Almost for as long as I could remember, Bhutan had been a dream – and a remarkably familiar one. The old clichés were rolled out again and again: the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH), the compulsory national dress and national architecture, the passion for archery; the dzongs. In a way, I felt I knew it all already. Anyway, the whole thing sounded too good to be true; Shangri-La, as everybody knew, didn't exist. Then, last year, we went there – and found that it did.
幾乎在我有記憶以來(lái)的所有歲月中，不丹就一直是一個(gè)夢(mèng)——熟悉得不能再熟悉的一個(gè)夢(mèng)。各種老套的說(shuō)辭一次又一次在耳邊響起：國(guó)民幸福總值(GNH)的概念、強(qiáng)制的民族服飾和民族建筑、全民族對(duì)射箭的熱情、佛寺。從某種意義上說(shuō)，我覺(jué)得我已經(jīng)很了解這個(gè)地方了。總之，整個(gè)事情聽起來(lái)美好得不像真的。香格里拉——每個(gè)人都知道——根本不存在。然后，去年，我們?nèi)チ四抢铮Y(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)，香格里拉是存在的。