Bhutan

The understanding that we’re all going to die is hammered into Bhutan’s collective conscience, and death is part of everyday life.

In February the country gave away over 3 million vaccine doses to its neighbor countries Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Maldives but was later criticized for not prioritizing its own citizens.

In her current research in Bhutan, Sheeran is observing how the warming climate has led farmers to change their crops, and monkeys living nearby find these new crops extra tasty.

In October, China built a new village high in the Himalayas, in what Bhutan considers its territory.

Today, Bhutan chose to tell a different story and create a different future for itself.

Over 2,000 people graduate from university each year in Bhutan, and they yearn for professional work.

In 2013, Bhutan had nearly 120,000 visitors—the highest in its history, according to the Bhutan Tourism Council.

Reed moved to Bhutan when Thimphu was a quaint town of 30,000.

Editor's Note: This piece has been updated to reflect that there are currently 1,000 travel operators working in Bhutan.

Despite the rapid growth, Bhutan is still trying to keep its traditions alive and preserve the heavens for generations to come.

They were officially styled the Bhutan Agent and the Bhutanese interpreter.

Kasi, being an important official, receives from the Bhutan Government forty maunds of barley and forty maunds of rice annually.

Phari is the real trade mart on the frontier, and Kalimpong, in British Bhutan, is the foreign trade mart.

Ponies, grain, and fodder are also imported from Bhutan and sold to the mutual gratification of the Bhutanese and ourselves.

Crossing the Teesta, one enters British Bhutan, a strip of land of less than 300 square miles on the left bank of the river.