Holiday in the East - Part II

Mouse tally 82 - no good stories I’m afraid. It’s creatures of a smaller variety that are giving us trouble at the moment - fleas! Yes, our house is made of untreated pine and the fleas just love it. For some reason, they much prefer biting Justine to Yours Truly and she’s been on a bit of a mission to get rid of them. She began by spraying Mortein around but that had little or no effect and we weren’t too happy about repeatedly breathing in those fumes. Having consulted the internet, we’ve found that the best approach is to vacuum every 2 days to suck up the eggs and stop the breeding cycle. Justine also mops the floors with disinfectant and has water traps around the house to try to capture the blighters at night. It helps to control them but it does not eradicate them. We suspect that birds in the roof may bring a constant supply of new fleas to replace the ones we kill. Oh well, at least when it starts to get really cold again we should be ok. Ho Hum.

                                                     

This post is (the long overdue) part 2 of my recount of our holiday travels.

It was sad to bid farewell to my fellow teachers with whom we had spent the last 5 days and also trekked together to the monastery. They were heading off to Lhuentse to visit a fellow teacher named Keith, then on to do a trek in Tang, Bumthang. The Diver’s decided that poor Keith would have enough trouble contending with his car load of visitors without having to deal with the stress of 3 noisy kids plus mum and dad in the house. 

A fellow teacher, Ash very kindly invited us to stay at her place in Trashiyangtse. Although the East of Bhutan is generally even hillier than the West, Trashiyangste is a delightful village; it has a proper centre with several residential streets that radiate out from it. The village is also home to Chortern Kora which is a very large chortern (stupa). Built in 1740, it is an imperfect copy of the Bodhnath Chortern in Kathmandu that many Bhutanese used to make the long and arduous pilgrimage to. The story is that a lama named Ngawang wanted to make a copy of the Kathmandu chortern to save the Bhutanese the difficulty of travelling such a long distance, he also needed a chortern to subdue the local spirits. He got someone to make a copy of Bodhnath Chortern by carving it into a radish. Sadly, by the time Ngawang had travelled back from Kathmandu to Trashiyangste, the radish had shrivelled somewhat and that is why it is not an exact replica. On a more sinister note, when the chortern was built, a girl from India was sacrificed (buried alive) inside it to appease a local demon. 

The chortern is in a beautiful location, very close to the centre of Trashiyangste and people come from far and wide to pray, turn the prayer wheels or simply walk around it. Buddhists believe that such acts build up merit that will help them to have success and happiness when they are re-born. Reincarnation is a firm belief in Bhutan and people talk of it as fact rather than faith.

Students fighting crime on the mean streets of Trashiyangtse!

On one trip to the chortern I saw loads of fire-flies. Everyone I was with had seen them many times before and couldn’t quite understand why I was so excited to see these little creatures with glowing bottoms – but for me it felt like I could cross that simple sight off my bucket list.

After 3 nights it was time to bid farewell to Ash and head back to Trashigang. Trashigang is a very pretty town but we had difficulty finding a good place to eat. Seriously Bhutan, isn’t it time you started putting a menu outside your restaurants so that passers-by know what food you serve! Every time you want to eat a meal you have to go inside and ask what they have. A restaurant may serve something fantastic and we foreigners wouldn’t know about it because we don’t know what to ask for. Hey, at least they served food (unlike the restaurants in Chumey) so I guess I shouldn’t complain too much.

Staying at the hotel in Trashigang, I felt I was in that movie – The Shining. We were the only people staying at this very large hotel. At night, all the staff left and we had the whole hotel to ourselves – luckily Johnny never showed up. There were no other guests because it is the monsoon season but we were quite fortunate with the weather most of the time. 

We took a day trip to Ranjung to visit fellow Aussie teacher, Travis. Travis took us on a botanical tour before the kids enjoyed an icy dip in the river.

After 2 nights it was time to head back on the long journey home. We were incredibly fortunate to get 5 seats on the bus because we were initially told that there would be no seats available for the next 4 days. The ticket seller very kindly phoned someone who had bought tickets and asked him if he would postpone his journey – and he very kindly let us have his tickets. How many other countries would something like that happen in?

The journey back was long and hot, and the bus had about double the legal number of passengers. We were all cramped like sardines with luggage and vegetables covering every square inch of the bus – but whenever someone tried to flag the bus down, he would let them onboard and we would all squeeze up even more.  Needless to say I was very pleased to finally arrive back in Bumthang.

We needed to do some food shopping, so we stayed at a hotel in Chamkar. We had arranged to meet our fellow teachers that we had trekked with to the monastery and it was great to see them again. They were all enjoying a very tasty pizza when we found them and after days of fried rice it was great to finally eat something a little more Western.

At the hotel I got talking to a fellow Englishman (Mark). He has a maths degree from Cambridge University and he was just about to begin teaching English at a nearby monastery. He was a little anxious about his teaching conditions and told me that he didn’t think his classroom even had a blackboard.

The following day the whole gang of teachers came to stay at our house and our washing machine was much in demand. Listening to the teachers talk about their living conditions, I realised how lucky we are with our ‘Western luxuries.’ One teacher – Mack – doesn’t even have running water and has to fill buckets from a tap 10 minutes walk away. Mack is able to do the Rubik’s cube (something I have never been able to do) – hey, he teaches maths, of course he can do the Rubik’s cube! He began coaching me and by the time he left I could do two layers. I really wish he could have stayed another day to show me how to do the whole cube but maybe I could find out from You Tube or something.

All too soon it was time to bid our fond farewells to our fellow teachers. I didn’t envy them the long journey back east to places beyond Trashigang. It was nice to finally be back ‘home’ and simply lounge around and read books. I really have been reading a lot of books in Bhutan. I guess that it the upside of having a T.V. with such a poor signal that it is almost unwatchable – but that’s another story.

Summer Break in Eastern Bhutan

Mouse count 75. No great stories to report, so instead:

Bhutan fact: Bhutan only became (an absolute) monarchy in 1907. The present king is only the fifth king of Bhutan. The fourth king is still alive and relatively young. He abdicated to ensure a smooth transition for his son. He also wanted his son Jigme, the fifth king, to oversee the peaceful introduction of democracy. Bhutan officially became a democracy in 2008.

Well, we’re already past the half-way mark of our year in Bhutan.  When we first arrived in Bhutan, Justine and I both admitted that we’d had those, ‘what have we done’ feelings.  A year seemed such a long time; how could we possibly survive? Now, I’m already feeling moments of sadness at having to leave Bhutan at the end of the year.  It’s often an infuriating country - why can’t restaurants write their menu up on a board just to give us a clue what food to ask for! But it’s also a breathtakingly beautiful country and the people really are amongst the friendliest you could meet. Though I regularly crave much of what the West has to offer (bacon, roast pork, a nice glass of red wine) I wonder how long I would be back in Australia before I start to miss my life in Bhutan. Ho hum.

The Bhutan school year only has two terms, the big holiday is in the winter because much of Bhutan is so cold that the kids cannot attend an unheated school.  So as the 2 week holidays approached, our excitement levels increased. We were to be re-united with our fellow chillip (foreign) teachers at a ‘retreat’ in Bhutan’s mysterious east. According to my trusty Lonely Planet, Bhutan’s east is the most densely populated region but it is still the ‘hinterland’ and many tourists simply don’t make it out that far because of the time spent travelling on the long and winding roads. The main language in the east is Sharchop so the official language Dzongkha isn’t much use - luckily English is widely spoken. The east is also home to several minority tribes with their own distinct languages and costumes.

Crossing the Thrumshing La pass at 3750mtrs

It was an extremely leisurely start to the holidays, The Bhutan Canada Foundation – the charity who organised our placement in Bhutan, had arranged for a bus to pick us up. We live right on the main east-west road and so they arrived at our doorstep. Several of our fellow teachers were already on board and the fun seemed to increase each time we picked up another teacher.

Our first night was just up the road at the River Lodge in Chamkar, Bumthang. Mr Pema Dawa who runs this establishment has been incredibly helpful to me over the months, particularly when I needed to get back to England for my father’s funeral. I was very pleased to give him two desk flags for his collection (England and Germany). I’d picked them up on my most recent trip to Thimphu which was awash with World Cup fever.  I thought the flags were somehow poignant; England the team I hoped would win the World Cup but never thought they would for a second. Germany, the team I least wanted to win (haven’t they won it enough times already) but whom I thought probably would. Incidentally, in a triumph of head over heart, I put my money on Germany in our school’s betting pool. Unfortunately, 3 other teachers picked Germany too, so we will have to share our jackpot.

The following morning we were up at 5.30am to allow for an early start on the long drive east. As usual it’s not because of the distance that it takes so long, it’s because the roads are so winding that the bus rarely exceeds 40kph. Although its summer, Bumthang is still quite cool and you often need to wear a jacket during the day. As we headed east, we had to cross a range of mountains that runs north-south from Tibet.  Once crossed, the vegetation grew denser, the variety of trees increased, the mountains grew higher, the valleys narrower, the temperature rose and ..... surely that’s not cannabis growing wild at the side of the road!

We finally arrived at the Lingkhar Lodge in Trashigang around 7pm and there we were reunited with many more of our colleagues who teach out east. Sadly, 3 of our gang have already returned home for various reasons, and one teacher simply couldn’t get away from her school on time to attend. The Lingkhar Lodge is the height of luxury by any standards and our suite was probably the most fancy place we have stayed anywhere in the world.

The second day was Canada Day, we visited Trashigang Dzong (local government building & monastery) and were kindly shown around by the Dasho. I was interested to see that as he stood up to leave his office, he put on his patang (sword) which he told me he must wear at all times when walking around the dzong. He had a good sense of humour and said he would protect us all with his patang. I had another bout of ‘tummy trouble’ and so was very pleased to return to our fancy room with a proper toilet.

At the Trashigang Dzong

That night we celebrated Canada Day. The Canadian teachers kicked off the evening with a stirring rendition of the Canadian National Anthem, closely followed by Brett Parish singing an a Capella version of American Pie. Nancy (the BCF Director) had very kindly supplied some wine and it was wonderful to once again taste a nice glass of red. It was great to catch up with the teachers we hadn’t really seen since our orientation in Thimphu. It was also good to get to know some of the ‘2^nd year’ teachers better.

Happy Canada Day

Temporary Canadians

Oh Canada, our home and native land.....

Lois decorated American Kevin!

That night all the conversation was about what we would do after our 3 night stay at the Lodge. We had originally planned to do the Merak Sakteng Trek which would take a minimum of 3 days.  We’d actually dropped out at short notice after being convinced that it was too adventurous for novice hikers with 3 young children in the monsoon season. Fortunately (for our consciences at least) a vital bridge had been washed away and that meant that nobody could do the Trek.

All too soon it was time to leave. Luckily we didn’t have to say goodbye to everyone as a bunch of us headed off to Ash’s house in Trashiyangtse. Warren was in charge of logistics and after much too-ing and fro-ing we eventually came up with a plan to visit the Rigsum Goempo monastery. It was a 1 hour taxi ride to the suspension bridge that marked the start of the trek. It would then be a 3 hour trek to the monastery. It was nearly 4pm by the time we set off and so I was hoping there wouldn’t be any delays as it tends to get dark around 7pm. 

A stop along the journey from Trashigang to Trashiyangtse

A hearty lunch in Trashiyangtse before our trek

Setting off on our trek

A Bhutanese guy joined us in our taxi, (maybe he was a friend of the driver’s) and said he would join us on our trek. His name was Choki Dorji and I was very pleased to have him with us to avoid any wrong turns. He laughed and joked all the way up the mountain as he took regular slugs of whisky (which he was very keen to share but didn’t get any takers) to keep himself going. At one point in our trip he told me that I looked like James Bond - clearly the whisky was getting to him but hey, a compliment’s a compliment! Incidentally, he referred to Justine as ‘Mrs Paul’ throughout our adventure.

The walk began in glorious weather and jackets were quickly removed and tied around waists. Right at the start of the trek there is a stunning, terraced rice field. The gentle slopes soon turned a little steeper and the grass quickly turned to mud, not a few puddles here and there but deep, squelchy mud that tries to suck the boots off your feet. Unfortunately, the precarious state of the track meant having to stare down constantly to choose the least muddy route, rather than look around and admire the view.

Here come the girls!

First stop to catch our breath and admire the view

Mmm, I don't think I'll drink that water

Mmmmmud

Of course, being the monsoon season, it wasn’t long before the rain began to fall, but because it was still so warm, nobody bothered to put their jackets back on. It wasn’t long too before we began to experience the East’s famous leeches. On that 3 hour trek, I had to remove 7 of the suckers from my skin, most were simply on my fingers and quickly removed before they could do too much harm. But at one rest stop I found one close to my belly button, it had already swelled to quite a good size and the wound itched for nearly a week afterwards. All our kids had leech encounters too and I was proud of how well they reacted to the thirsty little blood-suckers. I was also proud of them for simply walking up the mountain in such tough conditions with little complaint. The last 15 minutes, was completed under torch light; we were wet, a bit cold, sore and fed up. We were all very pleased indeed to arrive at the monastery. We’d phoned ahead to let the monks know we were coming and they’d allocated us 3 rooms for the night. By the time we’d all sat around talking for a while, comparing leech and blister stories we all realised we were hungry and it was getting quite late.

Nobody understandably wanted to move but fortunately hunger triumphed over exhaustion and Justine, Sarah, Jess and I headed off to the kitchen to make soup with the supplies we brought with us. The kitchen was very poorly equipped and they only had an electric rice cooker for cooking. Sarah said we should simply boil some water and throw all our ingredients in. I was very doubtful, but we had little choice and so we chopped the veggies and chucked ‘em in.

Souper Sarah cooking up a storm

While the soup simmered, a group of young monks gathered around us. They were just as interested in us as we were in them. Justine proceeded to teach the monks some classic western songs including: Heads and Shoulders, Knees and Toes; and the Hokey Pokey. Now that was another night of magic for me and a memory I will treasure for life. I tried to film some of it with my little camera but the room was very dark. I hope it works ok on the blog and you can get some sense of the magic that we felt.

Hokey Pokey Spectators

Continuing that magical note – somehow the soup turned out to be really delicious and everyone was full of compliments. Choki Dorji was still with us and by now he was handing around a bottle of Arra (local hooch) which is particularly popular in the East. 

The following morning the monks took us on a tour of the monastery and we duly left our donations at the altar. The walk back down the mountain was a little easier this time, a lot less leeches but still plenty of mud and rain. The taxi was waiting dutifully for us back at the bridge and we happily climbed aboard in our filthy, soggy clothes. For the Divers, it was the beginning of a couple of night’s stay in Trashiyangste at Ash’s house, but the rest of our motley crew headed off to Lhuentse to visit fellow teacher Keith. Would we ever see those guys again?

(To be continued.)

Mud, sweat and cheers, we made it!