The King Mother

They call her the Queen Mother,

but she's really the mother of the current king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck,

and first wife of the former king, Jigme Singye Wangchuck.

Two men who know how to wear a gho.

(Thanks for the pics friends!)

So really that makes her a Queen and mother, or Bhutan's King's Mother. The King Mother is a great title. Not in terms of who your son is though, I just mean, if you walked down the street and people were shouting, "Hey King Mother! What's going on?" that would be a pretty great thing to happen.

Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck is quite the lady. As should be expected from a lady who is the mother of one Dragon King (Druk Gyalpo) and the first wife of another. First wife because she and three other sisters are all married to the king as queens.

Also, she's a big Elvis fan.

Good ol' Bhutan. Did you know "India is 'intensifying military penetration' in Nepal and Bhutan...[because] the Himalayan Kingdoms have become theatres of conflict between military strategists from India and China?"

Well, believe it!

Also, India is encouraging Bhutan and Russia to get together on military matters. Makes sense when you think about it. Russia and India share a lot of concerns over a strong China, so they should team up. Moscow can so easily be distracted by Europe so it's good to have an ally out east keeping an eye on things.

And Bhutan? Well, like always they're going to play it smart and milk all sides like a a bunch of over-filled yak udders!

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For those interested in who your fellow readers are, we continue to diversify and can now count Japan, France and Brazil amongst readers. I tell you, from Ajax to Islamabad and from Port Elgin to Belo Horizonte, with some Montbeliard and Hodogaya thrown in for good measure, we're doing just fine.

And while I still love the British Indian Ocean Territory, Nunavut's my new passion. It's a Canada thing I guess.

Or perhaps a narwhal thing.

post 100!!! (and Bhutan)

100 posts!

Fortunately the 100th post also holds exciting and mysterious news.

Reading the final poem of the 7 days series, I'm sure you all saw the final line in the second stanza and said, wuh?

Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck is of course the King of Bhutan. Or more specifically, the Druk Gyalpo, the Dragon King of Bhutan.

He is this handsome. ^^^^^^^^^^(look up)^^^^^^^^^^

Nice one Dragon King!

He's your standard, almost 30 year old-educated in America and Britain-bringing democracy to his kingdom for the first time sort of king. And he's from the same kingdom that brought us the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) as a measure of well-being.

Top notch stuff.

And he's single ladies.

When he went to Thailand to visit King Bhumibol Adulyadej he caused a sensation amongst his legion of female Thai admirers. There was even a mild scandal when a picture of 'Prince Charming' and a mysterious lady appeared online. Exciting stuff.

But, as per usual, there's a point to all this that I'm not discussing.

Lately I've been keeping track of where blog visitors are coming from. Yesterday, after posting the poem with the King's name BOOM! Someone from Bhutan just happened to stroll by. They were on my site for all of 0.00 seconds but they still registered as a visitor.

Here are the possibilities:

---The visitor was a person from Bhutan who accidentally found his way to the blog and scooted out quickly when he realized it wasn't what he was looking for.

OR OR OR

---The visitor was a government computer/civil servant that searches for new references to "Bhutan", "Druk Gyalpo", "Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck", etc. Any terms to track the King and nation's reputation internationally. Likely, they disappeared so quickly because they were planting some sort of tracking device and as soon as I post this new thing they will be alerted and be able to read it.

I feel this is the beginning of something big.

Here is how I see the situation progressing:

I will blog more and more about the Kingdom of Bhutan, generating more interest about the country and (EVEN) more interest about the blog. Eventually, after an appropriate amount of time to build up tension and excitement in the reading public we will blow off the feud. Most likely this will take the form of the Kingdom of Bhutan providing me with an all-expenses-paid trip to their glorious mountain domain. I will stay there for a month (or more), seeing the country, tasting the food, smelling the smells and blogging the whole way.

I don't know what the equivalent coverage from this blogged one month trip would cost Bhutan in advertising dollars, but its A LOT.

In the end, we'll both be winners!

I'm very confident this is going to happen. Not only does the above just make good web marketing sense, but my friend Kristin was just in Bhutan and I am looking at a postcard she sent me. RIGHT NOW!

Now you are too. What a great mask!

The lady fist pumping and saying "YEES!" is not Bhutanese.

Bhutan!

Here is a picture that accomplishes a great many things. There is map of Asia in the background showing where Bhutan is (in yellow). The picture also reveals the philatelic glory of the kingdom.

A Cessna 195 from 1949. Yes please!

Your picture (aka YOU!!! - or in this case Kristin) on a legal stamp? Too cool. (I added the shades, fyi)

In conclusion: Come on Bhutan, what do you say?