Travel, by Bike and by Truck

In my last post I mentioned that my time her felt very confined, that I needed to understand Bhutan more.  Well, I did my best this past month to get out and see the country.  You may need to grab a map for the following tour.

My first trip was by bicycle.  All my gear packed up into a backpack graciously provided by some fellow chilips (Foreigners).  I set off with my destination for the day being Haa.  A remote place characterized by a small valley at high elevation (surprise!).  I was to meet the Dzongka (District) Environmental Officer.  After 6 hours of riding, with a few stops as carrying a heavy backpack for that long on a bike is tough, I made it into Haa.

The air was pure, the land peaceful.  The next day the DEO showed me around the valley (By car thankfully) and told me about the environmental challenges that exist in the valley.  By far the largest concern is illegal logging and drought.  The Haa valley has big blue pines, but these trees are threatened from both sources.  These trees appear to have browning needles from the inside of the tree out, not a great sign.  But because of the vast amount of trees, lumbermills have popped up, and there is only so much legal trees, so to earn a few more bucks loggers turn to the night.  In the past these trees were protected by the spirits.  Bhutanese deities exist in every valley, in inanimate objects.  These three mountains of Haa have local deities and cutting down a tree angers the gods.  Throughout the valley minor deities exist within the trees.  However, the rising generation does not believe that angering these deities is something of a concern.  I stayed in the same guest house that the king stays in, the secretary of the NEC really took care of me.

I left the next day and headed up Chele La (La mean pass in this instance), It capped out close to 4000 meters.  It took about 2 hours something to climb to the top, but the descent of 45 km took an hour and was cold, even with extra clothing in my backpack.

I arrived in Paro, the location of the only international airport.  I was taken in by a friend of the Secretary who put me up in the DANTAK (Indian road construction organization) officers house which cooked fresh indian food for me daily.  This was perhaps my highest class stay and made me incredibly uncomfortable, as I was the only guest and had the entire place waiting on me hand and foot.  The meals were delicious but the cook watched me eat the entire time, in complete silence, as I was the only one besides the chef in the room.  I pretended like I was a king, with people watching my every move, I hated it.

I spent a little bit of time in Paro, looking around at the shops and watching the Chief Abbot leave for his winter home in Punakha.  I bowed my head as he was making his way to the car and got bopped on the head by his cane.  I guess I am now blessed.  I left and had it in my mind that it would take me an hour to get back.  I wasn't considering that I was on a bike, and not a car.  Proceeded to leave with a little water and no food.  It took 2 hours, I could have stopped along the way but I was losing light.

Soon after I arrived in Thimphu the NEC sent me off on a compliance trip to the far east.  Pema Gatshel.  The first day of driving took us to Bumthang.  We got in late, stayed at the Department of Roads guest house and headed to town for food.  After spending the night I learned that my co-workers all had nightmares, turns out Bumthang is so holy that is haunted, too many spirits/deities exist here.  On the way back we found a new place to sleep.

We passed through beautiful national parks, quaint villages/towns, and friends who took us in.  We stayed the next night in Trashigong (the R is silent).  A villages in the hillside, with a dzong (Fortress/castle) in the sky.  On the way we stopped at the Rhododendron park near the top of one of the mountain passes.  They have massive plants but are not in season right now.

We started our compliance monitoring with a road widening project.  I soon learned my biggest hurdle here, while many people can speak english, between locals Dzongka (the western language) or Sharsop (The eastern language) is spoken.  I don't mind when lunch conversations are in Dzongka, but when my work is not in english, I have been struggling a bit.  I always get brought up to speed and am catching onto important words like chu, which means water/river, but I would be in better shape if I spoke the local language.

The third day of driving brought us to Pema Gatshel, where we inspected a plant that has been accused of polluting so much that it killed the local plants.  We stayed for two days and used a resperable dust sampler alongside a visual inspection of the plant.  Upon returning to Thimphu I wrote up the inspection report.  The duration of the visit allowed for me to converse with the manager of the plant in english and to understand the plant.

We rushed back, but not without stopping to view a few religious sites and a couple of industries along the way.

A replica of the Stuppa in India where the Bhudda Ascended to heaven

Trashigong: The Dzong and Town in the sky (Taken from the other mountain)

Wangdi Climbing the rock to enlightenment  (If you can climb this rock you become enlightened)

At a Bhuddist University

The Burning Lake (Yes it is small)

Hopefully legible

A monastary in Bumthang

The View from the Monastary

The Dzong in Bumthang

In the next post I'll detail my trip to Phobjikha and the black neck crane festival.

Finding a sense of place

I have now been in Bhutan for almost 2 months.

There has been a lot of settling in time, trying to make sure that I am ready to work.  But then when i finally sat down to work, I realized I knew nothing of this place, nothing of the culture beyond stories, nothing about the environment beyond the laws, nothing about the scenery beyond thimphu and a few select cities.

So after I completed a draft of a proposal for requesting funding from international sources for help with waste management, I was fed up with staring at a computer screen reading about Bhutan.  Sure, I've learned more about the waste problems of Bhutan, particularly that non-biodegradable waste is a new phenomenon, and as such people tend to litter thinking that it will magically disappear like an apple core.  But I realized that while I may know the reason, I had hardly experienced it.

I first went out to Punakha, a bit of a spur of the moment trip incited by a friend, Dave, who was going to check out the hospital there and was able to supply me with a spare bed.  We did a bit of sightseeing, but as I had not planned to stay the night, I was forced to borrow some clothes, felt a bit weird going into the Dzong (fortress now a religious ground) in scrubs, but my work permit got me into the area.  No problem.  Also put on a rain jacket (from dave too) to at least cover my arms while in the Dzong.

Great trip and came back over a 30 km climb that went up over 6k feet.  Stopped for roadside roasted corn along the way (not great but tasted good on my way up), and stopped for a lunch of fiery hot ema datse (Chilis and cheese).  Tasted good as the air was getting colder as I was nearing the top.  Saw a Grey Langur as I got near the top of the pass, tried to point it out to the bus that was passing me but I don't think they understood my gestures.  Or they just see them all the time and it isn't a big deal.

So I set out after expressing my unhappiness sitting at a desk, with the help of the NEC and the most gracious people along the way.  I rode my bike to Haa, the furthest west district of Bhutan that shares a border with India and Tibet (China).  After 6 hours of looking down a 1000 meter drop on the side of the road, I arrived in haa and was greeted by the district environmental officer (DEO).  He showed me to my accommodation set up by the NEC, turns out it was the same place that the king stays in when he visits Haa, so being treated well.

I arrived just before sundown, and we went to a restaurant that the DEO, Sangay, prefers.  I ended up eating here for every meal, but it was a down home place, with just me and Sangay most of the time, lunch was accompanied by the forest rangers of Haa.  Sangay took time out from work on friday to drive me around the valley and tell me about the strengths and the weaknesses of the valley from an environmental standpoint.  There were requests to build quarries in the area but the village and Sangay rejected it as it would have negatively impacted the scenery that is beloved by the people.  The people care for the environment here through spirituality, many of the mountains, trees, and every other inanimate object contains spirits inside, so cut down a tree that has a spirit inside of it and you will get "sick" because you angered the spirit.  This has done wonders throughout the country but haa in particular in preserving the ecosystem.  But haa is not all sunshine and roses, (or mountains filled with spirits).  The Haa valley contains more than 20 sawmills, most of the logging is done and sanctioned by the NEC, but an increasing amount of product is coming from illegal sources done at night.  It is the responsibility of the forest rangers to make sure that this practice does not continue, but either through people watching the office of the forest rangers or from corruption, the loggers maintain the upper hand against the forest rangers and the logging continues.

They valley of Haa also is the location of ongoing border disputes with the Chinese.  You can see china from the village of Haa, but it is hard to tell where Bhutan stops and China begins, especially since China keeps claiming more land belongs to them.  Every year China lays ridiculous claims to land within Bhutan and discussions happen to try to settle the disputes.  There are occasional treaties signed but the land disputes never seem to be settled.  The geographic border is at the top of the Himalayas, but Bhutan used to extend past this area.  Land disputes are well and alive.

I rode over the top of Chele La pass, the highest DANTAK paved road.  Dantak is an indian border road organization that procures contracts from the Bhutanese to build roads.  The sign claims 3988 Meters above sea level, but this is most likely wrong and closer to 3800 meters.  The sky was clear and I could see down into the Haa valley, a place mostly dominated still by the traditional mud houses that are plastered and painted over.  Little did I know that all the "traditional house museums", are just village houses still in use.  Paro is much newer and is being driven by the tourism coming in from the only international airport in the country, the difference is very noticeable.

As I got down into Paro, I met a man who served under the secretary of the NEC when Dasho (The secretary) was governor of one of the eastern villages.  The man in Paro is now head of the county and arranged accommodations that were much too nice since all the hotels were booked.  I ended up staying in the officers quarters for the DANTAK road corporation.  This meant that I was given Indian meals cooked specifically for me, and I was watched the entire time I ate, it was a bit un-nerving.

While in Paro, it was obvious to see that amount of waste that was lying on the ground at the Sunday market.  There were garbage bins out, but they just weren't being used.  But while I caught a taxi back to the Dantak compound, I watched as the driver just through a plastic bottle into the grass like it was normal.  There is some work to be done to change the ways the locals view the environment.  Our conversation turned to his life, he dropped out of school in 6th grade because one of his parents died, joined the military, was picked up by the Royal Body Guards (RBG) and did remedial school during and after his service.  He is now going to the Paro college and drives taxis part time to support his 6 children.  Good man, he just litters.

I will now be headed off to eastern Bhutan for about a week and a half to do my first real compliance monitoring trip with one of my co-workers, which I am incredibly excited about since I will no longer be sitting behind a computer in this far away place, but I will be learning about the issues first-hand with friends.  Able to ask questions to be answered by people who have studied and developed a sense of place of the environment of Bhutan.

I'll be willing to sit behind a computer to help further the goals of the NEC, but I believe that it will have much more impact if I am able to at least develop a beginning of a my role in the NEC and in the puzzle of introducing private industries into the economy of Bhutan.  I believe that a cost of business of operating in this country is to be environmentally responsible, we'll see how that theory develops and hopefully I don't see bureaucracy eat up this idealization.

I finally have also started to read books about Bhutan, took me long enough, but if I really want to take a crash course in sense of place, I have to look at every avenue provided to allow me to get the most out of the times that I do get to travel.

Bike built and into the swing of work

My post has been delayed because the week after I got back from southern Bhutan I got sick.  I blame the large amount of pollution near india, partly caused by Bhutan and partly caused by India.
However, I am now better.
My bank account is set up, I am settled in for the most part.  My bike is built and I have been riding to and from work every day.  20 minutes down, 45 minutes up.  I have found many trails with the help of the locals.  I spent the weekend hiking up for an hour and a half to ride some singletrack.  Been playing soccer with the NEC and invited some American friends to join us that I met along the way.  The white people tend to hang out all together.  The funny thing is that I almost blend in when I wear my gho, if it weren't for my height.  I'm about as tan as everyone else here so my skin color doesn't make me stand out.  Brown hair and brown eyes are also common here.
I now have my terms of reference, I'll be assisting with the revision of the Middle Path, Bhutan's guiding environmental document.  Found here (it is worth a read if you have some time) http://www.nec.gov.bt/nec1/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Middle-Path1.pdf
I'll be requesting money from the world bank and the UN for assistance with compliance monitoring in selected areas, many of the laws are good, but they aren't followed as there is no money in enforcement.  I will try to remedy that.
The final written document that I will be producing is an overall report on sustainability in Bhutan.  I will have more information on that as I start to understand exactly what I will be producing.
I will be traveling around the country on compliance monitoring trips, or enforcement trips.  I believe the first trip might be within a week from now.

Thimphu is turning out to be a wonderful city, there are many things that aren't as easy as in the US, the meat quality is determined by your ability to select it and not just on your ability to read a label.  The eggs have a fair amount of bad eggs lying around, I've taken to shaking the eggs and feeling for movement of the yoke before buying them, the rice has sticks and other items in them so I have to make sure that I fully rinse it.

Small things that add up to take time.  Which I don't have as once the sun sets I can't leave my house as the dogs get aggressive.  I was riding to work this morning and had some dogs start to chase me, first time that has happened during the day.  The one good thing about the aggressive dogs, it tends to keep crime down at night.

I'll have money once again tomorrow, once my atm card starts working, right now it is just sitting in the bank, laughing at me while my diet consists only on rice, eggs and some chilis that I still have.
I have to remember to filter water, this past weekend I ran out of my supply and experienced a pretty harsh headache from dehydration, and not being able to drink bottled water set my progress of rehydration back by a couple of hours.  (boil water, wait for it to cool, put it through a filter system that has about a 5 gallon tank post filtration).

The one disappointing thing about Thimphu, there is trash everywhere.  But my first proposal for funding is on waste management compliance, so hopefully I will have a hand in cleaning this place up and making it a nice place to live.

Dogs, Mask dances, and Cum

Before anyone gets offended by the title, cum is on everything here.  On the restaurants and bars and shops.  It is more innocent than it sounds.  Cum is used as a word for "and".  Restaurant cum Bar.  This has been kind of seen as a practice that needs to go away and new buildings are using & and "and" to replace cum.
Bhutan is also the land of penis drawings on all the walls to protect against an evil virgin goddess.  But again this is not favored as Bhutan enters the modern world, you rarely see penis drawings in Thimphu.

Today was the final day of the Mask Dance festival, performed infront of the palace/fortress.  The king was watching over the event and in between dances many people prostrated themselves to the king and other high officials.  The dances were well choreographed with a mixture of masked dancers and singers.  The event went on for 3 days, starting around 9 and going till sundown.  Pictures to follow.

I spent the last week in phuentsholing, the border city to india.  Every bit of imported good comes through this city.  It shares its borders with an indian city Jaigaon.  Now the stereotype I knew is that every indian city is polluted.  Still true for Jaigon, but not only due to the cars on dirt roads in India (lax pollution controls on the cars and dirt getting kicked up).  But the pollution is partly Bhutan's fault.  Phuentsholing is home to Bhutan's only industry.  Hot, muggy and polluted, I think I got sick from the pollution, just now getting better).  The one good thing, the drive there was out of this world, up in the mountains, cut up on ledges such that you can see thousands of feet down.  I was there as part of a Compliance monitoring workshop that the NEC put on.  I have now officially joined the Compliance Monitoring Division of the National Environment Commission.

Thimphu in comparison is already getting cold, and dry.  It is perfect during the day, even hot in a gho with the sun out.  The rain is leaving and I have broke out the bike.  I look like a clown because I am in spandex and that cycling raiment hasn't made its way here yet.  But the clothes are too important (Sweat wicking and padding) to give up.

Dogs are all over the place here, they are lazy during the day, most lie around doing nothing.  But during the night, they bark.  Oh they bark.  My apartment is far enough away that I have not had trouble sleeping because of the dogs, (the sickness has been keeping me up lately).  They tried to keep the dog population in check by sterilization, almost killed the Dhole in the process.

Some photos, will keep updating.

Bhutan

Well I made it.  36 hours of traveling with 12 hours of time change.
Left Sunday morning, arrived in Paro on Tuesday morning.  Relatively painless except for my flight from Bangkok to Paro was canceled and was replaced by a flight that was 2 hours later and got me into the country 3 hours later.  I missed my first car but a second was sent.  I dropped by a hotel in Paro where a bunch of the National Environment Commission (NEC) members were staying including the secretary.
I arrived in a house that is fairly modern of Tshering Choden.  A wonderful family with 4 generations in the house.  Grandmother all the way to a cute one year old baby.  They have been wonderful and I have eaten meals with them, all grown organically in their large garden.
Chilis and rice with every meal, not especially hot but very hot still.  I learned that the chillis that I had eaten in december that were fresh and too hot to eat were actually indian chilis that can be bought in bulk for cheaper.  So the food is edible!  As long as you like spicy.

The photos below are from the drive from paro to Thimphu, with some photos from a walk in Thimphu, where I took a small hike and went to the river.  There was a lot of trash around, it is a sad sight.

I am still looking to move into an apartment so I have not built my bike yet but there are bike shops around town and even a member of the NEC has told me about trails around.  I am looking at an apartment that will allow me to bike without riding through the city with a crazy amount of aggressive drivers.
For now it has been procedure, but I did get to go to a going away party for some indian consultants with the secretary, a late night while trying to fight off sleep from adjusting to the 12 hour difference.  So I'll catch up on sleep, get all my permits done, find a place to live and stock up on food from the market, and I will start exploring!  (Not to mention I am not allowed to travel far without a work permit).

Summer update

I just need to start writing...

I've been meaning to write for a while now and need to just get into the habit.
Goals for the summer, ride my bike as much as possible in as many places as possible and take the GRE before september.

I'm going to Bhutan to work for the National Environmental Commission, the real reason for this blog.  I'll be sure to post as many photos as possible.  Stories too.

This summer has been busy already.  Salem --> Seattle --> Missoula --> Kalispell --> Salt Lake City --> Moab --> Salt Lake City --> Kalispell --> Banff --> Kalispell --> Spokane.  There have been wonderful people along the way, people that I call friends and family.  I have tried to leave as little of a dirty footprint as possible and contribute my fair share to leave every place a little bit better than I found it.

Leave every person and place better than you found it... And remember, everyone knows something you don't know, the conversation is the window to the discovery.  These two driving motives have allowed me to enjoy every moment I have spent driving around.

I've expanded my knowledge in cooking.  I can now make eggs Benedict and Muesli.  I have seen mountains tower over me.  I have seen desert extend for hundreds of miles.  I have drank my fill of water and eaten my share of rice cakes.  I raced in the Cat 1/2 field in Banff and learned it is nothing to be afraid of.  I ran a 3 mile run, and even though the legs and the lungs were there, I should have eased into it as my knees have been in constant revolt.  I got back my balance on ice skates, got my golf shot back to a respectable swing and got back up on the wakeboard.