Mention the Buddhist Kingdom of Bhutan and the first idea that pops into minds is not flyfishing, but the notion of Gross National Happiness. Introduced in 1972 by Bhutan’s fourth Dragon King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, GNH is a policy built on Buddhist spiritual values—sustainable development, preservation and promotion of culture, conservation of the natural environment and the establishment of good governance. For tiny, landlocked Bhutan, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas north of India and Bangladesh, GNH was a good place to start. In 1972 the country was essentially in the Middle Ages—a land time forgot. Less than 50 years ago Bhutan had no electricity, no telephones, no cars or trucks, no postal service and only a few primitive roads. The country was poverty stricken and suffered from some of the world’s worst illiteracy and infant mortality rates. Only in 1958 was slavery finally abolished. Chasing fish for fun, in a Buddhist kingdom, did not enter into the Happiness equation.

Gross National Happiness sounds good on paper, and since emerging from its fiercely guarded, self-imposed isolation, things have changed rapidly in the Land of the Thunder Dragon. In 1973, radio broadcasting began. In 1974, the King allowed the first 287 tourists to visit. By 1999, the country lifted its ban of TV and Internet. In 2008, the fifth Dragon King, Oxford-educated Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, succeeded his father and began to move his country from an absolute, hereditary monarchy to a two-party parliamentary democracy, all the better to please the people, he said… 

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above The Jakar Dzong in central Bhutan. Dzongs were once military outposts but are now home to monks. As luck would have it, we were present as the monks prayed, changed and sang, providing insight into their fascinating and inspiring culture.