6 ms·

Notes on Bhutan

98 points by sg5421 10mo ago

shubhamjain 10mo ago
As much as I appreciate Bhutan's ideas around happiness and its style of sustainable development, I feel Bhutan being a tiny hilly country is what allows them to work. Add to that the gift of Hydroelectric power, which alone contributes 1/4th of government revenue, and was responsible for 14% of its GDP[1]. Its population is less than a million, where as even tier-3 towns in India have a couple of million people living there. A large country, with a large population, has far fewer options other than supporting economic development at a scale. [1]: https://thewire.in/world/south-asia/bhutan-hydropower-electricity-energy-geopolitics https://thewire.in/world/south-asia/bhutan-hydropower-electr...
- tfourb 10mo ago
  Renewable energy is literally available everywhere and solar and wind are now cheaper than hydro in many places. „Economic development“ can mean many things and there is a scenario where it supports the concept of „well being“ rather than actively undermining it, as it is happening in many places currently.
  - em-bee 10mo ago
    yes, but as the top comment suggest the problem in large countries is that economic development isn't as localized. one project that improves the lives of 1 million people in buthan means that india needs 1000 such projects to bring the same improvement to all its people. do less, and the effect is less noticeable.
  - rjmunro 10mo ago
    > solar and wind are now cheaper than hydro in many places. It's not possible to run a country entirely on wind and solar, you need backup for when it isn't windy or sunny. It is possible to run a country entirely on Hydro. The lake on a hydro electric dam will last for a while - in some cases several months - between needing to be topped up by rainfall.
    - jantissler 10mo ago
      Batteries exist.
      - lenkite 10mo ago
        Batteries need to be manufactured or imported at expense.
      - archagon 10mo ago
        Heh, OP even described a battery in the form of a lake!
- jiehong 10mo ago
  I think size is also what prevents countries too. Not enough people and not enough GDP? Well, some projects might take more than the country’s available capital. Size isn’t everything: compare China to India. I wish them luck, and success, because why not!
- seanmcdirmid 10mo ago
  They also get a lot of support from India, including military protection, and primary trade/currency links as well as covering most of their diplomatic needs. It’s like how Lichtenstein relates to Switzerland.
  - badmonster 10mo ago
    Interesting parallel. Does this reliance limit Bhutan's sovereignty in practice? What's the trade-off?
    - sg5421 10mo ago
      Bhutan sovereignty is guaranteed by the fact that China (Tibet) also shares a border with Bhutan. It's a neutral place between the two powers. Although its ties are much closer to India (geographically, the flattest part is on its southern border with India--the location where Gelephu Mindfulness City will be located).
      - tim333 10mo ago
        Bhutan is also quite fierce against attempts to take it over. Their main hobby seems to be archery.
  - nephihaha 10mo ago
    Look what happened to Sikkim, when India annexed it. They have probably been reminded of that.
  - mwnn 10mo ago
    > support from India, including military protection That protection is notional, and the expectation that China (their only other neighbour) is not really going to get aggressive about this peaceful tiny country, but then there’s Tibet as an example. So then why is it notional? If China were to get aggressive, we (India) will not be able to do jack about it because, hell, we couldn’t defend our own territorial claims and have been losing land to China, one outpost at a time. No, not only from the wars from decades ago, but also very recently — yeah, that means even after this omnipotent non-biological entity became our own version of the glorious leader.
xvilka 10mo ago
Despite all that happiness push, young people still prefer more opportunities (and money) abroad.
- sg5421 10mo ago
  It's because of that youth exodus (to Australia mainly) that the government is pushing for Gelephu Mindfulness City as place for innovation and new business opps. That's what the gov't officials directly argued when asked.
zkmon 10mo ago
Every place in the world is a mix of two things - the background and the foreground. The background is the natural stuff (terrain, greenery, water bodies, climate etc) and the foreground is the areas where people settled. The people areas (houses, streets, work places) are dependent on the economic activity, prosperity and culture. And they look the same as any other place in the world with the same parameters. Outside of people's areas, it depends on terrain (hill station), latitude (for climate) and greenery. Again for it looks the same as any other place in the world with the same parameters. So, every place is a combination of these two things with different parameters. Sometimes, the foreground has dependencies on the background.
seanmcdirmid 10mo ago
I don’t think Bhutan has ever had any relationship with the Dalai Lama, there Buddhism is derived from Tibetan Buddhism but is a different school. The article is weird to suggest that Bhutan has some sort of role in the future relating to Tibet Buddhism leadership, it’s much more likely to come from India.
- nephihaha 10mo ago
  I think to be fair what they were meaning is that it may emerge as the primary source of Tibetan Buddhism now Tibet is irreversibly compromised. Yes, I am aware of the different schools and how they squabble.
- Tistron 10mo ago
  The article doesn't suggest that Bhutan has a future in the leadership of Tibetan Buddhism, but that when/if Tibetan Buddhism gets more fractured because of disputes around lineage, then Bhutan can become globally important in the thought leadership of Buddhism more generally, or maybe more specifically Vajrayana Buddhism.
  - kunley 10mo ago
    There are 4 main schools of Vajrayana Buddhism: Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya and Gelug, and the Dalai Lama is head of just one of them - Gelug. They have independent teaching transmissions and succession lines. There's common misconception about Dalai Lama being a kind of a "pope" for Buddhism at all, or for the Diamond way (that means Vajrayana) Buddhism in particular, which is simply not true. Having said that, it is of course unfortunate that the issue with two candidates, one of them "manufactured" by the PRC regime, is on the horizon and most likely will happen. Please note this already happened for the Kagyu lineage, where two Karmapa candidates emerged in 90s; interesting that after few decades the Chinese one admitted recently he's not the real one.
    - throw-the-towel 10mo ago
      Do you have a link to the Karmapa admitting he's not the real deal? I tried to google it but got nothing.
case0x 10mo ago
I've been fascinated by Bhutan ever since reading "Beyond the Sky and the Earth". I wish them the best, but with the exodus of young people it's difficult to see long term success. The population is tiny. Will future growth only stem from tourism?
- sjamaan 10mo ago
  Tourism is not really a growth sector. There are too many hotels already, with hoteliers complaining they can't get bookings at a decent price because there's too much competition undercutting them, and tour operators demanding lower prices than is sustainable. Truthfully, the GMC is Bhutan's best bet at growth. The idea is to attract foreign talent who can train and educate locals, so that it can act as an attractor for youths, and a flywheel for prosperity in the country.
throwaway198846 10mo ago
Didn't Bhutan kicked out some people?
- decimalenough 10mo ago
  Yes, but it's complicated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_cleansing_of_Lhotshampa_in_Bhutan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_cleansing_of_Lhotshampa...
  - postsantum 10mo ago
    It wouldn't be regarded as complicated if Bhutan wasn't le wholesome misty buddhist paradise with happiness instead of GDP. Westerners love stories like that and don't want anything to tarnish it
    - tim333 10mo ago
      The US which is not really a wholesome misty buddhist paradise is also involved in trying to kick out some people who arrived unofficially over the southern border and I think that is also regarded as complicated.
      - postsantum 10mo ago
        USA is not a one dimensional country Compare it with hecking wholesome Israel-friendly petrostate of Azebaijan which conducted a full scale ethnic cleansing special operation just a couple of years ago and it went mostly unnoticed and wasn't regarded as complicated by western intelligentsia
      - anon291 10mo ago
        The people Bhutan kicked out were native to that place though and were born there and had identity documents and passports there.
    - hearsathought 10mo ago
      > It wouldn't be regarded as complicated if Bhutan wasn't le wholesome misty buddhist paradise with happiness instead of GDP. If that was the case, myanmar ( a buddhist country ) wouldn't be attacked mercilessly by the press/government/etc for their "deportations". > Westerners love stories like that and don't want anything to tarnish it Nobody cares. We'd turn against bhutan in an instant if the media/government/etc decided to turn against it.
nephihaha 10mo ago
Bhutan sounds cute, but I wonder what the reality is. The city sounds like another one of these globalist smart city projects like Neom in Saudi Arabia, or Rwanda's African showpiece. I'm sure said city will have cameras on every corner, and probably 15 minute city aspects.
- JSR_FDED 10mo ago
  Weird comparison. Neom doesn’t exist, whereas Bhutan has been around for centuries. It’s a unique place, not just an idea. Friendly people and a government that looks at more than GDP as a success metric.
  - sg5421 10mo ago
    I think he refers to Gelephu Mindfulness City. I read it differently, not as a generic globalist city but very much a middle ground between Bhutanese culture (deep Buddhist presence, it will maintain vernacular architectures codes throughout, no skyscrapers) and global capital attractiveness (special economic zone, some tax benefits but not a tax haven in any way, crypto adoption, etc.)
  - nephihaha 10mo ago
    I didn't mean Bhutan in general. I was referring to Bhutan's new city project. It seems similar to new cities elsewhere, maybe even Auroville (or whatever it is called). Singapore is great in some ways, not so much in others. (It is arguable how democratic Singapore is, since its parliament has a lot of hereditary politicians in it, like Thailand or Greece.) Bhutan has sold itself as a Shangri La for decades. Whether it is, is another problem. It seems all over the world the peasants are being herded into urban panopticons.
- softskunk 10mo ago
  what’s wrong with a 15-minute city?
  - fragmede 10mo ago
    You can't imagine how insufferably smug everyone who lived there would be? Living lives all happy and nice and not horrible? Gosh, what a terrible place it must be! How much was rent again?
tuzemec 10mo ago
I was there a couple of months ago. It's truly a beautiful and extremely calm place. There's one quote from our guide that I remember: "We are a small nation. We watch what our neighbors are doing and pick what will work for us." Another impression I got (and I may be totally wrong) - the locals genuinely love the royal family. There are pictures of the king, his wife, and children literally everywhere. As someone who grew up in a communist country and is familiar with seeing portraits of "beloved" leaders everywhere, this seemed like something totally different. The people are very respectful - no one tries to sell you things or bother you in any other way. Highly recommended destination. Hope it doesn't change anytime soon.
deleted 10mo ago
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suninsight 10mo ago
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deleted 10mo ago
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Mistletoe 10mo ago
Interestingly, Bhutan is the fifth highest country in Bitcoin holdings. https://bitbo.io/treasuries/countries/ https://bitbo.io/treasuries/countries/ https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/economy/2025/4/14/bitcoin-king-why-is-bhutan-betting-on-crypto https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/economy/2025/4/14/bitcoin-king...
- tim333 10mo ago
  I guess it's something to use the hydroelectric power for.
  - sjamaan 10mo ago
    Yeah, investing it in bitcoin sure beats selling the power to India at bargain bin prices during summer time only to have to buy it back in winter time at premium rates. I think this really shows his majesty's wisdom and ability to think ahead (iiuc it was his decision to start mining bitcoins using green energy).
maxglute 10mo ago
[flagged]
- dang 10mo ago
  Can you please not post in the snarky / flamey style to HN? It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. You're welcome to make your substantive points thoughtfully, of course. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Argonaut998 10mo ago
Is this propaganda or gross naivety? It’s a corrupt dystopian hellscape where people starve regularly, and are exiled. The forced smiling puts Disney Land to shame. Why do you think you need a guide to go past a certain point? The only other country I know of where a guide is required is North Korea. No offence to the author here but it reads like a wealthy WASP going to an “exotic” culture pointing out how “quaint” it is and how we can “learn so much” from their “way of living”.

98 points by sg5421 10mo ago

As much as I appreciate Bhutan's ideas around happiness and its style of sustainable development, I feel Bhutan being a tiny hilly country is what allows them to work. Add to that the gift of Hydroelectric power, which alone contributes 1/4th of government revenue, and was responsible for 14% of its GDP[1]. Its population is less than a million, where as even tier-3 towns in India have a couple of million people living there. A large country, with a large population, has far fewer options other than supporting economic development at a scale. [1]: https://thewire.in/world/south-asia/bhutan-hydropower-electricity-energy-geopolitics https://thewire.in/world/south-asia/bhutan-hydropower-electr...

tfourb 10mo ago
Renewable energy is literally available everywhere and solar and wind are now cheaper than hydro in many places. „Economic development“ can mean many things and there is a scenario where it supports the concept of „well being“ rather than actively undermining it, as it is happening in many places currently.
- em-bee 10mo ago
  yes, but as the top comment suggest the problem in large countries is that economic development isn't as localized. one project that improves the lives of 1 million people in buthan means that india needs 1000 such projects to bring the same improvement to all its people. do less, and the effect is less noticeable.
- rjmunro 10mo ago
  > solar and wind are now cheaper than hydro in many places. It's not possible to run a country entirely on wind and solar, you need backup for when it isn't windy or sunny. It is possible to run a country entirely on Hydro. The lake on a hydro electric dam will last for a while - in some cases several months - between needing to be topped up by rainfall.
  - jantissler 10mo ago
    Batteries exist.
    - lenkite 10mo ago
      Batteries need to be manufactured or imported at expense.
    - archagon 10mo ago
      Heh, OP even described a battery in the form of a lake!
jiehong 10mo ago
I think size is also what prevents countries too. Not enough people and not enough GDP? Well, some projects might take more than the country’s available capital. Size isn’t everything: compare China to India. I wish them luck, and success, because why not!
seanmcdirmid 10mo ago
They also get a lot of support from India, including military protection, and primary trade/currency links as well as covering most of their diplomatic needs. It’s like how Lichtenstein relates to Switzerland.
- badmonster 10mo ago
  Interesting parallel. Does this reliance limit Bhutan's sovereignty in practice? What's the trade-off?
  - sg5421 10mo ago
    Bhutan sovereignty is guaranteed by the fact that China (Tibet) also shares a border with Bhutan. It's a neutral place between the two powers. Although its ties are much closer to India (geographically, the flattest part is on its southern border with India--the location where Gelephu Mindfulness City will be located).
    - tim333 10mo ago
      Bhutan is also quite fierce against attempts to take it over. Their main hobby seems to be archery.
- nephihaha 10mo ago
  Look what happened to Sikkim, when India annexed it. They have probably been reminded of that.
- mwnn 10mo ago
  > support from India, including military protection That protection is notional, and the expectation that China (their only other neighbour) is not really going to get aggressive about this peaceful tiny country, but then there’s Tibet as an example. So then why is it notional? If China were to get aggressive, we (India) will not be able to do jack about it because, hell, we couldn’t defend our own territorial claims and have been losing land to China, one outpost at a time. No, not only from the wars from decades ago, but also very recently — yeah, that means even after this omnipotent non-biological entity became our own version of the glorious leader.

xvilka 10mo ago

Despite all that happiness push, young people still prefer more opportunities (and money) abroad.

sg5421 10mo ago
It's because of that youth exodus (to Australia mainly) that the government is pushing for Gelephu Mindfulness City as place for innovation and new business opps. That's what the gov't officials directly argued when asked.

zkmon 10mo ago

Every place in the world is a mix of two things - the background and the foreground. The background is the natural stuff (terrain, greenery, water bodies, climate etc) and the foreground is the areas where people settled. The people areas (houses, streets, work places) are dependent on the economic activity, prosperity and culture. And they look the same as any other place in the world with the same parameters. Outside of people's areas, it depends on terrain (hill station), latitude (for climate) and greenery. Again for it looks the same as any other place in the world with the same parameters. So, every place is a combination of these two things with different parameters. Sometimes, the foreground has dependencies on the background.

seanmcdirmid 10mo ago

I don’t think Bhutan has ever had any relationship with the Dalai Lama, there Buddhism is derived from Tibetan Buddhism but is a different school. The article is weird to suggest that Bhutan has some sort of role in the future relating to Tibet Buddhism leadership, it’s much more likely to come from India.

nephihaha 10mo ago
I think to be fair what they were meaning is that it may emerge as the primary source of Tibetan Buddhism now Tibet is irreversibly compromised. Yes, I am aware of the different schools and how they squabble.
Tistron 10mo ago
The article doesn't suggest that Bhutan has a future in the leadership of Tibetan Buddhism, but that when/if Tibetan Buddhism gets more fractured because of disputes around lineage, then Bhutan can become globally important in the thought leadership of Buddhism more generally, or maybe more specifically Vajrayana Buddhism.
- kunley 10mo ago
  There are 4 main schools of Vajrayana Buddhism: Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya and Gelug, and the Dalai Lama is head of just one of them - Gelug. They have independent teaching transmissions and succession lines. There's common misconception about Dalai Lama being a kind of a "pope" for Buddhism at all, or for the Diamond way (that means Vajrayana) Buddhism in particular, which is simply not true. Having said that, it is of course unfortunate that the issue with two candidates, one of them "manufactured" by the PRC regime, is on the horizon and most likely will happen. Please note this already happened for the Kagyu lineage, where two Karmapa candidates emerged in 90s; interesting that after few decades the Chinese one admitted recently he's not the real one.
  - throw-the-towel 10mo ago
    Do you have a link to the Karmapa admitting he's not the real deal? I tried to google it but got nothing.

case0x 10mo ago

I've been fascinated by Bhutan ever since reading "Beyond the Sky and the Earth". I wish them the best, but with the exodus of young people it's difficult to see long term success. The population is tiny. Will future growth only stem from tourism?

sjamaan 10mo ago
Tourism is not really a growth sector. There are too many hotels already, with hoteliers complaining they can't get bookings at a decent price because there's too much competition undercutting them, and tour operators demanding lower prices than is sustainable. Truthfully, the GMC is Bhutan's best bet at growth. The idea is to attract foreign talent who can train and educate locals, so that it can act as an attractor for youths, and a flywheel for prosperity in the country.

throwaway198846 10mo ago

Didn't Bhutan kicked out some people?

decimalenough 10mo ago
Yes, but it's complicated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_cleansing_of_Lhotshampa_in_Bhutan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_cleansing_of_Lhotshampa...
- postsantum 10mo ago
  It wouldn't be regarded as complicated if Bhutan wasn't le wholesome misty buddhist paradise with happiness instead of GDP. Westerners love stories like that and don't want anything to tarnish it
  - tim333 10mo ago
    The US which is not really a wholesome misty buddhist paradise is also involved in trying to kick out some people who arrived unofficially over the southern border and I think that is also regarded as complicated.
    - postsantum 10mo ago
      USA is not a one dimensional country Compare it with hecking wholesome Israel-friendly petrostate of Azebaijan which conducted a full scale ethnic cleansing special operation just a couple of years ago and it went mostly unnoticed and wasn't regarded as complicated by western intelligentsia
    - anon291 10mo ago
      The people Bhutan kicked out were native to that place though and were born there and had identity documents and passports there.
  - hearsathought 10mo ago
    > It wouldn't be regarded as complicated if Bhutan wasn't le wholesome misty buddhist paradise with happiness instead of GDP. If that was the case, myanmar ( a buddhist country ) wouldn't be attacked mercilessly by the press/government/etc for their "deportations". > Westerners love stories like that and don't want anything to tarnish it Nobody cares. We'd turn against bhutan in an instant if the media/government/etc decided to turn against it.

nephihaha 10mo ago

Bhutan sounds cute, but I wonder what the reality is. The city sounds like another one of these globalist smart city projects like Neom in Saudi Arabia, or Rwanda's African showpiece. I'm sure said city will have cameras on every corner, and probably 15 minute city aspects.

JSR_FDED 10mo ago
Weird comparison. Neom doesn’t exist, whereas Bhutan has been around for centuries. It’s a unique place, not just an idea. Friendly people and a government that looks at more than GDP as a success metric.
- sg5421 10mo ago
  I think he refers to Gelephu Mindfulness City. I read it differently, not as a generic globalist city but very much a middle ground between Bhutanese culture (deep Buddhist presence, it will maintain vernacular architectures codes throughout, no skyscrapers) and global capital attractiveness (special economic zone, some tax benefits but not a tax haven in any way, crypto adoption, etc.)
- nephihaha 10mo ago
  I didn't mean Bhutan in general. I was referring to Bhutan's new city project. It seems similar to new cities elsewhere, maybe even Auroville (or whatever it is called). Singapore is great in some ways, not so much in others. (It is arguable how democratic Singapore is, since its parliament has a lot of hereditary politicians in it, like Thailand or Greece.) Bhutan has sold itself as a Shangri La for decades. Whether it is, is another problem. It seems all over the world the peasants are being herded into urban panopticons.
softskunk 10mo ago
what’s wrong with a 15-minute city?
- fragmede 10mo ago
  You can't imagine how insufferably smug everyone who lived there would be? Living lives all happy and nice and not horrible? Gosh, what a terrible place it must be! How much was rent again?

tuzemec 10mo ago

I was there a couple of months ago. It's truly a beautiful and extremely calm place. There's one quote from our guide that I remember: "We are a small nation. We watch what our neighbors are doing and pick what will work for us." Another impression I got (and I may be totally wrong) - the locals genuinely love the royal family. There are pictures of the king, his wife, and children literally everywhere. As someone who grew up in a communist country and is familiar with seeing portraits of "beloved" leaders everywhere, this seemed like something totally different. The people are very respectful - no one tries to sell you things or bother you in any other way. Highly recommended destination. Hope it doesn't change anytime soon.

deleted 10mo ago

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suninsight 10mo ago

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deleted 10mo ago

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Mistletoe 10mo ago

Interestingly, Bhutan is the fifth highest country in Bitcoin holdings. https://bitbo.io/treasuries/countries/ https://bitbo.io/treasuries/countries/ https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/economy/2025/4/14/bitcoin-king-why-is-bhutan-betting-on-crypto https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/economy/2025/4/14/bitcoin-king...

tim333 10mo ago
I guess it's something to use the hydroelectric power for.
- sjamaan 10mo ago
  Yeah, investing it in bitcoin sure beats selling the power to India at bargain bin prices during summer time only to have to buy it back in winter time at premium rates. I think this really shows his majesty's wisdom and ability to think ahead (iiuc it was his decision to start mining bitcoins using green energy).

maxglute 10mo ago

[flagged]

dang 10mo ago
Can you please not post in the snarky / flamey style to HN? It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. You're welcome to make your substantive points thoughtfully, of course. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Argonaut998 10mo ago

Is this propaganda or gross naivety? It’s a corrupt dystopian hellscape where people starve regularly, and are exiled. The forced smiling puts Disney Land to shame. Why do you think you need a guide to go past a certain point? The only other country I know of where a guide is required is North Korea. No offence to the author here but it reads like a wealthy WASP going to an “exotic” culture pointing out how “quaint” it is and how we can “learn so much” from their “way of living”.