PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT

“It’s quite a busy place,” remarked our guide Ugyen the first time we were in Thimphu. Four days ago, the city seemed rather provincial but passing it on our way back to Paro after visiting Punakha, I understood why. To the casual observer, Bhutan may look like a place stuck in the past. While there are pockets of underdevelopment, it is, in many ways, one of the most progressive and civilised places on earth. It is the first country in the world to completely ban smoking and the use of plastic bags, and the only nation to measure success in terms of gross national happiness, a metric that is not only holistic but visionary. Although nestled between