Greg Benz Photography » Minneapolis Wedding and Portrait Photographer

Some call it the “last Shangri-La”. Nothing compares to Bhutan. I think the simplest way I could describe it would be to say that feels like Tibet (not that I’ve been), without the tourists. But that would be selling the uniqueness of Bhutan short. It’s equally relaxing (unspoiled, spiritual, natural) and challenging (packs of dogs barking all night, hot chillies for breakfast, motion-sickness inducing roads, and the thin mountain air). It was one of the most amazing weeks of my life.

We encountered break taking views (like this vista of Thimphu) wonderful people with a strong sense of identity. The king talks about “gross domestic happiness” rather than gross domestic product, and it basically means that Bhutan strives to modernize without sacrificing its cultural identity and values.

The Bhutanese like chillies like many other Asian people… but they don’t use them as a spice. They eat them like a vegetable! The red chillies you see on my plate here are pretty typical, you just mix them with some rice and dive in. We had green and red chillies with nearly every meal (breakfasts included). We also had a lot of tea and yak cheese (which is on the chillies and potatoes below).

We also tried some dried yak cheese, which comes in little cubes on a string. This stuff is hard! I swear Chimmi was playing a joke on me, it had to be a rock.

In preparation for the coronation of the 5th king, the road from Paro (where the international airport is located) to Thimphu (the capital city) was widened to twice its original size. It now supports traffic in both directions (to be fair, you could always drive on the dirt by the cliff edge, but now it has 2 paved lanes). Roads in the rest of the country aren’t all quite as nice. One afternoon we passed a truck that had rolled over and was blocking half the road. We passed by and I thought to myself, “that’s odd.” Then five minutes later we passed ANOTHER truck rolled over on its side! Then a few minutes after that we hit a line of stopped cars. I got out and walked 10 minutes down the twisty mountainous road until I could see what was backing up traffic… a truck had gone off the ledge!

City life was very interesting to watch. We can across shop-keepers playing games in front of their stores, children playing in the streets without a care in the world, and some of the most friendly people you’d ever meet (the kid at the table just decided to join me for lunch).

The art of Bhutan is beautiful. I purchased a “magic dagger” and a couple of Dung-Chen (long horns). My friend Mike picked up some beautiful masks. One afternoon we stopped by the paper factory you see below. Trees are turned into pulp and then made into sheets of very thick and beautiful paper by hand.

Prayer flags can been seen throughout the country in five colors representing the elements: sky, wind, water, fire, earth. These flags are often placed in very high places, as it’s believed that placing them higher gives the prayer more significance. There are also many tall vertical white flags put in clusters high on the mountains to remember the deceased (up to 108 flags are placed for up to a year after someone passes away).

Tourists aren’t too common (there were less than 5000 Americans who went to Bhutan last year, so you have to think there are probably less than 100 in the entire country on any given day). As a result, digital cameras are still a bit of a novelty for the children of Bhutan. They love to pose for the camera and then see their picture.

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