Blogs from Bumthang, Bhutan, Asia

Was für ein Tag. Die ersten 170 Km war Baustelle. Ich kann's nicht fassen. Wie kann man über diese Distanz die ganze Straße aufreißen (Karma,unser Führen, hat gesagt, They have dismantled the street - und genau das haben sie getan) und mit so wenig technischen Mitteln eine solche Baustelle betreiben? ??? Schlaglöcher mit/ohne Wasser, Felsen, ziemlich viel Sand. Aber am Schlimmsten war der schlammige Lehm, auf dem Paulchen wild herumtanzte. Bis vor zwei Tagen war die Straße gesperrt, denn die Regenfälle der letzten Woche haben für zahllose Bergrutsche gesorgt. Und natürlich war da heute noch viel auf der Straße. Sie war teilweise wie eine Mondlandschaft. Und einmal wäre ich um Haaresbreite samt MR in den Abgrund gerutscht. Von 8.00 bis 17.30 war ich unterwegs, Mittagspause 30 Min. Eben ein grauenvoller Tag.... read more

Today is a dry day in Bhutan bahahahahahha .It is also a day when no-one in the country apart from taxis and tourist vehicles are allowed on the roads. There wasn’t much going on at the festival early on so we went out to the Kurjey Lhakhang temple. Its an impressive piece of architecture as they all are but today was a very lucky day for us. The first Goemba is presided over by a Lhama in prayer and is very serene. The walls are covered by frescos once again, and also by the thousand Bhudda statues on the opposite wall. The shrine itself is all gold and beauty. We cross over to another of the Goembas which is very sparse as the shrine is hidden by hundred foot wooden doors. Shane decides he isn’t going ... read more

If an eighth century saint answers a village’s prayer to cure a leprosy epidemic, it is only fitting that the miracle be commemorated for ever after in dance and colour and panache. And when that village is in Bhutan, the dance and colour and panache are truly fabulous. On my first trip to Bhutan, I’d been lucky enough to go to one of the biggest festivals in the country, the Tsechu held in the imperious Punakha Dzong, which marks the anniversary of the Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel’s seventeenth century victory over the Tibetans. The Tsechu had been an incredible occasion, presided over by Bhutanese Buddhism’s highest-ranking official, the Je Khenpo, with elaborate dances and re-enactments, fabulously-dressed crowds and colour, bemused tourists and rituals, and the closest I’ve seen to a traffic jam in this sparsely-populated country. This ... read more

Thursday morning, Rinchen spoke with us about the 10 rules to be born as a human. The guidelines were quite similar to the 10 commandments. Tobgay helped with the translations as Rinchen's English still sometimes eludes us. After his talk, we meditated together. It was easy to go deep in such a conducive environment. Finally, we had the opportunity to place objects on the altar for blessing. We placed our 2 red marble pieces that Tshering gave us on Wednesday as we hiked up to Kuenzangdak Gompa. We had stopped by a water-powered prayer wheel halfway up the mountain and Tshering found the marble in the stream. In the blessing, Rinchen read prayers, three rice, poured holy water along the altar, then distributed rice to each of us. At his cue, we repeatedly tossed rice upon ... read more

Tuesday morning, we drove an hour along windy roads through a beautiful mix of mountains and valleys filled with farms growing wheat and potatoes. A long climb up a dirt track of hairpin turns, quite muddy in some spots, made us greatly appreciative of our 4-wheel drive vehicles. Water-powered prayer wheels dotted the track all the way up to a tiny village where we left the cars. From there, under a light rain, a steep but short hike brought us up to Tharpaling Monastery, a very small monastery of a dozen or so monks, including several boys. This site is one of the special meditation places of Padmasambhava and his consort, Yeshe Tsogyel. There are images in many temples we've visited of Padmasambhava riding on the back of Yeshe Tsogyel, in the incarnation of a flying ... read more