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General Information Area: 46,500 sq km (17,954 sq miles). Population: 698,996 (official estimate 2001). Population Density: 15.0 per sq km. Capital: Thimphu. Population: 27,000 (official estimate 1990). GEOGRAPHY: Bhutan is located in the eastern Himalayas, bordered to the north by China and to the south, east and west by India. The altitude varies from 300m (1000ft) in the narrow lowland region to 7000m (22,000ft) in the Himalayan plateau in the north, and there are three distinct climatic regions. The foothills are tropical and home to deer, lion, leopards and the rare golden monkey as well as much tropical vegetation including many species of wild orchids. The Inner Himalaya region is temperate; wildlife includes bear, boar and sambar and the area is rich in deciduous forests. The High Himalaya region is very thinly populated, but the steep mountain slopes are the home of many species of animals including snow leopards and musk deer. Government: Constitutional Monarchy. Head of State and Government: Druk Gyalpo (‘Dragon King’) Jigme Singye Wangchuk since 1972. Language: Dzongkha is the official language. A large number of dialects are spoken, owing to the physical isolation of many villages. Sharchop Kha, from eastern Bhutan, is the most widely spoken. Nepali is common in the south of the country. English has been the language of educational instruction since 1964 and is widely spoken. Religion: Mahayana Buddhism is the state religion; the majority of Bhutanese people follow the Drukpa school of the Kagyupa sect. Those living in the south are mainly Hindu. Time: GMT + 6. Electricity: 220 volts AC, 50Hz. Telephone Services are restricted to the main centres. Country code: 975. All other calls must go through the international operator. Outgoing international code: 00. Mobile telephone GSM 900 network operated by B-Mobile due in Summer 2003. Internet The main ISP is DrukNet (website: www.druknet.bt). There are four Internet cafes in Thimphu. Post Airmail letters to Bhutan can take up to two weeks. Mail from Bhutan is liable to disruption, although this is due not to the inefficiency of the service but rather to the highly prized nature of Bhutanese stamps which often results in their being steamed off the envelopes en route. Press There are very few papers, but Kuensel, a government news bulletin, is published weekly in English and The Bhutan Review is published monthly in English by the Human Rights Organisation of Bhutan. BBC World Service and Voice of America frequencies: From time to time these change. BBC (website: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice): MHz 11.96 15.31 6.195 1.413 Voice of America (website: www.voa.gov): MHz 17.74 11.71 9.645 6.110 From www.columbusguides.com, Copyright © 2004 Highbury Columbus Travel Publishing Terms and Conditions apply.