Monday, December 30, 2013

Gross National Happiness

We visited Bhutan, the country which aspires to the highest Gross National Happiness,  in November with Eyes On Asia.

  We flew into Paro from Singapore via Kolkata.  The flight was uneventful, but sort of exhilarating the last bit.  Coming up from Kolkata, we flew towards the Himalayas, seeing some beautiful peaks.    Then we started to descend to the airport, following the river upstream, between the mountains, looking down at the rice paddies as we turned following the valley.  It was an exciting start to a great week.

 I didn't know quite what to expect from Bhutan.  I hadn't had much time to do research before going, as it had been a very busy few months up to that time.  Basically what I knew, is it is a Bhuddist nation which is somewhat isolated by choice.  Basically visas were limited to reduce the tourism and maintain the national culture and identity.  So I was going in sort of blind so to speak, I just knew we were going for a photo tour (as we had done in Myanmar a year before).  Jamie and Felix had arranged it all, and I expected it would be as well planned as Myanmar was.

So the first day, after deplaning, and going through immigration etc, we found our guide Tenzin, and we were off.  First stop was the local market.  Markets can be great fun for the local color, flavor and getting an idea of the foods, but very hard to shoot usually as the light can be very difficult.   This guy was selling aluminum pots he made by hand.  Others were selling mostly vegetables.

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After that we went on for lunch, wandered the town a little   and to our hotel.

Then we headed back into town to try to catch some good photos of the Dzong in the afternoon light. 
As it was already well into the afternoon, there wasn't much light inside the courtyard down below.    But there were some beautiful paintings on the walls.  We found out later on during our trip that many people still study to become painters and they then spend their lives painting such murals, or other paintings on people's houses.    Unfortunately we had arrived too late in the day to catch the dzong in all its glory in the late sun, because the parking was above, and by the time we had explored a bit inside, and gotten down below, the sun was already leaving the dzong, and we were too close to get a good view of it.  So we decided we would have to come back another day.  But the week was off to a great start, and we finished it with a tasty dinner of local foods in the hotel.

The next day we started with a tour of one of the local villages, and a visit to a farm house.   Here we got to try the local butter tea.  It seemed that everyone in our group didn't like it, except for Cindy, who learned to like it in Ladakh, and I. 


This was taken in their kitchen/eating area.  Here is the grandfather of the house, sitting by his bowl of rice, with his butter tea.  Outside, a couple of the local women were threshing grain, and our driver tried to give it a try.
   The ladies were laughing very hard because he wasn't too good at it.   The threshing machine was operated by foot, kind of like a treadle sewing machine.  You had to get it going the right way at the  right speed, and then hold the grain down over it to knock it loose from the stalks.

 There were a variety of paintings on the walls of many of the houses, this one was typical of one particular subject--the phallus which brings happiness.   I won't say more about it, there is plenty to read about on the web.


Originally we were supposed to go see a festival in another town, but the airport was closed just a few days before the festival, so we couldn't go.  Our host tour company arranged for a dancing group to perform for us in the villlage, so we would get a taste of that the festival had been like.




The local villagers came to watch as well, making it all the more fun for us.

And of course because it was done specifically for us, we also got the chance to ask for some poses to get some close ups of the dancers.


And they were relaxed afterwards, having some tea and treats, before leaving.  This was one of the musicians, just finishing up a call on his cell phone.


We also had a chance to try our hands at archery, the national sport, and then see some of the dancers try it out.


From Paro, we went on to Thimpu (the capital).  There we visited the big dzong where the king works.   During the week, you can only go in for an hour or so after working hours are over.


   We also visited a chortan where there is a constant stream of visitors coming to pray, or maybe just have a chat with a friend.




In the afternoon we visited an art school, where they had everything from painting to sewing (costumes for dancers etc), to sculpture.

And after that we went up to a small monastery on the hill.   We were lucky enough to find them making candles just outside the building.



Most of our group went early the first morning in Thimpu, up to the big buddha being constructed on the hillside overlooking the city.   I wasn't feeling too well that am, so I decided not to go.   Cindy and Felix wanted to go back the 2nd morning to get better light, they were just too late the first morning, so I tagged along the second time, and it was beautiful to see the statue getting lit up by the first rays of the sun.


We headed back to Paro that morning, and were lucky that one of the guides for the company we were with was having a house blessing.  We were invited to stop by.  This is a yearly event, and they invite most of their neighbors, and the local monks to do the blessing.
They also served some breakfast, so some of us had 2nd breakfast...
and Cindy got some more butter tea.
Our guide Tenzin and driver Sonam were like Laurel and Hardy, always joking around.  On the way down from the village back to the car, Sonam carried Tenzin down the steep rocky hillside.   Sonam was actually the funnier of the two, though either he was a bit more shy, or didn't feel good about his English, he was a bit quieter, but always with a twinkle in his eyes. Tenzin also liked to tell jokes, he told me several over the week.

We got back into Paro in time to find the right place to photograph the dzong.   Felix and I started at the bridge under the dzong, and then walked about a kilometer downriver, and tried out spots along the way, till we found the right angle.  Then we just had to wait for the right time at sunset to get the dzong in the best light. 

On our last day we hiked up to the Tiger's Nest Monastery.   We were served lunch up there, and then decided to wait till the sun was going down, again to catch the better light.  We had to hike back down (about 900Meters vertical) to get to the car, and it was almost dark by the time we go to the bottom.  Still it was worth the wait.
 

Yes, here you can see the last of the sunset hitting the mountains above the Monastery, and the moon coming up over the horizon.

All in all, it was another great trip to another interesting part of the world.  I think what I liked best is the good natured sense of fun, the fact that the country tries to keep some of there traditions alive, and the very open and sincere nature of the people we met.


As always more photos on Flickr.


1 comment:

Unknown said...

Nice blog, looks like you had a wonderful time there :)