Once forbidden to outsiders, a glimpse of the Himalaya in Bhutan is as tantalizing as the sighting of a rare and beautiful bird. This mountain is Jhomolhari, at 23,996 feet [7,314 meters] Bhutan's second highest peak. In the foreground a fortress built to repel Tibetan invaders crumbles to the ground.
After a thousand years of solitude, the hermit kingdom is trekking over steep ground to reach the modern world. Its gentle pace, for better or worse, is a choice made long ago. 'You have to understand,' says a Jesuit priest who has lived in Bhutan for decades. 'By and large, most of this country still exists in the time of King Arthur.'
—From "Bhutan: Kingdom in the Clouds," May 1991, National Geographic magazine
Journey across the Himalaya to the isolated peaks of Bhutan, where the Buddhist citizens of this "hermit kingdom" are catching up to the modern world at a slow and gentle pace.
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