Davos of the East

With Gelephu Mindfulness City, Bhutan aims to meld GNH and business

- STORY AND PHOTOS: KULVECH JANVATANAVIT

It's been several weeks now since I returned from Bhutan and Gelephu Mindfulness City, and I can't stop thinking about what I saw there.

You know how Davos brings together all those world leaders every year? Well, imagine something similar, but with a completely different vibe — less about power lunches or GDP growth, and more about meditation breaks and happiness.

A CITY THAT ACTUALLY MAKES SENSE

Gelephu is wild. It is a new city being built in southern Bhutan that basically takes everything we think we know about urban planning and flips it on its head. Instead of cramming in as many office buildings as possible, they're designing spaces where you can actually breathe — meditation gardens, green corridors, community spaces where people can just... be human.

What struck me most is how different it feels from our typical conference centres. In Davos, everyone's rushing between meetings, checking their phones constantly. Gelephu is being designed to slow you down, to make you think differently. Conference rooms open onto gardens, innovation hubs sit next to organic farms. It's like someone finally asked: "What if we built a city for humans, rather than just for business?"

THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME

This wasn't just any Bhutan visit. Organised by FBX Thailand, we got to meet His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay and former prime minister Lotay Tshering.

PM Tshering Tobgay welcomed us with a joke that part of the secret to Gelephu's success is tours for foreign business leaders exactly like the one I am on.

"We hijack seasoned leaders to serve as sounding boards," he said with a smile.