In the Land of the Thunder Dragon

 After brief stopovers in Qatar and Thailand, we arrived in the eastern Himalayas for a stay in the tiny landlocked Kingdom of Bhutan.  

 Random stuff 

• The total population numbers about 750,000
• It feels like there are as many street/feral dogs as people.  There are dogs everywhere
• The street dogs are very well fed by restaurants and local people
• The national animal is the Takin, Budorcas taxicolor.  Created, so the story goes, by the Divine Madman who ate a whole goat and a whole cow and then, using the leftover bones,  stuck the goat’s head on the cow’s body and, tadah! – the Takin
• Bhutan is a constitutional monarchy 
• The current king is the country's fifth, referred to as K5
• The current king's dad, K4, married four sisters in the same ceremony
• Bhutan is the world's only officially Buddhist country
• There are monastic orders throughout Bhutan with boys as young as seven, usually from poor families, entering monasteries
• Usually associated with a spartan lifestyle, Bhutan's strand of Buddhism allows monks to own a range of possessions and they are frequently seen using mobile phones and iPads
  
• Most people enjoy eating meat and fish but there are two meat free 'auspicious' months
• Chillies are regarded as a vegetable rather than a seasoning and red patches of drying chillies can be spotted in every village
• The national dish is chillies and cheese
• Bhutan has the world’s highest unclimbed peak, Gangkhar Puensum (7570metres/24,836 feet)
  
• Mountaineering on any peak above 6,000 metres (19,685 feet) is banned
• The cost to visit Bhutan is set very high to discourage influence from outside and to protect  national culture and the environment
• Travelling the country independently is not allowed
• Television and internet access have only been available since 1999
• The national sport is archery.  The target is small which the archers aim at from a distance of 120 metres
• Tall visitors, like the mister, attract attention. 'How high you?'  'He look very good'
• The selling of tobacco is banned
• Bhutan is the only country whose largest export is renewable energy (hydroelectric power)
• Progress and the success of governmental strategy and policy is measured by happiness – Gross National Happiness rather than GDP
• Thimphu is the only capital in the world with no traffic lights
• Every Tuesday is dry day and alcohol sales are forbidden
• As part of the effort to preserve its culture, citizens are required to wear national dress in public, men wearing something resembling a knee length dressing gown with long socks, and women a full length skirt and short jacket 
• About two thirds of the population work in agriculture, the majority as subsistence farmers, and the aim is to be the first organic country
• One of the largest statues of Buddha in the world is being constructed on a hillside overlooking the capital, Thimphu