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Published: June 16th 2008
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IT HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION THAT I FAILED TO PUBLISH THIS ENTRY FROM WAY BACK AT THE BEGINNING OF MAY....SO HERE IT IS, EXTREMELY OUTDATED BUT YOU MIGHT FIND IT INTERESTING.
Second (and last) chapter on Bhutan - beware, this one might be a bit long...
TREKKING LIFE
The thing with trekking is that, other than the scenery, each day is pretty much the same. So rather than boring you with a blow by blow, I thought I'd give you some insight into the daily rhythms and routines of Bhutan trekking life.
Each morning would start with a knock on the tent from Tashi - the trusty camp assistant - bearing a cup of hot black tea. This was followed pretty quickly with a bowl of warm water for washing. For those living through the drought in Melbourne I can report very good news - you actually only need about 2 cups of water for a relatively thorough wash. (Having said that, my hair was in very short dreadnoughts by the time the trek was over.)
Once washed, it was time to pack everything up and report to the "dining tent" for breakfast.
At some point in the blog I must rave about the food....so I will do it now. I just loved the food on this trek. The camp cook very quickly came to understand that I was "the enemy of wheat" so even the chapatis and pancakes were made with rice flour. Breakfast was usually cereal/porridge and eggs. Lunch and dinner were usually tons of veggies (including some fairly unique things like ferns or bitter guts) and rice. Some found the food got boring...but I was in heaven!
Anyway, after breakie we'd start walking. Most days we'd do about 4-5 hours before lunch. Then (food again) we'd have a HOT lunch on the trail - amazing. At one point we were actually sitting as the snow fell eating hot rice and vegetables.
While we were eating lunch usually the yaks would come past carrying all our gear. This was always a good sign because it meant that camp would be set up by the time we arrived. Yaks by the way are a very unruly animal - so when I say they would "come past" I should really say they would "stampede past" with the yak herders running behind
to prevent any yaks escaping.
After another 2-3 hours walking we'd get into the camp. The camp crew would be in the process of setting up camp which included our individual tents, the cook tent (where all that delicious food was prepared), the dining tent (where the delicious food was eaten) and finally the toilet tent (big hole in the ground with small tent around it).
We'd have tea and biscuits (the one thing I couldn't eat - but that was OK because I had my Go Natural bars provided by my sponsor) shortly after arrival and then would generally head to our tents for a rest and to hide inside our sleeping bags to escape the bloody freezing wind that usually came up in the evenings.
Then it was time for dinner....more delicious food! Bed time became earlier and earlier as time progressed. Generally we would wait until the hot water bottles got delivered and then rush back to our tents to cuddle up and sleep (and pray we wouldn't have to get up to pee too many times during the cold cold nights).
I must say that the life and food really suited me.
I can't remember a time when I have felt so well and healthy.
LANDSCAPES
I have tried and tried in my journal to record what I saw in Bhutan - but it feels nearly impossible. All the adjectives and superlatives that come to mind just seem trite and don't do the job at all. But this blog wouldn't be complete without paying tribute to the beauty of Bhutan...so here goes.
We fairly quickly got to above 4000M and stayed above that altitude for about 7 days. We were very fortunate because we had alot of really clear days when up high so the visibility was incredible. What struck me most was that, although we were well above the tree line and the landscape was quite barren most of the time, every time you walked a few meters it seemed that you got a completely new and even more exciting view. The sun would come out from behind a cloud and suddenly you'd notice a single flower braving the cold, or you would round a corner and suddenly come face to face with a wall of towering white mountains that you had no idea were there, or the
sun would go behind a cloud and suddenly the mountain turned into the evil Mordor. The cloudy, snowy days gave an entirely new perspective as well as you'd see the black mountains with icing sugar dusted on the top appearing in and out of the mist.
Bhutan has so many and such high mountains that they don't even bother to name them if they are under 6000M (on these rules even Kilimanjaro wouldn't have a name).
In the last few days we started to come down - and that was completely different again. The landscape moved from cedar and fir forests to lush, almost tropical vegetation with the most amazing giant rhododendron trees in full flower. The small mountain streams had turned to enormous water falls and raging rivers.
We all revelled in the beauty and diversity at the end of each and every day.
CULTURE
Bhutan is a pretty amazing place culturally as well. In some ways it's a Buddhist Shangri La.
I had read before I left that Bhutan measured it's success not on GDP but on Gross National Happiness. I thought that sounded like a nice idea but a bit "dreamy"
when I read it. But they take it very seriously in Bhutan - and really all they have done is to relook at their KPI's or measures for success. There are nine measures that go into GNH - and they measure things like how much investment is going back into the community on projects that will increase people's happiness. I think we could all learn from this idea!!
All education and health care is completely free. With health care, its free even for foreigners. So when Anna got altitude sickness she was treated in the local village and in the capital city hospital at no charge and with no discussion about insurance. In the local village the doctor wouldn't even accept a tip. Education is free right through to university. The government even pays for boarding school for all children who live too far from a local school.
The government has also provided all the rural and remote villages with solar panels.
The people all seem so gentle and friendly - in the cities as well as the villages. It was a stark contrast from India, but frankly I think it's a contrast from almost anywhere.
There are signs of the Buddhist faith everywhere. All mountain passes are covered in prayer flags as the Buddhists believe that the god and goddess reside in these passes. Even the tiniest village seemed to have monastery and the cities were dominated by the dzongs (fortress/monasteries).
Having said all this, every once in awhile you would see signs that even the Bhutanese are human. Litter was a surprising problem even in some really remote places. At one very remote village we found that the outhouses had locks on them and the village school was surrounded with barbed wire fences. All this apparently to protect from some local drunks.
If you are getting the idea that I was enamoured with Bhutan you would be right. I had the absolute best time on the trek! But I'll stop raving now.
Am still in Leh in far north India and having a great time. Have met some great people and having all new adventures. This is a completely different India to the one reported earlier. Will give you the details in the next installment!
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