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September 27, 2007
Hi All!
Here I am sitting at my desk at the Ministry of Works and Human Settlement in the capital city of Thimphu , Bhutan. It’s been quite the ten days to get to this point!
This place is remote. That is the best word. From Portland to San Francisco to Narita (Japan) to Bangkok to Paro (Bhutan). Narita has great airport food: sushi! We landed in Bangkok at 11 pm on Tuesday, and our flight to Paro didn’t leave until 5:50 am on Thursday morning. We checked into the airport hotel at the new Bangkok airport (only one hotel there so far) and got a good night’s sleep. We poked around Bangkok for the day, then it was back to the airport at 2 am.
There’s only one airline that flies into Bhutan , Druk Air, the national airline. Our tickets were waiting for us (as many of you know, I only received the confirmation that they would be on the Friday before our Monday departure!), and onto the plane we went. The plane made a stop in Kolcata (formally Calcutta ) to refuel. Getting things in and out of Bhutan is amazingly difficult, so refueling always seems to happen in the closest Indian city (depending on the direction of the flight) so there’s enough to get to Paro and back again. No need to bring lots of fuel to Paro.
The flight from Kolcata to Paro is definitely a major E ticket!! For those of you too young to remember, E tickets at Disneyland were the coveted, few ones to the very best rides (there were always way too many A tickets in the ticket packet). The Druk Air plane (they only own a few) is fairly small, seating about 120 people. You leave Kolcata heading north, and fly over expansive plains where you can see the Ganges River. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, the plains of Assam end and mountains jut up. At that point, looking out the plane window to the northwest particularly, you can see the Himalayan mountain range. Within only about 15 minutes, you can see Mt. Everest very clearly. At that point, the plane begins to descend and flies right above the mountains of Bhutan. The plane creeps lower and lower, floating right over villages. You can see the narrow dirt footpaths going from mountain to mountain, and in between dropping deep into a maze of valleys.
The landing in Paro is one of the most amazing flights I’ve ever taken (and not one for those who are nervous fliers!). The plane suddenly drops into a valley and weaves along with hills on both sides. As it takes one of the turns, you can see out the window a bit of a small runway on the other side of yet another hill. The plane makes a sharp turn around this hill and quickly drops onto the runway. After braking, it turns around 180 degrees on the same runway (there’s only one!), and taxis to the small, two room airport.
Down the stairs and across the tarmac we go and into the airport, accompanied mostly by tour groups from various parts of the world (September-October is the high tourist season). As we stand in line, officials check our papers and send us to the correct line. Marty and I, it seems, have a diplomatic/official visa, so we got go to a special short line with no waiting! Official stamp, pay your $20 entry tax (in US currency, thank you), and off you go.
After getting our bags in the second room, we headed out front where the Ministry had sent a car and driver, Khandu. Khandu informed us there was three hour road closure on the single road from Paro to the capital of Thimphu. We decided to head into Paro to have lunch, but no, no! Bridge construction! So, turning around, we headed off toward Thimphu. After asking several people, our driver determined the road maybe was open. But at 9:45 am, we arrived at a road block and found we were to sit here until 12:30. Marty and I roamed around near the car, chatting with a monk, a survey crew, and watching the Paro River (or Paro Chuu) down below us.
At 12:15 (a little early!) we were off again. The road from Paro to Thimphu is part of the country’s lateral road – a single road that runs the length of the country (which is about the size of Switzerland ). The distance traveled is about 30 km and takes about two hours. Think of a remote, hilly, winding, partially paved, one-lane, forest service road, and you’ve landed on one of the country’s best and most traveled roads. And everywhere along the road are Indian workers improving and rebuilding the road by hand. The government has hired an Indian contractor to complete work on the road, and it’s brought in hundreds of workers. There are a few pieces of heavy equipment, but not much. It’s mostly done by hand. Remember, too, that 50 years ago, there were NO roads here.
We spent the next few days settling in. We’re staying in a guest house not far from the center of town (which you can walk the entire length of in about 25 minutes). It’s a short walk to work for both Marty and I. It’s got a nice bedroom and small sitting room and a small, marginal kitchen. Plenty of hot water, though, which is great!
The town of Thimphu is bustling. There is building everywhere as the country prepares for the conversion from an absolute monarchy to parlimentary democracy in 2008. As best as this ministry (Works and Human Settlement) is trying to manage it, the growth and building is jumbled and messy. There is no question you’ve landed in a developing country. The capital’s dump is basically an open, overflowing, unlined pit that is now on fire (probably methane burning inside the pile). The litter problem in the streets is horrendous. Stray dogs are everywhere as strays and scavengers (Buddhist sensibilities keeps any type of euthanasia off the table; in fact, it’s unclear who is even responsible for doing something about the dogs). They laze around during the day and bark all night!
The bustling carries over to the people. All kinds going hither and yon, to work, to the shops. Monks of all ages pass you in their crimson colored robes. They are all ages, starting at about six (you don’t have to stay a monk if you don’t want. There’s no disgrace in deciding as you get older that you want to leave the monkhood and do something else). I even passed a shop selling nothing but ready-made outfits and fabric for the monks!
A large majority of men and women are wearing traditional clothing. It is required to enter any government building (including schools) or for any even marginally formal occasion. For men, that’s a gho (go). It’s like a knee-length bathrobe, tied around the waist and bloused slightly, with white cuffs that go up half the forearm. The gho fabrics are generally striped or checked in a variety of reds, yellows, oranges, dark blues, dark greens, and browns. With a gho, men wear knee-length black or brown socks and dress shoes. The women where a kira. They are a fold of fabric that falls in the way of a long skirt, straight down. On top is like a short jacket (usually not the same fabric as the skirt, but complimenting it), with a contrasting cuff and collar color. They
are extraordinarily beautiful. They come in the widest variety of bright colors – solids, stripes, patterns. At the formal occasions when women are wearing their best, it is a dazzling sight! They are made of silk or cotton or rayon, depending on the formality and cost. Many women where a jeweled broach to close the jacket. And dressy, strappy, sandley shoes complete outfit. When coming in or out of buildings or at formal events, the women must add a certain type of embroidered scarf over the left shoulder (rachu) and the men must drape a large scarf or sash over one shoulder and secure it with a special twist below the waist. For the men, the color of the sash shows your rank: most wear off-white, those specially recognized by the king wear red, judges wear green, ministers wear yellow and the king wears saffron. The king (as do some others) have a way of tying the sash that also shows something about ones rank! I’m sure there are other rankings I’m just not familiar with yet, too.As you walk around the main streets, there are tons of little shops. Tiny ones selling pens and cereal; larger ones selling towels and fabric, and everything in between. Even the largest ones, are probably only 1/6 the size of a small supermarket. Every possible space has items stacked in them, though. It’s remarkable what a variety of items can fit in such a small space! In the household store, we splurged and bought a toaster – a large $12 purchase. All the store signs are in both English and Dzongka, blue with white lettering, so it’s fairly easy to find your way around. As you walk home with your purchases, you have to watch your footing. The entire country is hilly (you’re almost always going up or down; in the country the size of Switzerland, it goes from about 500 feet above sea level in the south to about 27,000 feet above sea level in the north!), and you need to walk around the holes in the pavements and sidewalks.
Little restaurants are stuck here and there. We haven’t eaten in the strictly Bhutanese restaurants because our palates are unprepared. The Bhutanese use chilies as a vegetable and they are in everything, and in great quantities – I’m talking handfuls! We’ve tasted, but simply cannot tolerate, the traditional dishes as they are ordinarily served. We have had several offers of people to make us these dishes lighter on the chilies, and I’ve heard there are a couple of restaurants that do that, too. I’m sure we'll taste them all before we’re done. The range of choices beyond that is not large. Nearly every other restaurant serves similar things: omelets, chow miens, curries, and every possible variation on those! It is not a culinary capital, but we are finding the little gems. We had pizza the other night. Spendy by Bhutanese standards, but yummy after so much rice! And there are a couple of fairly new places serving real coffee (On Sunday morning, we found a place that had coffee and pancakes!). At a brand new Chinese restaurant last night we had fried bananas and ice cream for dessert. Yuuummmyyy! Tea is the drink of choice, and it’s served everywhere, with every meal and for every occasion (as Marty and I met various people as we came to work, we were given tea in nearly every office!). It’s very good, especially if you can get it a bit light on the sugar. It’s usually served with milk.
I caught a bad cold over the weekend (welcome to plane travel!), so I was home sick on Monday. On Tuesday, I came to the Ministry of Works and Human Settlement and got introduced around in my section and got my desk. Everyone is incredibly nice. I was a bit overwhelmed with what I could try and accomplish in such a short time with so many basic needs when I first arrived, but I am adjusting to that, and focusing on what is possible. Marty is in even a more unique position that way. There are no, that’s right, not one, neurologists in Bhutan . He’s it. All kinds of people we are meeting are asking him to see this relative or that relative (one in 200 people suffer from epilepsy, so you can imagine the need in a country with no neurologists).
I have mostly been reading up on some of the environmental issues facing the country and trying to get a feel for possible next steps. Today, I will likely meet the Secretary of Works and Human Settlement, and the Minister (above the Secretary). The Minister of Works and Human Settlement is also currently serving as the Prime Minister. I’ve never met a Prime Minister before!!
Well, I’ve gone on for a while, so I’ll leave this missive for now and pick up later. I have chosen a few people in my groups of friends and family to send these messages to, and I ask you please to send them to others who might be interested. The internet connections here are generally 56K dial-up, when they are working at all (and that’s everywhere in the country). It’s just like the internet at home 15-20 years ago! Think about those dial-up days, and you’ve arrived at my reality. So it is hard for me to send too many messages. Also, if you reply, delete any other information in the thread to keep the loading time down. And, needless to say, no graphics or cute pictures of your new puppy! If I find a faster connection somewhere, I will try and upload some pictures to Flickr. I’ll let you know.
Next up… the fabulous Tsechu Festival and who needs stoplights?!
Love to all,
Erin (and Marty too!)
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October 3, 2007
We’re settling in nicely here. We moved up to the third floor apartment of our guest house. Nicer view and much nicer kitchen! The latter is great. I will probably cook a couple of meals, though the items available that I’m familiar with are few. I’ll be doing a bit of experimentation, but I don’t want to invest in a large panty, given our short time here. Additionally, you can have a nice Indian food dinner for about $3.50 a person, so it’s hard justify buying a lot of items.
This last weekend we went out and did a couple of day hikes. The Ministry of Works and Human Settlement gave us a car and driver for Saturday, so we went to Tango Goemba (tahngo gumba) It’s about 12km up the valley (north) of Thimphu. The road winds along the river, through forested areas and a couple of villages. The villages are quite basic, with small wooden buildings lining the partially paved street. Shutters swing open to reveal small shops with goods or tiny restaurants.
We also passed the entrance to the Queen Mother’s residence. It’s right on the river, with a large, orientalish looking gate and a long straight driveway up the gradual hill to the house. We can just catch glimpses of those kinds of things from the outside. All the royal buildings are carefully fenced or walled, and guarded.
Next to her house is a large complex that is a training center for the Royal Body Guard. As we curved around the outside, you could see a group training, and you could also see a couple of nice looking golf holes! Our driver, who spoke marginal English, said that was only for the Royal Body Guard. Too bad! (there is a golf course here in Thimphu, though unlikely we’ll play!)
We also passed a guarded complex on a hill with three larges tanks painted in camouflage colors, surrounded by a white fence. There were even guard towers. Our driver said it was a fuel depot.
At last we moved into some more remote and pristine areas, leaving the villages behind and mostly passing individual houses here and there. On some of the curves, there where small, whitewashed buildings built over a running stream. The front of the building was open, and inside was a turning prayer wheel. The wheel is made of metal, a couple of feel high, in the shape of a cylinder. On the outside, it is painted. I believe they were Buddhist decorations, shapes and symbols, in orange, red, yellow and blue. The running water turns the wheel constantly. I believe just by being near it you gain merit.
At the end of the road, there was the start of the Tango Geomba (geomba means monastery) trail. We told our driver he could go back to town and pick us up in a few hours, but he said he would stay and wait.
The trail up is only about 1-2 km, but it is a zig zag up. That’s not even so bad, in that it reminded me of a lot of trails in the gorge or on Mt. Hood (treed, quiet, with a stream gurgling in the background), but the altitude is a killer! It takes a couple of weeks to adjust. Thimphu, the capital, is 7700 feet and it’s up from there. The climb took about 45 minutes. The trail was very nice with a large stupa along the way. Another name for stupa is chorten. They are memorials with a relic of some kind inside. They vary in size from just a few feet tall to a three story building (Bhutan’s Memorial Chorten in town built to honor a former king). They are often white and round, with a spire at the top. Sometimes there are alters built in where people can leave offerings. You always walk clockwise around a chorten, and circumambulating three times brings blessings and merit.
Toward the top of the hill is a large monastery built into the hillside. The first goemba was built there in the 12th century, and was later added and rebuilt by a number of famous historical Buddhist figures. The present building was constructed in the 15th century by Lama Drukpa Kunley, known as the “divine madman” because he used songs, humor and outrageous behavior to dramatize his teachings. In fact, his actions were often obscene and included sexual antics! On houses around the country, you see flying phalluses painted in bright colors, part of the legacy of this favorite saint. Who said religion is dull?!
Anyway, back to Tango Goemba. Tango means “horse head” and there is a rock nearby that looks like a horse head. You go through an entrance gate and up the path to the main monastery. It rises up above you, several stories tall, all whitewashed with the intricate decorative windows that are on every building in Bhutan. It’s a little reminiscent of the look of a swiss chalet, but the window decorations are more elaborate and with bright primary colors, some simply decorative with flowers and shapes, others with Buddhist symbols.
After following the path along the side of the building, you come to the main part of the monastery. Most monasteries and dzongs (say “zong” singular and “zongs” plural - a building of religious and administrative purpose that is in each regional capital) are built in a similar pattern. There is a square of hallways and rooms (usually about two stories) built around a central courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard is a tall central tower building (usually three or four stories). There are living spaces and offices in the outside square and temples and religious rooms in the central tower.
As we entered the courtyard area, we saw a small, wood and glass and building holding the butter lamps (which pilgrims bring to light), and next to that were rows of monks facing each other, with a lama (a high monk, designated by the color of his robe) sitting in the center on a slightly raised chair. We learned we had come on an auspicious day! It was the annual cremation ceremony, held each year for monks who had died in the previous year. Over the course of the late morning and into the afternoon (with a break for lunch, though!), the monks chanted blessings over various offerings (rice, spices, leaves, fabric) set out in small bowls on low tables, then threw them one by one into a fire built in the courtyard. In between each round of chanting (and they were reading the prayers off of narrow strips of paper set in front of each person, maybe four inches high by 14 inches long), a couple of monks off to the side blew into long brass or metal horns.
We watched for a while, then a monk motioned us to come along the inside passage of the building surrounding the courtyard to the other end (we could continue to see the monks through the cutaways of the passage facing the courtyard). At the far end, there were stairs leading into some interior rooms. We took our shoes off (always in any religious place) and were led into a room with a number of couches and hanging tapestries. We sat down and were served tea and cookies by monks. There were some other people there also having tea – two employees of the National Library and a couple of Danish men who were doing some consulting with them and were out for a bit of sight-seeing. We had a nice chat over our tea, and as they were led out after finishing tea, we followed along. They had obtained a permit to go into the central tower, where the religious rooms were, and were nice enough to explain to a dubious looking monk that the permit was good for us, too! In many of the religious buildings (dzongs, goembas and lhakhangs), you need a permit from the Culture Department to enter. We just received ours yesterday for the other places we’re planning to visit.
On each of the upper two floors of the central building, there were other ceremonies going on. Both had rows of monks seated, with a lama at the far end on a slightly raised platform. One of lamas looked quite young, maybe 14 with glasses. He would be an incarnation of a previous lama, identified at a young age and brought to the monastery, but I don’t know which one. Up in a building above the goemba is a smaller building with yet another lama incarnation who is even younger. That is a very private building and not even the student monks who are doing their studies at the goemba can go there.
When you enter a temple room, you put your hands together in a prayer pose and touch the top of your head, your lips, and then your chest, signifying the mind, words and actions of the Buddha, then you kneel and touch your head to the ground. You do this three times to the lama (or statue representing the lama) at one end of the room, then turn and repeat facing the alter at the other end of the room. The alter usually has a large (depending on the size of the room) statue of one of the incarnations of the Buddha and flanking that, various other deities, like the god of wisdom or compassion. Everything is elaborately decorated and painted so trying to see it all and take it all in is challenging. You take a small bill, 5 or 10 Nu. (say new, about 25 cents), touch it to your forehead and leave it on the alter as an offering. The monk or caretaker who is present sometimes takes it from you places it on one of the several tables and dishes in front of the alter. Then he (always he) takes what looks like a delicate brass teapot with a peacock plume stopper and pours a small amount of colored, scented water into your right hand. You take a sip (or, if you are from the west, and trying not to contract a water borne illness, pretend to take a sip!) and put the rest on the top of your head. I haven’t yet determined what the significance of this is, but I’ll let you know! Everything in the dzongs, goembas and lhakhangs has some significance.
After visiting both floors, we reclaimed our shoes and after watching in the courtyard a bit more, we moved toward leaving. A monk stopped us and asked if we would like to go to his house for tea. How can you say no to a monk? He was a very nice young man, 21 years old who had been studying at the goemba for nine years. He was in his last year of training. He was most excited to practice his English! His house was a very small two rooms just outside the monastery, which he shared with another student. There were a number of tiny houses scattered around, and the older students move out of the monastery to the houses. He liked that. He said the food in the monastery was not so good! When he finishes his studies next year, he will have a year free than go to a nearby monastery to do some additional studies in meditation. He'll study for three years, three months and three days. He wanted us to stay for lunch or dinner, but our driver was waiting, so we had to bid him goodbye. Back we went, down the trail, and back to town.
So ends an auspicious day for Erin and Martin!
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October 15
Hello All!
Well, here I am back at work after a weekend away. This morning as Marty and I were having tea and toast at our dining room table (somehow, that sounds a bit more grand than it actually is!), we commented on how it really does feel like a regular work week and we had a little holiday.
We went to Punakha. The Punakha Valley is the next major valley east of the Thimphu Valley (where we live). The whole country is just a series of hills and valleys, and the only question is how deep and long it is. Punakha is quite a bit lower. We are at 7,700 feet here in the Thimphu Valley, and Punakha is at 4,100 feet. As a result, it is quite a bit warmer. There are more tropical plants, and it’s very agriculturally rich, with lots of rice (just getting ready for harvest!), oranges, bananas and limes.
We hired a car (with a driver – all hired cars come with drivers) and a guide for the weekend. Both are helpful to get around and make sure we not only see the right things, but understand what we’re looking at. I gave the guide our travel papers. We have to obtain travel papers to go anywhere. The government is very diligent about monitoring the movement of foreign nationals. That’s not only tourists, but guest workers, too. No papers, no travel. I also gave him our cultural permission papers, so we could visit the sites. No cultural papers, no visit!
As we started out of the Thimphu Valley, we first have to pass an immigration checkpoint – checking of papers, recording of names, everyone looking very official! Once that was done, we started the long climb to Dochu La (la means “pass”). To get to Punakha (and anywhere else east of Thimphu) you have to cross over Dochu La, which is at 10,302 feet. The road is a narrow, mostly paved track that is carved into the side of the mountains. It’s generally about one and a half cars wide, with lots of little edges for turning out so you don’t hit the oncoming traffic head-on (hopefully). Maximum speed is about 25ish km (15ish miles) per hour. The drive from Punakha to Thimphu is 76 km and it takes about 3 hours.
As we climbed to Dochu La, I could feel the air getting cooler. Remarkably, the vegetation isn’t dramatically different. There are some conifers and deciduous, and mixed in with a rhododendron forest. They say spring is amazingly beautiful here, and given the number and variety of rhodies, I believe it. There are some variations and zones, but not nearly what I would have expected given the huge altitude difference.
After climbing for about an hour, we reached the top. We had left Thimphu early, about 7 a
m, so the light was lovely. At the top of Dochu La are 108 white chortens built around a central tower on a small hillock. Depending on who you ask, the chortens were either built to atone the harsh treatment and loss of life when the Bhutanese evicted southern Assam militants, or for some glory of the monarchy. (Why 108 you ask? There are 108 prayer beads on the strand used by Buddhists. As you drive around and see clusters of prayer flags erected for those who have died, they are in groups of 108, too).We walked around the chortens in the clear morning air, taking in the view. Standing there, I looked across at the clouds, not up to them. The roof of the world really is that. It seems you are at the very top. I can’t quite describe the feeling of how high the place feels. It was clear over us, but as we looked off to the north, to the high Himalayas, there were clouds wrapped around the mountains, a few little snow-topped peaks mixed in with the clouds, but not the breath-taking view of the entire range. Those sharp edges peaking out were exciting nonetheless. We’ll have another chance for a clear view later in our trip (though October has been unseasonably cloudy and showery. Many have commented on it. The monsoons started quite late this year, too, so it may be the left-over from that).
Behind the chortens, the hills close by are covered in prayer flags. They are strung from tree to tree and from poles erected just for that purpose. The wind blowing through the flags brings merit, so they are often seen at high locations. They come in five colors, representing the five elements: blue-water, green-wood, red-fire, yellow-earth, white-iron. They can also stand for the five of lots of other things: five meditation Buddhas, five wisdoms, five directions, five emotions.
Down the road from the chortens is a little restaurant where we got tea (expensive tea! You’re paying for the view.). It’s a rustic little building, with wood walls and floors that don’t seem quite level. There are chairs and tables and plenty of windows, though. The government is building a bigger, fancier restaurant and a temple nearby, which are supposed to be done for 2008, the big year of government change and coronation of the new king (I think I mentioned in my last e-mail everything is supposed to be done in 2008. There will be nothing left to do in 2009!). We chatted with an older Canadian woman who was traveling by herself (she’s done Nepal and the trip to the Tibetan side of Everest base camp in previous years!), and climbed back into the car for the long descent. No faster, just a different angle, down instead of up.
The main reason to go to Punakha is to see the Dzong, one of the most beautiful and impressive in the country. It’s the second oldest, built originally in 1638, and served as the capitol of Bhutan for 300 years until Thimphu became the new capital in 1961. The building sits on the land at the confluence of the Mo Chhu (Mother River) and Pho (say “po”) Chhu (Father River). It’s a huge building, with the thick white-washed outer walls climbing about four stories, angling slightly inwards as they rise. High in the walls are the small, elaborately decorated windows seen in all the dzongs. Rising up from inside the walls are three distinct towers-two towers at each end
connected to an outside wall, and one tower in the center, the utse (say “yout-see”). All have the triple roof line of dzongs: the red metal roof comes in and angles up, then small set of decorative windows sticks up, then the roof on that comes in and angles up, then a small tower with a little roof and a short spire at the very top (gosh, it’s hard to describe these things! If things were uploading faster that 2 bytes per minute, I’d send photos! You can see plenty when I get home.).There are three sets of steep wooden stairs leading up to the dzong entrance that supposedly could still be pulled up in case of attack. In the first courtyard (the administrative courtyard) there is a large white Chorten and big bodi tree. The bodi is the type of tree the Buddha was sitting under when he got enlightenment. Passing along to the left of the utse (always moving clockwise), we entered the second, monastic, courtyard. Coming from the rooms to the right, were the chantings of afternoon prayers. Straight ahead was the last tower, about three or four stories high. On it (and on all the walls buildings that surrounded us) were elaborate carvings painted in vivid colors and gold and brass covering that were intricately decorated with a type of embossing. In one corner, a group of six men were carefully repainting carved railings. The red ochre color all over had been completed, and one had black, one blue, one green, one red, and one yellow, and they were doing the details (to work, they had taken of their ghos, which they needed to get into the building, and had pants and t-shirts underneath).
We went up the short flight of steps to the outside of the third tower, where there were four elaborately painted mandalas on the wall. “Mandala” means cosmic diagram (I don’t know if they’re always circular, but these were), and each one depicted some vision of heaven or combination of heaven and hell. We slipped off our shoes, and went through a white curtain to the “100 Pillar Assembly Hall” (alter room). It’s large, probably 120 feet square, and the pillars cover the whole room in rows (there are actually only 54, but no less impressive). Each pillar is covered with gold and brass embossing, and every possible surface of the room is covered in detailed painting or shelving with statues (I’d use the words “intricate” or “elaborate” again, but I already have. I’m not sure what other words to use - the tiny, colorful detail work in every little corner and space).
Along the walls, painted in vivid detail is the story of Buddha’s enlightenment: how he started as a prince; when an adult, went outside the palace walls for the first time and saw death and suffering; how he left his wife and child and palace life and became an aesthetic; and deciding the neither extreme was the way, that there was a middle path; sitting under the bodi tree, how he received enlightenment; and how he spread that to his disciples. The paintings run along the walls in the back half of the room, and when you turn to the front, there is a giant (maybe 20-25 feet hight) gold Buddha, flanked by a gold Zhabrdrung (the uniter of the country) and gold Guru Rinpoche (the founder of Mahayana Buddhism, the kind practiced in Bhutan). Around them are all kinds of other statues, fabric hangings, candles, and offerings of every sort. This room (and all interior alter rooms) you will not see in my slide show; pictures of any kind are not allowed by anyone, so this description will have to do!
It really is one of the most amazing buildings I’ve seen anywhere. And still working as government offices and monastery. In fact, in late November, the entire monk body in Thimphu, led by the Je Khempo (head abbot), will all move to Punakha for the winter, as they’ve done for hundreds of years. At that point, there will probably be upwards of 600 monks in the general working facility of the Dzong.
Well, that’s it for Punakha for now. There’s lots more of course, but this e-mail is already quite lengthy! On Saturday, we’re off to the east for a week in a visit to Trongsa, Jakar and the Bumthang Valley (and a short two-night trek). Love to all!!
Erin
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October 30, 2007
Things I learned while traveling in Central Bhutan last week (east to Trongsa, on to Bumthang, back to Phobjikha, stop in Punakha, home to Thimphu):
Local festivals really don’t care about the tourist itinerary. Each Dzong (fortress/ administrative/ religious center) has an annual festival called a teshcu. All the other monasteries and temples have their own annual festivals, too. The Bumthang area in central Bhutan has one of the greatest concentrations of temples, and as a result, festivals. Most happen during September and October, and so the area has lots of tourists (the weather is usually pretty good, too. For us it was a bit cloudy and a little chilly). The thing is, festivals are tied to the lunar calendar and other astrological indications. Because the teschus are very big, the dates hold pretty much as scheduled. Not so the smaller, local festivals, even the important ones. We had planned to go to first two parts of the festival at Jampey Lhakhang, a wonderful little temple built in 659 on the location that Guru Rinpoche (a famous saint) subdued a Tibetan demoness (actually, only one part of the demoness. She was so big, she spanned the country and her other part was subdued at Kyichu Lhakhang in Paro). The procession of the festival was to start on the afternoon of October 25th (just after we returned from our trek), followed that evening by the Fire Blessing (see below). The big start of the festival was scheduled for the next day, the morning of the 26th (and go three subsequent days). We had planned to spend the first full morning at the festival then take off to Phobjikha Valley. When we returned from our trek, no festival. It had been postponed a day, decision made that day. Needless to say, there were quite a lot of grumpy tourists who were on tight schedules! We were able to change our plans (though we had to change guest houses) and stay a extra day, but many large tour groups don’t have that luxury. When it comes to festivals, it’s easy come, easy go!
I’ll never camp again without a “hot bag.” Our first night in Bumthang, I wasn’t feeling well (Bumthang is a region in central Bhutan which is comprised of four valleys: Chokhor, Tang, Ura and Chhume. The largest city in the area is Jakar, where the Dzong is located). Both Marty and I have been pretty lucky regarding food and water, but I had eaten or drunk something that my stomach didn’t like. The proprietress at our guest house offered to send a hot bag to my room, also known as a hot water bottle. Heaven! It was even more heavenly when we left two days later for our trek up the Chokhor Valley over the Phephe La (la means pass) and down the Tang Valley. We hiked three days and camped two nights. It’s quite chilly after a long day of camping when the sun goes down, and a hot bag is just the thing!
You can paint religious pictures and mantras anywhere you want. All around the Bumthang valley are rocks painted with items both large and small. Common on the twisting, one and a half lane wide cross-country highway are boxes painted in red with the yellow writing of a mantra in dzongkag (one of the most spoken local languages - a derivative of Tibetan). On our first day in Bumthang, we hiked up to an area above Jakar where a large picture of Guru Rinpoche riding a magic tiger was painted. It had been commissioned by the woman who owns our guest house. In talking with her and our guide, we discovered that the property there wasn’t hers, it was just a good place for the painting. If you are painting something religious that will bring merit, you can pretty much do it anywhere you like, particularly in the countryside.
When you trek, you not only have your own sleeping tent, you have your own dining tent, too. Treks have to carry all their own equipment. Tents, food, gas and stove for cooking, everything. When your team (generally a few horses with the two horsemen, a cook and an assistant cook) arrive at your campsite, they set up your sleeping tent, your dining tent, the cooking tent (which is quite large and stays warm; that’s where most people slept) and a toilet tent (if you insist, they’ll build an extra one just for you!).
If you get a headache at high altitude, just drop down lower and it goes away. Our second day of hiking on our trek was a long one. It was up, up, up, then down, down, down. There had been rain recently so the trail was muddy. The good news about that is you have to walk slowly, which means it’s easier not to get out of breath! We ascended up and increasingly narrow trail, the first part of which looked like a lovely old-growth hike, though the trees were smaller. As we rose, we picked up more and more dwarf bamboo, all mixed in with the pine. It got gustier as we reached the summit, which had a small chorten and prayer flags (this makes it very easy to know you’ve reached a summit or pass – they all have chortens and lots of prayer flags). At Phephe La we stopped to take a rest. Phephe is at 3360 meters, which translates to 11,025 feet. After a short while, our guide said we should get moving; it’s not good to stay so high for very long. At that point, I noticed I had a slight headache, which completely disappeared once I had dropped a few hundred feet.
You have to run through a burning archway not one, not two, but three times for the full amount of merit and luck to be gained. On the first night of the festival at Jampey Lhakhang they have what’s called the Fire Blessing. An archway of sticks and braches is built in an open field. At about 9 pm, from the Lhakhang up the road, a procession of musicians and masked dancers makes their way to the field. After some dancing, they use the torches they’re carrying to light the arch. As soon as it starts burning, people start running through. The arch burns for probably 20ish minutes, with hoards of people (both tourists and locals) running through, hoping not to catch on fire.
Butter cakes are not made from butter, but from hydrogenated vegetable oil, also known as trans-fat. Butter cakes are used to decorate alters in temples. The vegetable fat is mixed with flour and coloring to create a kind of dough. Usually the creations range from one to two feet tall with symbols like flowers, circles, and patterns formed out of the various colors. At the Namkhe Nyingpo Goemba (a monastery built in the 1970s with more than 300 monks in residence), we were fortunate to come across the room where several young monks were building large, elaborate butter cakes for an upcoming annual festival. The largest piece will probably stand five to six feet tall when completed, with several smaller structures adjoining. Some monks were carving as artfully as Michelangelo out of a large block of butter cake. Others had small globs of colored dough in front of them and were creating tiny, intricate decorations that had to be just so before the butter hardened. All were working from a small photograph
that showed what the end product should look like. Nearby, in the large prayer/assembly hall, a team of monks were working on a mandala in colored sand. It was about three feet around and had been drawn in outline on the marble floor. About five monks kneeled on pillows with tiny tubes and bowls, delicately coloring the outline with intricate designs. It will take the team and entire week to complete the mandala. It will be featured in the festival the following week, then swept up with butter cake.Pema Lingpa’s Burning Lake is more of a grotto. Pema Lingpa is one of the most famous saints in Bhutan. He came from the Bumthang area, and all kinds of places are marked about him (Pema Lingpa slept here…). One of the most prominent areas is Membartsho, or Burning Lake. This is the place where he went into the water carrying a burning butter lamp and emerged after a while carrying the lamp, still lit, and several documents (called “treasure”) that revealed additional teachings by the Buddha. Pema Limgpa is called a treasure finder, and there have been several through Bhutanese history. The lake isn’t really a lake though. It’s a grotto tucked between some steep rocks, deep and clear. The whole area has prayer flags, incense and other decorations and offerings all around, and many people make a pilgrimage here. Near the water is a very small opening in the rock that comes out lower down. It’s said if you can slip through the opening and don’t get stuck, you’ve been living a good life. But if you get stuck, it means you better start collecting some merit!
The scheduler for the endangered black neck cranes should be demoted. We arrived in the Phobjikha Valley on October 27, eyes peeled for the 350 or so rare birds that winter here every year after flying over the Himalayas from Tibet. They are supposed to arrive between October 23-26, but there was not a feather to be seen. The only black necks I saw were on cows. Luckily, the absence of birds took nothing away from the breath-taking beauty of this glacial valley. Most valleys in Bhutan are quite deep and steep, with the rivers carving deep gorges. Because Phobjikha was created by a glacier, it has a wide, longish bowl shape, about a mile long, with the hills rising more gently. In the center of the bowl is a marshy area with a small river meandering through. Houses, chortens, and lhakhangs are spotted around the hills. I walked out and onto a small bluff at the head of the valley, rising about 300 feet above the floor. On it was a white chorten, surrounded by faded prayer flags on poles. Wandering in an out of the poles were horses owned by people in the valley. I sat on a pile of rocks at the edge of the bluff and just watched the sun rays move hither and yon (it was a partly cloudy morning). All I needed was a thermos of tea, and I could have stayed all day. If I were a crane, I’d definitely hang out here! Phobjikha is very high, too, 9,515 feet. It’s too high to grow rice, but grows a lot of potatoes. Because it is remote, there are no electricity lines strung here (yet. The government’s goal is to have all villages electrified by 2012). But there is some light; many homes and shops have small solar panels on top of the roof. You can see them as you drive through the valley. They provide light from about 6-8 pm, which is exactly what our guesthouse, the Gakiling, had. Heat is provided by a bukhari (say bu-car-ee), which is like a small woodstove in each room… except ours. Due to a bit of confusion our guest house didn’t know we were coming. When we arrived, there was quite a lot of discussion in Dzongkag between our guide, driver, and several guest house people. A few downstairs rooms still didn’t have bukharis installed, so we took one of those rooms. There are only a handful of rooms in the entire valley, though, so we were happy to have it. Extra blankets and hot tea were immediately provided, and all was right with the world. Things even got more right at dinner. The guesthouse has a small dining room which probably seats about 20 people in a pinch, with a big bukhari in the center. The electricity is done for the day, so the room is lit by candles, and is quite toasty and cozy. Bowls of food get set on the sideboard, and you can eat potatoes, rice, sautéed vegetables, and several meat dishes until you’re silly. The beer isn’t refrigerated, but who needs that? It’s 42 degrees outside! After dinner, to make up for the lack of cranes, our proprietor, who is on the committee for the Black Neck Crane Festival in November, performed one of the traditional dances done at the festival. Not to be outdone, the various guides, drivers and guest house workers began a round of folk dances in a small circle around the bukhari. These dances aren’t limited to the Bhutanese, and all who were willing (including Marty and I, of course), got a lesson on which steps go with which dances. The words to the songs were beyond me, though, so I just concentrated on my footing. After dinner, everyone goes off to their rooms, where big buckets of scalding hot water are waiting. No hot running water, but those bukharis have flat tops with big pots of water heating all the time!
So many lessons, so little time!
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November 9, 2007
Hi all!
Happy (late) Lord Buddha Descending Day. And Happy (early) Dawali. The former is a last week Buddhist holiday. The latter is a this week Hindu holiday.
Well it’s my last day in the office. This office at least! I know I have another office waiting for me on the other side of the world.
Marty and I have wrapped up our work. People have asked what we’ve been doing, so I’ll give a short description. I have been working with the Ministry of Works and Human Settlement. They are responsible for roads, bridges, public building construction. They assist with sewer, water, trash and all things infrastructure. I have been in the Policy and Planning Section working with the two environmental officers. The problems with litter are quite bad here, so I was asked to focus on that. I have taken some of my experience and materials from SOLV and created a very basic volunteer handbook tailored to the Bhutanese (things are culturally and structurally quite different, as you would expect). I’ve also put together a basic volunteer training program, an “Adopt-A-Place” program, a program called “Pitch In” targeted at taxis, shopkeepers and buses, built a tracking database, and written some standard grant language. Whew! I made a presentation of all my materials to a group from this ministry and several other agencies and nonprofits on Wednesday. They do meetings great here! The presentation takes an hour, then you break for tea and snacks. Then you have discussion for an hour, then you break for lunch. You have to feed those brain cells! Funding and resources are a real issue, as Bhutan is a developing country, so I tried to leave tools that would be flexible, scalable and inexpensive. I hope they are able to move things forward.
Marty is the only neurologist currently in the country. In fact, there will likely be no neurologists here for several more years. All neurological conditions are treated in the psychiatry department, and there is one psychiatrist in the hospital in Thimphu, and only two or three in the country. Marty has been seeing patients at the hospital, giving lectures about seizures, and meeting with officials about a program to train and treat epilepsy around the country. It is the most common neurological condition here, but there is very little information on what causes it and how to treat it. In fact, many people aren’t even seen by any doctor because there is not information that it can be treated at all. Additionally, many people believe it’s contagious. Marty’s developed a simple education and training program that would do much good for a lot of suffering people. He made the presentation to summarize it last week and did follow-up meetings this week. He’s giving one final lecture to the medical staff this afternoon, then his work is done!
We will be here in Thimphu for the weekend, then to Paro for three days for a bit of touristing, then to Bangkok for three days for a little more touristing, then back home. We arrive the night of November 19.
A couple of other things we’ve been doing in Thimphu:
Watching archery. This is the national sport. Only men compete. There is an archery ground in every town and village. It’s a little longer than a football field with a target about 18 inches wide. Each team has about eight-ten archers. If you’re lucky, you catch a match on a sunny Saturday where the players are using traditional bows. These are made of bamboo and are very hard to master. Many people are switching to the composite bows made out of fancy metals. Regardless, hitting an 18 inch target from 300 feet away is not easy. At the big field in Thimphu, the center of the field on each side is occupied. The field is about 50 feet wide and on one side is a concrete platform with a couple of rows for sitting. It’s got the common decorative roof. The official scorekeeper with the scoreboard (manual) hangs out here. On the other side of the field are two separate tents, one for each team. They are white and open on the sides and front. On the top of the tent, decorative figures are painted in red, yellow and blue. They are very festive looking. This is where the archers’ fans and family can sit. There is usually plenty of beer, tea and food. At the end of the match, in fact, all the archers come back to their tent and have a big meal. People use these large, insulated containers for hot food. Cold sandwiches and chips aren’t done, except if you’re hiking in the middle of nowhere. It’s not lunch without rice, emma datse (chillies and cheese) and four or five other hot dishes. Even on the second day of our trek we had hot lunch; prepared in the morning, packed into clever, stackable, insulated containers. Back to the sport. As the archer prepares to shoot, his teammates at the target wave and shout encouragement. When he misses, the other team runs out to the target to wave and shout encouragement to their guy. Back and forth it goes. If someone hits the target, well that’s the fun part. The successful archer's team at the target sing a particular song and do a short dance facing the target. The teammates at the other end also do a song and dance, but in a circle, without the successful archer (perhaps singing his glory). At really big matches, the archers will have a group of woman cheerleaders (all in kira; the archers are wearing ghos – see the first e-mail for description of these), doing their own set of dances and songs. They not only cheer on their guys, but also jeer the other team!
Obeying the traffic cop. There are no stoplights in Bhutan. The whole country. Not one. There was one installed in the center of town, but people didn’t like it, so out it went. What serves in it’s place (both before and after the ill-fated stoplight), is a police officer dressed in blue with a white helmet wearing white gloves. He stands in an octagonal structure (lavishly painted, as is all, with the swirls, flowers, and orbs). Using graceful, exaggerated motions, he directs one column to stop, and one column to go. All is very orderly, unless you are a pedestrian. It’s every walker for his or herself. Roads are very narrow, so cars honk for you to move off to the side if you’re walking on the street. If someone’s coming from a side street, the car has right of way, not you!
Socializing. The people here are so open and generous. So many people want to say good-bye, wish us well, give us small gifts. Tonight, dinner with a Canadian couple who is also volunteering here. Tomorrow night, with the Secretary of Health. Sunday night, with my work group. This morning before work, two different people stopped by for tea and to say hi and bring gifts. Everywhere we’ve gone in Bhutan, people have been helpful and giving. We had dinner a few weeks back with the chief justice of the high court. He is also one of the primary authors of the constitution (he gave us a signed copy). He gave us a lovely dinner and lent us all kinds of books. The Bhutan WHO (World Health Organization) representative hosted a dinner with French champagne this week (let me tell you, I’ve tried the Indian wine, which is mostly what you can get here. It’s awful. India will not be winning any gold medals in wine competitions. The French champagne was delicious!). His wife is from Sri Lanka, so she made all Sri Lankan dishes. You put the rice in the center, then surround the center with a scoop of several other dishes, of varying heat levels. The stewed eggplant was delicious. There was also a lentil dish, a spicy pork dish, sautéed greens, curried and spicy potatoes, and some other things I can’t remember. After dinner, he served a very rare drink. It uses a tequila, but in the tequila is a type of grass/worm. In the summer it’s a grass, but it’s a parasitic relationship and then a worm-type item comes out the top in the winter. It only grows wild and at extremely high altitudes. If sold on the black market to China, it can run $10,000 per kg. There are quite a number of high altitudes plants
that are coveted. The country has the Institute of Traditional Medicine that trains practitioners in the traditional medical methods and has quite a production area of herbs and teas. The idea is to focus on the special things that can only grow at high altitudes and are unique to Bhutan and don’t spend a lot of time or money growing or managing herbs that can be done cheaply and more easily somewhere else. I strayed a little from the socialization category, but that’s ok.I’ll send this off and probably won’t send another. You can see the photos when we get back! Tashi Delek!
Erin
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On our return, December 2007
On very interesting thing I forgot to mention in my previous e-mails is the concept of Gross National Happiness. This is an idea put forward by Bhutan's fourth, and current king in 1972 (as the government moves from absolute monarchy to parlimentary democracy in 2008 - a move prompted by the fourth king - he will abdicate in favor of his son, now refered to as the fifth king). The idea is to balance development with the cultural and spiritual needs of the people, not just looking to make the most money. It's quite a remarkable idea, and more than just a concept tossed around for philisophical discussion. Government ministries are required to build the tenents of GNH into their planning processes. The four primary principles are the promotion of equitable and sustainable socio-economic development, preservation and promotion of cultural values, conservation of the natural environment, and establishment of good governance. The government does surveys and tries to create metrics around GNH. There are alsonow international conferences on GNH, and the papers and presentations are published. I read some of these while in Bhutan.
Back to the Erin and Marty Show...After a flurry of visitors with gifts and several goodbye dinners in Thimphu on our departure, we headed to west, back toward Bhutan’s only airport.
We started out bright and early driving to the remote Haa Valley. The area has only been open to tourists since 2001, and it's a lush and quiet place with a river running down the center. As we made our way there (a half-day’s journey from Thimphu), the road seemed even higher, narrower, and windier than the other roads we'd driven. At one point, as we skirted along a high ravine, we could look down and out to a fortress at the edge of a narrow jut of land sticking out perpendicular to our ridge. There was a tiny road, more of a track, only a few yards wide, joining our road to the fortress. It turns out the fortress Bhutan's only prison where the very few people who have received life sentences are housed. One way to receive a life sentence is to desecrate or vandalize a chorten.
The land leading into the town of Haa is dominated by a large Indian military training complex. In fact, the Haa Dzong is inside this complex and it is the only dzong in Bhutan not to have Bhutanese administration in monks inside. The physical structure was the same as the other dzong’s we’d visited, but it had the feeling of not being quite right, lacking the soul I felt in other dzongs. The remainder of the Valley and town are very rural, and people grow wheat, potatoes, and barley growing on the sloping hills. It's also said to have the best yak meat in the country.
After lunch and a walk around town, we (or, rather, our driver) pointed the nose of the car up. Going from the Haa to Paro Valleys, you pass over Cheli La, the highest drivable road in Bhutan. I wish I’d counted how many hairpin turns there were. I’m sure it has to be close to a record.
Just on the other side of Cheli La is the Kila Nunnery, one of only a handful of nunneries in Bhutan. It is said to be the oldest, established in the ninth century. We hiked (what else?) from the road up the hill to the small complex of buildings stuck in the hillside. While we were admiring the statues and paintings in the nunnery's temple, an older nun asked very shyly if we had room in our car to take her to Paro for some medical treatment. Of course, we made room! There must be merit in giving a nun a lift! While we waited for her to pack her small bag, a younger companion made us tea in the older nun’s small home. It is two rooms, each about eight feet long by three feet wide, side by side with a curtained door in between. There is a small gas cooktop, a few pots and pans, a container to hold fetched water, and the other small necessities of life. As a thank you, she gave us some incense, fragrant plants she had picked and dried herself. And old nun or not, that woman made time moving down the trail!
We arrived in Paro after dark and spent the next couple of days exploring the Paro Valley and its spectacular sights. The most famous of Bhutan's monasteries is located here, Taktsang Goemba, also known as Tiger's Nest Monastery. It got that name because Guru Rinpoche is said to have flown to the site of the monastery on the back of the tigress to subdue a local demon. It is miraculously perched on the side of a sheer cliff nearly 2,000 feet above the valley floor. And
when I say perched I mean it is literally stuck onto the side of the cliff. I simply can’t imagine how the monastery was engineered or built. The hike up, because of course there is no other way to get there, takes a few hours. About half way there is a teahouse where you can catch your breath and have some bad and expensive tea. Further on there is an overlook where you are right across from the monastery. It is so close you can almost touch it, but you have a lot more hiking down the final ravine and up the other side. Tourists have only been allowed inside the monastery since 2005, and you must have the proper permit and leave all, and I mean all, your belongings at the gate with the guards.In the glorious, sunny days, we saw Jomolhari (at 7,316 meters), explored a ruined fortress (Drukgyel Dzong), and visted Kyichu Lhakhang, one of Bhutan’s oldest temples. We also visited the famous Paro Dzong (the correct name being Rinpung Dzong, which means ‘fortress on a heap of jewels’). I’ve heard that scenes from Little Bhuddha were filmed in this Dzong, so rent it, unless I get to it first. On the hill above the Dzong is the Ta Dzong, which means watchtower, and is now the National Museum. It’s an odd mixture on thangkas (fabric wall hangings depicting saints - almost none of which are labeled), a huge variety of Bhutanese stamps (which are quite famous is philatelic circles – especially odd since 50 years ago there were no stamps at all), teapots, carvings, weapons, statues and other assorted items.
While we were in Paro, we had the most wonderful guide, and had an opportunity to spend time with her family. Her father-in-law is a wonderful old gomchen (a married monk). All his children, including our guide’s husband, were born at Taktsang, because he was the caretaker for many years. On our last night in Bhutan we took a traditional hot stone bath at the family farm. This is a wooden, waterproofed box built in the garden. It is filled with water, and nearby a hot fire is built over two or three dozen stones. As the embers turn to ash, the stones are added one by one into a corner of the bath, sizzling and heating the water. The bath is just big enough for two people, so Marty and I were able to sit in the hot water above the rolling Paro Valley, and look at the stars and the lighted Tiger's Nest – and talk about when we could come back to Bhutan!
