About Bhutan (Last Shangrila)

Bhutan ^{( འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, भूटान),} officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China. Bhutan is separated from the nearby country of Nepal to the west by the Indian state of Sikkim, and from Bangladesh to the south by the Indian states of Assam and West Bengal.

Bhutan existed as a patchwork of minor warring fiefdoms until the early 17th century, when the area was unified by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, who fled religious persecution in Tibet and cultivated a separate Bhutanese identity. In the early 20th century, Bhutan came into contact with the Britsh Empire, after which Bhutan continued strong bilateral relations with India upon its independence. In 2006, Business Week magazine rated Bhutan the happiest country in Asia and the eighth-happiest in the world, based on a global survey.

Bhutan’s landscape ranges from subtropical plains in the south to the sub-alpine Himalayan heights in the north, with some peaks exceeding 7,000 meters (23,000 ft). The state religion is Vajrayana Buddhism, and the population of 691,141 is predominantly Buddhist, with Hinduism the second-largest religion. The capital and largest city is Thimphu. In 2007, Bhutan made the transition from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy, holding its first general election. The total area of the country has been reported as 38,394 square kilometers (14,824 sq mi) since 2002. The area had previously been reported as approximately 46,500 km2(18,000 sq mi) in 1997.

Shrouded for centuries in the misty serenity of the great Himalayas, the Land of the Thunder Dragon, or Bhutan, as now known to the rest of the world, developed its own distinct civilization.

This deeply spiritual land -- the only independent Mahayana Buddhist country in the world - evolved a unique identity, derived essentially from a fertile religious and cultural heritage. Bhutan brims with myth and legend. As befitting testimony, a great Buddhist heritage of over 2000 monasteries and 12,000 chhortens (stupas) dots its peaceful glades and regal mountains. An ambience of near sacred tranquility permeates the land, fostering an environment of spiritual affluence that has shaped the foundation of that rarity that we know as Bhutanese life.

The Bhutanese have deliberately and zealously safeguarded and preserved their rich culture and traditions -its ancient way of life- in all its aspects. And it is perhaps one of the world's last bastions of unspoiled wilderness. It is a part of the earth that represents a fabled realm.

It is a land where the past and the contemporary co-exist in harmony -a recipe that makes a journey undeniably amazing. A jaunt through Bhutan, in many ways, is still a journey into the past but with the Internet an arm's distance away. In this small tract of land the size of Switzerland, one of the most rugged terrains in the world frames one of the world's richest vegetations. Bhutan is superlative nature with an enigmatic smile -so much yet to be divined and so much yet to be seen.

It is a land of about 600,000 people who believe that Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product.

Today, Bhutan remains one of the most exotic travel destinations in the world. Bhutan is a country with a different face and a different story to tell. Bhutan defies definition, it is an enigma of sorts, one that promises sublime delight, sublime charms.