The Land of Thunder Dragon, Bhutan is one of the most exotic destinations in the world today. This tiny secluded Himalayan kingdom, often claimed as the last remaining Shangri-la, is a land of outstanding people, remarkable scenery and natural wonders, and a proud and vibrant culture. It is a unique and rare country that few people have had the privilege of visiting in whole of the globe.

Located sandwiched between the world’s most populous nations, India and the Tibetan autonomous region of the People’s Republic of China, Bhutan is not for everyone. It has been open to tourists for decades but the Royal Government still zealously guards its traditional culture, identity and the pristine environment. The ‘high value, low volume’ tourism is the goal. Tourists are required to travel with licensed Bhutanese tour operators, have licensed guides, put up in licensed accommodation, take defined routes, and pay a minimum daily rate to the exchequer. Bhutan is therefore a tightly closed country that receives very few tourists in a year.

Nonetheless, the peregrination through different regions of Bhutan can offer the tourists to discover vividly the cultural and natural wonders of this quaint Mahayana Buddhist Kingdom of the Himalayas. As big as Switzerland but sparsely inhabited, Bhutan certainly exudes charm, throwing off the veil of mystery. The mountains are magnificent, the forests are dense, the people are friendly, tradition-bound and delightful, the air is pure and crystalline, the architecture imposing, the religion exciting, and the art superb. For the occasional visitor, Bhutan is truly Shangri-la, a mythical country hidden deep in the Himalayan mountains.

With almost 90% of the population engaged in agriculture or raising livestock, Bhutan remains a rural country devoid of industry, except in the south. The beauty of the pastoral landscape sometimes seems unreal to travellers from the industrialized world:  houses with brightly decorated window frames and shingles roofs, patchworks of green paddy fields, plots of tawny buckwheat, oak forests, a covered bridge, fences of intricately woven bamboo, a man leaning on a wooden trail trampling his harvest, a women weaving in the open air, a baby latched into a horse’s saddle bag, yak browsing in a grove of giant rhododendron. Such scenes remain in memory forever.