Word: bhutan
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...Bhutan's only highway is three-and-a-half meters wide. Meandering at a rate of 17 curves per kilometer through the valleys and mountains of the tiny Himalayan kingdom, the road may be better acquainted with cattle than automobiles. At dawn and long after dusk, its rutted asphalt rings with the chatter of schoolchildren traveling hours by foot for their daily lessons. By noon, the highway is a playground for rambunctious monkeys, a drying rack for chilies, and?by the grace of an occasional car or truck?an ingenious tool for flattening bamboo. Waters from holy streams course alongside...
...bright, chilly day in early November, a stretch of this humble road near the tiny hamlet of Chendebji bears witness to an unprecedented event: the shooting of Bhutan's first-ever homegrown feature film. Its writer and director, Khyentse Norbu, bundled against the wind in a thick, maroon turtleneck and pale lavender muffler, pulls his baseball cap low over his eyes and instructs the cameraman to focus on four actors by the side of the road. "Again," he says into a walkie-talkie, and a red tractor emerges from around the bend to collect two of the actors?one dressed...
Hilton professed that Shangri-la is not on any map, but that hasn't stopped numerous countries?Nepal, Ladakh, Sikkim and Bhutan, among others?from claiming to harbor the verdant Himalayan valley in the shadow of a glacier-clad peak, shaped like a pyramid. The People's Republic of China is the latest to jump on the bandwagon, announcing in 1996 that it had found Shangri-la in the mountainous Deqin prefecture of northwestern Yunnan province. Not to be outdone, Sichuan, its equally scenic neighbor to the north, has since claimed the title for its Yading Nature Reserve...
...main attractions of Bhutan is the pristine trekking. Walks of up to two weeks are not uncommon, but we chose a three-day jaunt through the Phobjika Valley in the center of the country. Even a short hike through fragrant, ancient forests of pine, cedar and juniper and over mountain passes offering magnificent views of the roof of the world is enough to rejuvenate the senses. Trekking also takes the visitor to the true heart of Bhutan: 85% of the people still live more than two days' walk from the nearest road. Despite this, many speak excellent English, the medium...
Under King Wangchuck's policy of limiting outside influence, the only way to visit Bhutan is on a tour (tailored to the individual) run by a local travel company and priced at a deliberately prohibitive $200 per person per day, including hotels, food and internal transport. Some may also feel the King's insistence on national dress?great belted coats (gho) for men and wraparound cloths (kira) for women?can give a feeling of a living pantomime. But with so few tourists to see it, this is not a show put on for outsiders. And a quick look...