About Bhutan, Bhutan Tour,
Travel Bhutan, Hotels in Bhutan, Tourism in Bhutan, Bhutan Tour Guide,
Flights to Bhutan, Car Booking in Bhutan, Bhutan Tour Packages.
About Bhutan, Bhutan Tour, Travel Bhutan,
Hotels in Bhutan, Tourism in Bhutan, Bhutan Tour Guide, Flights
to Bhutan, Car Booking in Bhutan, Bhutan Tour Packages.
Bhutan,
located in the eastern Himalayas, borders China to the north
and India to the south, east and west. The altitude varies from
300m (1000ft) in the narrow lowland region to 7000m (22,000ft)
in the Himalayan plateau in the north. The foothills are tropical
and home to deer, lion, leopards and the rare golden monkey.
The Inner Himalaya region is temperate; wildlife includes bear,
boar and sambar and the area is rich in deciduous forests. Thimphu,
the capital of Bhutan, lies at a height of over 2400m (8000ft)
in a fertile valley. It resembles a large, widely dispersed
village rather than a capital. The yearly religious Thimphu
Festival is held in the courtyard directly in front of the National
Assembly Hall. A visit to the Paro Valley and the Taktsang (Tiger’s
Nest) Monastery clinging to the face of a 900m (2952ft) precipice
is highly recommended. Restaurants are scarce and most tourists
eat vegetarian food served buffet-style in their hotels. Cheese
is a popular ingredient, the most popular being dartsi (cow’s
milk cheese). Rice is ubiquitous and is sometimes flavoured
with saffron. The most popular drink is souza (Bhutanese tea).
Area : 46,500 sq km (17,954 sq miles).
Population : 654,269 (official estimate 2001).
Population Density : 14.1 per sq km.
Capital : Thimphu. Population: 27,000 (official estimate
1990).
GEOGRAPHY : Bhutan is located in the eastern Himalayas,
bordered to the north by China and to the south, east and west
by India. The altitude varies from 300m (1000ft) in the narrow
lowland region to 7000m (22,000ft) in the Himalayan plateau
in the north, and there are three distinct climatic regions.
The foothills are tropical and home to deer, lion, leopards
and the rare golden monkey as well as much tropical vegetation
including many species of wild orchids. The Inner Himalaya region
is temperate; wildlife includes bear, boar and sambar and the
area is rich in deciduous forests. The High Himalaya region
is very thinly populated, but the steep mountain slopes are
the home of many species of animals including snow leopards
and musk deer.
Government : Constitutional Monarchy. Head of State and
Government: Druk Gyalpo (‘Dragon King’) Jigme Singye Wangchuk
since 1972.
Language : Dzongkha is the official language. A large
number of dialects are spoken, owing to the physical isolation
of many villages. Sharchop Kha, from eastern Bhutan, is the
most widely spoken. Nepali is common in the south of the country.
English has been the language of educational instruction since
1964 and is widely spoken.
Religion : Mahayana Buddhism is the state religion; the
majority of Bhutanese people follow the Drukpa school of the
Kagyupa sect. Those living in the south are mainly Hindu.
Time : GMT + 6.
Electricity : 220 volts AC, 50Hz.
Communications :
Telephone : Services are restricted to the main centres.
Country code: 975. All other calls must go through the international
operator. Outgoing international code: 00.
Mobile telephone : GSM 900 network operated by B-Mobile
due in Summer 2003.
Internet : The main ISP is DrukNet (website: http://www.druknet.bt/).
There are four Internet cafes in Thimphu.
Post : Airmail letters to Bhutan can take up to two weeks.
Mail from Bhutan is liable to disruption, although this is due
not to the inefficiency of the service but rather to the highly
prized nature of Bhutanese stamps which often results in their
being steamed off the envelopes en route.
Press : There are very few papers, but Kuensel, a government
news bulletin, is published weekly in English and The Bhutan
Review is published monthly in English by the Human Rights Organisation
of Bhutan.
Radio : BBC World Service (website: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice)
and Voice of America (website: http://www.voa.gov/) can be received.
From time to time the frequencies change and the most up-to-date
can be found online.
