Thanksgiving

As you are fully aware, last week was the American holiday of Thanksgiving. Of course, Thanksgiving is not celebrated at all in Bhutan (why would it be?). There aren't even any turkeys in Asia! Nevertheless, Emily and I managed to celebrate Thanksgiving both in a Bhutanese way, and then in a full-blown American way. 

First, on the actual day of Thanksgiving (last Thursday), Emily and I went out for a big meal with our good friend Samir and two new Bhutanese staff at RTC. We went to a good local place called Ama and ordered lots of Bhutanese and Indian food. We had Bhutanese red rice, dal, paneer curry, dried beef, peanut masala, momos, fish curry, chicken chili chop, fried potatoes, and washed it down with Druk 11000 "super strong" beer. After our feast, we went to Ambient Cafe for dessert. Emily took some pictures on her phone, which she arranged below: 

Before and after at Restaurant Ama. 

Before and after at Ambient Cafe. 

Last Saturday we were invited to a good-ol' American Thanksgiving at the lavish home of the American 'Wardens' to Bhutan. I had to look up at the U.S. State Department website what exactly a diplomatic 'warden' is, and it told me that a warden is a volunteer diplomatic liaison for American ex-pats in places where the United States does not have diplomatic relationships. This, of course, includes Bhutan. If we ever lost our passport, or get in trouble with the police, or have immigration issues, Emily and I will turn to the wardens for help. Apparently Rob at RTC is also a warden, which we were unaware until he told us on Saturday.

The 'U.S. wardens to Bhutan' invited all of the Americans living in Bhutan to a Thanksgiving feast. There are, apparently, only about three dozen Americans living in Bhutan, which is quite low relatively speaking (for comparison, in Switzerland, roughly the same land area of Bhutan, there are over 18,600 American expats). Fourteen of those Americans work at RTC, and the rest have various positions teaching, working at the hospital, or consulting for various organizations. As you have probably learned from us, Bhutan is an extremely difficult country to enter and work. 

We arrived at the house of the wardens (a doctor and his wife) and were immediately struck by the immense concentration of wealth in this house. If this house were placed amongst an upper middle-class neighborhood in the United States I wouldn't even blink, but this stuck out like a sore-thumb here in Bhutan. There was a stone fireplace and central heat, five bathrooms, five bedrooms, a kitchen with a  full-fledged oven and a dishwasher, and many other extravagances. The couple had their own driver and their own chef. Seriously, it was a shock to encounter all of this in a country where a lot of communities don't even have electricity or roads. Bhutan is not a desperately poor country, like others Emily and I have seen, but there is not much extravagance save for a few pockets in Thimphu. 

But the wardens were also generous, and were volunteering in Bhutan in different capacities. They imported a lot of food to feed us all, including a frozen turkey from the U.S. that was shipped with dry ice! While there was some embarrassment of riches going on for us, we very much welcomed all of the foods from home that we miss. While the wardens provided much of the food, everyone brought a dish to share as well. Emily made turnips in browned butter, which people enjoyed. There was also several kinds of stuffing, and breads, and mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole, and all sorts of other vegetables. There was even an honest-to-god cheese ball with crackers that was absolutely fabulous. For dessert there was real pumpkin pie (several, in fact), brownies, cinnamon rolls, apple strudel, and other delectables. Escaping from our normal diet of rice and stir fries and ema datsi, we gorged ourselves on the rich foods from home. I was so full my sides hurt into Sunday, but it was worth it. As they say, "you don't miss it till it's gone."

Chris (RTC), Cathy (RTC), and Rob (RTC) eagerly wait for the food. 

Dr. Solomon (the warden) says a few words.
Robert, Janet (RTC), and Samir (RTC) are in the foreground. 

Digging into the feast.
Doug (RTC), Antonia, and Janet (RTC). 

Samir is loving it. 

So so good. I realize living in Bhutan how much I miss turkey
(and not just for Thanksgiving). 

Enjoying the meal. From left to right:
Julia (RTC), James (Wheaton), Ali (Wheaton), Julie, Clint, Nancy (RTC),
Ruby (Wheaton), Annie (Wheaton), and Meagan (Wheaton). 

Dessert. Somehow I managed to get even more food inside of me. 

The Monastery That's Always in the Sun

A few weekends ago Matt and I were invited to go on a hike with Doug, Janet and Julia (who have been mentioned in previous posts). Since we don't have a car ourselves, we try to take advantage of as many invites as possible. This particular hike began not too far from where we live and ended at a monastery that overlooks the Thimphu valley. No one knew the name of this particular monastery but we kept hearing it described as "the monastery that's always in the sun". Although I've never noticed it before, the hilltop where it sits appears to always be lit up by sunshine and this fact allowed us to describe where we had gone.

After a short drive, we parked the car on the side of a quiet road and began our hike. As you can see below, the very beginning of the hike began on the road, which led us uphill past an orchard (now barren) and an archery field where men were in competition, and eventually to an unpaved path. The day was clear, sunny and warm – the perfect autumn weather for a hike. It has not rained here in over a month so much of the vegetation has taken on yellow and golden hues. A few plants have turned shades of maroon and red. From afar the yellows and golds of the fields look rather drab but as we walked through, I was struck by how beautiful and rich it all appeared, no doubt helped by the sunlight. On this day, what I had always thought of as just dead plants was transformed into something that was bright, luminous, and eye-catching.

Beginning the hike

Archers - they were kind of enough to let us know when the coast was
clear (lest we get a puncture wound from a wayward arrow)

Into the woods we go

Small house near where we left the road

Fall beauty

After leaving the road, the route we took was somewhat inexact for some time – Doug knew the direction that we were going, so we didn't get lost, but be did end up having to climb a very steep embankment where we crossed some downed barbed wire. Never a dull moment!

Eventually we  found the path that would lead us through the woods and up to the monastery. For awhile it followed the ridge of the mountain from which Royal Thimphu College (where we live and Matt teaches) was visible. Its possible to hike to the monastery directly from the college but it requires taking a path with an 80% grade (not quite the type of hike we were looking for).

View of RTC from the trail

From the ridge, we cut over and made our way through two different stands of white prayer flags. These types of prayer flags are erected in honor of someone who has died, usually 108 because this is considered the most auspicious number.

Past the prayer flags we found our way to the trail through the woods. We could tell that this trail is not often taken for two reasons. First, sadly, because there was no garbage on the trail and second, because while the path itself was worn, we had to do quite a bit a bushwhacking to get through the branches and such that had grown across the walkway. Our sunglasses doubled as protective eyewear. As we hiked, the dry nature of the environment became very apparent. Many of the plants have very waxy leaves (in order to retain moisture) and, unfortunately for us, many were also holly-like and had plenty of prickly points to catch at our clothing and skin as we walked by.

As the elevation of the increased, we began to see more old man's beard (usnea) on the trees. We had noticed lichen growing at higher elevations on other hikes but in doing a little reading, it seems that this may be due more to the lichen's sensitivity to air pollution (it's very sensitive to sulfur dioxide) than to elevation. Also, if you are a health and/or biology nerd like me, this lichen is extra interesting because it has uses in traditional medicine. Look it up if you're interested (the link above is to Wikipedia so you may want to go beyond that to verify the information). 

Old man's beard adds a mystical effect to the forest

More fall colors

When we finally made it up to the monastery, our first sight was of the monks playing soccer with some students from RTC (they had taken the trek with the 80% grade right from campus and had camped overnight at the monastery). They greeted us and then continued with their match.

Before sitting down for lunch, we took in the sweeping views of the Thimphu Valley.

Chorten and valley

It's hard to tell at first but those aren't all clouds, they're the high Himalayas!

Thimphu Valley. Buddha Dorndema in the foreground,
Himalayas in the background. 

The building that houses the butter lamps. 

Chortens and prayer flags near the monastery

After exploring a bit, it was time for lunch. We chose a spot in the sun and sat down to eat. The dogs were very interested in us! I used Julia's trekking pole to somewhat successfully keep them away. Perhaps that's why I was still sitting while others ended up standing.

The monastery itself was very recently renovated, evident by the state of the brightly painted exterior decorations and detailing. It's all hand-painted and quite breathtaking.

After eating, we were allowed to go inside the monastery and see the altar room, which almost automatically forces you into a mindful state as you take in the intricate details on the statues, murals and various alter decorations. However, photos are not allowed so unfortunately we can not offer visuals of the room. One wall of the main room is devoted to the three large Buddha statues symbolizing the past, present and future. Above the Buddhas, on the wall, was a banner of beautifully carved and colorfully painted flowers. Some of the Buddhas were draped with colorful fabric scarves. Just in from of the Buddhas was the altar that held various offerings, including money, food items, water, butter sculptures, which are magnificent in their detail. Below is a picture of a butter sculpture that I found online. You can get an idea of what they look like as well as what a typical altar room looks like (murals on the walls, etc.). In a secondary room, there was also a large golden statue of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel – the 'founding Father' of Bhutan in the 17th century.

Butter sculpture

We were able to take pictures of the murals that covered that walls of the monastery entrance and the hallway that led up to the altar room. They had a dark background and were very sinister and under-worldly in nature, featuring skeletons, demons, and exposed entrails. Himalayan Buddhism is a world haunted by evil spirits, demons, and demonesses. This is a result of Buddhism transposing itself onto much more animistic and shamanistic ancient religions of the region such as the Bon religion in Bhutan. You can see a few images below.

As we said goodbye to the monks and students and headed back down the mountain, the late afternoon light was beginning to fade and cast longer shadows that brightened the fall colors around us. On the way down we stopped to relax in the sun among the prayer flags before continuing on our way. It was truly a beautiful day and both Matt and I agreed that it was our favorite hike thus far in Bhutan.

Fading light

Gedu

As if I wasn't busy enough at the end of the semester, the Royal University of Bhutan (of which RTC is an affiliate college) decided to hold their bi-annual research meeting the weekend before the last week of classes. The announcement and call for submissions occurred two weeks ago, the location was moved once, and the meeting was held this weekend. It was all a little crazy, but I'm glad I went and presented some of my preliminary findings from my dissertation research. It was both an opportunity to receive feedback and confirmation from other Bhutanese, and also a chance to network and get to know some of the top researchers at other colleges all over Bhutan. Emily came with since she has not yet started at the hospital and wanted to see another part of Bhutan.

The meeting was held at Gaeddu College of Business Studies in Gedu, Bhutan (yes, I spelled those both correctly). Gedu is in the southern dzongkhag (district) of Chhukha, about 30 km from the Indo-Bhutanese border. Originally, the meeting was scheduled to take place in Phuentsholing, which is on the Indo-Bhutanese border and the second largest town in Bhutan. Here's a map that can help you see where we went:

Click to enlarge. 

The distance between Thimphu and Gedu is about 126km (78 miles), but it actually takes about 4 hours to get there. As is any road travel in Bhutan, it is incredibly slow, arduous, tedious, and at many turns scary-as-hell. The Timphu-Phuentsholing "highway" is the main road in Bhutan and all goods and trade use this route, i.e. many large trucks go barreling up and down it. Many stretches of the road are only 1.5 lanes wide, which is incredibly nerve-racking in that there are really no straight stretches of the road, many blind-curves, and almost no guard-rails. Oh, and usually it's about a 200-1000m drop off the road.

We decided to take a bus, which left from the Thimphu bus station and ended in Phuentsholing. The buses in Bhutan are locally and internationally know as "the vomit comet." I took plenty of Dramamine to make sure the bus didn't live up to its name. Surprisingly, no one else vomited on the bus which, Samir informs me, happens about 50% of the time in his experience. The bus driver, typical to Bhutan, kept pulling out his mobile phone and making calls enroute, all while careening down the 1.5 lane blind-curves. We had many close calls with Indian and Bhutanese trucks that are covered in auspicious symbols and pictures and feature the words "Good Luck" on their trailers. Also in typical Bhutanese fashion, the bus driver made many stops: for tea, for doma, to trade goods on the side of the road, etc. Eventually, you let go of your Western expectations of what people are supposed to do and just relax and (try) to enjoy the ride.

Here's a few pictures I snapped on the road:

We arrived in Gedu after dark – about 6:30 – and tried to figure out where we were supposed to go. Fortunately, my friend Samir was also attending (actually, he gave the keynote address for the meeting) and I called him and he helped us straighten it all out. Gaeddu College is actually housed in the old Tala Power Company headquarters, which built one of the hydroelectric stations nearby about 20 years ago. There was a guesthouse in which we were housed, which was decent – certainly not hotel standards – and mostly clean. There was a dinner that night in the guesthouse dining hall, after which Emily and I crashed in the room – exhausted after a long and stressful afternoon of travel. 

The next day we were greeted to a beautiful and sunny morning. Gedu is warmer than Thimphu and much greener still after the monsoons. Actually, we have been told that Gedu has terrible weather and a very long monsoon season in which it doesn't stop raining for weeks and weeks. It's the kind of monsoon where you just can't stay dry and clothes and things start to get moldy. Fortunately, we were there during the right season! 

Sunrise over Gaeddu College. The view from our guesthouse room. 

Typical Indian/Bhutanese breakfast: Milk tea, puri (fried bread),
and subji (vegetable curry).

The entrance to Gaeddu. 

Gedu's prayer wheel. 

Emily. 

Samir. 

The Gaeddu clock tower. 

Nice mural at the entrance. 

The research meeting lasted all day Friday and all day Saturday. There were lots of interesting presentations in all sorts of different disciplines. Most of the 10 colleges in the Royal University system were there – including the Paro College of Education and Samtse College of Education. I was particularly interested in meeting people from those institutions. Dr. Dorji Thinley, the research director for RUB, was also there. Dr. Thinley was actually the first person I ever contacted about coming to Bhutan, and we had had sporadic email conversations before I arrived. I sat next to him for most of the conference and we got to know each other better. He is an important contact to have here and now that we've met face-to-face, I think we can have a long and rich collaboration. 

While I was stuck in a conference room for most of the day, Emily explored the Gedu area and came to the occasional research presentation. In typical Bhutanese meeting style, there were several tea breaks and the schedule was about an hour behind. Here's some pictures of Emily's wanderings around town: 

You can see the road we drove into Gedu on running across the bottom. 

Downtown Gedu. 

The Bhutanese use of the word "cum" is different than the
American use of the word "cum" – with always hilarious results!

Typical Bhutanese general store front. 

Public health promotion at its finest -– a rusty old sign.

Path up to the guesthouse (white building in upper lefthand corner).

A house curiously not in the Bhutanese architectural style,
but typically Bhutanese nonetheless. 

We think these are Bhutanese watermelons, but not 100% sure.  

Bhutanese lawn mowers. 

Sunset on Gedu. 

On Friday evening, we had dinner with our new friends Istvan and Nancy, who are from Canada. Istvan is a professor at Gaeddu and we met in Thimphu several weeks ago. They are really nice and fun to talk to. Samir also joined us for dinner. We ate a new restaurant in Gedu that served Indian food. There was no menu to be found, so we just let them make whatever they wanted to make us. It ended up being pretty good – momos, roti, rice, a paneer curry, a veg curry, and a spinach curry. 

This is a plate from the restaurant. Hilarious!

Me, Emily, Nancy, Istvan, and Samir. 

Samir shares his doma. This was Emily's first doma experience, and my second.
Neither one of us like it. 

I gave my presentation on Saturday morning. It went really well and I got lots of encouraging and helpful feedback on my dissertation work here. Again, Emily came to a few presentations and then spent the day walking around Gedu. 

Starting my presentation. 

After the presentations had finished (an hour later than scheduled, as per tradition), Dorji told me that he was leaving for Thimphu and we could get a ride with him if we wanted. Emily and I jumped at the chance, not because we were anxious to leave Gedu, but mostly because it meant we could ride in a car on that crazy road and not have to put up with the bus. We quickly packed up our things and met Dorji in the guesthouse lobby. Samir was also getting a ride back with Dorji, so it was a good group to travel with. Driving at night in Bhutan actually isn't so bad, because there are less trucks on the road (although still quite a few) and you can see the headlights around the sharp turns so you can prepare to pull on the side of the road to let the trucks past you. Plus you can't see the steep drop-offs ... ignorance is bliss. Dorji was a good driver and we made it back to RTC by about nine o'clock. 

This week I will wrap up my classes and then the next week is all final examinations. Emily and I were invited to a Thanksgiving celebration next Saturday at the house of the American "wardens" to Bhutan. They apparently invited all the Americans living in Bhutan. I'm not exactly sure what "warden" means in diplomatic parlance, but since America has no official diplomatic relations with Bhutan, I guess that's the next-best-thing. Apparently they are importing a turkey and all of the other traditional fixings for an American Thanksgiving. It should be fun to meet other Americans living here, since we have only met a small handful outside of RTC (although there aren't that many anyway). 

The semester is officially finished by December 6th, and Emily and I leave for Darjeeling on December 11th. I'm looking forward to the long break (spring semester doesn't start until February) as it will give me a break from dealing with RTC, allow me to focus on dissertation research and other writing, and give me adequate time to plan for my classes next semester. Once the semester wraps up, I'm planning on writing a blog entry summarizing my first semester at RTC and my dissertation research in Bhutan so far.