Bhutan photo exhibition opens

Friday night I was at the preview of a wonderful photo exhibition at the Nailsworth Natural Health Clinic - the launch of a photo exhibition on Bhutan by Shiatsu practitioner Jo Hoffman (pictured left) - it will be open until early January weekdays.

The Kingdom of Bhutan is a landlocked nation located at the eastern end of the Himalaya Mountains and is bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China. It used to be one of the most isolated nations in the world, but in recent years it has become more modernised with developments like the internet, direct international flights, mobile phone networks, and cable television.

Bhutan is known for it's modernization with its ancient culture and traditions under the guiding philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH). Indeed see here a Stroud District Green party letter to the press on this a couple of years ago.

Bhutan has managed to avoid destruction of the environment and many measures are taken to preserve the nation's traditional culture, identity and the environment. It has been rated the happiest country in Asia and the eighth-happiest in the world.

Jo's photos show some of the temples, peoples, customs and beautiful nature - wanted to be there! Long ago I did have a month in Tibet and have also spent some six months in India in the past and many of the images evoked wonderful memories of that region. This is a chance to see some of all that wonder caught through Jo's eyes - one of those last places in the world that has seen very little impact from Man - and if you lucky try to catch her there to hear some of her tales of her trip.