evidence: "Bhutan is a Buddhist country. Spirituality and religion have a very strong effect," he adds. [...] Modernization is a relative term in Bhutan. Locals will proudly tell you that Thimpu is the only world capital without any traffic lights, and shops and restaurants are locally owned and run. Bhutan is the rare world destination that isn’t full of international brands. While there are a few – outposts of the upscale Le Meridien and Aman hotel chains, for example – even the capital is mostly bereft of corporate logos. [...] It seems impossible to imagine Bhutan without the country’s fifth monarch. Portraits of the king and royal family – he and Queen Jetsun Pema have three young children – are in nearly every home and business in Bhutan, displayed the way other nations might hang up their national flags. Photos of the king are omnipresent in the country’s Buddhist temples, placed alongside pictures of lamas and laden with offerings of flowers, fruits and sweets.