The Land of the Thunder Dragon

In the Zone Bar on a Saturday night, movie star Cameron Diaz is celebrating a successful shoot with an MTV film crew by leading a rendition of Abba’s "Dancing Queen" to a Thaikaraoke video.

Diaz is here to film a segment of a tourist adventure series for the music television network on exotic and environmentally unique places. Bhutan is all that.

The country limits development; about 70 percent of the land is still forested. Tourism is also limited; less than 9,000 visas are issued each year, so those that get in feel privileged to pay the mandatory fee of at least $200 a day.

Although most people have never heard of this Himalayan kingdom, The New York Times travel section calls Bhutan "the new must-see destination in southern Asia."

As word spreads, celebrities are becoming as easy to spot in the country as the takin, the strange-looking national animal of Bhutan that resembles a cross between a goat and a yak.

Demi Moore was here recently and, reportedly, so was former Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson. Ferguson stayed at the new Amankora resort in Paro, an ultra-luxurious boutique resort run by the Aman chain with rooms that can go for up to $1,000 a night, more than double the average annual wage in a country where most people are still subsistence farmers.

It’s the first five-star hotel here. More are planned.

Most travelers, though, pay the $200 a day fee ($165 in the off-season), which includes meals and adequate accommodations, even if the hot water doesn’t always work.

Luxury is not what attracts most tourists. It’s the beauty and the culture–a place mostly unspoiled by development and globalization. Coke is here, but there are no McDonald’s.

Around each bend of the notoriously winding roads is another spectacular vista–snow-and cloud-covered mountain peaks soaring above rice terraces cut into steep hillsides; the deep green of both alpine and tropical forests; blue, green and white water rivers that cut past prayer flags and shrines that send Buddhist blessings to the world.

We camp in the Jigme Dorji National Park for a night, arriving just after dusk as rain begins falling after a steep, uphill hike. Around a campfire, we sip on ara, a local alcoholic brew, and feast on Himalayan red rice and the national dish called ema datshi, a stew of chilies and cheese and sometimes local mushrooms or other vegetables.

A group of Layap men, nomadic yak herders who live in the mountains near the Tibetan border, stop to meet with us on their way to the town of Punakha, where they sell yak meat, butter and cheese to trade for or buy rice and other staples. Their leader invites us to come back next year and visit. The Layap village is about a three-day trek. But he says he’ll send a yak so we could ride there.

Later we join the Layaps and local villagers in dancing and singing a traditional song in a circle around the camp fire.

In the morning, the cloud cover lifts, revealing huge emerald mountains above a village where yaks still plow the rice fields.

The next day in Punakha was the king’s birthday, a national holiday. In a field next to a river, schoolchildren wearing animal masks and colorful costumes perform dances, while red-robed monks, tourists and other spectators look on. Two clowns, wearing masks with balloons tied to their heads, provide commentary and mock some of the dancers.

Off to the side, local schools run booths with dice games, where you could wager a small amount of money in hopes of a bigger payoff. The money raised goes to projects in the schools.

In the afternoon, we cross a wooden suspension bridge to the Punakha Dzong, a fortress and temple built where the Mo and Pho (mother and father) rivers meet. It’s the seat of the regional government and the winter home of the Je Khempo, the chief abbot of the central monk body. On the walls of the main temple in the dzong is an impressive mural that recounts the 12 phases of the Buddha’s life and enlightenment.

Most visits to Bhutan revolve around what tour operators call the "triangle" of Thimphu, Punakha and Paro, where the airport is located. Above Paro is Bhutan’s most famous and spectacular monastery, the Takshang Lhakang, also known as the Tiger’s Nest. Built on the side of a sheer cliff nearly 10,000 feet above sea level, it’s reachable by a strenuous hike leading to stairs cut precariously into the mountain. Entry is only allowed with special permission, but there’s a view point before the stairs where you can photograph the monastery directly across a ravine.

Tiger’s Nest is built on a spot where Guru Rimpoche, who established Buddhism in Bhutan, is said to have meditated in a sacred cave after riding in on the back of a flying tiger.

Thimphu, the biggest city in Bhutan, is more like a small town. It’s one of the few world capitols that does not have a stoplight. Instead, a police officer directs traffic by hand at the main intersection.

The country’s only golf course (nine holes) is here, as well as all of the government ministries, the assembly and the king’s offices and throne room, located in a tower in the Tashichho Dzong.

In Bhutan, citizens are required by law to wear the national dress–the kimono-like gho for men and a more feminine version called the kira for women. It’s part of a mandate to try and preserve the Drupka culture here.

But at night, young people, many educated in the West or who watch fashion on television, wander between about a half-dozen bars, restaurants and a disco in their best western clothes.

The contrast between the Bhutan in the cities and the old Bhutan, where most homes still do not have electricity, is part of the attraction. There is a sense among those who have visited that they are seeing the place before it changes, while it’s still unspoiled.

At the Zone Bar, a cellphone network quickly spreads the word about the movie star visiting. Cellphones were introduced to Bhutan only last year and are perhaps having more of an effect on the country than the introduction of television and the Inter-net five years ago.

Locals, dressed in black, steal glances at Diaz, who is wearing a pink sweater and white ski pants. But they are polite and leave her party alone. There are no papparazzi here.

One man, who apparently helped with the shoot, introduces himself again to Diaz. She is gracious with her time.

"I just love your country," she tells him. "It’s so beautiful."

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The author, reporter for the Star-Bulletin of Hawaii, recently visited Bhutan on a fellowship sponsored by the Asian American Journalists Association and the United Nations Development Programme and funded by Hearst Newspapers.