Traveling to Bhutan the Happiest Country in the World 2020!!

I went on my second solo trip this month to visit the small country squeezed between the two most populated countries on the planet the place is phased with lots of Saronic pressure and so with an open mind and loss of questions then my 72-hour trip to the magical country of Bhutan begin.

The possibility of vulnerability . Welcome to Bhutan. All right it’s gotta be the most beautiful airport I’ve ever seen in my life . What and even the friking conveyor belts or our luggage is beautiful . So the thing about Bhutan is that you’re not allowed to come here without an official tour guide assigned to you . Then they hook you up with hotels visas transportation which means that I have a guide waiting for me out there .

Bhutan is the happiest country in the world !!!

This is beautiful I’m super excited to explore and learn about how Bhutan is apparently the happiest country in the world . The main goal for today is to turn the first Bhutanese vlogger here you go . it’s your turn first what are we doing right now we’re going in a Buddha statue is one of the largest sitting with a in the water . It’s a 210 feet statue .

After exploring a few more iconic places in Bhutan I felt amazed by the scenery . Yet I still had so many unanswered questions why do some call this place the happiest country ? how does their society differ from any other place in the world and just as these questions came to mind my friend Kevin who we had met in Thailand last year heard that I was in Bhutan and had a connection to the perfect man to answer all of this the ex prime minister of Bhutan .

Trying to find out why this country has a weird obsession with penises ?

So funnily enough before beginning the hour-long drive over to his house to interview him I was walking over to go get him a gift. I noticed something strange I just went on a quick little walk and as I’m walking around I’m slowly starting to notice that this country has a weird obsession with penises . There’s a lot of different go because I’ve been like kind of seeing it. I was like I got a penis on his house and then kind of like not really think about it .

Now as I’ve been walking around I’m noticing this is not a coincidence or a one-off situation people in Bhutan really like penises , okay . so I have to ask them because I want to make sure I get that story uncomfort what’s the deal with all the penises on all the houses ? Does anybody find it funny or is it always just seeing that it’s part of the culture ?

So we were about to go meet the ex prime minister of Bhutan and we need to bring him a gift . I can’t believe he’s just like such a juxta position next to all of these really Buddha statues and then there’s just a whole bunch of I don’t know. if I’m confident enough to bring up penis as a gift you know I’m saying which one would you recommend to heaven. That’s pretty nice yeah we’ll do that . Wanna read my Bali Blog Too ? 

Finally sit down with the ex Prime Minister talking about Bhutan . 

So alright now we get around and so after getting the gift so we drove an hour to finally sit down with the ex Prime Minister . Then firstly thank you so much for agreeing to do this on such a the last second notice . I just want to start by asking you for somebody who doesn’t know the basics of the gross happiness income.

Then he told me that’s not an actual happiness is basically a development philosophy that acknowledges that economic growth is important . But that economic growth must have been mindless. It should also be sustainable environmentally sustainable and it also should be equally spread throughout society. Until recently Bhutan was the only country in the world that’s carbon neutral okay and now Suriname is also carbon neutral so the two countries .

But I mean did we have 195 countries in the world today and to have two countries and that to two small countries just two countries that a carbon neutral is not acceptable . In Bhutan we see Quester about three times more carbon dioxide than we emit as a nation traditional economists would have advised His Majesty the King to harvest the forests. Yet he didn’t and all I can say is that he was way ahead of his times so some people say Bhutan is one of the happiest countries in the world .

Being a outsider would you agree with that statement ?

You feel like that’s just like a something Outsiders say but Bhutan would you agree with that statement yes it’s something that Outsiders say because they’ve heard about the development philosophy of gross national happiness and there’s a misunderstanding. People have just concluded that this must be the happiest country life okay and yes you may have been interested. I admire a lot and They smile They smile from the depths of our soul .

You know who’s to say that we are the happiest people there are many kind societies and some societies may be happier yet which ought to be happy also because the conditions of happiness are available in free health care free education . I mean a natural environment is the rule of law justice these are all in place what does Bhutan .

Do that you think other countries could easily implement if there is something that we can share is the importance of leadership the world knows the importance of leadership. Absolutely no doubt but we have enjoyed the blessings of enlightened leaders whether it is a monasteries or whether it’s a wildlife whether it is a hot dog mountains that are still unclaimed. Yeah all of them ultimately it’s because of enlightened leadership so we are a small country tucked away in the Himalayas stand with  between two huge Giants yet our culture is intact our spirituality is intact economy is growing gradually but sustainable. 

And all of this because of enlightened kings there’s a lot of young people in the world that are anxious are  depressed . What do you think the world can learn about Putin’s happiness ?  I guess making happiness a priority firstly. Youth all over the world are anxious what needs you die anxious . That I  am anxious but what makes it worse is because we are so connected now.

Earlier you are isolated in your own village organization came and then that now like you’re not near cocoon now too much information too much emotions . They’re trying to create a platform for people to be able to connect because he think connection is a big reason. Because we think we’re connected because we’re on our phone yeah , but we’re not actually having the real connection in real life. Yeah their goal soon is to build an app that can allow people to just go out and connect and find activities to do to gather right .

I think the world will learn a lot from their wisdom and I’m so grateful to have had time in Bhutan. I’m so grateful that PMs wisdom thank you very much .He was such a kind and wise and generous human being .

Beginning the hike to Tiger’s Nest. 

I’m blown away . all the way up there we’re hiking straight up like I’m a mountain pretty much okay . Then we beginning the hike to Tiger’s Nest which is apparently one of the most holy places in all of Bhutan . But also apparently in all of Buddhism the second Buddha was the one that popularized and spread Buddhism all over Asia. Spent three years three months and three days meditating in the cave that’s built right next to the temple .

I was out of breath through barely started we’re super high up in elevation and we’re about to go even higher is that it . we’re climbing one two thousand one hundred meter Wow . where’s this guy coming from someone lost a horse lol, is that’s pretty funny horse was trying to do the hike on its own . Today we’re about to peek over the hill we’re gonna get a solid first glance apparently in Buddhism culture.

When you go hiking you wash away your sins good for the house good for the body good for the soul ah . we were getting so close look at this thing there’s just something in the air. It’s like very hard to describe but all of a sudden my heart just dropped oh my god this place is magical . For the last little stretch you cannot bring any technology with us you know a lot to film inside they consider them very holy places and they want to preserve them you have to put on pants seams to put on a shirt to cover your arms .

That spiritual moments ……..

I’m so excited to go see what this place we just got out of Tiger’s Nest and I just had one of the most intense spiritual moments.  I’ve ever experienced the moment we’re closed my eyes and my grandpa passed away around this time of the year about four years ago . I just had a moment where I felt like he was here and I felt like would have loved experiencing this moment with me somewhere on here he did .

There’s something about this place that just recently so uncontrollably emotional it felt like the sound was muffled Romney I was just so in a ….. we and taken by the scenery and the beauty of this place extremely grateful right now experience this moment after  pending three days in Bhutan. I was blown away by what I’d learned . 

What did i learned ? 

I also think it’s safe to say that I only scratched the surface of understanding how this country truly operates there’s a surprising combination of cultural political and ecological factors. That allows Bhutan to exist the way it does our people there the happiest . Well I’m not sure but what has given them that reputation in the past is this dedication to value the populations and the environments overall well-being over blindly chasing financial gain .

That’s the main learning lesson that I took away from this trip that Bhutan’s harmonious strategy between business and nature and unwillingness . The   promised the health of its environment is what’s allowed them to flourish the way they have . So as we think of our nature re moving forward maybe we should all keep a little bit of Bhutan in our hearts we’ll see you  next week I just want to end this vlog by giving a shout out to our friends and beautiful destinations who provided us with some of the drone footage and b-roll . They made a Bhutan it’s absolutely incredible and a hundred percent worth visiting.