So, what lures the jet-setting global traveller to this country in the clouds, where Internet and cable television arrived only in 2002, where traffic jams are crowded with yaks and mules, where there aren’t any traffic lights and swimming pools, where Versace and D&G won’t open stores as its government has decreed that all citizens must wear the national dress, and where the whole state is a no-smoking zone?

Precisely this, says a beaming Sonam Dorji, general secretary of the Association of Bhutan Tour Operators, Bhutan is a hidden paradise, defying globalisation and homogenous lifestyles. ‘‘Bhutan is a bio-diversity, eco and cultural hotspot. Visitors come for its raw, natural beauty that range from sub-tropical jungles to dramatically rise up to the great northern glaciers, ideal for treks and drives. The country has 72 per cent forest cover, it is home to exotic wildlife. Our festivals are a big draw too, dances and chants that bless onlookers and exorcise evil, so are the hundreds of monasteries and chanting kid-monks.’’

For the New Age crystal-clutching spiritual junkies, ”Bhutan is a bio-diversity, eco and cultural hotspot. Vistors come for its raw, natural beauty, ranging from sub-tropical jungles to the great northern glaciers, ideal for treks and drives. The country has 72 per cent forest cover, and is home to exotic wildlife. Our festivals are a big draw — with dances and chants that bless onlookers and exorcise evil— and so are the hundreds of monasteries and chanting kid-monks.”

Adrian Zecha, the 70-year-old hotelier of the achingly trendy Aman group of resorts was the first to see Bhutan’s potential as a heavenly destination, and has opened the first of a six-resort chain in the country, the 24-room luxe hotel, Amankora, in 2003.

... contd.