Travels of THB: Day 12: Phobjikha

Day 12: Phobjikha

THB, Karma, DB (it is actually "only" raining when photo was taken, location was Karma's choice)

Weather: Low 30s and foggy at 5:15am, raining lightly mid-morning turning to real rain around noon, followed by hail around 1, and then to real snow at around 1:30. REAL SNOW here at 10,000 feet. Guess that is not really news.

If we had taken the planned hike, this is how the area looked in the afternoon

Quote 1 of the Day: Tashi, will you please call the Lodge and ask them to turn on the heat in our room

Valley vista in morning, before weather came in (other than fog/mist). Note the telescope and furniture is still out on the veranda, that will change soon

At noon it is snowing or raining or hailing

Quote 2 of the Day: This is room 12, will you please come relight the fire in our room (the fire went out while we ate lunch)

Fire #1

Quote 3 of the Day: This is room 12, will you please turn down the heat while we’re at dinner

Before snow

After snow

The railing outside our cabin on Polar Latitudes 6th floor in November....OOPS! it's at GG Lodge in late March

After snow

After snow melt

Second fire

After snow, there are patches in the valley that haven't melted yet

Around 4 we can see over and under clouds

Wake up call at 5am, meet-up with a staff member of GG Lodge at 5:15, 5:30 in the assembly hall of the monastery/school up the road a bit, sitting cross-legged (THB makes it through the entire assembly sitting cross-legged…a major feat for mr tight muscles).

The monks straggle in for morning prayers, around 35 when fully assembled, and THB and DB (and the Lodge staff member, who sits with us in rear), perpendicular to the monks). The monks range in age from late teens to middle age. We see the bad boys, those who have to sit in the back with the elder monks; one of the bad boys keeps looking at his watch and trying to chat up the bad boy next to him throughout the ceremony. We see the elder monks chatting through the entire ceremony. We see a young monk drop one of his prayer pages and it takes him a while to figure out why he got lost during this prayer. We see one young monk who struggles to keep his shawl up over his shoulders, it keeps slipping down over his down filled slick hoodie jacket.

Fascinating, and THB and DB earn more white marbles for the great settling up in the sky.

Oatmeal after THB is done doctoring it up, no lardon in the middle

It's a side order

Back at 6:30 for coffee and pastries, then a breakfast of porridge, toast, fruit and bacon. When we leave the dining area at 7:30, none of the other three rooms have surfaced.

On the original schedule for today was a 3 hour hike. After yesterday’s hike, we opted for a cultural and personal work day. Good thing, as the picnic depends on the weather, no?

Easy to find, the signs right on the road!

The locals know where the school is so the Dzongkha (Bhutanese) is on the back so the locals know they are leaving school

Main entrance is along a narrow path, that's the main classroom building straight ahead

Offices on the left

Plastic bottles surrounding the playground; environmental concerns are prominent in signs all around

Shrine in assembly yard in middle of buildings, THB makes an offering through slot in back

Earthquakes a big thing here

Out we go with Tashi and Chencho at 9:30. It’s cold out. Tashi has arranged an elementary school visit for 10am. We get an intro from the principal, then step in to a class of 7-8 year olds for a few minutes, visit the library, and finish up with a 10-15 minute discussion in the principal’s office. THB would like to say he was never sent to the principal’s office. Given his demeanor in class, he considers that extremely unlikely.

Math along with English and Dzongkha are primary focus in elementary school

School supplies matching backpacks (and maybe uniforms)

The 7-8 year olds are in school 8 months of the year, focusing on 3 subjects: Dzongkha (the national language), English, and math. Corporal punishment ended about 10 years ago. Given THB’s demeanor in class, he remembers well being physically punished by a ruler on the knuckles and with “swats” on the bottom.

Now, coercion and a bit of isolation are used, followed by parents being called to school. Some of the staff live on “campus” since this is a rural area and staff and pupils may be coming from long distances.

The library

Where are Nancy Drew books? We didn't search the entire library

School is free for K-12, paid for by the government even if the kids have to go to boarding school because of distances from a local school. There are paid private schools, though it sounds like attendance is small. Medical care is also free for all citizens.

Another sign, they are everywhere if you know where to look (like right out front at the road)

Front door next to the gate; pic of lock...cows and THB proof

Nun dormitory

School was followed a visit to a nunnery, up on a ridge about 25 minutes away. On the way up to the nunnery, we pass three nuns walking in what seems like the middle of nowhere. They apparently are headed “to town” for supplies. After we arrive, just the walk to from the van to the assembly hall (shoes off, cameras put away) is very brisk because the wind chill must be dropping the temperature 12-15 degrees.

Another nun quarters, laundry dries fast in the wind, hope they took the wash down before it started to rain, hail, snow

Assembly hall/temple

Lamps in courtyard

Tashi goes off to find a nun to let us in the hall, it is not quite as distinguished as some we have been in, yet the statues are very impressive. THB forgot to put on his second pair of socks. The nun, maybe late teens, is barefoot and sniffling. THB would bet that most of the nuns get sick when the weather turns cold, especially if one or two get sick it must be hard to isolate the ill from the healthy.

Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh, maybe 2 months old

Running water in the village

Pine needles awaiting raking cow sheds

Rocks on roofs is a Bhutan staple, even when roofs are solidly attached

2-3 weeks old, owned by the families of our house visit

It is starting to rain very lightly, then harder.

Down the ridge we go to a very small village. Maybe 10 or 12 houses, all with attached small corrals for the cows (most inside the corrals are newborns or one year olds and moms, the rest roam free).

Potatoes not needed at planting time, soon to be part of the family's daily intake

THB assumed an outhouse

Cousins

Chencho the fire whisperer

Living room, kitchen, den, dining room, etc., all in the one room in front

Mom comes to Chencho's aid (Chencho shifts to other end of the stove, the warmest spot in the house)

Chencho finds someone willing to let us make a house visit. This is a one story house (pretty unusual even in rural Bhutan and maybe the only one in the village). Two families live here, married sisters and their mother and hubbies and 3 children, two of whom are at home (a 4 year old girl and a 5 year old boy). The sisters take turns watching the cousins. Grandma is off for the day with a 9 year old, the school is too far away to make doing two roundtrips viable.

Typical late morning pick-me-up for THB, getting to be a habit

The altar in the shrine room

Flower leaves stapled to ceiling; THB has forgotten what they are and why they are up on ceiling

Ladder outside, leads to roof

Mom and Chencho get the fire in the stove stoked up. Yak butter tea, dried rice krunchies, and three of us partake in the home-made wheat based moonshine; Mom and Chencho abstain. The two kids roam around, watching TV, playing games on a phone, and getting into trouble. Very cute and shy. We do a brief tour of the 4 room house; one good sized room is reserved for a shrine (per Tashi, pretty much every house in Bhutan will have small shrine or altar with offerings showing), and room with the shrine is rarely used unless needed if company is staying over.

Obviously, someone coming up to your house in the US and asking if you would mind if they brought some tourists inside is a no go. Here, in Bhutan, it happens. This one was not pre-arranged, and maybe Mom saw it as her good fortune because Tashi paid her $15-20 for the visit; he said she would do it for free, it is part of the culture to be inviting to strangers. In any case, it gave THB and DB another inside look into Bhutan culture.

Driving back to GG Lodge we pass the three nuns on their way back to the nunnery, carrying groceries and getting soaked. Someone going their direction might take pity of them and give them a lift. As we arrive at GG Lodge, a couple and 8 year old are getting the welcoming song meaning that we can’t access our room key, it’s on a tray in the midst of the singers.

Soft polenta

Soup, looks a lot like THB's main course at dinner

DB loves a rare burger

Lunch is mobbed today, at least 3 other tables are being used. Won ton soup with glass noodles for each of us, DB has a burger and THB mushrooms and greens over soft polenta, a shared molten chocolate cake with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.

During lunch it starts to snow, then it starts to really come down.

Back to the room, a fire, a nice rest up, and watch the snow pile up.

Monks checking out i-pad photos of recent graduates (that's what saffron robes indicate)

Main courtyard with a new assembly hall/temple under construction

Cypress, the national tree. Leaves look similar to our Monterey Cypress

At 4pm we are picked up by Tashi and we walk again up to the monastery college (DB’s third visit!) to participate in the butter lamp lighting ceremony. Even though we are in the assembly room (shoes, hats, and cameras off), Karma (a monk that translated Donna’s meditation session) was taking videos and borrowed Tashi’s phone for picture taking. Thus, if the deities align, THB might be able to share the nuns’ chanting and pics from the lamp lighting and a peak behind the Wizard’s curtain.

Portico not finished

It's very hard to see, even in person: there's a statue of Buddha behind the scaffolding

Ready to go up on walls, will be painted later

That's the head of wire-mesh serpent, also to be finished later

While the 30 monks are chanting, THB, DB and Tashi attempt to light a row of 15 lamps. The wicks appear to be uncooperative and it wasn’t just old shaky hands having troubles, each of us is struggled to light 2 or 3 lamps each. As before, there is a leader who kicks off each chant of a prayer and the rest follow.

THB's receipt; framing quality when you have an autograph of Karma

Karma comes back after the ceremony ends and we begin a Q & A session. We learn that while it sounds to THB’s untrained ears there is a two part harmony going on, each monk is chanting the same prayer using his natural voice. At this college, students usually start after finishing primary school and then stay at the college for 9 years. If they want to focus on meditation, they can complete the course in 3 years.

After graduation the graduates can a) teach at a monastery, b) go meditate, c) live in a community as a lama.

THB asked about e-devices. Students have smart phones, i-pads, and probably computers. While they aren’t supposed to be used most of the time, students still break the rule. They are fined after each of the two first infractions and the device is taken away after the third infraction. THB did not suggest they unplug the college from the internet and cell reception; that is a step too far in the modern world we live in.

At each of stops, Tashi handles making the offerings (donations, payments, etc.), which are included in our cost of the trip. THB and DB decide to make an offering on top of that already made by Tashi/us. THB pulls out bills at random from his pocket, including the infamous 200 rupee bill, the total comes to 980 nu, around $14.50. How did THB know the amount: Karma has to give THB (and Tashi) a receipt!

And, THB is giving his all today: next up, massages and a shared hot rock bath for THB and DB. Aye-maze-ing.

We had side-by-side massages and THB did not cry out in pain even once. This was probably THB’s third massage and he can only remember one of them: being assaulted by a Japanese Blind Ninja Assassin in Garuku in 2010. Not bad…and DB didn’t cry out in pain either.

The rocks warming up to well beyond room temperature, this is an hour before they will be used in our bath

Then we share a hot rock bath: the rocks are heated in a wood burning fire just outside the building and then placed in a portioned off section of the large tub down below our feet. Artemesia leaves (looks like parsley to THB and DB) are floating in the water. It’s hot, not too hot when we get in, and when it cools down a bit we ask our two female masseuses to add some more rocks. It’s like a theater act: the curtain is pulled back and each masseuse, using a huge set of tongs, lunges from just off-stage with the rock hanging (about 4 feet from the masseuse) and drops/plops down into the bath water. Four rocks are added and first our feet start to get warmer, then hotter, and slowly the sensation of warmth is radiating up to our necks.

Back to the room to cool down for a few minutes and a dinner of our choosing (discussed with the chef last night): plain fish in a light ginger sauce with brown rice and greens for DB, a bowl of light chicken broth with slim slices of white chicken meat, mushrooms, rice noodles and some of DB’s rice and ginger sauce for THB. With the other half of our bottle of French SB, lovely meal.

We talk to the GM of GGL, some of it in his native language, Spanish (okay, maybe 10 or 12 words in Spanish, of the 25 THB can pronounce). We learned a new word in Spanish: granizo (hail). He’s a charmer and has managed places in the Cook Islands, NZ South Island, an island off Mozambique, in the middle of Tanzania, and maybe Easter Island. He seems to treasure remoteness.

Travel day tomorrow.

Other pics from today: