My guide, Goenpo, and I got along quite well. He was a monk for seven years before having to leave the monastery to support his mother, and because of this he knew quite a bit about Bhutan and Buddhism. I was quite lucky to have him, as I saw several other guides learning from him during the trip. If anyone is thinking about going, I highly recommend traveling with him and Bhutan Heritage Tours. One of the reasons why we had such a good time was because he loved to tell jokes, so we spent hours each day going back and forth. Lots of laughs.
I went on four hikes while we were there. Bhutan has lots of beautiful forest, and hiking is really great because most hikes consist of going up to a monastery and then coming back down. The last one was to the famous Taktshang Goemba which translates to Tiger's Nest. It is perhaps the best known monastery in Bhutan, as Guru Rimpoche, who brought Buddhism to Bhutan spent three months there in a cave meditating. His consort transformed herself into a tiger to protect him during this period, which is how the place got its name. The monastery was built in the 17th century and has experienced several fires, the most recent was in 1998. But it has since been rebuilt and has some fantastic alters to both Buddha and Guru Rimpoche. While there Goenpo and I were invited for tea with the head monk's brother, a rare honor. Also on our way back down a troop of Gray Languor monkeys passed directly overhead in the trees and I got to catch a glimpse of some Dholes, a species of wild dogs. Here are a couple of photos from the hike:
Also while in Bhutan I actually got to meet with the Prime Minister! I'm not entirely sure why he deigned to meet with me (I think it might have something to do with the fact that he is a PSU alumna), but it was definitely a life long memory. His office is, naturally, HUGE, and there were was one guy who wrote notes furiously while he and I chatted. Two or three others hung by the door to run for stuff like tea. We mostly chatted about Penn State, which he has fond memories of. I also told him about the purpose of my trip and what I was hoping to do, and he offered to write a letter of support for me, which I think will help greatly in my efforts to obtain an invitation to study there next year.
Speaking of which, it is looking like I will be able to live in Bhutan for a while to conduct research. Nothing is definite, of course, but I will (hopefully) be collaborating with the Royal Society for the Protection of Nature, a conservation-oriented NGO. It is the ideal group for the type of research that I'm hoping to do. Oh, at the end of the meeting with the Prime Minister, he gave me a couple of gifts, including a book, a baseball cap, and a coin commemorating the coronation of the fifth king which happened last fall. It will definitely become a family heirloom.
The last thing to note was the solar eclipse (of my heart). I think some of you heard about it in the US, it was the longest solar eclipse for the next 100+ years. Before I came out I actually shifted around my travel dates so that I would be in Bhutan for it. The eclipse started at 6:58am, so Goenpo and I drove up to Chelela pass where about 20 other folks (half tourists, half Bhutanese people) had also gathered to watch. Unfortunately it's the monsoon season and while we were above one layer of clouds, another was still higher up. It seemed like we wouldn't see anything. The eclipse reached its peak at 7:58, and quite suddenly everything got really dark, not completely, but moreso than I would have thought. Some of the local folks shouted at the Sun to come back, and luckily, the clouds started to break up, so we could see the eclipse! After about 2 minutes, the light came back again quite quickly and for the next hour we were able to watch the sun creep out from behind the moon's shadow with these special glasses that some guy from NASA brought. Yet another life-long memory.
There are numerous other small stories to tell, but they're best told over a cold beer or hot tea.
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