Dragon Kingdom - Bhutan

[The One]

June 2005
In a world where despots cling to power by any means, Bhutan's much loved King is voluntarily relinquishing control. It's part of a plan to engage with the wider world.

This tiny mountain kingdom is one of the least undisturbed places on earth. Here, emphasis is placed on 'Gross National Happiness', and schools teach children to live in harmony. "We are an independent kingdom with a very strong policy that preserves our environment," explains author Tshewang Dhendup. The king is widely revered across the country. "He's a very humble man," explains one friend. "No Swiss bank accounts, no Lear jets. Lives in a log cabin." His subjects are still coming to terms with his decision to share power. In recent years, Bhutan has started reaching beyond the mountains. But nothing is allowed to endanger its unique culture

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[mosquito]

Oh God, please please please please please don't let that beautiful uncorrupt place start Westernising !!

[MargueriteBee]

LOL. The whole time watching this video I was wondering, can I move there?

[Cjay]

What a wonderful example to the rest of the world.

[ktlight]

LOL. The whole time watching this video I was wondering, can I move there?

Am not sure that they accept emigrants, but I do know there is a very high cost to temporarily staying there. Very exhorbitant but reasonable in light of what the society is trying to achieve.

You all must have missed this when I presented it to PA some time ago.

[Agape]

LOL. The whole time watching this video I was wondering, can I move there?

- dtto -

CXJwNSkdTH0

It's very expensive to go there as a tourist, at least untill few years back it was the case . Could always beg to the Dragon King to accept another subject ..


W;)W

[Agape]

LOL. The whole time watching this video I was wondering, can I move there?

Am not sure that they accept emigrants, but I do know there is a very high cost to temporarily staying there. Very exhorbitant but reasonable in light of what the society is trying to achieve.

You all must have missed this when I presented it to PA some time ago.


There is a way to go ...suppose you are serious Dharma student and accompany one of the Tibetan lamas who often travel to either of the Bhutanese monasteries for teachings .

I had a chance to visit there couple of times while in India but never took the opportunity because I'm very anti-tourist type of creature and if I decided I love it and wanted to stay they'd have problem either with me or my mom.


;)

[Agape]

King of Bhutan marries in elaborate ceremony


http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll256/PaldenLhamo/bhutan-celebrates-king-marries-20111013-035830-771.jpg




PUNAKHA, Bhutan (AP) — The fifth Dragon King came down from his golden throne to place a silk crown upon the head of his bride. Monks chanted in celebration and she took her seat beside him Thursday, the new queen of the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan.

The wedding of King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck to his commoner bride, Jetsun Pema, has captivated a nation that had grown impatient with their 31-year-old bachelor king's lack of urgency to take a wife and start a family since his father retired and handed power to him five years ago.

Thousands of Bhutanese from the surrounding villages joined the king and queen at their wedding reception at a fairground outside the country's most sacred monastery fortress, where a slate of dancers performed traditional routines for the new couple.

"I have longed for this celebration, and here it is," said Pema Gyeltshen, a nearby villager, as he watched the dancing.

When the king, who has a reputation as a down-to-earth and accessible leader, was asked how it felt to be married, he asked his questioner if she was married. When she said no, he responded: "It's great; you should try it yourself."

The celebrations began at 8:20 a.m. — a time set by royal astrologers — when the king, wearing the royal yellow sash over a golden robe with red flowers and multicolored boots, walked into the courtyard of the 17th century monastery in the old capital of Punakha and proceeded up the high staircase inside.

A few minutes later, his 21-year-old bride, the daughter of an airline pilot, arrived at the end of a procession of red-robed monks and flag bearers across a wooden footbridge over the wide, blue river beside the fort and followed him inside.

Singers chanted songs of celebration amid the clanging of drums and the drone of long dhung trumpets. She wore a traditional wraparound skirt with a gold jacket with deep red cuffs.

Inside, the nation's top cleric, who presided over the wedding, performed a purification ceremony for the couple in front of a massive 100-foot (30-meter) Thongdal tapestry of Bhutan's 17th century founder, the monk-king Zhabdrung.

The pair then proceeded to the temple for a ceremony broadcast live on national television, save for a few minutes when the king, his father and the cleric, known as the Je Khenpo, entered the sacred tomb of Zhabdrung, where only they are allowed.

The king's father then gave the bride an array of five colored scarves representing blessings from the tomb. Hesitantly, she then approached the king's throne with a golden chalice filled with the ambrosia of eternal life. They held it together for several seconds and then he drank.

The king, wearing his red crown, with an image of the protector raven rising from the top, came down from the throne in front of a giant golden Buddha statue and placed a smaller crown on her head. After she took her place as queen, the newly married couple was feted by monks playing deep tones on traditional trumpets and pounding drums.

The Je Khenpo presented them a series of gifts — a mirror, curd, grass, a conch — representing blessings for longevity, wisdom, purity and other well wishes.

There were no foreign princes, no visiting heads of state, no global celebrities. Just the royal family and government officials at ceremony, thousands of villagers at the reception and much of the rest of the country's 700,000 people watching live on TV.

The king's spokesman declined to say how the couple met, although their families knew each other.

The Oxford-educated king is adored for pushing development and ushering in democratic reforms that established a constitutional monarchy and legislature in 2008. His teen-idol looks — slicked back hair and long sideburns — his penchant for evening bike rides through the streets and his reputation as a laid-back, accessible leader, also make him the rare monarch whose picture adorns the bedroom walls of teenage girls.

The remote nation began slowly opening up to the rest of the world in the 1960s. Foreigners and the international media were first admitted in 1974. Television finally arrived in 1999.

The country has not had a royal wedding since the fourth king held a mass ceremony in 1988 with his four wives — four sisters whom he had informally married years earlier. The current king says he will take only one wife, so the country is unlikely to see another such celebration for a long time.





http://news.yahoo.com/king-bhutan-marries-elaborate-ceremony-080034210.html




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