It should be fitting that I start the Album Blog with one of my top five countries in the world.
Bhutan is a country after my own heart - I could easily retire in one of the monasteries and spend my days in pensive circumlocution, wearing a kira and spinning a prayer-wheel.
I went at the invitation of my friend Patrizia, who is married to one of the Ministers. I flew to Calcutta to catch the Druk Air flight. Waiting in line at the airport, I was approached by the airport manager and then escorted to First Class. Hmmm... can life get any better? I thought. It did. Patrizia came to greet me on the tarmac in ceremonial garb and it just got better and better. I spent a wonderful five days with her family. I toured Thimphu and visited the Dzong at Punakha. A dzong is a fortress, built with hundreds of wooden planks joined together without a single nail and no formal architectural plan. I climbed to the top of one of the 108 Chortens (stupas) the Queen Mother had built for her son. We had tea and went dancing with royalty.
Drawing done by Patrizia's son Ugyen.
I stayed at the Yeedzin Guest House where Suresh and Purna looked after me as I were a Queen myself.
I got a personal tour of the Thimpu Dzong by the Honorable Lyonpo Ugyen Tshering.
Less than a million people live in this country where the focus is on the GNH - Gross National Happiness. The people are gentle and considerate. Traffic courtsey is in complete contrast to the chaotic each-man-for-himself mayhem on Bombay streets. Overtaking another car, one gives a short beep in acknowledgement and driver Pema would even give one each time he passed a cow.
As I left Bhutan, I was given a note by the hotel staff, which ended with:
“Lastly, I would like to say, plez madan (sic), save your journey with peace and happiness.”
No one could have expressed it better.
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