Bhutan - Small Country, Big Dragons Quiz

Answer: False

It is true that northern Bhutan is mountainous as it is in the Himalayan mountain range. The mountains stretch to central Bhutan as they mellow out into hilly peaks. However, the southern strip of Bhutan is comprised of flat plains and is where most of the arable land of the country is concentrated.

These plains are part of the Terai-Duar - an important and unique grassland as it is the only habitat of the Indian rhinoceros, one of the world's more impressive endangered species.

Furthermore, Bhutan doesn't share a border with either Nepal nor Bangladesh despite being very close to both. India controls a narrow strip of land separating Bhutan from both of these. Bhutan also shares a border with China, on the autonomous region of Tibet.

Answer: Gangkhar Puensum

In 1992, Gangkhar Puensum became the highest unclimbed peak at 7570 meters above sea level. It is also the 40th highest peak in the world, but perhaps not the highest point in all of Bhutan. That distinction goes to Kula Kangri, according to the Bhutanese government; however, the Chinese claim that Kula Kangri is located wholly inside Tibet so it is not a part of Bhutan. This is a minor point of international friction between the two countries.

There is little chance that Gangkhar Puensum will be climbed any time soon. The government of Bhutan has placed a ban on climbing mountains in their country. First of all, many of the inhabitants believe that the mountaintops are the homes of the spirits, so, in order to prevent sacrilege, people are asked not to climb mountains in Bhutan. A second reason is a safety reason; Bhutan simply doesn't have the capabilities for a high-altitude rescue.

Answer: India

Bhutan's independence was officially recognized by the Indian government in 1949 resolving the century-long question of Bhutan's sovereignty. Bhutan had always been independent in the eyes of its people, and certainly autonomous in the eyes of the world, from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries. When India gained independence in 1947, Bhutan was placed under the protectorate of India until a formalized treaty was written up in 1949 granting Bhutan full independent rights.

Nevertheless, Bhutan's hereditary monarchy has been in place since 1907, and before that, a system of elected monarchs was in place. Bhutan had always been self-governed, so, have they always been independent? Also, Bhutan only joined the United Nations in 1971; up until that point they had been under India's sphere of influence and their policies were directed by India.

The *official* answer is that Bhutan gained independence from the newly formed India, soon after the British relinquished their mandate in the area.

Answer: Dzongkhag

In Dzongkha, the local language spoken in Bhutan, a district is known as a dzongkhag. A subdistrict is called a dungkhag and a block, or a group of villages is called a gewog. The head of the dzongkhag is called the dzongdag, and this was an appointed position up until 2008 when it became an elected position.

Answer: Happiness

Bhutan's third Dragon King, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, made a fleeting remark in a speech that was taken seriously by the Bhutanese. According to Buddhist beliefs, happiness is something that one needs to strive for and the country's leading thinkers set about to find a way to quantify it. Gross national happiness is now an accepted worldwide index, especially by those who find fault with gross national product.

Gross national happiness was defined as a multicultural measurement, and it could be applied to nations that do not have Buddhist majorities. It is measured based on four indices: sustainable development, cultural values, natural environment, and good governance.

Answer: Thunderous winter winds

Bhutan experiences two monsoon seasons, one in the summer whose origin comes in the southwest and brings with it torrential rains. The other monsoon season is in the winter and comes from the northeast. It brings with it thundering winds of immense force and these gust through the mountains and valleys and give the impression that a dragon is taking out its wrath on the land.

Bhutan can be a very rainy country. The yearly average for the country is a meter of rainfall, and some places in the lowlands even record nearly eight meters a year! Some of these places are prone to flash floods when the monsoons come around.

Answer: Pho Chhu and Mo Chhu

The city of Punakha had been settled for many hundreds of years as the land there is very good for agriculture. Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, the man who unified the independent mountain fortresses into the country of Bhutan, established the Pungtang Dechen Photrang Dzong - the winter home of the central Buddhist leadership - in 1637. The city served as the capital of Bhutan until 1955.

"Chhu", if you didn't infer from the answers, is the Dzonkha word for river. All of the rivers mentioned in the answers are real, but many of them get new names as they continue to flow south into India and Bangladesh.

Answer: Paro

Paro is the center of the Paro Dzongkhag and one of the first Dzongs to be consecrated in Bhutan. Back in the 15th century even, Paro was a cultural and spiritual center. It was also an agricultural town, built on the banks of the Paro Chhu. The national museum of Bhutan can be found in this town, as well as the first international airport in the country.

The airport itself is considered one of the more challenging airports to land in or take off in the world. It handles only a small volume of air traffic and was built with only a single runway nestled in between five-kilometer-high peaks.

Answer: Indian rupee

One ngultrum is divided into a hundred chhertums. It replaced the Indian rupee as Bhutan's currency only in 1974; however, the rupee is still legal tender in Bhutan (though the inverse is not usually true). The reason for this is that India helped push the Bhutanese economy forward and helped modernize the country; thus, the rupee was the only currency to be found before Bhutan was able to mint its own money. One of the advances that Bhutan has made that has helped its economy greatly is the harnessing of hydroelectric power due to the streams and rivers that flow down from the mountains. Most of this power is sold off to India.

Answer: Tiger

Paro Taktsang is also known as Taktshang Goemba, and these can be translated to "Tiger's Nest" or "Tiger's Nest Monastery". Built right into the side of the mountain, the monastery was built near the cave where legend has it that the second Buddha meditated. The legend says that he reached this cave on the back of a tiger, hence the fitting name. It was this Guru Rinpoche who brought Buddhism to both Tibet and Bhutan.

Despite being about ten kilometers from the town of Paro (where all international flights land) tourism to the monastery is limited to a handful of visitors a year. This is due to the sanctity of the monastery and the seven temples around it. The temple was built and finished in 1692 by Tenzin Rabgye. It is an icon of Bhutan and one of the more recognizable monasteries in the world.