Bhutan OVERVIEW
Nestling high in the Himalaya, somewhere between the giant China and India, there is a country steadfastly guarding its integrity, culture and traditions. You'll not only have to climb high but also pay through your nose to enter Bhutan, the Land of the Thunder Dragon. Why should I?, you might ask. The answer is trivial. It's because you are just about to get into a place which is not ordinary, a place whose past is still its present and even more importantly, a place where people live a life of things which are truly important.
This cautious approach to tourism adopted by the Kingdom of Bhutan is meant to avoid any devastating and irreversible effect on the country's culture, environment and its people's identity. And there is a lot to be guarded. Bhutan is the last surviving Mahayana Buddhist kingdom in the roof of the world. The religion, brought from Tibet in the eighth century by Guru Rinpoche, has shaped the nation's history, and it still plays a crucial role in the everyday life. Faith and religious practices together with strong traditional values, respect for the royal family and care for the environment are core to any a Bhutanese. Add to it the well-conserved pristine natural surroundings of Phobjika Valley, the Bumthang Dzongkhag early Buddhist sites or Trashigang, one of Bhutan's more interesting towns and a good base for excursions to Trashi Yangtse. Mix them well with hot and humid jungles of the southern foothills and the northern frigid snowcapped peaks only to arrive at an irresistible destination where buying cigarettes is against the law, where the rice is not white but red and where chillies aren't just a seasoning but the entire dish. A kingdom of saintly, other-worldly hermits for whom the Gross National Happiness means more than their bank statements.
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