Day 336a: Paro - Bangkok

Mar 5 - Up early for our lonely breakfast in this silent hotel. Feeling down, as Bhutan was as enjoyable as I had hoped but now its over and we must return to the world of traffic and crowds.

A great deal has been said about Bhutan by visitors, and I cannot think of any who have left with any significant criticisms. The country has been able to so tightly control much about who visits, that those who make it here either don’t have to care about the cost, or (like us) who wring as much as they possibly can out of the experience. Granted, there isn’t much not to like, people do exude quiet happiness.

While here I felt like I so wanted Bhutan to succeed, in terms of being able to continue offering its people such continuity and lasting tradition. And it isn’t as though it is a Luddite paradise. Bhutan has linked with India in creating digital connectivity across many of the towns and villages. Last week, the current king’s son, Prince Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck, became Bhutan’s first digital citizen.

At the same time, I so do NOT want to see Bhutan be only a rich person’s playground. I saw one visitor family with two young children during our visit, otherwise the demographic was old and wealthy. I recently read an article about tourism in Thailand, where the government was debating how they might ‘filter’ types of tourists to only get ‘the right groups’ and weed out the others. The criteria were clear enough, relating directly to the expected level of spending. And of course, the only way to prove spending is that the tourist demonstrates, before entering the country, that they have already made hotel and tour reservations of a certain monetary level. So a soft Bhutan-style approach.