To talk about the people in Bhutan, I must start with the King.
First of all, they love the king. They think the king brings all the happiness, peace, and the better life and worship him in a good way. And as a result, this country is maintained quite well by the king and the belief by the people.
The successive kings of Bhutan.
The current king on the right edge, is King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. All the kings are "Jigme" and "Wangchuck", so when people explained to me about the current king, they said Namgyel.
My vague image of Bhutan which is probably the same as the one for most of us in Japan, was "the country with happiness". This idea is kinda right and kinda wrong. The king (Singye, the father of the current king) did say "we must measure our life not by the economic growth(Gross Domestic Product), but the happiness(Gross Narional Happiness)". I don't mean to criticize against this speech, but that doesn't mean they are happy. It was a suggestion which other countries should learn from. Anyhow, I respect his foward-thinking and revolutionary speech and it seems Bhutanese people, especially the goverment servants, are very proud of it and my friend game me the very think book about the king's speech (right I should read it someday).
Singye resigned very early as a normal reign period. They told me a lot of people cried over it. Namgyel is very very popular but his father, Singye was popular and he still is.
For the record, Bhutanese men are allowed to have several wives (as long as he can love them equally according to them!). And Singye have 4 official empresses.
And Bhutanese royal family are quite close and have good relationship with Thai royalty. I could tell the faithfulness for king is very similar between Bhutan and Thailand after visiting those countries.
Starting from the right, the former king of Bhutan Singye, the current king Namgyel, and the king of Thailand, Rama VIII. @ some Thai restaurant in Thimpu, the capital.
First of all, they love the king. They think the king brings all the happiness, peace, and the better life and worship him in a good way. And as a result, this country is maintained quite well by the king and the belief by the people.
The successive kings of Bhutan.
The current king on the right edge, is King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. All the kings are "Jigme" and "Wangchuck", so when people explained to me about the current king, they said Namgyel.
My vague image of Bhutan which is probably the same as the one for most of us in Japan, was "the country with happiness". This idea is kinda right and kinda wrong. The king (Singye, the father of the current king) did say "we must measure our life not by the economic growth(Gross Domestic Product), but the happiness(Gross Narional Happiness)". I don't mean to criticize against this speech, but that doesn't mean they are happy. It was a suggestion which other countries should learn from. Anyhow, I respect his foward-thinking and revolutionary speech and it seems Bhutanese people, especially the goverment servants, are very proud of it and my friend game me the very think book about the king's speech (right I should read it someday).
Singye resigned very early as a normal reign period. They told me a lot of people cried over it. Namgyel is very very popular but his father, Singye was popular and he still is.
For the record, Bhutanese men are allowed to have several wives (as long as he can love them equally according to them!). And Singye have 4 official empresses.
And Bhutanese royal family are quite close and have good relationship with Thai royalty. I could tell the faithfulness for king is very similar between Bhutan and Thailand after visiting those countries.
Starting from the right, the former king of Bhutan Singye, the current king Namgyel, and the king of Thailand, Rama VIII. @ some Thai restaurant in Thimpu, the capital.
No comments:
Post a Comment