Page 51 - BHUTAN 2007

attendance at the festivities and wished me well too. A memorable birthday
indeed—another testament to the warmth of these fine folk.

Kelzang used some wonderfully droll and unexpected forms of English

during his many talks with us, as he explained what we were seeing, gave us

more history of the country, or just chatted with us. In describing the cows

we saw returning from the fields to the houses without human leaders, he

called them “punctual cows.” At every river confluence, we would see
stupas and chortens and shrines. Bhutanese people apparently believe that

demons and evil spirits inhabit such geographical sites and use the religious

shrines to ward off their bad influences. He labeled these river confluences

“inauspicious.” While we traveled the big highway, he offered that it is

courteous that drivers “sound their honk” at curves and other potential road
hazards. When relating a story of Guru Rinpoche’s conquering demons in

the land, he added that this devil was particularly “hard to crack down.” We

enjoyed Kelzang’s stories and his history lessons not least because of the

colorful English he used.

IS BHUTAN MEETING ITS FOUR “HAPPINESS” GOALS?

th
The 4 king set down these 4 pillars for the attainment of a high degree of

societal happiness. The first pillar is the promotion of equitable and
sustainable socio-economic development. Everywhere we visited in the

country we saw much evidence of the attainment of this goal. We saw

excellent hotels already established for promotion of a healthy tourist

business. We observed the work on infrastructure primarily road

improvements. We saw thriving businesses, both large and small, in villages
and cities. We saw prosperous farms with healthy and well-fed citizens. We

saw plentiful goods in the stores and shops. We saw foreign investment in

the country, in the form of a Japanese car assembly plant and a soft drink

manufacturer. We saw the reach of globalization when we visited a DHL

outlet in the capital city where we sent some unneeded items home easily