The air in Bhutan is sweeter and more delicious than the purest cool spring water you've ever savored. That was our first impression of this Shangri-La, as it's often called, or Brigadoon of a lovely country, this Land of the Thunder Dragon. For the next two weeks of our adventures in Bhutan, we learned about the meaning of gross national happiness, visited a dzong (religious/secular citadel) a day, climbed up to the famous 10,000-foot Tiger's Nest Monastery, and watched six men in skirts (really gho, the national attire for men) wield axes to clear a large tree that had fallen across the road in front of us.

Dorji, our superb guide, accompanied us as we wended our way along winding mountain roads high in the Himalayas, meditated beside prayer flags snapping in the wind, and learned about the lives of many of the new friends we met along our path.

In lieu of a gross domestic product, the Bhutanese king, a wise and humanitarian man, has declared this Buddhist nation's goal to be gross national happiness, providing his people with universal health care, free education in English, government-supplied housing as necessary, water and electricity to even remote areas, as well as wise conservation and future planning. Twenty-six percent of the country is national park, protecting elephants, tigers, snow leopards, and takins, the national animal, among other creatures. Tourism and development are carefully monitored with much of the proceeds flowing back into the country's infrastructure and social programs.

In another incarnation, I would like to be a fish in a pristine Bhutanese river, as not even fish may be killed in this Buddhist country. One does eat a varied diet here, however, as meat, chicken and fish are imported from India. We developed a taste for ema datse, which is perhaps the favorite Bhutanese dish: extremely hot chili peppers in a cheese sauce, served at every meal. My husband enjoyed making people giggle by shouting "ema datse" (in lieu of "cheese") to his Bhutanese photo subjects.

Buddhist ethics and philosophy permeate the society: Their goal is to search for a way to liberate all sentient beings from their suffering and to attain complete enlightenment.

Located between the two giants, India and China, Bhutan has closer ties with India, but attempts to stay on good terms with both countries. An ancient Bhutanese proverb advises: "Always carry a knife and a cup because it is not certain when you will come across either an enemy or wine." One reason King 4, Jigme Singye Wangchuck (kings are called by their sequence) pressed his people to move to elections and a constitutional monarchy is the understanding that if a foreign power decided to intrude upon Bhutan's autonomy, and Bhutan is a democracy, the rest of the world is much more likely to stand up and protect it.

On March 25, elections were held, some people walking for as long as a week to cast their ballot. While we were there, many people were proudly wearing "I Voted in the Election" buttons. The king is dedicating the rest of his life to studying Buddhism, and, although he is only 52 years old, he abdicated in favor of his Oxford-educated son, who is said to be as wise and humanitarian as his father.

On my first morning in Bhutan, I sat in my aerie on the grounds outside our lovely hotel, the Gantey Palace near Paro, one of the two tiny cities in the country. Cushioned in silence broken only by the flutter of prayer flags, I was high above the broad Paro Valley with its carefully tended rice and wheat fields, protected from the outside world by the towering, snow-capped Himalayas. During the next two weeks, we traveled throughout much of this country, almost as far as its one main road would take us. I wondered how this country, the size of Switzerland with a population of less than a million people and which only began to move out of the Middle Ages after 1960, will maintain its many positive aspects as the outside world begins to seep in.

King No. 4 permitted tourists for the first time in 1974 and introduced the concept of gross national happiness, with the goals of fostering the physical, emotional, spiritual and material well-being of the people. Access to television and the Internet was established only in 1999, and even then with some restrictions on extreme violence or crude sexuality in programming.

Even at the first five-star hotel in the country, Taj Tashi in the capital, Thimphu, Vijay Shrikent, the Indian general manager for this Indian-owned luxury hotel chain, expressed his love for Bhutan as he showed us the careful integration of Bhutan features into the design of this hotel, which just opened in June 2008.
"I'd be happy to stay here in this wonderful country. But our goal is to train and prepare local Bhutanese to take over operations once it is up and running," he told me.

We admired the authentic Bhutanese prayer wheel just outside the beautiful dining room, the collection of antique traditional instruments in the cocktail lounge, and later I spent time with Sibi, the front desk manager, who enthusiastically discussed Bhutanese Buddhism with me and told me about the expanding lives of women in her beloved country.

Throughout our meanderings in Bhutan, we experienced peaceful, beautiful, easy traveling, comfortable hotels and healthy food. Unlike many places in today's world, there are no beggars, sales pressure, traffic jams and practically no crime. Because most people still wear their native dress - robe-like ghos for the men with knee socks on their legs, colorful kiras for the women, which consist of jackets and wrapped skirts - I often felt I was in the middle of a very authentic movie set.

Polyandry, the practice of having more than one husband, is still a tradition in some remote valleys, as is matriliny, where inheritance goes from mother to daughter. Perhaps I've come upon another secret of this gross national happiness situation.

The houses, substantial and always well maintained, are white with dark wood carvings, windows shaped like clouds, as well as very realistic paintings of phalli on the walls of most of them.

"For good luck and protection," a Bhutanese friend explained.

Also he pointed out the carved versions dangling from the four corners of the house eaves, much like windsocks at airports.

"A dzong a day" became our refrain. Originally 16th century fortresses, these monastery complexes resemble medieval castles with high walls and turrets. Today they are both religious centers and government offices. Inside each monastery we saw young monks, some as young as 10, going about their business, chanting, memorizing Buddhist texts, carrying pails of rice and pots of tea for a shared meal, as well as talking on their cell phones. Having a son study to become a monk is considered endowing great honor upon his family. In the past, each family was expected to contribute one son as a "monk tax" to the country, but today it is a voluntary family decision. Afternoons listening to monks chanting swirled me off into a timeless space.

Each day on our dizzying drives through the Himalyas, we passed through rhododendron, bamboo, magnolia and conifer forests in this extremely biodiverse region of the world.

Many of our experiences in Bhutan seemed very dreamlike, and I wasn't chewing beetle nut. Luckily, I have my photos and notebooks to prove that it all happened. History, legend and myth seem intertwined here, although when I asked even educated Bhutanese, such as our guide Dorji, who holds degrees from Indian universities, if they "really" believe these colorful stories, the answer was a non-equivocal "yes."

A unique animal, the talkin, is explained in one such tale. It involves a favorite Bhutanese saint, known as the Divine Madman. Back in the 15th century after eating a huge meal of an entire cow as well as a goat, this earthy fellow let out a satisfied belch and with that created a new creature, the takin, which has the head of a goat and the body of a cow. This peaceful yet odd-looking creature, about whose species mitochondrial experts are still disagreeing, is, appropriately enough for this one-of-a-kind country, the national animal.

Takin are only indigenous to Bhutan and nearby Himalayan areas. I know they exist because I met and petted them. This same Divine Madman was also known for his robust sexual appetite and related playful activities.

One day we climbed to Tiger's Nest Monastery, perhaps Bhutan's most famous site, nearly 10,000 feet from the floor of the Paro Valley. Monks live up there in a dzong that balances on the edge of a granite cliff. This is said to be the site where Guru Rinpoche brought Buddhism to Bhutan from Tibet in the seventh century, riding in on the back of a flying tiger. The horse I rode a third of the way up there was no flying tiger, but he made the next few hours' hike easier for me. I recall on my flight into this country, someone sitting next to me on the plane said, "Bhutan is a place where you find an essential stillness. There are other places in the world that have mountains and beauty, but here in Bhutan you experience a unique stillness and spirituality."
It was certainly true for us.

The day before our departure, after a morning walk across vast expanses of rice paddies and wheat fields, I sat under a Bodhi tree, the same type under which Buddha preached his first sermon. Two women and a baby joined me in the shade. We all inhaled the sweet smell of grass and earth, and listened to the wind whispering in the grain. "This is our gross national happiness," one of the women murmured to me.
I am reminded of a phrase from a poem I once read: "Will the center hold?" the poet asks. Yes, in Bhutan, it seems the center is doing fine.

IF YOU GO

Flights: Druk Air, the national carrier, is the only airline servicing Bhutan, operating from these cities: Bangkok, Thailand; Katmandu, Nepal;  Delhi, Calcutta and Dakha, India.
Hotels: Thimpu: brand-new Taj Tashi in Thiumpu, www.tajhotels.com, Vijay Shrikent, general manger. Paro: Gantey Palace Hotel; Punakha: Hotel Zangto Pelri; Trongsa: Yangkill Resort; Phobjikha Valley: Dewachen Hotel.
Small-group travel arranged by e-mail, john.leupold@yahoo.com and Dorji Khandu, Travel to Bhutan, dorjik@hotmail.com or traveltobhutan@druknet.bt.

Diane LeBow is a freelance travel writer based in San Francisco.
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