Taktsang Trip # 2

Well.. the good thing is that it's not too hard to decipher html! For some reason, when I go to upload a picture, it doesn't show up as a picture, but rather as code, so it's a bit of guessing game where to type..

Anyways, last weekend I went up to Taktsang Monastery (Tiger's Nest) again, this time with Bolora and Bod, the two Mongolian students, and with Jigme Dorji and Pema, their Bhutanese student counterparts. Since the monsoon has arrived early this year, Pema came well equiped, with THREE umbrellas. The good thing about an umbrella is that it can shield you from the sun as well as the rain. Truly the most elegant hiking I've ever seen. Bhutanese people must wear their national dress into the monastery, so either you bring it along in your backpack, or you trek the couple hours uphill in your fancy wear.

Such a beautiful monastery. Cameras are not allowed, so you'll just have to imagine what you see when you actually get there.. This time we went into 5 different monasteries within Taktsang, each with their own flavour.



It actually did start raining on our trip down, so the umbrellas came in handy!



Some more prayer flags... yes, I know, I am addicted



Another monastery in the cliff. I believe this one is where Guru Rimpoche's consort meditated.



even monks do laundry! I am still curious as to whether ALL of their clothing has to be red (socks? underwear?)



The newly widened path. Apparently it used to be quite a hairy walk across the cliff, but now, while I wouldn't ride a horse down the path, I'm certainly not scared to walk it.

Hiking up the hill

Win some you lose some.. for some reason my email is working delightfully today, but this blog is not.. however, having gone through the interval of loading these pictures, I may as well post them, even if they are in somewhat random order.

This is actually from a couple of weeks ago, on one of the many national holidays. this one was for the 3rd kings birthday i think, so Baldra and Bod, the two Mongolians who are here to learn English, Jigme and Pema (their student "siblings") and I hiked up to a monastery high HIGH on the hill. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, so you'll just have to imagine the shock of being at a good 6-8 hour walk from Paro (uphill) and walking inside the temple to find the largest statues of Buddha that I have ever seen! They were a good two stories tall!

And the monks were super friendly, the head lama always stops at Pema's mother's house on the way down to Paro, so he is a good family friend. So I finally had the courage to ask the little boy monks (very cute) if I could take their picture...

Chelela Take 2

So for some reason I can't edit this post properly.. So as a preamble to the following photos (in random order), I rode back up to Chelela again - it helps knowing that you're going to be riding up to 4000 m, somehow the expectation makes it so much less painful. This time the flowers were out - in particular these little blue ones that cover the hillsides, and that get more intensely blue the higher up you go. The rhododendrons were also making an appearance, sadly not too many of the deep red ones that I love, but lots of whites and pinks. And of course, lots of prayer flags... And the traditional yak, next to the "not so traditional" but suprisingly ubiquitous (surprising given the geography) powerpoles..

teacher´s day

Although it´s only been celebrated for a few years, Teacher´s Day is HUGE!!! The students were involved in two competitions - one for the best banner (you can see a few here), and one for the best dance performance. The festivities were held in the central courtyard of the college, and we lecturers got to sit on chairs on the ground , while the students sat in the gallery all around us! It felt absolutely mediaval in some ways...

and in some ways not... The whole event kicked off with our fierce madam Director putting a pin into a balloon. Apparently she is one of those people who hate loud bangs, so she hesitated for a long while, hamming it up greatly. the crowd loved it.


One of my math classes, doing a traditional Tibetan dance. Apparently the boys always take off one sleeve of their gho in a traditional tibetan dance...

My newest math class - their teacher went to Singapore for 2 months, so I get them until the end of the year. A truly hilarious group of people. Here the top of the boys´ghos are wrapped around their waist.


The students decided to involve the lecturers - by having us play musical chairs. madam Director and I were the only 2 women to compete, and I was positive (kira not withstanding, it does impede quick movement a bit, being as it´s floor length) that I was going to win... However I did not count on Tadashi, the 75 year old japanese lecturer who´s here for 2 years. He is RUTHLESS! I ended up sitting in his lap (to the great amusement of everyone, as you can imagine) and he ended up winning the whole competition, by flipping the chair around to face him as he danced the final round.. Illegal move, but highly entertaining..
Members of my huge Math class (50 students)

One of our monks. i call him the Dalai Lama, cause he acted as him once, for a mock debate. Singing a love song I believe..

Some of my lovely girl students, in the crowd...
This is my good friend Tseyang, and her almost 6 year old son, Wangchuk... Actually, that´s Tsering Jigme Wangchuk, but since every member of their family has the first name Tsering, they go by their other names. (Names are given by lamas, and I guess all the lamas that were consulted loved the name Tsering.. )


Our Two Mongolian students (here to learn English for a month) singing a song in Mongolian for all of us..

And to top off a great day, we went dancing... again. The students had put on a 'jam session' (basically a sock hop) the night before, and we´d danced until midnight, and then this night several of the lecturers, plus the mongolians, went out dancing again... who knew my life would be so full of dancing in peaceful Bhutan!

Weekend Trip to Thimpu

So I finally made it to Thimpu last weekend. Quite hilarious after all the stories I´ve heard here in Paro of 'how crowded and bustling' it is. There are basically two main streets, with cops directing traffic at the two main traffic circles. All I can say is they must get very tired shoulders...

One of the students at my college actually ended up driving me into Thimpu, very early on Saturday morning since the trick to making a quick trip is to go before they start closing the road for hour and a half periods to work on widening the road for all the coming festivities in 2008 (The start of Deomcracy, crowing the 5th king, 100th celebration of the kingdom of Bhutan..). So we got to Thimpu before most of the shops even opened. So I convinced him to take me up to a nearby pass, since it almost always clouds over in the afternoon. We wound our way up through ever changing forests, to a pass that I was in no way prepared for. We came around the corner to 108 chortens established by one of the queens a couple of years ago, and a mountain view that is insane.

The pics don´t do the view justice - there was a whole range of snowy mountains of every size and shape. And all around us, rhododendrons bursting into bloom - red, white, pink - bushes as well as trees!

My ´guide´ Sangay
Opposite the chortens, the hillside was absolutely laced with prayer flags.



The juxtaposition between the beautiful Buddhist architecture, and the power pole also makes me laugh.