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Married to Bhutan by Linda Leaming
4.0
hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

My first experience of Bhutan (other than vaguely knowing that they exist somewhere in the Himalayas) was when they were one of the cultures featured at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 2008. I found the presentations I attended very interesting, but I knew I would never actually make it to Bhutan for a visit. Linda Leaming, on the other hand, gave up her entire life in the U.S. to move to Bhutan after visiting the country for just two weeks while on a longer tour of South Asia and Europe.

This book tells how Leaming settled into her new life in Bhutan and expresses her love of Bhutanese culture. I appreciate that Leaming, while noting the many differences between American and Bhutanese culture, is careful to stress that one is not inherently better than the other: "It's not really fair to compare the two countries, as they are like apples and oranges. Americans think the way they do for good reasons, as do the Bhutanese. But it is important to understand that people elsewhere think differently, and being aware of this and flexible about how one thinks can alleviate some discontent and, dare I say it, even make us happier."

An interesting book about an interesting country.