The Paro Taktsang Palphug Buddhist monastery, also known as the Tiger's Nest, in the Paro district of Bhutan, viewed on October 16, 2011. The first temple was built on this cliffside location in 1692. #

A Drukair Royal Bhutan Airlines Airbus A319-114 passenger jet prepares to land at the international airport in Bhutanese district of Paro, on June 29, 2009. In the background is the Paro Dzong (the fortress of Paro). #

The Himalayan Mount Jomolhari -- or Chomolhari -- seen from the Chilela pass situated between the Bhutanese valleys of Paro and Haa on October 6, 2010. Straddling the border between the Yadong county of Tibet and the Paro district of Bhutan, Mount Jomolhari stands around 7,350 meters tall and was first climbed by a five-man expedition led by British explorer Freddy Spencer Chapman in May 1937. As of 2010 the mountain has been ascended only six times due to access restrictions imposed by the Bhutanese government forbidding climbers on the mountain which is considered sacred. #

A Bhutanese Buddhist Monk wears a mask as he prepares himself during a rehearsal for a dance to be performed during the wedding festivities of King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck and future Queen Jetsun Pema, in the capital of Thimphu, Bhutan, on October 11, 2011. The 31 year-old reformist monarch of the small Himalayan Kingdom was set to wed his commoner bride later in the week. #

Bhutanese shopkeepers prepare a large banner of King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck and future Queen Jetsun Pema, before hanging it on their storefront in the capital of Thimphu, Bhutan, on October 12, 2011. #

Bhutanese women wearing traditional costumes prepare to take part in a rehearsal ceremony ahead of the royal wedding of King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck in Thimphu, on October 11, 2011. #

Bhutanese shoemaker Tshering Tobgay makes traditional boots at a shop in the capital city of Thimphu, on August 23, 2011. The royal dress weavers are at work and excitement is building in Bhutan ahead of the royal wedding that will see the young king of the Himalayan nation wed in a fairy-tale ceremony. #

Ceremonial Dancers wait for His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck to come out of the wedding ceremony, on October 13, 2011, in Punakha, Bhutan. King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen of Bhutan Ashi Jetsun Pema Wangchuck wed in Bhutan's historic 17th century Punakha Dzong the same venue that hosted the King's historical coronation ceremony in 2008. #

Guests and locals take part the final dance, or Tashi Labay, during wedding celebrations of Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema at the main stadium in Thimphu, Bhutan, on October 15, 2011. #

Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, center, and Queen Jetsun Pema, behind him, dance the traditional final dance with guests at the main stadium, as part of their wedding celebrations in Thimphu, on October 15, 2011. #

Marchang is offered by Gyalpoi Zimpoen to His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Her Majesty Queen Ashi Jetsun Pema Wangchuck at the Chang Lime Thang stadium, on October 15, 2011 in Thimphu. In this final day of wedding celebrations for the royal wedding, more than 50,000 people turned up at the stadium with about 500 performers to entertain the guests. #

Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck kisses Queen Jetsun Pema in front of thousands of residents gathered for the third day of their wedding ceremony at the Changlimithang stadium in Bhutan's capital Thimphu, on October 15, 2011. #

School girls holding Bhutan's national flags race down a hill to line-up with thousands of others gathered to see the King and Queen in Bhutan's capital of Thimphu, on October 14, 2011. #

King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, right, holds a young child as he greets locals with Queen Jetsun Pema during a celebration after they were married at the Punakha Dzong in Punakha, Bhutan, on October 13, 2011. #

Locals run through a huge flaming gate made from dry grass during "Mewang", the fire blessing ceremony during the Jambay Lhakhang Drub festival, at Jakar in Bhutan's Bumthang valley, on November 10, 2011. Locals believe that running through the flaming gate in this ceremony will cleanse them of their sins for the year. #

A Bhutanese man walks over the traditional wooden bridge in Punakha, on December 9, 2009. Five decades ago, Bhutan was a feudal, medieval place with no roads, proper schools or hospitals and scarcely any contact with the outside world. Today, education and health care are free and life expectancy has risen to 66 years from less than 40. #

Sangey, 6, reads during class at the Dechen Phodrang monastery, on October 18, 2011 in Thimphu, Bhutan. About 375 monks reside at the government run monastery that also doubles as a child care facility for under privileged and orphaned males. The monks average about 10 hours of study a day waking up at 5 am. Mahayana Buddhism is the state religion, although in the southern areas many citizens openly practice Hinduism. Monks join the monastery at six to nine years of age and according to tradition many families will send one son into the monkhood. They learn to read chhokey, the language of the ancient sacred texts, as well as Dzongkha and English. #

A man in Bhutanese national dress standing at the site of a sky burial looking towards the Paro valley, near the Chilela pass situated between the Bhutanese valleys of Paro and Haa, on October 5, 2010. A Sky Burial is a traditional Tibetan funeral ritual, where the body is deliberately exposed to the elements, including birds of prey. #

Buddhist monks are silhouetted as they gather following a ceremony for Bhutan's newly married King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema at the Taschicho Dzong in Thimphu, on October 15, 2011. #

Buddhist monks stand inside the complex of Tashichhodzong, also known as the "The Fortress of the Glorious Religion" in Bhutan's capital Thimphu, on April 27, 2010. The Tashichhodzong was built by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in 1641. #

Traditionally dressed students of Yangchenphug higher secondary school wait to perform during the rehearsals for their annual concert in Thimphu, on August 15, 2009. #

Novice Bhutanese monks Sangey, 6, Tenzin, 7, Tandin, 4, and Pembar, 10, rest after hours of prayer at the Dechen Phodrang monastery, on October 18, 2011 in Thimphu, Bhutan. #

A hilltop monastery in the Haa valley, Bhutan, seen on October 2, 2010. Haa lies along the western border of the country and to the north is bounded by the Tibet autonomous region of China. This valley was closed to tourists as recently as 2002. #