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So it goes in Bhutan, possibly the first country in history where a king had to convince his people that democracy was a good idea.
Known by its people as the Land of the Thunder Dragon, Bhutan’s snowcapped peaks and mountainside monasteries have long intrigued Westerners in search of a Buddhist nirvana. But the kingdom is, in many ways, a strikingly conformist place where the outside world is viewed warily and self-promotion and confrontation are frowned upon. We were guests of the government just months before Bhutan opened its doors to the world exclaiming its new democracy. What will become of this last Himalayan kingdon only time will tell.