2007 SE Asia - Bhutan

Bowled Over by Bhutan

The first country in a whirlwind trip through SE Asia.

There are many poetic names applied to this most beautiful country: Land of the Thunder Dragon being the most famous and Shangri-la being the most favorable. In addition, during our visit there we thought of some descriptive titles of our own The Cloud Kingdom, The Quiet Dragon Land, and Valleys High being our favorites. However, in the spirit of our frolicsome adventure there, I decided to name this journal for our most unsettling experience in the nation. Though English has one of the largest vocabularies of earth’s languages, all its many adjectives cannot truly convey the astonishing beauty of this tiny kingdom, lost in time among the majestic Himalayas. The country cries out for photographers and I was lucky enough to travel with three excellent ones. So while I struggled with my lack of adequate words to express the glory of the landscape, they aimed their lenses at everything sky-aspiring mountains, velvet green valleys, torrential glacial rivers, small, tidy farms, sleepy towns, two & three-story homes with the most amazing window and door-jamb designs, sturdy temples blazing with golden tops, colorful birds, flamboyant flowers, dense virgin forests, amazing insects and the wonderful, friendly and handsome Bhutanese people.