Bhutan, Land of the Thunder Dragon

Yesterday Karma pointed out my Bumdra Trek trail from our Chele La pass vantage point:

Red = Day 1

Green = day 2

It gave me pause.

This is a popular 2 day trek for those who want a taste of trekking. On day two you descend to the Tiger’s Nest monastery – this would be to Bhutan as perhaps, the Notre Dame Cathedral is to France.

I said “see you later” to my travel mates – we’ll cross paths again in Kathmandu – and met up with guide Trashing on Saturday night for a briefing. Turns out that I would have to carry my lunch and water – bit of a disconnect from the trek description I was sold on in which the crew set up lunch and had water and tea for us. This meant that I needed my camera back pack instead of my little 4 litre handlebar bag. It made for an even more challenging two days!

Started out at 8:30 up a winding mountain road to Sang Chen Choekor Shedra Buddhist College (2800m.) About 3/4 of the way the road up we encountered a huge landslide boulder smack in the middle our way – we barely squeeked by in a car. Not sure how the bus behind us got by but the trekkers caught up close to lunch time.

Breathless due to altitude (and scenery!) for the first four or five kilometres, the path evened out for the middle bit and then started rising again.

Two German motored past us but we (I) caught up at a rest spot – seems it was their pack horse earlier. After I said I was Canadian they got chatty. One had been out to the Rockies and Vancouver Island last year and couldn’t say enough nice things about us and our landscapes – always chuffed to hear your country complimented.

Thrashing was a very nice guy. He still lives with his parents and farms when not guiding. His hobby is Ham radio – he is very popular in the group he connects with as he is the only Bhutanese person. This has drummed up a lot of interest in travel here – smart move on his part. He’s also making connections with an eye on international travel. He told me that during the COVID lockdown when 58,000 people in the tourism industry were out of work, that the king cashed in his own personal investments and paid a living wage to them for 2-1/2 years with no expectation of being reimbursed by the government. A truly remarkable leader is King Jigme 5.

I wanted to get a different take on homelessness in Bhutan from a younger person. Karma, when pressed on this issue said, no, there aren’t really any homeless folks – if someone wants to farm or open a business, they can ask the king for help. Thrashing on the other hand said, yes, there are lots of homeless people – people with mental health issues and/or addictions. Turns out that these people drift about and their community looks after them. Thrashing said very proudly that he has a spot where folks could sleep and wash up in some out buildings on his farm. Hmm, Buddhist merit making sometimes sounds like social democracy (or vice versa) and that’s not a bad thing.

Now my watch went dead at 9.34 km after which we trekked at least another km so I am claiming 10km total. With a final elevation of 3800m it means a 1000m rise. Chuffed = me.

Fantastic camp site!

There are some permanent tents (glamping) above our (real) camp site. Above that are three sky burial sites higher on on the slopes.

Turns out we were the only “real” campers this night. Super quiet except for the two howling factions of dogs – l’ll take that anytime over Jarvis Street noise!