DAY 3
We are camping near river Paro. It's nice. I can hear Amit, Mayur and Divya's voices from the dining tent. The tents are amazing - quite comfortable. Sonam (our guide) says that from tomorrow onwards we'll get deeper and deeper into interior Bhutan. There wouldn't even be villages...just nomadic tribes. The tribes move 4,000 mts up during summer and then down during winters with no permanent location. We'll see them, we'll see a lot of yaks he says.
I'm thankful and full of gratitude for these experiences. Bhutan is already a special place. Today was supposed to be a shirt 4-5 hour hike but took us 6+ hours. I'm expecting tomorrow to take 10+ hours - a long day,
What I see now is a spectacularly beautiful field - green, river flowing, the mountains, the clouds. A dog keeps staring too - along with me. I wonder what it's thinking.
(This dog prompted me to base my trek story on it - I called the story, The Dog That Stared At Mountains - the name was reworded and the story was published in the September 2013 issue of National Geographic Traveller India).
* Mayur gave an idea to use enki to track children's health at camps.
DAY 4
The start of the trek was literally like a garden - beautiful Himalayan flowers, trees snuggled among the mountains. It prompted me to take silence until lunch :) I troubled Divya, Amit, Milan, Mayur with this silence thing...they would come and talk and I would walk away. I was maha entertained but they were annoyed and took my trip during lunch. The silence helped me go inside and at times become one with Nature (there's actually a term for it - prakritilaya samadhi).
As I reached the lunch spot, Jyoti who had reached first - was waiting for the rest of us. She told me about the Northern Lights and how the intensity of the earth's north-south magnetic field shows up as a light....She also told me about her trip to Alaska.
It was a long 22km day. I went slower in the afternoon. There was some caution/ fear that it might get dark and we'd still be in the forest. At one point in the morning when I was trekking alone in silence - I came across a fork. I first took left - then found a sign that said Thangthanka in green - on the other side. This was where we were supposed to get to. So I came back and took the right side of the fork. I sat near a stream and wondered where the other fork would go to. Apparently (I found out later), it goes to Tibet. We are on Bhutan's northwest frontier and bordering Tibet.
The campsite was nice - all of them are nice. Divya said later that I don't show compassion and reach out and I constantly comment and take contrarian point of view just for the heck of it. The weather was generally cloudy and we couldn't see what we surrounded with.
DAY 5
It snowed at night. We woke up to a cleared up sky, sun and spectacular, white Himalayas. Ahtushi showed me Mt. Jhomulhari - a holy mountain for the Bhutanese. I learnt that no one climbs mountains that are over 6,000 mts - any of the holy mountains.
The walk was mostly open lands - the landscape kept changing. Fewer trees, shorter shrubs - an indication that we are gaining altitude. I don't know whether it was this day or the previous - we kept seeing houses that have paintings of animals (four animals) and phalluses!
The Bhutanese have a very different view of life - even their beliefs seem to have a tinge of humor. They hang carvings of a phallus to ward off evil. Apparently when demons come visiting - they see the hanging phallus, laugh, have a change of mood and decide not to attack the household. Drukpa Kunley - a Buddhist monk who is often referred to as the Divine Madman brought this go-easy attitude towards genetalia, sex and alcohol. That is not the focus or the obsession. In fact, it's something to not pay too much attention to so you can easily overcome them and seek enlightenment.
It was interesting to observe the free, independent minded attitude that our guide Sonam has - while talking about phallus or sex. Imagine this in India or America. Also imagine a Bhutanese household with children who grow up with a neutral (neither shy nor obsessive) attitude towards sexual symbols. Now imagine the same thing in countries like India or the US. :)
We found an Indian army checkpost along the way. They invited us for a cup of tea and conversation. The army trains the Bhutanese army and has been around since 1969. I think it's there to keep an idea on China's interests in Bhutan. Chinese occupied Tibet (where I almost wandered off to) is 15km away.
By evening (after 19km of trekking), we settled into this campsite. Ahtushi says there's a saying among Bhutanese trekkers that if you want to meet an old friend, this is where he's likely to come and camp. Our tents are nice and comfortable and even spacious.
The day ended with extensive brainstorming about Mayur's shoes - the soles are out and were nailed back in.
We are camping near river Paro. It's nice. I can hear Amit, Mayur and Divya's voices from the dining tent. The tents are amazing - quite comfortable. Sonam (our guide) says that from tomorrow onwards we'll get deeper and deeper into interior Bhutan. There wouldn't even be villages...just nomadic tribes. The tribes move 4,000 mts up during summer and then down during winters with no permanent location. We'll see them, we'll see a lot of yaks he says.
I'm thankful and full of gratitude for these experiences. Bhutan is already a special place. Today was supposed to be a shirt 4-5 hour hike but took us 6+ hours. I'm expecting tomorrow to take 10+ hours - a long day,
What I see now is a spectacularly beautiful field - green, river flowing, the mountains, the clouds. A dog keeps staring too - along with me. I wonder what it's thinking.
(This dog prompted me to base my trek story on it - I called the story, The Dog That Stared At Mountains - the name was reworded and the story was published in the September 2013 issue of National Geographic Traveller India).
* Mayur gave an idea to use enki to track children's health at camps.
DAY 4
The start of the trek was literally like a garden - beautiful Himalayan flowers, trees snuggled among the mountains. It prompted me to take silence until lunch :) I troubled Divya, Amit, Milan, Mayur with this silence thing...they would come and talk and I would walk away. I was maha entertained but they were annoyed and took my trip during lunch. The silence helped me go inside and at times become one with Nature (there's actually a term for it - prakritilaya samadhi).
As I reached the lunch spot, Jyoti who had reached first - was waiting for the rest of us. She told me about the Northern Lights and how the intensity of the earth's north-south magnetic field shows up as a light....She also told me about her trip to Alaska.
It was a long 22km day. I went slower in the afternoon. There was some caution/ fear that it might get dark and we'd still be in the forest. At one point in the morning when I was trekking alone in silence - I came across a fork. I first took left - then found a sign that said Thangthanka in green - on the other side. This was where we were supposed to get to. So I came back and took the right side of the fork. I sat near a stream and wondered where the other fork would go to. Apparently (I found out later), it goes to Tibet. We are on Bhutan's northwest frontier and bordering Tibet.
The campsite was nice - all of them are nice. Divya said later that I don't show compassion and reach out and I constantly comment and take contrarian point of view just for the heck of it. The weather was generally cloudy and we couldn't see what we surrounded with.
DAY 5
It snowed at night. We woke up to a cleared up sky, sun and spectacular, white Himalayas. Ahtushi showed me Mt. Jhomulhari - a holy mountain for the Bhutanese. I learnt that no one climbs mountains that are over 6,000 mts - any of the holy mountains.
The walk was mostly open lands - the landscape kept changing. Fewer trees, shorter shrubs - an indication that we are gaining altitude. I don't know whether it was this day or the previous - we kept seeing houses that have paintings of animals (four animals) and phalluses!
The Bhutanese have a very different view of life - even their beliefs seem to have a tinge of humor. They hang carvings of a phallus to ward off evil. Apparently when demons come visiting - they see the hanging phallus, laugh, have a change of mood and decide not to attack the household. Drukpa Kunley - a Buddhist monk who is often referred to as the Divine Madman brought this go-easy attitude towards genetalia, sex and alcohol. That is not the focus or the obsession. In fact, it's something to not pay too much attention to so you can easily overcome them and seek enlightenment.
It was interesting to observe the free, independent minded attitude that our guide Sonam has - while talking about phallus or sex. Imagine this in India or America. Also imagine a Bhutanese household with children who grow up with a neutral (neither shy nor obsessive) attitude towards sexual symbols. Now imagine the same thing in countries like India or the US. :)
We found an Indian army checkpost along the way. They invited us for a cup of tea and conversation. The army trains the Bhutanese army and has been around since 1969. I think it's there to keep an idea on China's interests in Bhutan. Chinese occupied Tibet (where I almost wandered off to) is 15km away.
By evening (after 19km of trekking), we settled into this campsite. Ahtushi says there's a saying among Bhutanese trekkers that if you want to meet an old friend, this is where he's likely to come and camp. Our tents are nice and comfortable and even spacious.
The day ended with extensive brainstorming about Mayur's shoes - the soles are out and were nailed back in.
