BHUTAN Dragon Kingdom or Doggie Kingdom?
Trip Start
Nov 18, 2007
1
5
7
Trip End
Apr 16, 2008
Thimphu,
Bhutan
Sunday, February 17, 2008
The Land of Ten Thousand Stray Dogs
The Reincarnation of a Long Lost Tibetan Lama Discovered
Plus Heir To The Throne?
PARO
Four hours after landing in Paro, as we walked along the uneven rock pathway from the National Museum of Bhutan to the Paro Dzong (a dzong is an ancient Tibetan style fortress, usually with a monastery inside) we recoiled in horror to the wailing of what sounded like a wounded animal. I turned to see Robert writhing on the ground, holding his ankle, and groaning loudly
Woman Guarding The Prayer Wheel, Paro
. "At first I thought Robert had twisted his ankle," his wife Silvia recounted. "But then he said that he had been bitten by a dog. I thought he was joking."
As Robert lay bleeding on the stone path, two dogs, one looking suspiciously like a wild wolf, sat quietly next to Robert, as if waiting for him to respond to their stealth attack. "It was the big one," Robert shouted between groans.
Marjorie picked up a rock and aimed it at the pair as they sensed danger and quickly disappeared into the landscape. "I think this is a bad omen," whispered Chadoe (pronounced like "shadow"), our Bhutanese guide. "Only dogs possessed by evil spirits attack near the Dzong. It is a bad sign."
We entered the Dzong, where workmen were painting and doing other touchup work in anticipation of the Royal Coronation that will be happening sometime this coming summer. Painters were suspended from a wooden-plank and rope structure that dangled precariously thirty to forty feet above our heads. Suddenly, as one of the workers was slowly lowering his scaffold, one of the ropes momentarily let loose and one side of the scaffold began to come loose
School's Out at Paro Dzong
. There were screams and yells as the worker held on tight, the rough rope burning through his hands as he tried to save himself from plunging onto the stones below. One of his paint brushes came tumbling down and landed at Robert's feet. Finally the painter squeezed the rope until the scaffold stopped. He had saved himself...and those below. We all looked at Robert, standing stunned. "I'm getting out of here before I get killed," he said.
And so our trip to the ancient Himalayan, Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan began.
Bhutan is the last Buddhist Monarchy left on earth, though that will change dramatically in March when the country elects its first ever national Assembly. King Jigme Singye Wangchuck IV (Wangchuck is the name used only by the royal family) decided last year to move his tiny country to democracy, a move that would make it much more difficult for its giant neighbors India to the south and especially China to the north, to take it over. Bhutan has enjoyed good relations with India for many years, dating back to the British Raj, but watching what China has done in Tibet caused the king to take pre-emptive action. Taking over a democratic sovereign state would be much more difficult than gobbling up some isolated, medieval feudal kingdom
Monk at Paro Dzong
. He also, in the past year, gave up his throne to his eldest son, saying it was "time to do other things in life". The next day we did the two hour trek up to the Tiger's Nest Monastery, perched on a sheer rock cliffside, high above the Paro valley.
The climb took us straight up through pine forests and then out to the rocky cliffs that line the gorge below the monastery. At the tea house just below the monastery, a pack of vicious looking little puppies came out to greet us. Robert drew back and we formed a protective circle to protect him from the evil spirits residing in these fluffy little creatures.
"If this was Vietnam , they would have cured this problem long ago," said Robert. "Maybe what they should do is import some Vietnamese to eat all these dogs and that would take care of it," referring to those folks penchant for dining on doggie.
THIMPHU
That afternoon we visited the Capital city of Thimphu , with a population of about 60,000 people and about 20,000 dogs. Thimphu has all the modern conveniences; internet cafes are found on every block. Satellite TV shows CNN and BBC but no MTV (banned as not being conducive to Gross National Happiness, or GNH). And while auto and motorbike traffic is growing quickly there are still no traffic lights in town...or the entire country, for that matter.
PUNAKHA
Two days later, on our drive from Thimphu to Punakha for the annual festival we stopped at the Docha La (pass) at over 8,000 feet
Tiger's Nest, Paro
. A friend who visited here last year described the trip between Thimphu and Punakha as "a three hour drive on a road that looks like a one-way trail through a big-city cemetery." (from David Summers). And this is the main highway across the entire country. We had been hoping to see the entire Himalayan skyline filled with 20,000 plus foot peaks, but all we could see was the heavy fog that had rolled in that morning. As we got out of the van at the tea house, a pack of dogs quickly surrounded Robert and began sniffing around his right ankle, the same one that the flesh had been ripped into just two days before. It was uncanny. Something was afoul. We quickly whisked Robert into the tea house where he was served up some hot yak butter tea...his favorite. It must have warded off the evil spirits as the dogs were sleeping peacefully in the dirt parking lot as we departed.
THE PUNAKHA FESTIVAL
The Punakha Festival is held every year during February since the town sits at just 2,000 feet above sea level and is much warmer than much of the rest of the country at that time of year. The festival commemorates the driving off of a Tibetan army, in 1639 that had come to steal a religious relic. The local Zhabdrung tricked the Tibetans into thinking that he had thrown the relic into the river and they were eventually driven off by his army.
While shooting photographs one day I noticed a pack of monks playing around with a very nice looking Canon camera. Looking through my zoom lens I noticed that they were taking a photo of ME! How ironic.
I went over and began a conversation with the owner who, it turned out, was a young Bhutanese guy who told me he was working on a book called "The Faces Of Bhutan"
Locals at the Festival
. "I saw you on the flight from Bangkok , the other day," he said. I remembered him bouncing around the front of the plane, from one side to the other, with his camera, checking out the views as we approached Paro airport. He was like a little kid with a new toy.
"What were you doing in Bangkok ?" I asked.
"I was checking proofs for my book. It will be printed there soon so I had to go and check the color. It is just a small book, though," he said.
We introduced ourselves but I had a hard time pronouncing his name so he showed me his Press ID that was draped on a cord around his neck. It mentioned JOMO Publications on the top with his name and photo below.
"Ugyen," I stammered. He helped correct me and we chatted about his camera and book project. He also filled me in on the rest of the festival schedule, which our guide, Chadoe, was not completely familiar with.
The last scheduled day of the festival includes a procession of several hundred men dressed in ancient army costumes who dance down the long front steps of the fort and proceed to the nearby river where they ceremonially throw the fake religious image into the river
Pilgrim at Punakha Festival
. We thought this would take about half an hour, but nooooo! One at a time they came out and, high on Betel nut (and probably whisky), their dance went on and on.
"How are you liking the ceremony?" We turned to see Ugyen who had made his way up to us through the throng to where we were standing.
"Very interesting. How long does this go on?" Marjorie asked.
"Oh, maybe more than one hour. One hundred and eight (believed to be a lucky number) men must go. Sometimes one at a time, sometimes two by two. It takes a very long time," he replied. And so it did.
THIMPHU
Back in Thimphu we decided to make the one hour hike up to the Cheri Goemba, or monastery built in the 1620's by Zhabdrung Namgyal. There were several monks living at the monastery, one of whom was taking a break from his meditation practice. He took us inside, showed us around and answered some of our questions. He told us he had been at this monastery for more than six months, meditating six or seven hours each day.
He explained how he meditated and pointed to one of the bamboo shacks perched high on a hillside above the goemba, where he would sit for hours on end, in the cold, practicing his meditation. He also told us a bit about the history of the goemba and how certain religious relics were gifts from reincarnated lamas and holy men
Young Boy, Punakha
. "How do you know if someone is a reincarnation of a holy man?" Silvia asked.
The monk explained that many times there were signs that a child has some connection to a person who has passed away. They might have a vision or speak in tongues, or in languages that only the deceased holy man would have known. Then they are tested. Possessions of the late monk or holy man are placed, with other similar objects, on a table and the person is asked which one belongs to him. If they choose the one that once belonged to the holy man, then it is a sign that this is the reincarnation of that person. It could be a toy, or a book, or a pair of glasses, or some other simple possession.
Later that day we stopped by a crafts store so Silvia could buy a T-shirt. While she was looking, we heard a commotion at the front of the story. The woman owner was calling her friends to view an amazing sight. We could hear a Tibetan Singing Bowl humming away above the excitement. We went out to see what was going on.
Standing in the middle of the small crowd was Marjorie! She had the crowd mesmerized as she slowly moved the wooden wand around the rim of the engraved, copper bowl, inscribed with the Tibetan prayer chant of Om Mani Padme, Um. Usually singing bowls are played by holding them in the palm of the hand. This bowl was sitting on a table as Marjorie twirled the wand around its rim.
"I have never, in my life, seen anyone do this," said the owner, referring to making the bowl sing while sitting on a table. "I think it is a sign
Monks at Punakha Festival
. It is said that this bowl once belonged to a Lama from sixteenth century Tibet . It was said that only his reincarnation could make this bowl sing while not in the hand. This is very strange."The other Bhutanese in the store all murmured excitedly as the tall falong (foreign) woman stood mesmerized over the bowl, playing it as if it were her own. She then lay on the ground and placed it on her stomach. She began rotating the wand around the bowl's rim and again it immediately came to life, its hum almost deafening now. The growing crowd became more excited. Could this be the reincarnation of the long lost Singing Bowl Lama of Tibet ? Needless to say, Marjorie would not leave the store without that bowl. It was hers.
So, US$40.00 poorer I walked out of the store with a Tibetan singing bowl and the thought-to-be reincarnation of the Tibetan Singing-Bowl-Lama. The alternative was to leave her in Bhutan with her long lost play thing. I thought, at the time, it was a small price to pay to keep her. Now I'm stocking up on earplugs...she walks around here all day, playing that damned thing and it's driving me nuts! Maybe I should have left her and that bowl in Bhutan .
EPILOGUE;
When we returned to Chiang Mai I downloaded my photos and came across one of our photographer friend, Ugyen
The Odd Couple, Punakha
. I remembered seeing several photo books in the Paro airport, while waiting for our departure, that were produced by JOMO Publications, the name I remembered from his press pass. To confirm this I blew up the photo I had of him, on the computer, and focused on the nametag. The ID became larger and larger with the help of the magnifying tool and soon I could make out the entire name...Ugyen Wangchuck. Wangchuck...the royal family's name!?!? Hmmmmm!!! I quickly did a Google search and there it was, on Wikipedia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigyel_Ugyen_Wangchuck Prince Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck (born 16 July 1984 [1] ) is the heir presumptive to the throne of Bhutan .
Wangchuck is the second son of King Jigme Singye Wangchuck and Queen Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck. He became heir presumptive following the abdication of his father on 14 December 2006 and the accession of his brother Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck .
He was educated at Choate Rosemary Hall , in Wallingford , CT , USA where he graduated in 2003. He went on to attend St Peter's College, Oxford , where he graduated in summer 2007.
He made international headlines in 2003, when he left Oxford University to fight Indian rebels who were residing illegally in Bhutan .
Small country. Small world!
