An enchanting jaunt to Bhutan

By Afshan Ahmed

“Oh …I would love to go to Bhutan.” Or “Please add in my name if you are planning to organize something in Bhutan”. These were the immediate responses I heard when I tried to seek confirmation from different resource-persons for an upcoming meeting that my organization was planning to hold in Bhutan.

I was not sure whether people  were interested to observe the fancy happiness index or they wanted to see the religious effect of Buddhism and peace. But I knew that there must be more to actually seeing  the landlocked country which does not provide everyone else an opportunity to visit it.  There was no direct flight to Bhutan and when I first heard  the name of the only airline that operates for Bhutan is  “Druke Airline”, it created a little bit of restlessness inside me.

I thought maybe it was going to be the  worst flying  experience as any passenger wishing to travel to Bhutan had no option but to fly with the sole available airline. I could immediately relate it all conditions attached when monopoly exist and what happens to customer service spirits. Since I decided to be a little more adventurous and had an urge  to be like Alice in wonderland, I decided to enjoy whatever happens and however it happens. I took a flight to Katmandu where the airport  reminds me of walls of my Khala Hawali and it shocked me when I exchanged the currency at the airport (as there was a one-night stay in Katmandu).  The Pakistani rupee devalued against the Nepali Rupee even and I started converting 500 Neplai rupee to Pakistani Rupee which I had to pay to the taxi to my hotel. In the morning, I was again at the airport .The good part of a small airport is you don’t get lost and bad part is you pray that you don’t have a long transit in any case. Five shops at the Katmandu Airport does not give you much fun time as retail therapy .

When I took a boarding pass, I never had any idea that while going to Bhutan you must ask for the left hand seat and preferably a window seat. I was informed immediately by a friendly Neplai girl who was going to Bhutan too for the second time. Soon, I came to know that I can  get the amazing sightseeing of Mount Everest which you even don’t get to see on Safari flights which operate from Katmandu. I felt great and thanked her for  saving 170 US $ on my safari flight.

I had a right hand seat but never mind…I took no second to  jump to the left hand  empty seat and became very friendly to the two Bhutanese passengers. I thought of saving something more. So I  took the opportunity of free guidelines from the two locals  while enjoying my sight viewing of  Mount Everest. While inquring about the traditional food of Buhtan, I came to know that a famous dish I would was Green chilli cury. Green chilli is cooked as a vegetable in Bhutan and not as a spice .

The flight time was approx 45 minutes and it did not give much time to actually use my brain cells to act on a critique of the airline standard. But surely the seats were nice, aircraft was clean and the cheese sandwich was fresh. The landing of aircraft made me realize why other airlines don’t operate this route. Only an experienced and very smart  pilot can land perfectly at the small runway right in the middle of a mountain valley.

I was excited when I heard that the purchase and sale of cigarettes was banned in Bhutan. Not that I was really concerned about the injurious effects of it but for a change I wanted to see the reaction of my colleagues who were chain smokers.

We landed at Piro Airport and were taken to Thimphu city which reminded me of the beautiful road to Swat. While crossing the river and driving on the bridge, I thought Swat could have the same beauty if there is zero pollution .When we were finally taken to Jambyang Resort near a small river, all I could think of is romance and beauty. It actually reveled to me the big secret that why married people like to run to Muree for their classic Pakistani honeymoons.

Since we arrived two days ahead of the meeting day, the host organization showed their generosity and cordiality. They arranged a one-day city tour for us. The city tour started by showing national memorial choten which was built by the Queen Cohten in the memory of her Royal Son. After 30 minutes, we were done with the small walk around and were taken to see the national animal  “Takin”. This animal has an interesting story regarding its birth. One of the famous Bhutanis saint wanted to show his magical power to his devotees. He demanded a cow and a sheep to eat. Then, he ate them all up and only bones were left to which he gave a new life and the new animal born was Takin which has a skin  of sheep, face of goat and body of a cow.

We got a chance to see King Place, from a distance of course, along with the Zong which is used for the administrative office of the king.  Thimphu is not a big city and you can finish your visit even in one day. You don’t feel any language barrier as almost everybody can understand English. One cannot see any electric signal and all traffic is wonderfully managed by manual systems. No car on the road appears to be in need of maintenance and people don’t honk horns.

There are so many hydro-power plants in Bhutan and yet they are so conscious about saving energy and water. Let it be a bus driver, a shopkeeper, a student, an old citizen or an official, everybody has calm facial expressions. Nobody seems in a hurry to reach somewhere at the expense of your mood. They all seems so content and take pride in their King’s philosophy to learn from the mistakes of other countries.

Bhutan has balanced modernization with its ancient culture and traditions under the guiding philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH). Rampant destruction of the environment has been avoided. The government takes great measures to preserve the nation’s traditional culture, identity and the environment.

I kept on making comparisons of what we have done to our forest, our culture and to ourselves as compare to the nation who has made 60% forest coverage area as part of its constitution, made TV available in 1990’s and launched its first new channel in 2001-2.We have so many news channels and yet we can’t understand very little.  By braining sincerity to our lives and in our individual actions and we can emerge as responsible citizens.

(The writer is a Research Associate with Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Islamabad and contributed this write-up exclusively to The Baloch Hal)