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Published: July 31st 2008
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Now that the 9th month just passed and I’m beginning my 10th month of travel I’m starting to feel that it’s hard to determine what is a different or “new” experience (or I mean differentiating this new experience from that new experience). I’ve learned so much in the last 9 months. I have a few anxieties about the next month in Japan and Taiwan as well as transitioning back to “normal” life (it’s good to shake things up again). However, it’s impossible to plan out every detail, so I’ll just keep moving forward. Maybe that’s a little bit of my difficulty with writing these updates. These are based on past experience and I have to recall what it was that happened. Am I being accurate? Am I clear enough? This is a little of what I recall from the last month and a half.
Monggar Back in Bhutan volunteering with the Tarayana Foundation again, I had the opportunity to travel to Eastern Bhutan. The project in Eastern Bhutan was a bamboo and cane plantation and development center. Tarayana was granted a 5 year lease on department of agriculture land near the Kalapong Dam in Monggar Dzongkhag (state). It took
us 2 days to get to Monggar. We stopped for a night in Jakar in Bumthang Dzongkhag (I’ll write more about it in the next section on Bumthang). When we arrived in Monggar there were a few minor problems due to a few oversights in planning. I mainly went to help with the reporting. As usual, I rarely got full briefings on what would happen or the work plan. With these projects I would arrive at the site and find out what would happen. I thought this project was located in a village that would be a 1 hour hike away from the road. However, when we surveyed the site, I found out that we could drive to the site. I also found out that we would stay in some shanty huts. Since I was able, I chose to stay in a room in the near by town and walk to the site to check on the project. I also decided to leave after 3 days because the Tarayana staff and volunteers were able to take care of it and I felt my skills might be useful elsewhere. I planned to stop in Bumthang on my way back from Monggar.
Bumthang As I mentioned, we stopped in Bumthang for a night on the way to Monggar. We went to a Nyingma Monastery and were fortunate to have a brief audience with a Tulku (reincarnated master lama). The 3 Bhutanese women I went with were, in typical Bhutanese relationships with spiritual leaders and laypeople, shy about taking time to ask questions, so we didn’t stay long. Of course, in those situations I usually forget any questions I might have, so I went with this program. Later, when we were having tea with the other lamas we were told that we should have stayed longer to ask questions. The next day we stopped at Kurjey Drupchhu a temple set up at the site where Guru Rimpoche performed his first great miracle in Bhutan, which included subduing the Demon of Kurjey Drag. It’s also the location of an amazingly clear spring that is purported to have healing properties. Also, when we visited there was not just 1 but 2 high Rimpoches leading the day’s chanting and giving blessings. Pretty good, 3 Rimpoches in less than 24 hours.
When I returned to Bumthang after Monggar, I took a day to walk
up the valley and visit the temples. I went to 4 or 5 temples including Kurjey again. During my 3 day visit in Bumthang I also visited the palace of the 1st King of Bhutan that was being converted into an international environmental institute, the burning lake (actually a pool in a stream associated with another miracle), and Jakar Dzong. I was very fortunate to visit most of these places unaccompanied. Actually, the whole trip returning from Monggar I was left to my own devices - a rare way for a foreigner to travel in Bhutan. One reason foreigners usually aren’t allowed to travel alone is a lack of infrastructure as far as available transportation. It was also summer break for college students so most busses were overbooked. Officially, busses aren’t supposed to carry more passengers than available seats, but as long as there aren’t any check-posts between the departure and destination passengers can book standing room (most people end up sitting or laying on the floor) at the same rate as a seated passenger. So I was able to stand on a bus from Monggar to Bumthang, but all the busses from Bumthang to Thimphu (which includes several checkpoints)
were all full. But the simple solution was a shared taxi at about twice the rate of the bus but faster and probably more comfortable.
Thimphu So I continued volunteering in the Tarayana office and living uneventfully in the big city. I also visited Taksang (the Tiger’s Nest) in Paro again - unaccompanied.
Back through India I chose to go overland through Bhutan and India to Delhi to make my connection to Tokyo. Fortunately, the high winding roads in Bhutan were passable though they were in bad condition and we were nearly stopped by a mudslide. Also, the strikes that debilitated train and bus traffic in West Bengal state subsided. Fortunately, there was no unrest due to Gorkhaland agitators, although I heard that government police shot a Nepali woman the day before my train to Delhi. Unfortunately, in unrelated violence a series of bombs caused trouble in a couple cities throughout India. The major incidents reflected the plot of a Bollywood film called Contract in which the bombers set off small blasts throughout the city then detonate large blasts at hospitals. On a side popular culture reference, in the Dark Knight (which was a really good
movie) the Joker blows up a hospital. I saw this movie here in Delhi to a full house of Indians. I think the scene took on a new meaning for them. There was a bit of a stunned silence. Another post modern moment. In other developments, there was a flare up at the “Line of Control” in Kashmir. Fortunately, none of this led to the anti Muslim riots like in Gujarat several years ago. Media here emphasized the stories of those who rushed to help and those who experienced tragic loss. The media were quick to point out the senselessness of the perpetrators who also threatened big name Muslim Bollywood stars. Throughout India and anywhere I was the major signs of difficulty were the increased security checks at train stations, movie theaters, the Metro, etc. But I think these checks do more for show than actually find anything. Despite the heightened security about 18 undetonated bombs were found in the last couple days since the explosions.
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