This week’s travel dream: An otherworldly land where the goal is happiness

While many countries gauge progress by gross domestic product, Bhutan officially strives to maintain a high level of Gross National Happiness, said Adam Platt in Condé Nast Traveler. Buddhist spirituality and a decidedly simple way of living contribute to the cause: In this landlocked nation in the eastern Himalayas, there are no skyscrapers, no overpriced restaurants, not even any traffic lights. When I asked a monk if he had any words of wisdom for Westerners like me “in this time of global turmoil, recession, and general psychic distress,” he told me he didn’t know what a recession is. Yes, Bhutan also has very low unemployment.

Every road trip in Bhutan is a climb around or over mountains. Even at 10,000 feet, the Dochula Pass is the best way to get to the eastern part of the country. Huge snowcapped peaks loomed in the distance when we reached it, and we didn’t bother stopping to join other travelers who were “huddled around a wood-burning stove, sipping hot cups of salty yak-butter tea.” And just as well: As we descended from those cold heights, the scent of tropical flowers filled the air, “and it seemed as if we were passing into another world.” That night, “we slept by a rushing river” in a guesthouse “surrounded by gardens of bougainvillea.”

We spent our days hiking to ancient temples, eating traditional meals of chile peppers and yak cheese, and sometimes chanting with monks. Packs of monkeys and herds of shaggy yaks often crossed our path. One morning, I got lost on a hike while trying to find some of the hermit caves said to be located above our luxury lodge. So “I sat down for a time in a stand of pines and attempted to meditate on my own,” the twittering of birds my only distraction. My everyday anxieties began to fall away. Bhutan isn’t for every traveler. But “for a sense of pristine, otherworldly calm,” it’s unmatched.

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At the Zhiwa Ling Hotel, the country’s only Bhutanese-owned luxury hotel (zhiwa­ling.com), doubles start at $256.