopped to chat. I think you can see how the happiness shines out from them in this simple every day moment.




Our driver and guide taught us much about Bhutan, Buddhism and happiness.

We spent a lot of time with this driver and our guide, two wonderful Bhutanese young men ( both fathers of young children) and we were deeply  touched by their ferocious devotion to their religion and how that resulting compassion and kindness spilled out and affected everything they did.

Is Bhutan the happiest place on earth? I don't know, but the people we met were special and I think the whole world could learn a lot from the Bhutanese and their wise king who said "Gross national happiness is more important that gross national product".

More posts about Bhutan:

Travel To Bhutan

Family Vacation in Bhutan?

Bhutan Vacation - Facts and Myths

Comments

[Lori - The Unframed World]

It's great that you could meet two nice people like that. I'm sure it was wonderful to have the insight of locals =)

[Dan Thompson]

Awesome! Bhutan is extremely high on my list of places I need to go to soon. Thanks for sharing.

Dan

[Jeanne @soultravelers3]

Lori- We met lots of wonderful people in Bhutan, but the nature of travel there means one spends a lot of time with one's guide and driver.

There is just one road in Bhutan ( they have only had that since 1961!) and after the 2 main cities in the west, the road becomes a VERY primitive mountain road where travel is very slow, so you end up becoming very close through conversations and visiting places together.

We feel very honored to have this time with these two very special men.

[Jeanne @soultravelers3]

Thanks Dan, you will love Bhutan as there is no where else like it. Give yourself plenty of time there as it takes a long time to get anywhere due to the infrastructure. I wish we had had more time.

Study up on it before going so you can make up your own itinerary on exactly what you want to see and do.