Korean Job Discussion Forums

[just4u]

It seems that everywhere on earth has been explored, but for this place. I've read about posters on here going to North Korea, Iran, and even Mongolia.

But not Bhutan.

I just read about it on Wikipedia and the pictures look out of this world.

The article said that they didn't have tv until 1999.

None of the pictures actually have people in them.

The buildings look like they are straight out of a History textbook.

All in all, it looks unreal. If anyone is up for it, it sounds like it may be a good adventure. It really seems like one of the few places on this earth that hasn't been "Marco Poloed" yet. It's right in between China and Tibet.

And speaking of which, I've never heard anyone ever talk about going to Tibet, either....

[CentralCali]

For Bhutan, you cannot arrange your own itinerary and you should leave all tobacco products at home.

From the US State Department Consular Information Sheet for Bhutan:

[waltjocketty]

In order to get the visa to enter Bhutan, you need to register yourself for a tour, which essentially translates to: "you must pay the Bhutanese government $200 for every night you spend in Bhutan," as a means of controlling tourism figures.

[ajgeddes]

[just4u]

I personally don't want to go there, something about the place seems a bit dangerous to me, but I guess if anyone really feels like exploring unchartered territory and feels like quitting smoking for a week and paying $200 a night....then there you go.

Some of the pics I saw of one of the buildings reminded me of the huge building in HG Wells movie "The Time Machine." (pics on wikipedia)

[jajdude]

An old article found on www.iht.com:

By Kunda Dixit
Published: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1992


KATMANDU, Nepal: Half a world away from Serbia and Somalia, a silent refugee emergency is stalking the Himalayan foothills as thousands of people from southern Bhutan are being forcibly evicted from their land.

Bhutan's agony has gone virtually unnoticed.The number of refugees in the six months has passed 100,000.

Most of them are living in six squalid refugee camps along river banks in eastern Nepal. The arrival of some relief groups has improved conditions somewhat and prevented epidemics of the sort that killed hundreds of children earlier this year.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, already busy helping Burmese Muslims in neighboring Bangladesh, has a small office in Nepal. It says the Bhutan crisis is developing into a major emergency.

The refugees are Nepali-speaking people of southern Bhutan. The ruling Drukpa elite in Thimbu, the capital, says the country is being swamped by "Lhotshampas," or southerners, and it has launched a systematic, and by most accounts ruthless, attempt to depopulate the country.

Thimbu says it will recognize only those who arrived before 1938, or their descendants, as Bhutanese. But most refugees streaming into Nepal have citizenship papers. They say entire villages in southern Bhutan where Lhotshampas have been living for generations have been emptied.

The Bhutanese government recently reduced its official population figure from 1.4 million to 600,000; dissidents say the difference represents Nepali-speakers, who used to make up 45 percent of the population.

What started out in 1990 as a campaign to force all citizens to wear the traditional Bhutanese dress and speak the Dzongkha language has grown into a macabre "cultural cleansing" exercise. While earlier refugees were peasants and laborers, now it is senior diplomats, civil servants and business people who are fleeing.

Foreign Minister Dawa Tsering says the Lhotshampas are leaving of their own will and blames "anti-national terrorists" for the murders and atrocities.

With attitudes hardening, it is not difficult to foresee a Sri Lanka-type civil war in this once-idyllic land. And as in Sri Lanka, the key to the problem is in India's hands.

A 1949 treaty makes New Delhi Bhutan's guardian on foreign policy and defense, but India says the refugee problem is a bilateral issue between Nepal and Bhutan. Since Bhutan and Nepal do not share a border, that is a convenient way for New Delhi to pass the buck, as well as refugees, on to Nepal.

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala of Nepal has been pursuing what he calls "quiet diplomacy" with Indian and Bhutanese leaders since last year. But that diplomacy has been so quiet it has not got the refugees back home.

Meanwhile, up to 50 truckloads of Bhutanese pour into Nepal every day. The rulers of Bhutan, Nepal and India need to stop this tragedy before the refugees decide to take up arms.

The writer is a Nepali journalist who is regional editor of Inter Press Service, based in Manila. He contributed this comment to the International Herald Tribune.

[itaewonguy]

I heard that you must be on a tour when you visit bhutan!
I didnt hear about 200 dollars a day! I was planning on going there last summer.. but I changed to myanmar instead.. I think you just need to organise a tour package and join that! should all be fine...
check the internet for tour packages to bhutan I found some before..