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!