Bhutan is a small landlocked country perched high up in the Himalayas between China to the North and India to the South. Even though it looks absolutely tiny on a map, in reality, Bhutan is a similar size to Switzerland.
Bhutan is a truly surprising country - just look at its pristine medieval architecture, its bizarre-looking takins (or gnu goat), the fact it has over 12,000 monks and nuns and the fact that TV and internet were banned in Bhutan up until 1999.
The government of Bhutan has implemented some really unusual policies. For the nation only opened its doors to tourism in the 1970s and any foreigner who enters Bhutan must pay a $250 / day to the government. The only exceptions are people from India, Bangladesh or the Maldives. To be fair this $250-a-day fee does include three meals each day, accommodation, a guide and internal transport. They’ll even throw in camping equipment if you ask nicely.
Another eyebrow-raising policy is the Bhutan government’s focus on “Gross National Happiness Index" as opposed to any other measure of success.
Sadly though, Bhutan has not been entirely successful in this goal. It actually ranks 95th out of 156 countries in the 2019 World Happiness Report. However, this is largely due to the nation's poverty, and the challenges of bringing economic and social equity to a society that is still predominately agricultural.
Due to its Himalayan location, Bhutan is very mountainous. Gangkhar Puensum is the highest mountain in Bhutan and is also the highest unclimbed peak in the world.
Bhutan has also used the mountains to its advantage as most of the country is powered by hydroelectric power and this also accounts for around 40% of Bhutan’s exports. This makes Bhutan the only country in the world where its largest export is renewable energy.
In fact, Bhutan is the only carbon sink nation on the planet, trapping more carbon in its 70% forest cover than it emits.
Countries like Bhutan are the reason I’m doing this virtual journey - prior to today I’d only ever heard of it in passing, but it’s now somewhere I definitely want to visit one day. One day Bhutan I will visit and be mesmerised by your spectacular scenery, impressive architecture and hospitable people. Oh and momos! I’m definitely going to eat a ton of momos.
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