Bhutan, nestling in the heart of the great Himalaya, has for centuries remained aloof from the rest of the world. Bhutan The Land of the Thunder Dragon lies in the eastern Himalaya. A small country covering a little over 18,000 sq mi (47,000 sq km), Bhutan's land is very varied. Snow peaks in the Himalayas, swamps and highlands are just some of the land conditions that are found in a short range from each other. The three main areas in Bhutan are the Great Himalayan Region, Middle Himalayan Region and the Duars. Bhutan-where the time stands still, the nature and religion combine and maintain the tiny Buddhist kingdom as the last Shangri-La. Sandwiched between between Tibet and India, Bhutan is the pearl of the Himalayas. Virgin peaks rise up to 25,000 ft to the north of the kingdom and beneath steep glacial walls, alpine highlands fall to misty forests. Mountain streams cut through gorges on their way down to warmer valleys and wide marshes in the heart of the kingdom. One distinct landscape drops to the next before finally descending to the jungle and grasslands of the southern plains. To those people who have accustomed to this domain of extremes and have always led their life with the principles of Mahayana Buddhism, Bhutan is a paradise on earth where respect for life, in all its many incarnations, endures like the land itself.