Road to Tsirang

So the journey began and five of us all climbed into a blue Toyota Hilux and headed outside of Thimphu City. Driving was Tsering, a driver from my host organization... a quiet and simple man with a big smile and the heart of a child.... he truly is an innocent (many of those here)... then there was Phub, a project officer from YDF... a peculiar man with a heart of gold and a subtle sense of humour.... I often caught him singing to himself... and discovered he had an amazing voice... pity, his coy behaviour would prevent anyone else from hearing it... the Project Director, Aum Dorji Ohm also came... she is unlike any woman I have ever met... a kind, generous women who, despite her small size, is one of the biggest characters I have ever met.... often saying things that catch me off guard and force me to laugh until the sides of me split... She is also a spiritual woman... a devote Buddhist... but I find she worships in a way that is only fitting to her character.... the first night in our hotel in Tsirang she plugged in her stereo and put in a meditation tape that sent the word"OM" down the halls and into my room over and over again until all the stale, negative energy had disappeared...

Ok, back to the "road to Tsirang"... let me premise this description with some plain hard facts... Thimphu City (where I live) to Tsirang (another province) is approx 68 kilometres.... so one can imagine how shocked I was to hear that it took 4 hours to get there, 6 if you asked someone else and 8 if you asked another.... But alas it took us 6 hours to travel those 68 kilometres.... I'll tell you why... and I'll tell you how those 68 kilometres offered me more than the thousands I travelled to get here....

The roads are windy, unlike anything I have ever been on and I'm told there is a turn every 9 seconds... my calculation offered a different sum and I found myself being tossed around every 5 seconds.... To add fuel to this nauseating fire, the roads are in poor condition and plagued with pot holes and seem to suddenly disappear due to landslide damage (won't get into that part too much as my mother would have a heart attack!)....

Despite these torturous road conditions, this road offered beauty, grandeur and forced even the biggest ego to humble himself and believe in magic... The roads in Bhutan are high in the mountains (poor design for speed, brilliant for imagination and discovery)... these mountainous roads offer views that one sees in their dreams... views that seem only fit for gods and goddesses to live.... in fact, I think they do...

As you drive there are opportunities for mythical discovery everywhere as spirituality lines the roads with countless Stupas, Prayer wheels and flags making offering to the gods.... again to see this is to become humble, mindful and free from other desires...

My words won't do much justice in the description of this beauty, so I will rely on the hope that "a picture is worth a thousand words..." while still aware that even that won't be enough....

 These are Stupas

the roads literally line the tops of these mountains

... and this is the view we get as a result

                                                 

After many road blocks and scary encounters with Indian trucks we arrived in Tsirang (6.5 hours later)... and that is another story for another day! (I will try to catch up on my blogging as Tsirang was one of six stops on my tour and each has a fantastic story to tell!

Moving Forward

Well I did it... I've been away for a month now... I can't believe how fast time passes.. before I know it I will be home and looking for that next adventure!


I have moved into my apartment here in Thimphu, its a small three bedroom flat.. pretty basic.. still no shower but I do have hot water to my disposal.. now that I bought a bucket!! There are mice and other creatures lurking in the corners, we have no heat and the nights can get unbearable, but really... all that is erased when I open my eyes in the morning, draw back my curtains and examine the landscape that I am calling home. 


My apartment in significantly higher than the rest of the city and on a clear day provides the most breathtaking, relaxing, inspiring views... views that allow one to get lost in their surroundings, thoughts and dreams (I catch myself day dreaming a lot here.... grinning ear to ear!)... Getting to this amazing environment is a whole other story though... its a hike to say the least, and despite being here for a few weeks now, I am left without breath or energy when I reach the top... surly I will be able to run a marathon when I return!


Work is going well, I am beginning to get my grounding and understand the ins and outs of this place. They have me splitting my time between the youth research and facilitation projects I am conducting and the Youth Drug Rehabilitation and Outreach Centre. 


Next week I will embark on a big adventure and begin a tour through 6 dzongkhags (provinces) to conduct research and find the future site for the Bhutan Youth Development Fund's Gross National Happiness (GNH) Village. Some of these communities are remote and some will require long hours of walking as there are no roads to take us...All these are very different from each other and I am very excited to see the beautiful variety that this tour will show me.


We will end our tour at the end of December in a dzongkhag called Samdrup Jongkhar, a province that borders Assam and offers seemingly never ending expanses of jungle.... hoping to get a view of some wildlife... elephants, tigers, red pandas.. Oh my!

Here is a map of the locations I will be heading to... the green are the places of research, the pink are places that we will stop in addition for other activities.