Category: Bhutan

Drukgyel Dzong: Bhutan’s Fortress of Victory and the Tibetan Frontier

Drukgyel Dzong: Bhutan’s Fortress of Victory and the Tibetan Frontier At the head of the Paro Valley, where the road runs out and the old trail begins its climb toward Tibet, Drukgyel Dzong stands on a low spur above the river. It was built in the seventeenth century to mark a victory over invading Tibetan […]

Paro Rinpung Dzong: Fortress Monastery and Art in Bhutan’s Paro Valley

Paro Rinpung Dzong: Fortress Monastery and Art in Bhutan’s Paro Valley Anyone who flies into Paro, or out of it, sees Paro Rinpung Dzong from the aircraft window. The runway follows the valley floor, and the fortress stands on the slope above the river, a whitewashed mass so large it reads more like a walled […]

Punakha Dzong: Bhutan’s Palace of Great Happiness at Two Rivers

Punakha Dzong: Bhutan’s Palace of Great Happiness at Two Rivers Punakha Dzong stands on a narrow spit of land where two glacial rivers meet, its whitewashed walls rising straight from the water and its golden roofs catching the light of a valley far warmer than the mountain passes above it. For more than three centuries […]

The Kingdom of Sikkim: A Himalayan History Between Tibet, India and Bhutan

The Kingdom of Sikkim: A Himalayan History Between Tibet, India and Bhutan For three hundred and thirty-three years, a line of Buddhist priest-kings ruled a small mountain state wedged between Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan. The Sikkim kingdom was founded in 1642 and lasted until 1975, when it became India’s twenty-second state, and in between it […]

From Sikkim to Bhutan: Crossing the Eastern Himalaya by Road

From Sikkim to Bhutan: Crossing the Eastern Himalaya by Road For much of the year, the road out of Sikkim runs through cloud. Pine ridges give way without warning to the flat, steaming plains of the Dooars, and within a single day’s drive the traveller passes from misty Himalayan forest into warm lowland grassland, then […]

Bhutanese Food: Red Rice, Ema Datshi and the Culture of the Table

Bhutanese Food: Red Rice, Ema Datshi and the Culture of the Table Long before the first chorten comes into view, Bhutan announces itself through its kitchens. Strings of scarlet chillies dry on farmhouse windowsills, red rice ripens in narrow terraced paddies, and every household keeps a block of pungent, soft cheese on hand for the […]

Bhutan the Hidden Kingdom: The Definitive Guide for Travellers

Bhutan: a journey into the Hidden Kingdom Bhutan, a tiny and remote nation nestled within the Himalayas, has been described as a real-life Shangri-La. It is famed for its Buddhist spirituality, pristine mountain landscape, and for measuring national growth in terms of happiness. Isolated from the outside world until the 1960s, Bhutan is gradually opening […]

Tiger’s Nest Monastery, Bhutan

The Tiger’s Nest monastery, known locally as Paro Taktsang, has earned a reputation as one of the most remarkable tourist spots in central Asia. It has become the most iconic cultural landmark in Bhutan, and a trip to the country is incomplete without a visit.

The National Textile Museum of Bhutan

Over the past decade, the Bhutan Textile Museum in Thimphu has steadily established itself as one of the best adverts for local Bhutanese culture. The museum finds the right balance between past and present, highlighting some of the old Bhutanese textile masterpieces, whilst simultaneously promoting the wares of local artisan weavers. In doing so, the Bhutan Textile Museum has succeeded in shining the spotlight back towards an amazing but dying skill. Bhutanese weavers can now continue the practices of their forefathers, without worrying as much about competition in a consumer world governed by mass-production and strict bottom lines.

Bhutanese Temples

Modern day Bhutan has a deep affinity with its Buddhist past. Buddhism is the source of religious and cultural identity for the majority of Bhutanese people. The history of Bhutan goes some way to explaining why, in the upper ranges of the Himalayas, nationalism intertwined so tightly with religion.

Bhutan’s Nalakhar Tshechu festival

The Nalakhar Tshechu festival runs for three days in the Nalakhar village in Bumthang. The celebration is part of the national Tshechu, one of Tibet’s biggest religious festivals, which runs for three days throughout the country.

Festivals of Bhutan: The Definitive Guide

Festivals of Bhutan Tshechu, or religious festivals are at the very heart of Bhutan‘s unique way of life. These sacred festivals take place all year round – in every monastery and temple, even in the most remote parts of the country. Bhutan’s festivals are not re-enactments of the traditions of a bygone age, but a […]