In Quest Of: Happiness in Bhutan

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BHUTAN – When I was offered a trip to Bhutan in return for writing about it, I was secretly overjoyed.

 

I am not a spender and I hate planning holidays. A trip to a bucket-list destination in a cooler clime sounded like manna from heaven in these days of insane heat and inflation.

 

Except that I am not feeling it at Changi Airport at 1.30am on a Friday in June.

 

I am by myself, adrift in a sea of families, couples and groups of friends chatting among themselves.

 

Going by how there are nearly 120 of us on this six-day Chan Brothers tour, revenge travel is still going strong.

 

A similar Bhutan tour, featuring Singapore-based Malaysian actor Chen Hanwei, returns the day we depart.

 

I am an introvert and I suspect I have RSP – Resting Sad Face. But the plan is to enjoy myself on this (working) holiday and possibly learn from the Himalayan kingdom whose name is synonymous with happiness.

 

In short, I am on a quest for happiness.

 

There is a lesson in patience even before any of us set foot on the Land of the Thunder Dragon. We wait three hours on the tarmac of India’s Bagdogra Airport before the skies clear for our plane to land in Bhutan.

 

I glance out of the window and practise looking on the bright side – I have never been to India and now I have, in this glancing way.

 

Two kids, feeling bored in the economy section, troop over to the business-class cabin to see how their granny, who has been upgraded to the seat next to mine, is doing.

 

The girl exclaims: “Ah ma, you have a new friend!”

 

This should have been my cue to smile and engage in friendly banter. But, alas, my face is frozen and my mouth will not open. 

 

Instead, I pick up the menu card and read it like I am studying for an examination.

 

My pursuit of happiness is getting off to a good start.

 

Happiness is a place on earth?

 

Our plane flies over wispy clouds, mountains, paddy fields and a woman walking her dog before coming down to earth at Paro Airport.

 

My fellow holidaymakers and I step onto the runway in our best autumn looks and are soon swirling around with open arms like Julie Andrews in The Sound Of Music (1965).

 

Our sense of joy may have arisen simply from being on higher ground – 2,200m above sea level. 

 

Bhutan, with its clouds and mountains, is sometimes called the Switzerland of Asia.

 

More than 60 per cent of Bhutan is forested, making it one of only a few countries that is carbon-negative, taking in more carbon than it emits. 

 

It is a breeze getting through the small but spotless airport. The King of Bhutan watches over us from a photo up high. Are those smiling immigration officers I see?

 

We need not even wait for our suitcases. The roads in Bhutan are good for only small vehicles, so our luggage is towed separately while we clamber onto minibuses.

 

Paro is a pretty town with a river flowing through it. We pass by rice fields and houses built in traditional Bhutanese style, with elaborate timber window frames.

 

Our first stop is a place of bliss – specifically, marital bliss for Hong Kong stars Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Carina Lau, who posed for wedding photos in 2008 here at Rinpung Dzong, an imposing fortress in Paro that is also called Paro Dzong. 

 

Talk of happiness crops up frequently.

 

“Eat well, sleep well, and you are on your way to happiness,” is one of the many nuggets of wisdom our guide, Mr Rinzin Dorji, 31, freely dispenses. 

 

Over six days, my bus companions and I pepper him with all kinds of questions, from how many kids local couples tend to have to Bhutan’s ties with its neighbours.

 

Learning about the culture of another country is also a kind of happiness.

 

Bhutan is hardly rich in the economic sense and has only about 800,000 people. But it is famous for taking the pursuit of happiness very seriously, favouring Gross National Happiness over Gross National Product.

 

Its global image is very positive – some say over-glamorised. It has been called a Shangri-La, mystical and even the happiest land on earth.

 

It is easy to forget that it wrestles with challenges just like any other country, as suggested by roadside anti-drug messages or threats of fines for littering. 

 

Like many others, Bhutan is also trying to get its tourism groove back.

 

Tourist arrivals for 2023 are projected to be only about a quarter of what they were in 2019, before the pandemic.

 

Visitors may be keeping away from Bhutan as well, after the kingdom raised its sustainable development fee for tourists from US$65 (S$86) to US$200 a day when it reopened in 2022. 

 

In response, Bhutan announced a fee reduction for longer-staying tourists in June 2023, effective till the end of 2024.

 

Tourists paying four days of fees can stay another four days, while those paying for 12 days can stay for a full month. 

 

Despite facing its share of challenges, Bhutan enjoys a relaxed pace of life that is a welcome departure from the aggressive haste often seen in Singapore.

 

As we wait to check into the Le Meridien hotel one afternoon, there are some sharp looks and impatient noises when there is a bottleneck in the distribution of room cards and a small mix-up over suitcases.  

 

Someone urges patience: “We’re here to be happy.”

 

Knock, knock on Tiger’s Nest

 

I am not all that happy after my first day in Bhutan.

 

Fitting in is a challenge no matter how old you get. I text a friend to lament that I am like a transfer student in an American high-school comedy, carrying a food tray around in the cafeteria and worrying about where to sit.

 

She does not say it, but is likely finding it hard to imagine me in a high-school comedy. And she is probably thinking: “It’s a free trip, count your blessings.” 

 

The next day is a fresh start. My mood is lifted when my tour leader helps me take a picture before I start my hike to the famous Taktsang Lhakhang, or Tiger’s Nest Monastery, and my legs look long in it.

 

When you look good, you feel good.

 

At the foot of the mountains, under an overcast sky, I take the first of 19,000 steps on the hike to and from Tiger’s Nest Monastery, which is in Paro. Some giddy up on horses.

 

Grasping a wooden walking stick, I feel like a pugilist on a quest to reach a sacred site.

 

Too bad that I cannot leap over the trees or ride on a mystical tiger the way that Guru Rinpoche, the “patron saint” of Tiger’s Nest, was said to have done.

 

I fancy that my fitness level has gone from F9 to F45, but when uncles and aunties my parents’ age start overtaking me, I feel the air going out of my inflated ego.

 

I jest – about the ego, not the overtaking.

 

Anyway, I do not want to get ahead of myself and court altitude sickness. I take it easy, alternately overtaking and being overtaken.

 

I am buoyed by exercise endorphins, mountain air and an easy camaraderie with people who shout, “S***! Watch out!”, when they see horse dung.

 

B, whose name I find out later, is possibly the best person to be walking in tandem with. She has a smile or kind word for everyone and I am energised by her positivity. 

 

Two hours pass before I finally get a glimpse of Tiger’s Nest Monastery, which hangs off the side of a granite cliff – the postcard image of Bhutan.

 

The sky darkens and it starts to rain. Green moss dangles like long beards over fir trees as the monastery vanishes into the rising mist.

 

The rain makes our arrivals more heroic, but my photos are a washout. 

 

Before we enter the Tiger’s Nest, we learn to let go – of our valuables and mobile phones. Bags have to be surrendered. Photography is forbidden inside all the temples we visit, which makes it easier to focus on the here and now.

 

Intimate places carved out of cliffs; the wafting of incense, clouds and mist – I am beyond happy. I feel like I have ascended to the celestial realm.

 

Simple pleasures

 

The day after the hike, we are bussed from Paro to Thimphu.

 

Bhutan’s capital city feels like a boom town. Bamboo-scaffolded building sites have popped up everywhere and congestion rears its ugly head on the roads.

 

On the bus, the woman behind me raises her head and asks: “Are you travelling alone?”

 

I feel like I have been busted for a crime against humanity, but she and her two friends just want to invite me to join their table at meals. Their kindness makes me happier for the rest of the trip.

 

While I have lone-wolf tendencies, I appreciate the safety of the pack – I mean, package tour.

 

Certainly, happiness is built on the basis of security.

 

Bhutan’s dzongs, or fortresses, have played a role in fostering peace and security by repelling attacks from the likes of the Tibetans. Built on elevated ground and featuring a watchtower, they usually house both monastic and government offices.

 

Mr Dorji tells us about Trashi Chho Dzong, the seat of government, which was rebuilt in the 1960s by Bhutan’s third king.

 

His Majesty, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, is credited with getting Bhutan admitted to the United Nations, buttressing its independence.

 

“If we were not independent, we would not have been happy,” Mr Dorji says wisely.

 

We get to the fortress in time to catch the lowering of the Bhutan flag. Civil servants are knocking off from work even as busloads of tourists arrive.

 

Travelling in a herd has its quirks. The first thing we do when we get to a destination is make a beeline for the washroom. At the hulking Trashi Chho Dzong, it means a deep dive into its bowels. 

 

On a package tour, do not expect much of meals, which are designed to fill tummies quickly so guests can go through many attractions. 

 

These include the Motithang Takin Preserve, which we visit for a glimpse of Bhutan’s stocky national animal, the takin, which looks like a cross between a cow and a goat.

 

The buffet meals – mainly Indian and Bhutanese dishes, plus Chinese and Thai – are nothing to shout about, but many say they are not fussy (“simplicity is bliss”) and the vegetarians are happy to see a wide selection of greens. 

 

I find the food acceptable, but the queues stressful. Imagine standing in the buffet line carrying a heavy ceramic plate and watching the person in front of you dawdle while the impatient person behind you pokes you in the ribs.

 

Hungry people are not happy people.  

 

Once, when Mr Dorji asks about the Bhutanese meal we just had, there is silence. He laughs and commends us for our honesty.

 

Ema datshi – chilli stir-fried with cubes of cheese – is definitely an acquired taste. Other Bhutanese staples such as red-grain rice, buckwheat pancakes and potato stews are palatable but, you know, carbs – not too much, please.

 

Joy means not taking things to heart.

 

It is also found in simple pleasures, such as enjoying mango ice cream after crossing the Punakha Suspension Bridge on a hot day.

 

A happy ending

 

On the last day, our buses drop us off in Paro for souvenir shopping.

 

I take 10 minutes to buy just two lemongrass air sprays and spend the rest of my time at Mountain Cafe, where I bump into B and her friends from another bus. I am thankful when she buys me a latte.

 

I confirm that what makes me happy is coffee – or, better still, free coffee. Okay, hanging out with kind people is a close second. 

 

On the flight home, many of us are cheerful.

 

My friendly seatmate, S, who has retired after years of working in Hong Kong, offers me the use of her phone charger, pithy observations about Hong Kong and fried garlic from Bhutan.

 

I help myself to the snack and ask for my wine glass to be topped up.

 

Several Singaporean passengers in business class also exchange knowing smiles over the VIP in our midst – not the young Singapore celebrity travelling with her mother, but a boyish Bhutanese royal in a black gho robe.

 

Match-make the celebrity and the royal, and we might get free holidays in Bhutan, someone jokes.

 

Alas, His Royal Highness changes seat to join his bodyguards in the economy section. No matter – the bonhomie in business class is unaffected.

 

Two women with matching outfits and hairstyles – who hardly touch their chicken steak – say they became bosom pals and travel mates only in their 50s.

 

The man across the aisle, who, like me, had ordered the Veg Totshey with Jasha Maru, smiles at me. We congratulate ourselves on forgoing the familiar options for our yummy Bhutanese rice dish with chicken stew. 

 

In front, an elderly woman clasps the arms of a fellow passenger warmly, exchanging pleasantries and affectionate smiles. She seems to have thoroughly enjoyed the trip, though she cannot walk for long and had to sit out some activities.

 

I started my trip to Bhutan grumpy, but this is a happy ending.

 

I do not expect to live happily ever after, but I leave the Happiness Kingdom with a big smile as my souvenir.

 

Getting there

 

Fly direct from Singapore to Bhutan on Chan Brothers Travel’s exclusive chartered flight by Drukair – Royal Bhutan Airlines, with departures on Dec 10 and 16.

 

Book now to enjoy $400 off a package for two. Conditions apply. To find out more, call Chan Brothers Travel on 6212-9679, e-mail asia-ecom@chanbrothers.com.sg, WhatsApp 9247-0688 or go to 01-12 Fook Hai Building, 150 South Bridge Road. 

 

• The writer was hosted by Chan Brothers Travel.
• In Quest Of is a series on the joy of niche exploration.

 

 

Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Reproduced with permission.

 

 

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