Bhutan

A 133-pound tome about the Asian country of Bhutan that uses a gallon of ink and enough paper to cover a football field has been certified by Guinness World Records as the world's largest published book. Author Michael Hawley, a scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said it wasn't a book to curl up with at bedtime -- "unless you plan to sleep on it." Each copy of "Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across the Kingdom," is 5 feet by 7 feet, 112 pages and costs about $2,000 to produce.

Silver earrings dangling in wisps of her pixie-cut gray hair, Tshering Chenzon leans forward on a stool with her blouse pulled up from behind while a doctor's aide aims a small garden hose at her lower back. The hose is connected to a pot of water, boiling with 27 traditional medicines on an electric burner, and Chenzon, 56, is on her fourth visit to Bhutan's Institute of Traditional Medicine Services for treatment of her pain. Another patient is having acupressure.

After sitting cross-legged around their wood-burning stove for a dinner of rice and butter tea, the Penjor family used to chat a bit and then go to bed early. Nowadays they eat quickly, clean the dishes, then assemble in the living room, where they will spend the next three to four hours on the couch and floor, gazing at flickering images. Shangri-La, meet the boob tube.

Like a young superstar, Jubzang needs only one name to be recognized in the village streets of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. He's never won a medal, but he has represented his homeland at the Olympics in Barcelona, Spain; Atlanta and Sydney, Australia--competing in archery, the national sport. Bhutanese stream onto riverbanks and into parks on weekends and after work in the evening for friendly archery matches.

The natural beauty of Bhutan, a tiny, forested country nestled between Tibet and India, will be celebrated Sunday at Cal State Northridge in a performance by traditional Bhutanese musician Jigme Drukpa. Drukpa, who plays a lute-like instrument called a dranyon, says he is trying to do his part to keep the Bhutanese culture alive.

So, you're one of the most important lamas in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, who at age 7 was recognized as the incarnation of the great religious reformer and saint Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo. In your native land, the Kingdom of Bhutan, you count among your mentors the 14th Dalai Lama. Not only do you oversee various Buddhist monasteries and monks in your domain but you spend several months each year on a strict meditation retreat.

High over the Himalaya, as the little 70-passenger Druk-Air jet began its descent toward the airstrip at Paro, the captain gave a running commentary on the snowy mountainscape we could see outside the window--Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and Kanchenjunga. "I will be maneuvering the plane steeply into the valley, so you may find the trees and the mountains a little closer than usual," the voice warned, tongue in cheek. Steep, forested mountainsides rushed forward.

King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, leader of the Himalayas' last Buddhist monarchy, boasts four wives, a passion for basketball and a gilded throne. His latest infatuation is democracy. In a series of dramatic moves, the king has charted a course aimed at preparing this fabled land of myth and magic for the tedious realities of self-rule.

As forests around the world vanish, this secluded Himalayan kingdom is mounting a desperate effort to hold onto its trees. Woodlands cover nearly three-quarters of Bhutan, a Switzerland-sized country nestled in the mountains between China and India.

Bhutan's most revered monastery will be rebuilt after sacred relics and icons are removed from the burned ruins on the side of a cliff, officials said Tuesday. King Jigme Singye Wangchuck ordered the reconstruction of the Taktsang Monastery, where an April 19 fire consumed much of the wood and stone structure built in the 17th century. The original site dates back 1,200 years.