going places
ON A HIGH
BHUTAN / WELSH RETREAT / LETTER FROM AMERICA
With an unspoilt charm, lush alpine valleys and ancient monasteries, plus a focus on sustainability, Bhutan exudes the one thing it values most: joy
by CAROLE SOVOCOOL
Bird’s-eye view Tiger’s Nest monastery is one of the world’s most sacred sites
James Hilton’s 1933 novel Lost Horizon sees the survivors of a plane crash stumble upon utopia, hidden away from the world, deep within the mountains of Tibet. Called Shangri-La, what they found could just as well have been the stunning Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan – it means ‘Land of the Thunder Dragon’ – with its fluttering prayer flags, lush valleys and mountain vistas dotted with remote Buddhist monasteries perched on high ledges.
The landlocked country, which borders India, China and Tibet, is only accessible at ground level through challenging mountain passes, and that’s kept it uniquely untouched for millennia.
The international airport was built in 1968, and the government opened its doors to foreign visitors in 1974. Thanks to limitations on tourists only a few trickle in even now. (If you’re blonde and blue-eyed, expect to be photographed – we are a novelty.) TV only arrived in the late Nineties; the internet and mobile phones just 20 years ago.