Bhutan: Cedar forest, mad mongrel, a yak meadow...Jhari La (pass #3) (Day 10)

DAY 10
We trekked 18km today up to Jhari La (4,750m)...about a 6-7 hour day. It was a nice ascent - clear day, unlike yesterday. On top, I tried to lift the bamboo that was holding the Buddhist prayer flags...had to balance the pole between rocks but it kept falling down because of the winds. The shocking thing about this pass wasn't this pass - it was seeing Sinchey La (5,005m) across in the far far distance...we had to reach there, climb that by tomorrow. What the hell?!

We started descending into a cedar forest...just amazing life inside...you can listen to the life. I wondered how it would be to hug an old old tree...instead of hesitating further, I simply did. I tried to listen...it wasn't saying anything. But it just felt nice...even in a very real way to be one with Nature. The forest opened up into a vast meadow...a yak meadow. We received a message on the walkie-talkie (someone had) that there was a mad mongrel out there and we must be careful...it could attack. But how do we be careful? We saw the mongrel...we simply kept walking. It was fun-scary. It simply went away on its own after some time. I remember lying on the dung-filled meadow with Candi and posing and taking pics.

I saw a dzong there...a fort. Who would build it here I thought? Then again...that's exactly the reason why it's here.

Sonam told me about the Takin...Bhutan's national animal. He said it was the divine madman's creation. It had the head of a goat and body of a cow. Apparently Druka Kunley ate a big feast and clapped his hand and created the Takin.

Bhutan: Chebisa and Goku La (pass #2) (Days 8 and 9)

I started making my notes using mindmaps and breeze through it. It's much later now but helps me recollect the day fairly easily. The brain doesn't think linearly as in text, as in time...it thinks in random as in blobs of time, places, incidents, images...


DAY 8
It was a nice normal trek day. We stopped for lunch at Goyul village in a herder's house. As we entered Goyul, I remember seeing yaks and farmers plowing the field. There was one farmer with glasses...dignified in his dress (maroon stripes on a cream), demeanor. I remember a mother calling out to her toddler and pointing to me, then to my chin...they don't usually see bearded men in those areas. There was one toothless girl in jeans...staring.

Inside the house, I saw pieces of yak hanging from the ceiling...it doesn't get spoilt...the whole environment acts as a big refrigerator. There was a shelf with several music cassettes. There was one toothbrush lying around. There were vessels of all sizes...big aluminum ones...small ones. The family left their main living-kitchen area for us to sit. Divya sat with one of the kids - a Madhav-like boy...quiet and understanding...chatted him and his sister.

Cookie was our cook - his lunch always tasted similar - at least to me. I was simply thankful for all the vegetables we were getting to eat in these desolate regions. I wrote a lot about Cookie in the Natgeo article. It was nice to observe him - he was very calm always.

After lunch, Jyoti pointed out to a Juniper tree outside and said...it must be at least over a hundred years old. At 5 years, they grow only to 2-3 feet. This was a rather tall one. We climbed up from there...saw a flock of blue sheep (they don't look blue)...they were as surprised to see us as we were of them. We passed through Linghi Dzong.

At night, I was taking a dump somewhere near the campsite and I realized a dog was closeby...it could see me but I couldn't. I quickly wrapped up my task and trotted back to camp. Dogs barked all night. The whole place smelt of animals and poop in general.

DAY 9
This day was tough but nice.

I panted, climbed, panted, climbed...up to Goku La/ Gobu La. On the other side, the slide down was steep - in the distance were several other snow-covered mountains. But we couldn't see that much - we could see occasionally - there was a lot of snow. On the way, one of us broke down...the climb with feet treading in and out of the snow was too much. "Am not a f**king mountaineer!"...I remember hearing that. Cookie sat and waited until there was calm again. And we continued up to the top.

While we were climbing down from Goku La to the lunch spot...we suddenly thought Dorji was lost...he was one of the staff...it so happened that he was listening to his iPod and couldn't hear us screaming through the mountains for him. I found this whole mountain communication thing interesting - a lot it dependent on how sound reflects and people midway also pass the message on.

At the campsite, I hung out at the kitchen tent with the staff. They made some interesting eatery...very yum...local stuff. I wanted to make masala papad. In doing that I cut my finger. I also saw Dorji using his big knife to cut tomatoes...he had used it earlier to cut the tail of a dead yak. Ouch.

Yenten (another staff, also son of the organizer) picked up a puppy along the way...naming him Shomuthang puppy...our campsite. There were three dogs that followed us through the trek...this one was amongst them....someone or the other would put it in a bag and carry it across.

Bhutan: The first summit, Nyila summit (Day 7)

What a day today was. It showed all the risks of trekking in these unknown terrains.

I had a cold to start with...possibly because of washing clothes in the river and then wearing a linen shirt and braving the cold. 

It was a slow, steady ascent...lot of snow. When I finally made it to the summit, I had a dizzy head. There were Buddhist flags between rocks. I felt privileged seeing what it takes to get a few cityfolk up on these mountains. There were 20 horses carrying our food, bags and supplies including a gas stove and some 300 eggs. The staff would get up earlier than us, sleep later than us, reach camp sites earlier than us and carry a heavier weight and cook, pack and do all those things and yet have a wonderful smiling face.

While one part of our group reached the camp, three of the girls didn't. It was getting dark and we started getting worried. They were with Sonam so in that sense they should be safer. Finally, they returned well into the evening/ almost close to night. It was pitch dark by then. It's a miracle they made it. We learnt that they got lost, Sonam got lost...finally they had to traverse through a jungle, streams and so on and make it back. 

Everyone had different reactions and it was interesting to observe. The ones who were affected, the ones who were helping, the ones who felt responsible. 

Anyways, while giving Reiki to one of them, there was so much energy being drawn from my hands that night that I felt a sensation - a sensation recognizing the fragility of human life. Our securities are all false and mostly to keep us mentally sane. Reality presents itself differently all the time. Risk doesn't have to manifest in mountains - it shows up just about anywhere - that's why it's called so. We take so much for granted - never realize that we are walking on the edge all the time. We can fall off that edge anytime...into the dust of time.

Bhutan: Washing clothes by the river (Day 6)

Today was acclimatization + rest day. I'm enjoying the day. I gotto take a shower after nearly a week, unwind and write. I washed clothes by the river (people teased me endlessly about this). I can hear people chatting in the dining tent. The short trek in the morning was beautiful. We stopped at a lake - Lake Tsophu - high up in the Himalayas. The sun glittered and made it turn green with a tinge of yellow-orange all around the sides.

On the way back, I took my own route - spent a quiet moment there sitting by myself. Felt blessed that I'm here and everything that led up to me being here.

I enjoyed washing clothes in the cold river. Have left it for drying on the stones. :) Divya has had some fever - 101.5 or so. She's better now.

Last evening, it was interesting to chat about Akira Kurosawa movies with Mayur. Later he told me about the Highway on my Plate story and how it came about. Was very interesting. He's eaten in around 2,000 places all over India - it's amazing.

I combed my beard and mustache after bath today. What fun! 

Bhutan: Once we started trekking...(Days 3, 4, 5)

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.

Bhutan: Initial acclimatization days

The last I wrote online about the Bhutan trek was on April 15, 2013, just before trekking. Today is Jan 18, 2014. I have several notes and I want to write them before the next trek begins.

*

DAY 1
We did short acclimatization hikes today. On top of one of the mountains, I had a realization.

I saw from the top that a cow was moving in a particular direction. I noticed that it was moving towards a pole - though it seemed pretty sure it didn't know it was going towards the pole. I could say that with 80% probability that the cow will reach the pole. Anybody from my vantage point would. But the cow didn't. If I had a way of communicating with the cow, I could 'predict' for it that it would reach the pole. The cow would be surprised at my prescience and would may be even think am God.

Anyways, Sonam educated us on Drukpa Kunley - the crazy wisdom monk. He said he would make thousands of women pregnant because their offspring would be born enlightened. Sonam told me that he and his wife went to the Punakha temple of Drukpa Kunley after which they had a child.

DAY 2
We trekked up to Tiger's nest. It's a good acclimatization hike. I remember stopping on the way with Candi and verifying our compasses - it showed two different things. The one on his iPhone and my real one. I stared and stared at Tiger's Nest and the monastery on top. It was surreal. Why did they build it there? On top of this huge huge mountain rock. If you actually see there's no practical purpose behind it - the practical thing would've been to build it close to where everyone lived so they could access it. The practical thing would've been to have an easy path to get to it. But no, most timeless creations don't have a practical purpose. On the face of it, they are all really impractical. And when they become timeless, people struggle and do all the things required to reach it, share the experience of the original thinkers who built it. To reach the same impractical purpose of the founders. So may be we are all indeed seeking not-practical things. But we don't recognize that and spend our times in the so called practical things according to some preset idea/ agenda that we have about life for ourselves.

Kilimanjaro is next

It's been awhile since this has been deciding. I'm climbing in less than a month. The group has been introduced etc. I read the group leader's blog and gulped at the summit day -- it lasts 15 hours and starts at 11pm at night...am reasonably fit...much fitter than before Bhutan.

I workout (weights at the gym) three times a week (tue, thur, sat). The rest of the days I run on Juhu beach. I nearly ran the entire stretch of Juhu beach today....it's wonderful. Sarah, the group leader says stairs, stairs, stairs...if possible I must climb or do a short hike with a backpack. Let's see.

I want to read/ learn a bit about Kili before I go. I worry if it'll be too touristy. I miss the wilderness of Bhutan. I worried about EBC being touristy too but it was an amazing journey. Regardless it'll be me and Nature...climbing a volcano...that too one of the seven summits will be interesting.

I want to write the other blogs/ notes...Bhutan, Laos, Sri Lanka, Varanasi...the travels I did. Actually even small trips do a lot, make a lot of impact...went to Pune for Aaryana's birthday for a day and Bhaskar told me a story about a 68 year old wealthy businessman who left everything to look after stray dogs. Comes home over the weekend to buy groceries etc for his wife and then spends the rest of the week along with a caretaker at the kennel he built near Mahboobnagar. He looks after 350 or so dogs. It's the most interesting story I've heard in awhile.

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tue 12.29am jan 14th

am finally done with all the booking, planning stuff related to kili...it took a lot of time for some reason...mainly because things seem a little unreliable but expensive...for example a car ride from Arusha to Dar-es-salaam costs $650 v/s the bus costs $30 v/s the flight (there's no flight from Arusha) from Kilimanjaro to Dar-es-salaam costs $210. Anyways, it's all done.

Bhutan: About to start trekking

Am at the Gangtey Palace hotel in Paro that has very good Internet connectivity.  We are leaving in 5min or so.  The next many days, we will be walking, staying, sleeping, pooping, breathing outdoors.  We did Tiger's nest as an acclimatization trek yday - it was nice.  What am I feeling?  Nothing actually.  Want to go.  Bhutanese people are amazing - there's a certain gentleness in their ways, which seems so lost in the so called developed world.  A sense of community and interdependence.  I'll know more as we go deeper inside.

Bhutan: Words before flight

I'm flying tomorrow to Delhi and then at 5am the next day to Bhutan.  Milan wants everyone to be at the airport by 2AM.  I'm reading a wonderful book - The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying.  It's amazing.  Anyways, what am I thinking/ feeling right now?  Nothing actually.  Going back to Himalayas is always like going back home.  I feel comfortable there.  The city gnaws on you - however you try to keep your sanity - it gnaws.  The Himalayas let you be.  Give you space.  Grow you.  Create a freshness.  Provide a broad perspective of life.  This trek will be interesting.  Let's go now.

Bhutan: Almost there...

It's almost here and feels real now.  My back is better - sitting is more difficult than walking!  Am still buzzing with work and there's stuff pending.  I wonder when was the first time I wanted to go to Bhutan.  The group is getting excited too - lots of mails flowing.  Signed up for this Global Rescue LLC - that provides medical evacuation anywhere in the world.  Per Milan's suggestion, I signed up for the individual medical plan for the duration of the trek.  They processed my paperwork in just a few minutes and sent me a temporary card.  Milan also sent some hotel links in Paro and Thimpu...looks nice and cosy.

Anyways...in 4 days, I'll be back in the Himalayas...back home.