LLOYD: High up in the Himalayas is a place they call the thunder dragon, the tiny mountain kingdom of Bhutan, the last Shangri-la, one of the more pristine places on the planet.
In a world of despots and dictators it sounds like the stuff of fairytales. A remote, almost mythical land, where a king gives up absolute power to bring democracy to his people and his government remains free of the taint of corruption. This is the remote Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. In recent years this once secluded civilisation has opened itself up to the outside world, to tourists, technology and television. The Bhutanese are determined to hasten slowly to maintain their unique Buddhist culture in the face of 21st century rapid globalisation.
The national stadium in the capital Thimphu. It might be Saturday but school children sporting national dress are being put through their paces. Its a full dress rehearsal for a parade to mark the birthday of Bhutans revered and much loved dragon King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck.
MARCH ORGANISER: He is our everything. Hes our father. Hes our total everything and for the youngsters, the youngsters sing that the King is everything for them.
LLOYD: The King constantly travels throughout Bhutan meeting and mixing with his people, rarely are his visits accompanied by public fanfare. Back in 1999 an obvious exception. Thousands of the Kings loyal subjects turned out to celebrate his silver jubilee, twenty-five years on the throne.
While the King embraces technology and the modern media for his people, he personally evades cameras and microphones. Royal interviews are rare. We couldnt persuade him to break with tradition.
KING [ADDRESSING CROWD] : I hope the start of the television and Internet in Bhutan will bring lots of good for our people and government. I am really happy about it and you have my good wishes for this.
LLOYD: Bhutans capital Thimphu, a city of close to fifty thousand people keeping pace with their Kings grand vision for the country. Here Saywong Dhendup is highly regarded as an author, broadcaster, poet and patriot. In keeping with his fellow Bhutanese, he believes his King has made this country what it is today.
SAYWONG DHENDUP: The fact that we are a nation of less then a million people, we survived so many super powers. We are sandwiched by two billion people literally, and yet today we are an independent kingdom with a very strong policy that preserves our environment but we still have a culture alive and we have one person to thank.
LLOYD: The dragon king came to the throne as a teenager thirty years ago. Up until he succeeded his father, Bhutan was largely isolated from the rest of the world. Now the King has four royal wives, all sisters. Hes the father of ten children and the quirky concept of gross national happiness.
TSHEWANG DHENDUP: His Majesty has stated that gross national happiness is more important than gross national product. I consider it to be a philosophy more than economic mantra or a development mantra, but more philosophy. I mean it sort of I think stipulates the vision where happiness is the end goal and everybody is working towards it.
LLOYD: Most Bhutanese find every day happiness in the ancient tradition of their national sport or what some might call their national obsession.
TSHEWANG DHENDUP: It is not only an obsession, it becomes a dangerous obsession you know and people fight. I mean it becomes a serious affair. I mean it is total, total entertainment because it is not only shooting the arrows and hitting the target. It has humour, it has satire, it has sarcasm.
LLOYD: Such hi-jinks keep the crowd on the range enthralled for hours at a time. The nations most famous archery aficionado the King isnt here but Prime Minister Yeshi Zimba occupies pride of place in the VIP stand.
Bhutans archery contests like test cricket can go on for days at a time and this one did. Patience is merely one of many virtues that underpins this nations steady as she goes modernization.
PRIME MINISTER YESHI ZIMBA: It is a development philosophy which places people at the centre of development, a very holistic approach where we look at not just the material needs but also the spiritual needs of people and I think we are quite well on our way to achieving this.
LLOYD: Today a celebration to greet the arrival of a new thunder dragon, a gleaming Airbus to boost the tourism trade. Its a milestone for a nation thats renounced isolation and begun reaching out to the world beyond these mountains and it wouldnt be Bhutan without a touch of age-old Buddhist pomp and ceremony. Back in the 60s you needed a royal invitation to visit. These days a passport and plane ticket will do. Tourism is already Bhutans second biggest earner. Its unique culture and traditions attracting the well-heeled outsider. Its not the backpackers. The government charges in excess of $250 a day. In keeping with tradition, the inaugural flight arrived on a day and at a time chosen after consultation with an astrologer.
CAPTAIN TENZIN TSHERING: Well its part of our Buddhist culture as well as are social comings, that anything we do we choose a good day and especially for such an important step in the vision.
LLOYD: The wilderness is Bhutans major asset. The biggest money-spinner - hydro electricity. Almost half the countrys revenue comes from the sale of what they call white gold to India. Rich in bio diversity, 70% of Bhutan is covered in forest. Its one of the few places in the world that can actually boast an increase in forest cover.
How many times have you done this?
TIM FISHER: Its my third time. Some trips too busy to get up to the Tigers Nest but its always worthwhile.
LLOYD: Does it take it out of you?
TIM FISHER: Im not as fit as I use to be.
LLOYD: Leading a group from Australia is former Deputy Prime Minister, Tim Fisher, a man renowned for leading journalists on long walks in the bush. Hes been visiting Bhutan since the 1980s, first as a politician but these days as a lover of the great outdoors. Todays climb is to get a glimpse of the most famous monastery in Bhutan, the Tigers Nest.
TIM FISHER: The tourists are not allowed ultimate entry into the monastery. Its a very sacred site.
LLOYD: This is one of the jewels in the crown is it?
TIM FISHER: It is the ultimate icon Buddhist monastery of Bhutan. It was burnt down a few years back but very carefully reinstated to its brilliant dimensions. A bit more gold perhaps than last time I saw it.
LLOYD: How hard is it going to be for Bhutan to preserve this kind of national heritage if they allow in thousands of tourists?
TIM FISHER: I dont think were going to see golden arches on the Tigers Nest and Ill be very cranky if we do but we wont.
LLOYD: Tim Fisher is a friend of the King though not even he won a royal audience this time round.
TIM FISHER: This King leads on the front foot. No Swiss bank accounts, no Lear jets. Lives in a log cabin. Hes a very humble man. Very modest man. Married to four sisters. Kids by all four sisters. Immediately people will think well he must be some form of playboy. Hes in fact anything back.
TSHEWANG DHENDUP: I see him as my King and if my King has four wives who happen to be sisters, its his choice.
LLOYD: So its not a matter that his subjects have any debate about?
TSHEWANG DHENDUP: I mean why would it be? Why would we have a debate on it? We would have a debate if there was riots on the street. We would have a debate if our people went hungry. We would have a debate if our forests were being exterminated. I mean we respect our Kings choice.
LLOYD: For Bhutanese challenging the motives of the King is tantamount to treason. Theyre still coming to terms with his decision to share power. Here in Thimphu the capital, is Bhutans parliament, the National Assembly. It has around a hundred or so members including a dozen women. There are no political parties, no opposition and no independent MPs. It does however have a Prime Minister and a group of Ministers who, together with the King, rule the country. At the moment theyre drafting a constitution. Its Bhutans first and its due to come into operation sometime in the next year of so.
In the future Bhutanese will vote for their politicians in free elections. For the time being though theyve got government appointed MPs like Dorji Bidah, a single mother and former civil servant. Shes represented these villages and farmers for the past six years. Today shes reporting back on decisions made in the National Assembly and to hear what people want next.
DORJI BIHAD: I think its very important. Its very important because that is the only level where our public can reach over there and speak out what they have in their mind and what they want, the rights to be done by the governments or the ministries.
LLOYD: It may look like a golden land of plenty but life at the grassroots is gruelling. Less than 10% of Bhutan is arable. The majority of Bhutanese are subsistence farmers performing backbreaking work in the field for hours and days on end. Its a living but for people like forty eight year old Tshering Dolma, its a tough one.
TSHERING DOLMA : Its a hard job. Its very difficult.
LLOYD: Working alongside Tshering is her twenty five year old daughter. When she was growing up there was no school in the district. Its different now for her ten-year-old twin sisters.
TSHERING DOLMA : We send our children to school. Its better for them to be educated. Theyll have a better life.
LLOYD: Now, more than 90% of Bhutanese children go to school but old traditions remain. All school children like all citizens are expected to wear the national dress. Children are schooled in basic subjects but here emphasis is placed on the values of living in harmony, controlling anger, overcoming jealousy and selfishness and promoting tolerance and patience. It all reinforces the notion of gross national happiness.
KARMA DECHEN [SCHOOL TEACHER]: Thats what his Majesty has always been telling us and we really believe in such a thing because to live in a society we have to live in harmony so if this, just now is the right time for our kids also to learn.
LLOYD: The call to prayer Bhutan style. Until the 1960s the only schooling available was in monasteries. Its a tradition that continues. These young boys have come from all over Bhutan to be educated and ordained as monks. Karma Gaylek is the principal of the monastery.
KARMA GAYLEK : There are four hundred and seventy-seven children currently here. We have children from ordinary, simple families, orphans, children from divorced parents and children who wish to be a monk from an early age
LLOYD: The chief patron of this Thimphu monastery is Crown Prince Dasho Jigme Namgyal Wangchuck. A ceremony to formally install the young Crown Prince as the next in line prompted the biggest production ever mounted by Bhutan television. Never before has this royal rite of passage been witnessed by ordinary Bhutanese but its well to remember that more than 70% of Bhutanese still have no electricity, much less access to television.
TSHEWANG DHENDUP: We are at a stage where we have loyalty from our viewers. They are very very loyal to us. Our transmission starts from seven to eleven and if you went to a Bhutanese house you would be watching BBS television.
LLOYD: Loyalty, royalty and a Buddhist culture that shaped Bhutan for centuries influence the countrys novel gross national happiness index. In the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, a nation state is a state of mind.
In a world of despots and dictators it sounds like the stuff of fairytales. A remote, almost mythical land, where a king gives up absolute power to bring democracy to his people and his government remains free of the taint of corruption. This is the remote Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. In recent years this once secluded civilisation has opened itself up to the outside world, to tourists, technology and television. The Bhutanese are determined to hasten slowly to maintain their unique Buddhist culture in the face of 21st century rapid globalisation.
The national stadium in the capital Thimphu. It might be Saturday but school children sporting national dress are being put through their paces. Its a full dress rehearsal for a parade to mark the birthday of Bhutans revered and much loved dragon King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck.
MARCH ORGANISER: He is our everything. Hes our father. Hes our total everything and for the youngsters, the youngsters sing that the King is everything for them.
LLOYD: The King constantly travels throughout Bhutan meeting and mixing with his people, rarely are his visits accompanied by public fanfare. Back in 1999 an obvious exception. Thousands of the Kings loyal subjects turned out to celebrate his silver jubilee, twenty-five years on the throne.
While the King embraces technology and the modern media for his people, he personally evades cameras and microphones. Royal interviews are rare. We couldnt persuade him to break with tradition.
KING [ADDRESSING CROWD] : I hope the start of the television and Internet in Bhutan will bring lots of good for our people and government. I am really happy about it and you have my good wishes for this.
LLOYD: Bhutans capital Thimphu, a city of close to fifty thousand people keeping pace with their Kings grand vision for the country. Here Saywong Dhendup is highly regarded as an author, broadcaster, poet and patriot. In keeping with his fellow Bhutanese, he believes his King has made this country what it is today.
SAYWONG DHENDUP: The fact that we are a nation of less then a million people, we survived so many super powers. We are sandwiched by two billion people literally, and yet today we are an independent kingdom with a very strong policy that preserves our environment but we still have a culture alive and we have one person to thank.
LLOYD: The dragon king came to the throne as a teenager thirty years ago. Up until he succeeded his father, Bhutan was largely isolated from the rest of the world. Now the King has four royal wives, all sisters. Hes the father of ten children and the quirky concept of gross national happiness.
TSHEWANG DHENDUP: His Majesty has stated that gross national happiness is more important than gross national product. I consider it to be a philosophy more than economic mantra or a development mantra, but more philosophy. I mean it sort of I think stipulates the vision where happiness is the end goal and everybody is working towards it.
LLOYD: Most Bhutanese find every day happiness in the ancient tradition of their national sport or what some might call their national obsession.
TSHEWANG DHENDUP: It is not only an obsession, it becomes a dangerous obsession you know and people fight. I mean it becomes a serious affair. I mean it is total, total entertainment because it is not only shooting the arrows and hitting the target. It has humour, it has satire, it has sarcasm.
LLOYD: Such hi-jinks keep the crowd on the range enthralled for hours at a time. The nations most famous archery aficionado the King isnt here but Prime Minister Yeshi Zimba occupies pride of place in the VIP stand.
Bhutans archery contests like test cricket can go on for days at a time and this one did. Patience is merely one of many virtues that underpins this nations steady as she goes modernization.
PRIME MINISTER YESHI ZIMBA: It is a development philosophy which places people at the centre of development, a very holistic approach where we look at not just the material needs but also the spiritual needs of people and I think we are quite well on our way to achieving this.
LLOYD: Today a celebration to greet the arrival of a new thunder dragon, a gleaming Airbus to boost the tourism trade. Its a milestone for a nation thats renounced isolation and begun reaching out to the world beyond these mountains and it wouldnt be Bhutan without a touch of age-old Buddhist pomp and ceremony. Back in the 60s you needed a royal invitation to visit. These days a passport and plane ticket will do. Tourism is already Bhutans second biggest earner. Its unique culture and traditions attracting the well-heeled outsider. Its not the backpackers. The government charges in excess of $250 a day. In keeping with tradition, the inaugural flight arrived on a day and at a time chosen after consultation with an astrologer.
CAPTAIN TENZIN TSHERING: Well its part of our Buddhist culture as well as are social comings, that anything we do we choose a good day and especially for such an important step in the vision.
LLOYD: The wilderness is Bhutans major asset. The biggest money-spinner - hydro electricity. Almost half the countrys revenue comes from the sale of what they call white gold to India. Rich in bio diversity, 70% of Bhutan is covered in forest. Its one of the few places in the world that can actually boast an increase in forest cover.
How many times have you done this?
TIM FISHER: Its my third time. Some trips too busy to get up to the Tigers Nest but its always worthwhile.
LLOYD: Does it take it out of you?
TIM FISHER: Im not as fit as I use to be.
LLOYD: Leading a group from Australia is former Deputy Prime Minister, Tim Fisher, a man renowned for leading journalists on long walks in the bush. Hes been visiting Bhutan since the 1980s, first as a politician but these days as a lover of the great outdoors. Todays climb is to get a glimpse of the most famous monastery in Bhutan, the Tigers Nest.
TIM FISHER: The tourists are not allowed ultimate entry into the monastery. Its a very sacred site.
LLOYD: This is one of the jewels in the crown is it?
TIM FISHER: It is the ultimate icon Buddhist monastery of Bhutan. It was burnt down a few years back but very carefully reinstated to its brilliant dimensions. A bit more gold perhaps than last time I saw it.
LLOYD: How hard is it going to be for Bhutan to preserve this kind of national heritage if they allow in thousands of tourists?
TIM FISHER: I dont think were going to see golden arches on the Tigers Nest and Ill be very cranky if we do but we wont.
LLOYD: Tim Fisher is a friend of the King though not even he won a royal audience this time round.
TIM FISHER: This King leads on the front foot. No Swiss bank accounts, no Lear jets. Lives in a log cabin. Hes a very humble man. Very modest man. Married to four sisters. Kids by all four sisters. Immediately people will think well he must be some form of playboy. Hes in fact anything back.
TSHEWANG DHENDUP: I see him as my King and if my King has four wives who happen to be sisters, its his choice.
LLOYD: So its not a matter that his subjects have any debate about?
TSHEWANG DHENDUP: I mean why would it be? Why would we have a debate on it? We would have a debate if there was riots on the street. We would have a debate if our people went hungry. We would have a debate if our forests were being exterminated. I mean we respect our Kings choice.
LLOYD: For Bhutanese challenging the motives of the King is tantamount to treason. Theyre still coming to terms with his decision to share power. Here in Thimphu the capital, is Bhutans parliament, the National Assembly. It has around a hundred or so members including a dozen women. There are no political parties, no opposition and no independent MPs. It does however have a Prime Minister and a group of Ministers who, together with the King, rule the country. At the moment theyre drafting a constitution. Its Bhutans first and its due to come into operation sometime in the next year of so.
In the future Bhutanese will vote for their politicians in free elections. For the time being though theyve got government appointed MPs like Dorji Bidah, a single mother and former civil servant. Shes represented these villages and farmers for the past six years. Today shes reporting back on decisions made in the National Assembly and to hear what people want next.
DORJI BIHAD: I think its very important. Its very important because that is the only level where our public can reach over there and speak out what they have in their mind and what they want, the rights to be done by the governments or the ministries.
LLOYD: It may look like a golden land of plenty but life at the grassroots is gruelling. Less than 10% of Bhutan is arable. The majority of Bhutanese are subsistence farmers performing backbreaking work in the field for hours and days on end. Its a living but for people like forty eight year old Tshering Dolma, its a tough one.
TSHERING DOLMA : Its a hard job. Its very difficult.
LLOYD: Working alongside Tshering is her twenty five year old daughter. When she was growing up there was no school in the district. Its different now for her ten-year-old twin sisters.
TSHERING DOLMA : We send our children to school. Its better for them to be educated. Theyll have a better life.
LLOYD: Now, more than 90% of Bhutanese children go to school but old traditions remain. All school children like all citizens are expected to wear the national dress. Children are schooled in basic subjects but here emphasis is placed on the values of living in harmony, controlling anger, overcoming jealousy and selfishness and promoting tolerance and patience. It all reinforces the notion of gross national happiness.
KARMA DECHEN [SCHOOL TEACHER]: Thats what his Majesty has always been telling us and we really believe in such a thing because to live in a society we have to live in harmony so if this, just now is the right time for our kids also to learn.
LLOYD: The call to prayer Bhutan style. Until the 1960s the only schooling available was in monasteries. Its a tradition that continues. These young boys have come from all over Bhutan to be educated and ordained as monks. Karma Gaylek is the principal of the monastery.
KARMA GAYLEK : There are four hundred and seventy-seven children currently here. We have children from ordinary, simple families, orphans, children from divorced parents and children who wish to be a monk from an early age
LLOYD: The chief patron of this Thimphu monastery is Crown Prince Dasho Jigme Namgyal Wangchuck. A ceremony to formally install the young Crown Prince as the next in line prompted the biggest production ever mounted by Bhutan television. Never before has this royal rite of passage been witnessed by ordinary Bhutanese but its well to remember that more than 70% of Bhutanese still have no electricity, much less access to television.
TSHEWANG DHENDUP: We are at a stage where we have loyalty from our viewers. They are very very loyal to us. Our transmission starts from seven to eleven and if you went to a Bhutanese house you would be watching BBS television.
LLOYD: Loyalty, royalty and a Buddhist culture that shaped Bhutan for centuries influence the countrys novel gross national happiness index. In the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, a nation state is a state of mind.