Journey to Bhutan

'Mountains all around. climbing up to peaks, rolling into valleys'
'Bhutan is all and only mountains'

Asyndetic list and personification of the mountains.
Hyperbole emphasizes the number of mountains.

Shows how overwhelmed she is

'the Indian subcontinent collided into Asia thirty of forty million years ago'

30-40 million is very ambigious
Her lack of precision is mimetic of her lack of interest in knowing the specifics, emphasising the mysticality she attributes to Bhutan

'rock', 'mud', 'valleys', 'gorges'

Semantic field of nature shows how natural and pure the land is

'frozen desert' and 'baked brown plains of India'

Juxtaposition between the biomes, shows the diversity and uniqueness of Bhutan

'breakfast of instant coffee, powdered milk, plasticky white bread and flavorless red jam'

Listing low quality food juxtaposes the beauty of the landscape, and reflects disappointment

'selling the same thing'

Sibilance, emphasizes how monotonous everything is, emphasizing her dissapointment

'startling against the Bhutanese-ness"

Neologism shows things did not fit into her pre-fabricated picture of Bhutan

"Explaining politely in impeccable English"

Backhanded compliment, as she did not expect people to be fluent in English, but shows the admiration for the Bhutanese amiability

"I am in full of admiration for this small country that has managed to look after itself so well"

Ends with a positive connotation of Bhutan.
Could be seen as patronizing due to previous comments of disappointment.

"Rainbow District of Desires, Lotus Grove of Gods, Blooming Valley of Luxuriant Fruits"

Descriptive language emphasizes beauty of the country and rich history

Temporal markers

"It is my first night" and "The next morning", shows that these are her first impressions of Bhutan.

Structure

First person narrative, written in the form of a memoir to describe a personal awakenings and realizations while living there.

Also informative and engaging