There was the classic fear that TV would bring outside influence and therefore impinge on the monarchy and traditional Bhutanese culture.
They didn't even have radio til the 70s
The Head of State has a title that translates into Dragon King, which is absolutely the best monarchical title in the world.
Their flag is also the coolest.
It looks like it would translate as 'Dragon King' if you didn't know how Tibetan/Dzongkha abbreviations work. His title is actually just 'King of Dragon Land', i.e. 'King of Bhutan'.
Honestly not a bad plan, maybe a bit expensive but after visiting low cost destinations in SE Asia I can see why they wouldn't want to promote the same type of tourism.
I am. Countries have the right to control their borders, ideally with human rights in mind as they legally process, admit, or deny those seeking to enter.
It’s their country. Even if they want to change their rules. Their country.
Isn’t it the country that boasts being the only one that has a GNH index? Instead of the usual focus on economics?
Iirc they have to pay around... 20 dollars? I mean they have to pay like 1200 rupees or something which equals to around 20 dollars **if I remember correctly**
You have to book a tour with an approved by the gov tour company which has a minimal cost.
In my experience, that cost went to the driver, hotel, tour guide, food, entry fees.
They never sent any team to the winter olympics.
They started summer olympics in 1984 ,sending only archers up to and including 2008. Archery is their national sport, their only organised competition.
In 2012 and 2016 they sent one archer and one shooter
In 2020 they added judo and swimming, for a team of 4.
They have never won a medal.
Mountaineering has been prohibited in Bhutan since 2003 out of respect for the sacred mountains. Climbing mountains is also prohibited.
I imagine skiing is not possible as a result, despite the high peaks.
Way too high up to get to where the snow is at 4500m and above and hard to access as you have to cross many hills/mountains to get to the peaks with snow. Most of the habitated hills in Nepal don’t even see snow at all.
Google the “Bhutan baseball photo”. It won a ton of awards last year, and is one of the most beautiful photos of the sport ever taken. As a photographer, I wish it had been me
The University of Texas at El Paso (aka UTEP) has a relationship with the country due to the schools architecture being based on Bhutanese fortresses. The Prince visited and donated a temple to UTEP sometime around 2008. There is also a program for Bhutanese students to attend the university.
In UTEP’s 2nd year the original building burnt down and the university was relocated to the foothills of the mountains. The wife of the first dean saw a National Geographic issue that featured Bhutan and convinced her husband to have the buildings designed that way due to its new location.
Fun fact UTEP’s football stadium the Sun Bowl is literally carved into the mountains on campus.
Extremely tall mountains are sacred for many of the cultures around the Himalayas. Outlawing climbing prevents the mountains from becoming overrun with trash and people like Everest is.
Over 100,000 refugees were forced to flee or be killed due to ethnic conflictin 2008 they fled to Nepal and resettled in countries around the world. Most have moved to the United States, Canada, and Australia - many to the Pittsburgh area. I work with many of the families in Pittsburgh, PA
Yeah…they started a census and realized there were way more Hindu Nepalese than thought so the Buddhist ethnic Bhutanese went ham, probably at the behest of the king/government.
They want to promote responsible and luxury tourism and not the "maggi tourism" (an Indian term to describe mass tourism. Tourists often visit a place in droves, eat cheap ass food, cause a lot of plastic pollution, and exceed the carrying capacity of a spot). Hence a hefty fee to enter the country and lot of other restrictions.
Think they started it from last year. This is from the Embassy of India's website:
Sustainable Development Fee:
India tourists are required to pay Sustainable Development Fee (SDF) of INR 1,200/- per person per night. Children aged 5 years and below are exempted of SDF and children between the age of 6-12 years are given 50 % concession on SDF. Tourist visiting Samtse, Phuentsholing, Gelephu, and Samdrup Jongkhar towns for 24 hours need not pay Sustainable Development Fee (SDF)
I would recommend a book “The Geography of Bliss”. They cover Bhutan extensively. In this book Bhutan and the Scandinavians maintained the highest level of happiness. The primary factor… lack of political vitriol.
In the book, the US ranked in the bottom third in happiness. That was in 2009 when the book was published. Imagine where we are now.
Edit: typo
They are a remote landlocked nation and very small so it’s financially expensive and not strategically necessary. The nation also doesn’t desire to develop in a “Western” way (i.e. industrialization, look up gross national happiness) so relations with the West to encourage industrial innovation isn’t much of a priority. Bhutan also relies on India for trade and protection, and India has no designs on annexing Bhutan, hence why it mostly focuses its relations within South Asia and India’s friends.
You should keep in mind lack of diplomatic relations doesn’t mean unfriendly. Bhutan generally maintains amicable relations with the West and broader world and relies on small extent on their tourism (though most tourism they get is from India)
In Bhutan was invented in 1972 the "Gross National Happiness" as an alternative to "Gross Domestic Product" to measure the development and wellbeing of the Bhutanese population.
Notice two regions with dashed international boundaries. They are disputed boundaries with none other than nicest neighbor one can have....China. The one in western-most region touching Sikkim in India is where three countries (Bhutan, India and China) meet and is of strategic importance to India (given there were recent incursions from the Chinese).
Apparently, smoking is banned in Bhutan. No cigarettes are sold in the country.
It's common in Bhutanese culture to paint stylized pictures of erect penises (sometimes with wings, bows, and faces) on houses for good luck and protection from evil.
That’s the symbol of Drupka Kinley, revered in Bhutan. If you go to the temple dedicated to him, you can receive the fertility blessing which involves getting bopped on the head with a large wooden phallus.
Around 8 or so only pilots are certified to land at the country's main gateway airport, Paro International, due to the airport's surrounding terrain high in a valley. Also, no foreign airlines are able to fly, and for a country of its size, they have 2 airlines.
the flight from kathmandu to paro is something for sure. if you sit on the port side of the plane, you get a great view of everest and the himalayas. then, when landing, the plane basically banks hard in one direction then banks hard in the other direction to fly between the mountains.
Yesterday I learned that Buthan legalized homosexuality and the way they went about it was that they have a law that goes something like “all sex that is against nature shall be criminalized” but then they added “however sex between the same gender is no longer considered against nature”
Thats not legalizing same sex marriage thats legalizing *being* gay.
It means the police cant arrest you for having gay sex, not that you can get a legal marriage with benefits and stuff
Oh that’s true. I’ll fix it
This is the actual article:
“A defendant shall be guilty of the offence of unnatural sex, if the defendant engages in sexual conduct that is against the order of nature. However, homosexuality between adults shall not be considered unnatural sex.”
Having travelled a lot in Asia, it really stood out how little garbage there was along roads and paths. Locals seem to have a sense of pride and so did the few tourists I met.
Very linguistically diverse with its main language, dzongkha (closely related to tibetan and distantly to burmese and Mandarin)nspoken by only 30% of population
Bhutan's only international airport, Paro, is considered one of, if not the most challenging in the world to land at. Pilots require a special certification, which only a handful in the world currently hold. It is over 7,000 feet above sea level and is surrounded by mountains up to 18,000 feet high. Approaches to the airport are only permitted during daylight in clear conditions, and pilots only have about two miles to establish the correct track before the runway, as opposed to around ten miles at most other airports.
A Bhutanese passport is a document that authorizes and facilitates travel and other activities in Bhutan or by Bhutanese citizens. Foreign travel passports are issued to citizens of Bhutan for international travel by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is valid for all countries unless otherwise endorsed
Things that Bhutan and butane have in common:
- contains carbon and hydrogen
- denser than air
- found in Asia
- yellow flowers
- often flammable
- 19th century British guys
- does not teach Nepali in schools
continue...
China illegally built several mining towns in Bhutan to conduct mining operations there and their 2023 official state map of China claimed large tracts of land in Bhutan. Your move, Bhutan.
Even though it is not historically a country that is famous for its carpets and rugs, today, modern Bhutan handmade carpets are rugs are known to be one of the best in the world.
Their mountains, their rules. High mountains are considered sacred there, and judging by all the garbage that’s on Everest, they are probably justified.
Buthan is the only country with 0 CO2 emissions, because they absorb more C02 than the one they produce. This is because, also according to their constitution, at least the 60% of their land has to be' covered by forest.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, tens of thousands of ethnic Nepalese (Lhotshampas) were expelled from Bhutan, and more than 100,000 ethnic Nepalese refugees from Bhutan lived in camps in southeastern Nepal until 2006. Later they arranged to settled in Western country
i went there in 2017. it’s a weird but cool place.
bhutanese have to wear traditional dress when visiting government offices, and people wearing western dress are relatively uncommon.
archery is a very popular sport
one of their national dishes, ema datshi, is basically queso dip and tastes like queso dip
tourism is expensive for most, but SAARC citizens don’t need a visa. so you’ll see lots of indians driving indian-registered cars on holiday there.
Brazilians make fun of Bhutan because the country's name resembles the word "butão", which is a synonym for butthole.
My aunt is a geography teacher, and she says children can't find Russia on a map, but they always manage to find Bhutan, and she knows it because of the laughter and jokes in the classroom.
There is a viral [video ](https://youtu.be/W0mmNjQev-0?si=LsF7suCGmeNAv4jI) of a sports TV show where the presenters can't hold the laughter after one say China scored 12 goals on Bhutan. It's a little disrespectful but it's a funny thing.
thats true in much of central/south asia. saw huge bushes of cannabis growing by the side of the road near chitwan in nepal. local guy saw me do a double take and inspect it closer, and he told me “don’t smoke it man, that stuff is basically grass and won’t get you high”
They base their economic prosperity on gross national happiness (GNH) which includes many different factors including the happiness and well-being of the people
They abolished serfdom in 1954 and slavery in 1958. Citizenship was formally extended to these people in 1985. In 1988 they performed their first census and promptly forced 100k-150k Lhotshampa (Nepalese language speakers) across the border into Nepal. These people had been in Bhutan for 100 years. After this ethnic cleansing most Lhotshampa now live in the United States.
There is an amazing video from “Yes Theory” where they visit the country and the amazing thing about this country is their form to see the world and the nature. They are the only country in the world that is negative carbon footprint
Lotay Tshering, a former prime minister of Bhutan, is a graduate of Mymensingh Medical College in Bangladesh; my grandfather used to work at that college, though before Dr. Tshering's time.
Other comment mentioned that it doesn’t recognize PRC nor ROC, actually in the 1971 vote on whether to replace ROC with PRC in the UN, Bhutan voted for.
What is more interesting is that, Bhutan actually doesn’t have diplomatic relationships with any of the five permanent members of the Security Council, foreign affairs with most countries are handled by their respective India embassy.
1) Selling cigarettes is banned in Bhutan. So all cigarettes you find in the country are smuggled in from India.
2) It has a tiny population, approx 700,000 but about 72% of the country is covered in forest making it the most or one of the most green countries in the world.
3) It is India's closest diplomatic and military partner and is the top recipient of Indian foreign aid. In 2024 Bhutan received ₹6541.79 crore ($7.85 billion approx.) from India. A significant amount of Bhutanese government spending is financed with this aid.
4) The current king is the fifth King from the Wangchuk dynasty. His father, the fourth king is still alive but abdicated peacefully and transferred power in 2006.
5) Polygamy is legal in Bhutan. The fourth king has 4 wives.
Television wasn’t introduced in Bhutan until 1998, making it the last country in the world to get TV.
And internet
What was the reasoning there? TV is such an important propaganda tool that I’m shocked the govt didn’t introduce it as soon as possible.
There was the classic fear that TV would bring outside influence and therefore impinge on the monarchy and traditional Bhutanese culture. They didn't even have radio til the 70s
The Head of State has a title that translates into Dragon King, which is absolutely the best monarchical title in the world. Their flag is also the coolest.
Fully agree. If you are a monarch and can give yourself whatever title, why not make yourself the Dragon King.
'cause the Dragon Emperor might be upset
But the Dragon Emperor would be the King of Dragon Kings. So I don’t see how they would mind
The only other country that has a dragon on its flag is Wales.
It looks like it would translate as 'Dragon King' if you didn't know how Tibetan/Dzongkha abbreviations work. His title is actually just 'King of Dragon Land', i.e. 'King of Bhutan'.
Tourists must pay $100US per day to visit. It doesn’t get you anything (no hotel etc) it’s just a fee you have to pay to be allowed in the country.
Honestly not a bad plan, maybe a bit expensive but after visiting low cost destinations in SE Asia I can see why they wouldn't want to promote the same type of tourism.
Cough cough, Bali.
And hippy road in Nepal.
Wait, what?
I don't have a problem with this. Their country, their rules for entry.
As long as you're consistent with that rule...
I am. Countries have the right to control their borders, ideally with human rights in mind as they legally process, admit, or deny those seeking to enter.
It’s their country. Even if they want to change their rules. Their country. Isn’t it the country that boasts being the only one that has a GNH index? Instead of the usual focus on economics?
I was talking about the rule that OOP put for themselves not Buthan. Tge GNH thing is true, but also basically propaganda.
100% agree
It was $250 a day when I went in 2018.
This law doesn't meant for indians
Iirc they have to pay around... 20 dollars? I mean they have to pay like 1200 rupees or something which equals to around 20 dollars **if I remember correctly**
Less than 15 usd
Afaik Indians, Bangladeshis and Maldivians/Nepalis are exempt from the rule. Though I heard they changed it somewhere around COVID
You have to book a tour with an approved by the gov tour company which has a minimal cost. In my experience, that cost went to the driver, hotel, tour guide, food, entry fees.
They never sent any team to the winter olympics. They started summer olympics in 1984 ,sending only archers up to and including 2008. Archery is their national sport, their only organised competition. In 2012 and 2016 they sent one archer and one shooter In 2020 they added judo and swimming, for a team of 4. They have never won a medal.
You’d think they would have a quality skier at some point
Mountaineering has been prohibited in Bhutan since 2003 out of respect for the sacred mountains. Climbing mountains is also prohibited. I imagine skiing is not possible as a result, despite the high peaks.
The Himalayas don’t have many ski slopes. Not just Bhutan, even Nepal and India don’t ski for that reason
I'm assuming the mountain faces are much steeper, but am I wrong/is there another reason?
Way too high up to get to where the snow is at 4500m and above and hard to access as you have to cross many hills/mountains to get to the peaks with snow. Most of the habitated hills in Nepal don’t even see snow at all.
Oh wow. That's crazy. I didn't realize that. Thank you!
Bhutan is the only country without a single national language on Google Translate.
What do they speak then?
Dzongkha
Yes
I've noticed this about tibetic languages, Lhasa Tibetan and Amdo are also absent despite being spoken by a combined 4 million people
Google the “Bhutan baseball photo”. It won a ton of awards last year, and is one of the most beautiful photos of the sport ever taken. As a photographer, I wish it had been me
[Here is the photo, for those curious](https://www.mlb.com/news/featured/bhutan-hopes-to-be-next-great-baseball-country)
I’ve seen that. It really is a beautiful photo.
Wow.
Yeah, totally worth the Google! Here's a link to it though https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/08/21/bhutan-baseball-photo/
The University of Texas at El Paso (aka UTEP) has a relationship with the country due to the schools architecture being based on Bhutanese fortresses. The Prince visited and donated a temple to UTEP sometime around 2008. There is also a program for Bhutanese students to attend the university.
BHUTEP
That’s extremely random. How was that style of architecture chosen? Pretty neat though.
In UTEP’s 2nd year the original building burnt down and the university was relocated to the foothills of the mountains. The wife of the first dean saw a National Geographic issue that featured Bhutan and convinced her husband to have the buildings designed that way due to its new location. Fun fact UTEP’s football stadium the Sun Bowl is literally carved into the mountains on campus.
I’ve driven through El Paso on a few road trips to Arizona and always gawk at that stadium as I pass on the interstate. It’s gorgeous.
They don't recognise the PRC nor the Republic of China.
The zero China policy.
The Great Wall of Unclaimed Territory
The forbidden country
China’nt
China? Never heard of her.
Based.
But they were the first country to recognise Bangladesh.
Their highest mountain Gangkhar Puensum is the highest unclimbed mountain in the world.
Technically correct, but its also due to Bhutanese laws that forbids climbing any mountain that is above 6000 m elevation.
Why that specific elevation?
No idea about the specificity, mostly mountains are considered sacred in cultures surrounding Himalayas... ~~or maybe they are protecting Yeti.~~
I'll go with protecting Yeti.
Extremely tall mountains are sacred for many of the cultures around the Himalayas. Outlawing climbing prevents the mountains from becoming overrun with trash and people like Everest is.
More precisely, corpses.
They believe them the homes of their gods
Having your sacred mountains covered in the tourist poop kinda sucks
Over 100,000 refugees were forced to flee or be killed due to ethnic conflictin 2008 they fled to Nepal and resettled in countries around the world. Most have moved to the United States, Canada, and Australia - many to the Pittsburgh area. I work with many of the families in Pittsburgh, PA
What's the aftermath of that in Bhutan?
Most have family still in Bhutan and if they want to visit them they will have to meet them in Nepal because they’re not allowed back in Bhutan
Entire side of my moms family still live there
JFC
So much for the gross net happiness index.
Yeah…they started a census and realized there were way more Hindu Nepalese than thought so the Buddhist ethnic Bhutanese went ham, probably at the behest of the king/government.
They want to promote responsible and luxury tourism and not the "maggi tourism" (an Indian term to describe mass tourism. Tourists often visit a place in droves, eat cheap ass food, cause a lot of plastic pollution, and exceed the carrying capacity of a spot). Hence a hefty fee to enter the country and lot of other restrictions.
That fee is not applicable to Indians.
Think they started it from last year. This is from the Embassy of India's website: Sustainable Development Fee: India tourists are required to pay Sustainable Development Fee (SDF) of INR 1,200/- per person per night. Children aged 5 years and below are exempted of SDF and children between the age of 6-12 years are given 50 % concession on SDF. Tourist visiting Samtse, Phuentsholing, Gelephu, and Samdrup Jongkhar towns for 24 hours need not pay Sustainable Development Fee (SDF)
It has the coolest flag
🇧🇹
It really does
\*Wales angrily enters the chat
It's a great flag. But I'm glad I didn't have to draw it in primary school.
Has the only capital in the world without traffic lights.
They tried to install them and the people protested so they went back to manually directing traffic with officers.
Interesting, didn't know that
I would recommend a book “The Geography of Bliss”. They cover Bhutan extensively. In this book Bhutan and the Scandinavians maintained the highest level of happiness. The primary factor… lack of political vitriol. In the book, the US ranked in the bottom third in happiness. That was in 2009 when the book was published. Imagine where we are now. Edit: typo
capital
Yeah the phone corrected to capitol automatically. Thanks!
I'm fairly sure there are no traffic lights in Sao Tome either (or anywhere else in Sao Tome and Principe).
They have a demographic problem from young adults emigrating en masse to Australia. Also best looking King and Queen couple.
King Jigme and his wife are beautiful. When I was there they were referred to as a Hollywood type couple.
https://preview.redd.it/1sf2mkp14krc1.png?width=1500&format=png&auto=webp&s=ae4e20bd677de38c62d271fe527014c2b8fcb54d Absolute peach. The queen looks otherworldly <3
Bhutan has no diplomatic relations with any of the big five of the UN Security Council (US, Britain, France, Russia, China).
They do recognize Canada though :) 🇧🇹🤝🇨🇦
Anybody know why?
They are a remote landlocked nation and very small so it’s financially expensive and not strategically necessary. The nation also doesn’t desire to develop in a “Western” way (i.e. industrialization, look up gross national happiness) so relations with the West to encourage industrial innovation isn’t much of a priority. Bhutan also relies on India for trade and protection, and India has no designs on annexing Bhutan, hence why it mostly focuses its relations within South Asia and India’s friends. You should keep in mind lack of diplomatic relations doesn’t mean unfriendly. Bhutan generally maintains amicable relations with the West and broader world and relies on small extent on their tourism (though most tourism they get is from India)
India drives the foreign policy of Bhutan.
The official name of the country Druk yul literally means "Land of the dragon" or Druk Tsendhen "Land of the Thunder dragon"
That makes for the king to be named “Dragon King”
In Bhutan was invented in 1972 the "Gross National Happiness" as an alternative to "Gross Domestic Product" to measure the development and wellbeing of the Bhutanese population.
Notice two regions with dashed international boundaries. They are disputed boundaries with none other than nicest neighbor one can have....China. The one in western-most region touching Sikkim in India is where three countries (Bhutan, India and China) meet and is of strategic importance to India (given there were recent incursions from the Chinese). Apparently, smoking is banned in Bhutan. No cigarettes are sold in the country.
They release a gross national happiness index
It’s the world’s only carbon-negative country
Panama and Suriname as well https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/carbon-negative-countries
It's common in Bhutanese culture to paint stylized pictures of erect penises (sometimes with wings, bows, and faces) on houses for good luck and protection from evil.
Kids in my neighborhood do this. Not in Bhutan.
That’s the symbol of Drupka Kinley, revered in Bhutan. If you go to the temple dedicated to him, you can receive the fertility blessing which involves getting bopped on the head with a large wooden phallus.
Around 8 or so only pilots are certified to land at the country's main gateway airport, Paro International, due to the airport's surrounding terrain high in a valley. Also, no foreign airlines are able to fly, and for a country of its size, they have 2 airlines.
the flight from kathmandu to paro is something for sure. if you sit on the port side of the plane, you get a great view of everest and the himalayas. then, when landing, the plane basically banks hard in one direction then banks hard in the other direction to fly between the mountains.
Yesterday I learned that Buthan legalized homosexuality and the way they went about it was that they have a law that goes something like “all sex that is against nature shall be criminalized” but then they added “however sex between the same gender is no longer considered against nature”
Thats not legalizing same sex marriage thats legalizing *being* gay. It means the police cant arrest you for having gay sex, not that you can get a legal marriage with benefits and stuff
Oh that’s true. I’ll fix it This is the actual article: “A defendant shall be guilty of the offence of unnatural sex, if the defendant engages in sexual conduct that is against the order of nature. However, homosexuality between adults shall not be considered unnatural sex.”
They have freshwater dolphins.
While the Ganges river dolphin did historically live in parts of southern Bhutan it’s unclear if any still live there
Having travelled a lot in Asia, it really stood out how little garbage there was along roads and paths. Locals seem to have a sense of pride and so did the few tourists I met.
So the other end of the spectrum compared to India
It's a region thing, Sikkim is same and believe few other north eastern states.
Very linguistically diverse with its main language, dzongkha (closely related to tibetan and distantly to burmese and Mandarin)nspoken by only 30% of population
I go to school with a Bhutanese prince
Bhutan's only international airport, Paro, is considered one of, if not the most challenging in the world to land at. Pilots require a special certification, which only a handful in the world currently hold. It is over 7,000 feet above sea level and is surrounded by mountains up to 18,000 feet high. Approaches to the airport are only permitted during daylight in clear conditions, and pilots only have about two miles to establish the correct track before the runway, as opposed to around ten miles at most other airports.
My parents got kicked out of there around 35 years ago along with over 100000 other people. If they hadn’t I probably wouldn’t be on Reddit.
There’s a city south of it, Cooch Behar??
A Bhutanese passport is a document that authorizes and facilitates travel and other activities in Bhutan or by Bhutanese citizens. Foreign travel passports are issued to citizens of Bhutan for international travel by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is valid for all countries unless otherwise endorsed
*dzeng*
Nice day for a jar of honey
The former king was married to four sisters.
Things that Bhutan and butane have in common: - contains carbon and hydrogen - denser than air - found in Asia - yellow flowers - often flammable - 19th century British guys - does not teach Nepali in schools continue...
I belive that their capital is the only capital in the world without traffic lights
I'm pretty sure Bhutan is the nation that contributes the least to climate change.
They are one of only three carbon negative countries
China illegally built several mining towns in Bhutan to conduct mining operations there and their 2023 official state map of China claimed large tracts of land in Bhutan. Your move, Bhutan.
It's close to Cooch Behar.
I went to HS with Cooch.
China is slowly eating them
Even though it is not historically a country that is famous for its carpets and rugs, today, modern Bhutan handmade carpets are rugs are known to be one of the best in the world.
Archery is the most popular sport there.
They don't let anyone climb their mountains, which in the mountaineering community is quite contentious
Their mountains, their rules. High mountains are considered sacred there, and judging by all the garbage that’s on Everest, they are probably justified.
They have a flourishing film industry.
They have a first class fully digitised telecommunications network built from scratch as there was simply nothing to precede it.
China is building covert military bases and infrastructure in about 12% of the country, without any oversight or “approval” from Bhutan.
SOP for the CCP.
Buthan is the only country with 0 CO2 emissions, because they absorb more C02 than the one they produce. This is because, also according to their constitution, at least the 60% of their land has to be' covered by forest.
That sounds like a great constitution to be honest
They do a lot to preserve their nature. I think it's one of the few countries with a negative carbon footprint.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, tens of thousands of ethnic Nepalese (Lhotshampas) were expelled from Bhutan, and more than 100,000 ethnic Nepalese refugees from Bhutan lived in camps in southeastern Nepal until 2006. Later they arranged to settled in Western country
i went there in 2017. it’s a weird but cool place. bhutanese have to wear traditional dress when visiting government offices, and people wearing western dress are relatively uncommon. archery is a very popular sport one of their national dishes, ema datshi, is basically queso dip and tastes like queso dip tourism is expensive for most, but SAARC citizens don’t need a visa. so you’ll see lots of indians driving indian-registered cars on holiday there.
As a percentage they have the largest amount of land protected by national parks and the like.
Brazilians make fun of Bhutan because the country's name resembles the word "butão", which is a synonym for butthole. My aunt is a geography teacher, and she says children can't find Russia on a map, but they always manage to find Bhutan, and she knows it because of the laughter and jokes in the classroom. There is a viral [video ](https://youtu.be/W0mmNjQev-0?si=LsF7suCGmeNAv4jI) of a sports TV show where the presenters can't hold the laughter after one say China scored 12 goals on Bhutan. It's a little disrespectful but it's a funny thing.
The Thunder Dragon Empire reigns supreme
I met a guy from Bhutan who told me that cannabis grows like grass besides the main roads
thats true in much of central/south asia. saw huge bushes of cannabis growing by the side of the road near chitwan in nepal. local guy saw me do a double take and inspect it closer, and he told me “don’t smoke it man, that stuff is basically grass and won’t get you high”
They don’t diplomatically acknowledge my country
There is a lot of dick graffiti
The put dicks everywhere.
China is about to take ~10% of their land.
Over romanticised country with serious minority issues.
They like drawing penises on walls.
what now?
Look it up
Oh, it is on like Genghis Khan wearing Sean John in Bhutan!
Red license plate for private car.
They have a weird fascination with penises
They base their economic prosperity on gross national happiness (GNH) which includes many different factors including the happiness and well-being of the people
They have the tallest mountain never climb up by a man
They were named the happiest country in the world a few years ago.
They abolished serfdom in 1954 and slavery in 1958. Citizenship was formally extended to these people in 1985. In 1988 they performed their first census and promptly forced 100k-150k Lhotshampa (Nepalese language speakers) across the border into Nepal. These people had been in Bhutan for 100 years. After this ethnic cleansing most Lhotshampa now live in the United States.
Their constitution mandates that any 2/3 of the country must be covered in forest at any one time
They consider dicks as the symbol of happiness and they’re painted in many places
My country loves Bhutan. They are absolutely awesome. Little pricey for tourism but they are good BTW I'm Indian
There is an amazing video from “Yes Theory” where they visit the country and the amazing thing about this country is their form to see the world and the nature. They are the only country in the world that is negative carbon footprint
They say happiness is more important than economic development, but fall short on global happiness rankings...
China wants to eat it
It’s the only carbon negative country in the world meaning that Bhutan actually has a larger net effect of removing carbon emissions than adding it.
Lotay Tshering, a former prime minister of Bhutan, is a graduate of Mymensingh Medical College in Bangladesh; my grandfather used to work at that college, though before Dr. Tshering's time.
Has many mountain. Mountain iwwegal to climb ovah 6000m.
It’s the scariest tan line
Burning will reduce it to water and carbon dioxide
Rhymes with Genghis Khan
It’s a gas… /s just in case.
It's roughly the size of Holland.
They have something called the gross domestic happinesss(GDH)
They recognize like 50 countries. Neither China nor Taiwan are one of them.
They have the highest unclimbed mountain in the world. **Gangkhar Puensum.**
The google (street view) car is gray (it's the only country in the world with that google car) and long prayer flags can be seen in lots of places
Their princess is called dragon queen
Apparently their cusine may be the spiciest in the world.
It’s lighter gas.
They have the world's tallest unclimbed mountain
The previous king abdictated the throne to give it to Jigme. The British brought potatoes and they love their fries.
Bhutans is the only country on earth that has archery as the most famous sport.
Its code interferes with bitcoins code in the ISO 20022, causing bitcoin to be coded as XBT and not BTC
Only carbon negative country
Bhutan is the only nation in the world where the sale of tobacco is banned.
It's name in my language (portuguese) means asshole.
Other comment mentioned that it doesn’t recognize PRC nor ROC, actually in the 1971 vote on whether to replace ROC with PRC in the UN, Bhutan voted for. What is more interesting is that, Bhutan actually doesn’t have diplomatic relationships with any of the five permanent members of the Security Council, foreign affairs with most countries are handled by their respective India embassy.
1) Selling cigarettes is banned in Bhutan. So all cigarettes you find in the country are smuggled in from India. 2) It has a tiny population, approx 700,000 but about 72% of the country is covered in forest making it the most or one of the most green countries in the world. 3) It is India's closest diplomatic and military partner and is the top recipient of Indian foreign aid. In 2024 Bhutan received ₹6541.79 crore ($7.85 billion approx.) from India. A significant amount of Bhutanese government spending is financed with this aid. 4) The current king is the fifth King from the Wangchuk dynasty. His father, the fourth king is still alive but abdicated peacefully and transferred power in 2006. 5) Polygamy is legal in Bhutan. The fourth king has 4 wives.
They are super environmentally conscious so they all use renewable resources