This newest of Sweet Mango Tours will combine a trekking adventure with exploration of "Gross National Happiness," as applied by the world's youngest democracy. An intriguing destination for its physical and cultural beauty, Bhutan now offers a glimpse at creative governing, having structured their new government around the four pillars of GNH:

• Sustainable Development
• Preservation & Promotion of Culture
• Conservation of the Environment, and
• Good Governance

We'll settle into our hotel in Thimphu and explore for a day or two...the paper-making factory, the archery fields, the National Institute of Traditional Medicine, and more...dining on momos (dumplings) and ema-datsi (yak cheese with chilies) and other Himalayan delicacies. We'll also receive an official welcome from Dasho Karma Ura, naturalist and Director of the Center for Bhutan Studies, praised by Eric Weiner's in his book, The Geography of Bliss (an appropriate pre-read to this journey). He will introduce us to GNH principles and some of the officials involved in attempts to apply them.

Our six or seven-day, trek will get us off-the-beaten-path as there really is no "beaten path." We'll be cared for, comfortable and well-fed on our moderately strenuous trek, inspired by alpine heights and views of snow-covered peaks on the border with Tibet. We'll pass through villages where life is as it was centuries ago. We'll celebrate the Tschechu, held in honor of Guru Padsambhava, the Indian saint associated with the introduction of Tantric Buddhism to the Himalayan region, Bhutan, Nepal Sikkim, Ladahk and Tibet some 1200 years ago. Rhododendrons are in bloom, monasteries and nunneries cling to mountainsides, and the people are thought to be the happiest in the world.

We may be the happiest trekking group on the planet.