Day 3 - Bhutan


Only when you put yourself somewhere where the clutter falls away, does possession become irrelevant.

It took a trip to Bhutan for me to get there. Where?

Bhutan Is

another excerpt from
Losing Oneself in Remote Asia

So close to heaven, between the earth and the sky, Bhutan is a Himalayan country of one million people seen as the only remaining pure Buddhist monarchy. Reigned by a youthful and progressive King who espouses environment and education as the two tenets of his tenure, the country straddles its traditional roots and its hopeful future. Bhutan is about the size of Switzerland but its mountains are higher, its valleys more beautiful, its ecosystem more pristine. The world's largest unscaled mountain is in Bhutan. Jomolhari, sits sacredly amidst the greatest snowcaps of the region as one of the most beautiful and revered. The great Bengal tiger graces its southern jungles. The blue poppy colours its alpine landscapes. The great snow leopard hunts its snow-covered slopes. The elusive yeti stalks its terrain. The great secret of the natural beauty of Bhutan is that it is almost totally untouched. But how much longer can it remain this way with Internet cafes popping up around Thimphu? In a small shop in a tiny town, I stepped in for a warming cup of coffee and turned to see a row of six monks in their bright orange robes looking up towards me. Rather than being fascinated with the sight of a North Face-clad Westerner, I realized their eyes were fixed on the television beside me, enthralled were they by the lamenting Macy Gray video playing on MTV Asia. The people are gracious Asian hosts and since visitors are so infrequent (6000 per year), they are treated like guests, greeted with warm welcomes, mirth, and pleasant curiosity. Influenced by neighbours India and Tibet, the cultural balance of Bhutan's individual identity is as precarious as its environment. While some label it as a Shangri-La, or a living Buddhist Himalayan national park, it is simply Bhutan, an idyllic place where life can be enjoyed surrounded by earthly beauty.

Think. What can one learn from its people and their philosophy? Their laid-back approach to life is disarming. Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows. They live for the moment, in the here and now. They have no goals to become slave to. Even enlightenment, nirvana, is a Path. It is so much greater than anything you can buy, see, touch, read, own, rent, love, or dream. Finding one's true path while striking a balance. Thinking about my life, I am brought back to what I left behind. San Francisco. The company. The leather chair. The rollerblades. The tangerine couch. The things. Do I need them? Do I want them anymore? Does my new sense of losing myself in everything I do give new or no meaning to these old wants? Perhaps my old life has no purpose if not to find real moments like those in Bhutan. It's like a muscle, traveling. Without the fresh perspective of a new place, a new voice, the imagination atrophies, one's sense for life crumples.

When I left Bhutan, I wanted to put it all in my pocket and save it for later. The wondrous smiles seen at the festival. The schoolgirls in their keras walking through green terraced fields. The chulpa (obelisk) sitting quietly on the hill. The intricate detail of the woodwork of the Dzong (fortress). The empty tsechu (festival) courtyard transformed back to its patient state like the grounds at Wimbledon, waiting for next year. The old man with his walking stick and a bushel-full of kindling, peering at me through my window. The streams gurgling, fresh from their slumber atop Himalayan snowpeaks. A picture of the King listening to a small boy. A yak careening through thick brush. A mask of a manifestation of Guru Rimpoche. A thongrel (60-foot silk tapestry) being hoisted by eight ropes and forty-two monks, at three a.m. A river snaking through a majestic valley. A collection of shoes and sandals outside a temple. An auto repair shop just outside town. A three-day hike to a remote monastery at 13,000 feet. A clandestine disco called Club 2000 teeming with young Bhutanese, hopping to Hindi dance music. A view of Everest from the plane.

Fifteen days in Bhutan won't bring you to nirvana, but maybe they'll put you on the right path.