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Bhutan

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Red pandas live solitary lives, except for breeding season, in the rainy mountain forests of Nepal, India, Bhutan, northern Burma, and central China. They spend most of their lives in trees sleeping, eating, and sunbathing, and their diet is almost entirely made up of leaf tips and tender bamboo shoots. Despite sharing a common name and a love of bamboo, red pandas and giant pandas are not closely related. The name “panda” is believed to come from the Nepali word “ponya,” meaning “bamboo eater.” Red pandas are considered endangered due to habitat loss, fur trapping, and capture for the illegal pet trade. (Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian National Zoo.)
The Great Buddha Dordenma is located in Thimphu, Bhutan's capital and largest city. The statue celebrates the 60th birthday of Bhutan's fourth king, Jigme Singye Wangchuck. Construction on the 52 m (170 ft) tall steel statue began in 2006 and was completed in 2015. The Buddha Dordenma is one of the largest Buddha statues in the world.
The takin is the national animal of Bhutan and holds an important place in the country’s culture, religion, and national identity, as well as appearing on the country’s currency. A large, muscular, and stocky animal weighing up to 272 kg (600 lbs), its thick brownish-yellow coat and strong legs allow the takin to survive in the high altitudes and rocky terrain found in the subalpine forests of the Bhutanese mountains, eastern Himalayas, India, and China. The pictured takin lives at Royal Takin Preserve Bhutan’s capital, Thimphu.
The Tiger’s Nest Monastery (Taktshang Goemba), Bhutan’s most famous monastery, is built on the side of a cliff 2,950 m (9,678 ft) above the Paro Valley. According to a legend, the Guru Rinpoche (the second Buddha) founded the monastery after flying from Tibet to Bhutan on the back of a tigress to subdue a demon, Singye Samdrup, who was troubling the valley’s resident. The first monastery was built in 1692, but due to fires and age, the structure was rebuilt numerous times, most recently in 2005 to repair damage from a fire in 1998.
The National Memorial Chorten in Thimphu, Bhutan’s capital city, was built in 1974 in memory of Jigme Dorji Wangchuk, the popular third king of Bhutan, and is dedicated to world peace. A chorten or stupa is a mound-like structure containing relics of Buddhist monks or nuns and is used as a place of meditation. However, the National Memorial Chorten does not enshrine human remains, only a photo of the third king in ceremonial dress because he wanted to build "a chorten to represent the mind of the Buddha."
The twin lakes of Tshophu are two of the many lakes in Bhutan formed by melting glaciers. The lakes, located in Jigme Dorji National Park, at an altitude of 4,430 m ( 14,534 ft), are part of the Jomolhari Loop Trek that many visitors to Bhutan walk. The sharp peak on the right is Jichu Drakye, which is 6,989 m (22,893 ft) high; the middle peak is Jomolhari 2, standing at 6,942 m ( 22,775 ft), and the tip of Jomolhari at 7,134 m (23,996 ft) is just visible to the left.
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