Bhutan

Bhutan’s land climbs from foothills at the edge of the Indian plains to snow peaks above seven thousand metres on its northern rim. Deep valleys run north to south, each cut by a river bound for the Brahmaputra. At Punakha the Pho Chhu and the Mo Chhu, the father and mother rivers, meet beneath a great dzong. The constitution requires that at least three-fifths of the country stay forested, and each winter black-necked cranes fly in from Tibet to the marshes of the Phobjikha valley.

Buddhism reached the valleys in the seventh century; tradition says Guru Rinpoche arrived in the eighth on a flying tigress, meditating on the cliff where Taktsang, the Tiger’s Nest monastery, clings above Paro. In 1616 Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal came south from Tibet, united the valleys and built dzongs, fortress-monasteries housing both monks and officials. Ugyen Wangchuck became the first hereditary king in 1907. Bhutan joined the United Nations in 1971, and television arrived only in 1999.

At each tshechu festival monks in masks perform cham dances in the dzong courtyard, and at dawn a giant thangka is unrolled down a wall. In archery, the national sport, teams shoot at distant targets and sing and dance to taunt their rivals. Ema datshi, chillies stewed in cheese, comes with red rice at almost every meal. Power from dams such as Chukha and Tala is sold to India, cardamom and apples go abroad, and visitors pay a daily fee that keeps tourism small.