Bhutan and me. By Laura Bown.

Project

2009-11-28T17:29:00.008+06:00

And finally, the presentation of the project we projected in Bhutan.

The project is located in Bajothang, a new projected city.

The projects consisted in making a Town Hall, combined with a conference hall and library.

The town square in front should be a part of the project.

All comments are welcome!

Back in belgium...

2009-10-31T17:42:00.008+06:00

Some recomforting words from Belgium to the bhutanese friends, and a final blog post of the best weeks of our stay in Bhutan.

This should be the end of my adventures in Bhutan (for now) though I am planning to contact the 'orde van Architecten' in Belgium in order to get an official internship status with the Bhutan project. IF I get this done, I will be back soon :-)

The last weeks in Bhutan were intense, we had little time to write blogs,...

3 main things kept us busy. First of all, our project with a deadline on the 21th of October, Deusuray the Hindi, Nepali festival we are preparing and our long discusses trip to Phadjoding and Sikota.

It took us weeks to decide to go for this walk. And it took us even longer to fix a guide to come with us. Everyone seemed to be pleased to help with friends, brothers, uncles,... but tourist season made it almost impossible to find anyone to come with us. Going alone is one option. Visiting a former friend of Marc Dujardin was another option. Dago Binda, an old friend of Marc, who always worked in the tourist business, and who is now running the biggest tourist company in Bhutan (Etho Metho) is our last hope.

We visit her, she pics up the phone, calls some friends,... 15 minutes later we are standing face to face with Pendin. A small Bhutanese cook, ready to guide us in the Himalaya. He will carry the pots and pans, we have to find some food (Durga...) and ‘mama’ will help us with a super professional tent and some mats.

except that the mats seemed to good, to warm and to big, so we left them at Durga’s.... (Bad idea...)

Saturday morning, Pendin, Maarten and I are dropped at the BBS-tower, just outside Thimphu, to start our trip. The bags are heavier than I taught, specially because of the climb we have to make to reach the first viewpoint. After 4 hours, an exhausting walk, great views,... we finally reach Phadjoding. The monastery at 3400m. A beautiful spot, and a sudden cold is facing us. We meet some world bank trekkers, even less equipped than us, with the goal to go to the lake and back.... we have our doubts. We decide to go a little higher since we have some more energy, and the walk ahead is still long. We stop for lunch at an old house, were we meet a meditating monk. He was living here since 11 years, and Pendin was a regular visiter of his house. Roshan and the gang told us that after Phadjoding we had one hour to walk until we reached the lake. Full of energy and hope I pull myself together and start walking. Pendin suddenly killed my good mood by saying that the lake was on a 5 hours walk from this point. We were now heading the peak of 4300m, followed by some ups and downs, to reach the lake by dawn. I needed some Kit-Kats to handle this good news...

But we make it to the peak. And yes, now we know why they wear those ugly ‘thermic underwear...’ it dries fast!!!! But, the road behind us was amazing, and the road ahead was even better. Walking in the Himalaya is hard, but it is certainly worth it!!!!

The landscape in front of us was filled with old Rhododendrons, sadly not full of colors.

At 5 o’clock, just before dawn we reach the lake. The lake not blue like I imagined, but black looks a bit scary. We will not sleep next to the lake, but just above it. Evil spirits could... Pendin will make us some fire for the tea, we get some wood and fix our tent. The tent looks great, but the tent with mats would look even better! It is cold, freezing cold. Pendin is already cooking some datsee, and one thing we miss is a good glass of warming alcohol... while looking at the stars around the fire... It is only when we go for a sleep that we feel the hight, the cold and the freezing ground! I hear Maarten is having some problems breathing, but I envy him because he is sleeping! My favorite position (on my trekking-bag) is found at around 1 o’clock, but sleeping won’t be for tonight... When I open the tent at 5 o’clock in the morning i figure out why... The tent is white, everything around us is white. It has been freezing all night long! So keep it in mind, don’t go for a trekking in the Himalaya wit a sleeping bag for +8°, without mats!!

Luckily we have Pendin who is already making tea. The view around makes me happy and I feel ‘ready’ to walk up and own again... :-)

I take my camera for some fast clicks around the lake, and again it amazes how beautiful the view is. Those mountains around seem so close, almost reachable. I feel on the top of the world! and I am on the top of the world! I hope this won’t be my last trip in the Himalaya!

The walk back home is hard again. Even if we don’t have to climb as much, I feel empty. No energy, and no air because of the altitude is killing me.

I hang my prayer flags (for you all) around a small lake. I hope they will send some good words in the world. Again we have a short stop at the monk's place for some noodles and tea. And we finish our trip with a quick visit to the 3 temples of Phadjoding. (Dit kloostercomplex is door UNESCO opgenomen in de lijst van meest bedreigde religieuze monumenten ter wereld.)

Back home we have only one wish ‘a steam bath at the Taj Hotel’, and yes, it feels great!

But, no time to lose, Dewali is waiting.

Deusuray or Dewali is a significant 5-day festival in Hinduism, occurring between the end of September and early November. Together with Ujjwal, Roshan, Kapil, Om, Ashis, Mama, the bangladeshi guys,... We are preparing the biggest intercultural singing group of Bhutan since one week. We meet at Ujjwal’s place, for some K5 and cute hats at jackets. We all look great and ready for some singing!

It is traditional for adherents of Diwali to light small clay lamps filled with oil to signify good over evil within an individual. During Diwali, many wear new clothes and share sweets/snacks with each other.

In Hinduism, Diwali marks the return of Lord Raama to his kingdom Ayodhya after defeating Ravana (the Demon Kin, and also the demons KING) - the ruler of Lanka in the epic story of Ramayana.

Normally Sunday is a boy’s night only, for Kala and me they did an exception :-). Ujjwal, the star singer of our group took care of the Deusi-song. We (Maarten and I) took care of the fist song and all together we did 3 more songs. In a Deusi song you can write about anything, as long as each line ends with the word `Deusi' or `Deosuray'. So after every line of Ujjwal, we all sang Deosuray. That way we went door to door in 6 houses, from home to home, blessing the homes and families in return for money, and refreshments ;-). And yes we became better and better... I wonder why... At 5 o’clock in the morning, after a tiring trek and no sleep, we both crash into our beds. What a weekend!!

I can say, THE BEST WEEKEND! Thank you all guys!

The week that will follow is called the ‘uitwerkweek’ known in Belgium as the ‘non-stop-working-week’ which it was (except for the evenings...) My project is almost finished. Maarten’s also. On Wednesday we have the big presentation day, on Friday we leave Bhutan, on Saturday we are back in Belgium.

What a months! I certainly enjoyed it, I learned a lot, I fell in love with Bhutan. Don’t worry guys, I will be back!

xx kisses from Belgium

horses for tourists on the trek

view on Thimphu

Me... on the top of the world

older picture on the trek wit Roshan and Maarten

Maarten and Pendin

Wow views...

Cold...

Colder

Wow view n°350

Frozen tent

demon lake

Dewali friends!!!

after many days...

2009-10-14T16:36:00.001+06:00

Weeks are going so fast! There are 10 days left for us in Bhutan, ans so much more to do!

Last week we had a couple of nice evenings at Sonam's, and at Durga's with Roshan, Wajui,...
We also had a goodbuydinner with Dumber and his friends... in a not so cozy restaurant/hotel :-)
They are leaving for Phuentsholing (southern Bhutan) for a 2 weeks 3d max training. Zeg nu nog dat ze hier achter staan :-)

This week we had a second meeting with Adikari. We tell him how much it will cost to stay, he tells us what to do for the next 3 weeks. And it is a lot! The project should be finished for the 23th of october. It means plans, sections, details, facade, materials, landscape...
I had some difficulties to find my way through all those ornament (nowadays made in concrete). I proposed them to go back in time and build in mud again. They all seemed to find it a good idea, but who will help me with those details?!

A Bhutanese working day is a strange thing. The term work is not yet defined, so you can define it as you like. This is also what they do in the government offices. Everyone arrives in the office at 9-10, around 11 they may go to 'the bank' which actually means 'shopping'! At around 12 we order our first Samossa, and later maybe a second. Tea break at 12.30, lunch at 13 until 14.30. When they all come in the office they ask us what we had for lunch, if people were nice, if the service was good?
Between 15 and 16 we have a working hour :-) and finally we conclude with a cup of tea, some talking about the dinner of tonight and at 17 everyone goes home.
Between all this we try do some real work like every good working Belgian citizen. And my project is rising!

On Thursday we also went to 'the bank' but on an official visit. The ministry was invited by the Royal Institute of management for a lecture about Buddhism and happiness. Renate Ogilvie from the World Happiness Forum in Australia, a women with an impressive curriculum. Strange touch that she came talking about wearing condoms and not taking drugs... (would the director have something to do with this?) Apart from this she did a great talk about many different subjects, all related to Buddhism, Bhutan, New Bhutan an Happiness.

Our one before last weekend...

We planned to go for a trek on satherday and sunday but Roshan changed our mind. On friday evening we could fine the usual Tashi-cell group at Durga's ( Tashi-cell, the second cellphone company in Bhutan... ) The found back a schoolfriend from India after 7 years. The were as happy as a group of little kids with a new toy. After 'enough' drinks we decide to mix cultures in the club 34, the famous club next to the OM bar. The Indian guy teaches us his Panjabi dance, we try to dance on the local Bhutanese music. We have fun until 2, maybe better that we decided not to go for the trekking. 'Mama', one of the friends promises us a tent and some other goodies for the trek that we now have moved to next weekend (our last weekend).

Now that we don't have to go for trekking, we need to find some gifts to bring home. We go to the handicrafts market, the local market, and another market not far from Simthokah. On our way back Durga's little car has a flat tire. Which we changed in exactly 10 minutes. In the afternoon we decide to go and see the huge Buddha, who is watching over Thimphu. The Buddha is an ambitious Chinese project, they want to have the biggest Buddha in the world. We have a 2 hours walk, with a GREAT shortcut (climbing on hands and feet, surrounded by garbage) :-)
And finally we arrive at the famous forbidden site. Except that we are undisciplined Belgians and that we do not care about the rules. We go in, take pictures of the Buddha, the building, and the future face of the Buddha. Suddenly a monk comes towards us, presenting us some candy. The candy brings us to the designer of the Buddha, 'his majesty Tsering Wangdi Rinpoche'. He explained us his ambitious project, we listened, took some pictures and hurried down before dark.
Bhutan has a great climate in september october, but now that we are reaching the last weeks it starts to get cold at night. Going up was no problem, but going down I was freezing! Suddenly a big car stopped in front of us, the Rinpoche proposed us a lift to Wine n Dine. No way that I would refuse this!

Finally Roshan proposed us an alternative for our trek. He would take us on sunday to a mountain just above Thimphu. A climb of approximately 1500m.
We have an appointment at around 8.30, we finally meet up at 11. While waiting for the sleeping Roshan we went to the memorialshorten to see the Dungste Rinpoche, who actually didn't arrive yet. People were singing, waiting, walking around the shorten and offering all kind of foods. Outside, people were fighting to get in for some blessing. Imagine people fighting to get in the church :-)
People get crazy, close there shops, dress up, and wait hours in the burning sun, just to meet the great Rinpoche.

At 11, we finally get a call from Roshan, waiting for us at Durga's (probably with a terrible headache). A Taxi brings us to the foot of the mountain, and we start a great but exhausting trip to the top of the mountain (3600m). During our trek we can still here people praying and making music for the Rinpoche. After 3h30, we reach the pick nick spot. A great place, with a fabulous view on Thimphu. It was worth it! We try to take some picture of the three of us, without any positive result :-), and continue our trek. This time we face the way down. Often more difficult than the way up... Wajui is waiting for us down the mountain, and brings us home for a short fresh up. (one hour in Bhutanese time :-) )
We are invited for the next sunday's festival called Deushi. Kind of 'driekoningen zingen' in Belgium. In the evening we get a guitar, some food, some drinks and we rehearse for next weekend. Many rehearsals will follow this week :-)

traveling in Asia!

2009-10-08T11:28:00.002+06:00

We are so lucky we postponed our stay in Bhutan!!

We had the worst trip ever to come to Bhutan. Leaving yesterday would have made it the worst trip ever to Belgium!!

The weather here for the moment is the worst they have ever seen. Rain is falling, falling, falling!

Streets are closed, rural area's suffer of mudflows,...

And on top of all this: DRUKAIR IS NOT FLYING!!!

So Axel, don't be sad, I wouldn't have been home today... :-)

weekend

2009-10-05T10:46:00.002+06:00

This weekend was the lazy weekend.
As I mentioned before, the ministry asked us to extend our stay in Bhutan. I thought about it and realized that I had no obligations in Belgium for the moment. I have the opportunity to build my first building in Bhutan, why wouldn't I do it? So both of us took the decision to stay until the 23th of october, which is actually only 2 weeks more. But it makes a 2 month Bhutan, and enough time to finish the plans, section, elevations, detail,... the ask us to make.

Because of this decision we had to go for some shopping. Imagine being in a country for two months with 5 T-shirts, 2 pairs of shoes (waarvan 1 paar trekboots), one jeans, one skirt, 2 dresses and some trekking clothes. The hell! I bought a T-shirt and a pair of high heels. Finding high heels for a size 41 in a country like Bhutan is difficult!! I found 40, and will squeeze my feet :-)
Next shopping day: a second jeans, an other T-shirt,...

Friday evening we went to the famous OM-bar. We figured that now we stay until the 23th of October we should meet some people, and finally fix an audience with the King! In the OM-bar with Sonam and her friend we meet the by us well know figure; the son of the Kings younger sister.
Maybe our key to the palace :-) (en socializen maar!!!)

Satherday evening was defined by myself as dry-day, by Dumber as drinking-day! I had to fight to keep my glass empty during our diner. We finally didn't made it to our bed before 2. :-)
We love the weekends!!

On sunday, we taught to go and meditate for some hours. We went to the oldest Dzong of Bhutan, The Simtokha Dzong. The palace of the profound meaning of secret mantras. The monastery founded in 1629 by the first Zhabdrung and founder of Bhutan. The Dzong became the first Dzong with administrative facilities combined with the monastic body.

finally the trip to Bumthang

2009-10-05T10:07:00.011+06:00

Leaving from Thimphu at 7o clock was the aim. Bumthang was the goal!
The evening before leaving we organized a last dinner with Campbell, our Australian friend leaving on saturday, back to his home town. We will miss him and our civilized conversations!

6.30, the time I wanted to wake up, Mr Tsirring was already standing in front of my door. The trip would be a trip of 300km, in Bhutanese norms, at least 8 hours driving.

Our first stop, dochu la which sadly enough was clouded, but not less beautiful. We continue towards Rukubji, THE city of Marc Dujardin. He lived here for two weeks, but analyzed the village during some time. A nice little traditional village, with some great houses. And dough even here sadly enough they start building in concrete. The easy way out!
The former town chief and friend of Marc invited us in his house. The house with the typical, way to steep stair, small dark little rooms and of course the altar with the pictures of the whole family.

the view on the way to Rukubji

Rukubji

We continue to Trongsa, to eat some spicy food, and head towards Yotong la (3425m), the second viewpoint of our trip. And again, bad luck, clouds everywhere. But Tsirring is still happy, is still in love with the King, and sings 'hey there delayla'!
The story about the king is amazing! I tried to record it, and hope to find a way to post it here because the theories are great! You have to know that they have a democracy since 2 years, and so the whole country had to vote. That rural people don't know that the world is round, that in Bhutan 95% of the people have at least 8 pictures of the King in their living room, and finally, that the Kings color is Yellow.
Knowing this the only possible winning party was of course the yellow one. This is the reason why they prohibited the parties to use a color. :-) These people are lovely!!

12 hours later, in Jakar, our final destination we reach our LODGE! A big mansion with 20 rooms, all empty, just for us! I chose a room, the guys chose a room for there conquests. 8 o clock, we go out for a drink and some karaoke, some pool, another drink and again some karaoke. I thought I was a bad singer, maybe here I found my calling.

Next morning, without a headache, but with some stomach ache (probably a reaction on all the spicy food we ate in the past weeks), we visit the Burning lake, Pema Lingpa's swimming pool.
And Tamshing Goemba. (Temple of the good message) Personally the temple I liked the most in Bhutan. Old, peaceful, nicely decorated (original paintings),...

Bumthang is as well the city of Guru Rimpoche. Known as the Guru who captured the demon of the early king of Bumthang and converted it to Buddhism. He meditated in Bumthang, leaving an imprint of his body in the rock, now surrounded by the Kurjey Goemba. Guru Rimpoche from Nepal who brought Buddhism to Bhutan.
Tsirring has only one goal while visiting all the temples, getting blessed and bring some blessed water home, to bless his baby. Next to this temple, Tsirring finally found his holy water, at the source of Kurjey. People walk 20km to reach this source, while carrying liters of water... We drunk from it and were again blessed for some hours. :-)

Jampey Lhakhang an other great temple, has some great stories and off course was visited by Guru Rimpoche and possesses an imprint of his foot inside. Inside there are three steps representing the ages. On of the steps, representing the past age, descended in the ground already. The next step, representing the present age is at the same level as the floor. The top step represents the new age. Bhutanese people believe that when the second step sinks into the ground, the gods will become human and the world as it is now will end. Wars and other bad things would not be from this world anymore. The temple is also known for its late night ritual dances. On of these dances are the naked dances, one of the famous fertility rites. (don't ask :-) )

We return to our mansion, for some ritual drink called 11000. Tsirring, away from home since 2 days goes crazy!
Talks about woman, beer, his past as a womanizer,... We leave the mansion for some food, and off course some karaoke and pool. Belgium against Bhutan, Belgium wins the first round, the second round was lost.
The next day we have a quiet breakfast... We start our trip at 11 O clock. After some emergency stops along the road we reach Trongsa. We visit the Trongsa Dzong and the defense castle, transformed in a museum. Pele la, the mountain top, clouded on the way to Bumthang, was now as clear as possible. Far far away we can see the Jomalhari (7314m), the highest mountain of Bhutan, surrounded by other great mountains.
We finally reach Thimphu at 10 O clock in the evening.

Jomalhari in de verte

We now saw almost whole of Bhutan.

some pictures of the Bumthang trip...

2009-10-02T18:59:00.012+06:00

Finally, Rukubji!! In front of the Trongsa Dzong

Burning lake and the greatest monastery we saw!

Monk and Maarten...

Prayer wheel in Jakar

What alcohol can do...

Me-Tsirring-Maarten :-)

The day after... and also the reason why we drove 12h

... The tower: Only Bhutanese museum

Trongsa Dzong

On the way back to Thimphu...

Finally, when we came home we still had 3 days of holiday, during these days we visited the Thimphu-Drubchen, a festival in honour of Guru Rimpoche. People everywhere, tourist with big lenses all over the place,...

A great festival!!!!

Trip to Bumthang 25-26-27/ hospital

2009-09-30T15:50:00.005+06:00

The trip to Bumthang was great!

I still didn't found the time to write about, but pictures will follow tomorrow!

It probably takes that much time because clumsy me fell in the street of Thimphu after a cosy evening out at the OM bar (no I wasn't drunk!!) The result is that I have this ugly little hole in my leg (nope, didn't broke anything) and that I walk like an elephant...

Yesterday evening Maarten gave me some magic potion to feel better, except that I felt like flying on the moon :-). Sonam and Maarten a little worried took me to the hospital for some X-ray. Everything was ok, except for some blood pressure problems (the reason for my flying problem) The good thing about this is that we could even see a hospital in Bhutan. And even the best hospital of Bhutan! For your imagination: Take the movie the english patient as a scene, add a rat and some puking people and you have the image of the hospital. But not like in Belgium, the hospital is totally free, and they are very friendly!

earthquake...

2009-09-28T15:24:00.004+06:00

Forgot to tell this:

BBC news:
Published Date: 22 September 2009
A 6.3-MAGNITUDE earthquake shook the remote mountain nation of Bhutan yesterday, killing at least 12 people and leaving 15 injured, damaging ancient monasteries and forcing hundreds to flee, officials said.
The afternoon earthquake was centred in a little-populated eastern region of the tiny nation.

Everyone fell something, except Maarten sonam and I :-)

strange.

Drubchun

2009-09-24T15:01:00.001+06:00

Government offices, schools and institutions in Thimphu will be closed today to observe Thimphu Drubchun. The Lham Tsom dance, dedicated to Palden Lhamo (goddess Mahakali) will be performed in the courtyard of dzong today.
The sacred ceremony, dedicated to appease the protecting deity Pelden Lhamo, was instituted between 1705 and 1709

Because of this, Tsirring didn't want us to leave Thimphu on Thurdsay. He wanted to bring his baby there, to have it blessed. No problem, we took our camera and left for the Dzong at 11 AM. Indeed, the first time in the Thimphu Dzong. The Dzong looks amazing, but even better is this mass of people wearing their best clothes for the festival. (see the pictures)

In the evening we pack and get ready for the long long drive to Bumthang!!

Party at Tsirring's

2009-09-24T14:53:00.000+06:00

I already spoke about this rain festival. Indeed the Bhutanese government decided in the beginning of this week that 22 of october would be a holiday.

on blessed rain day the rain in the whole world is blessed. Except that it didn't rain in Bhutan (oeps)

Tsirring invited us with his whole family to experience this day. In his family everyone is his sister, brother,... difficult to understand! He is married to his beautiful wife and has a baby Jana.

We arrived there at 10AM, ready for some Porrish, rice, soup,... (:-s) afterwards we played, looked at photo's and waited for the lunch. A lunch with some datsee (very spicy, the usual :-))

In the afternoon we finally got out of the house, to see the sun!! Heaven!!

We continued our pic nick under a big sail, with the rest of Tsirrings family.

again some pictures

2009-09-23T17:43:00.011+06:00

our diner with Campbell...

our Monastery trip...

Maarten, sad because he couldn't go in.

some holy penis water

momo Pic nic!

our Tiger nest trip...

the entrance!!

Tiger Nest (3100m) , a climb of 900m

group pictures: some exhausted people...

Durga showing his future house...

the Dzong of Paro

BHUTAN!

Weekend 3...

2009-09-21T16:33:00.001+06:00

I didn't wrote anything yesterday, because I planned to have a great working day, and I had!
Actually there are many things to tell since we had a great weekend!
Before starting the weekend, Mr Adikari came to ask us to go to the director of mowhs (ministery of works and human settlement). A friendly, extravagant guy, who warned us for his little knowledge of architecture and planning (strange :-) )
Maarten presented his work, he was happy, proposed him a piece of land and I started my presentation. Same thing here, he liked it, he wanted it to be build and asked both of us to stay for some more time (2-3months) which we will consider ;-)
After this small meeting, we started the weekend with our usual drink in the zone with Campbell. This time overloaded with alcohol because he was suffering from toothache. Afterwards we went eating in one of his secret places. A place with Côte du Rhone and live music!
Already quite drunk we arrived at the wine n dine, Maarten ready to go for a sleep, myself ready to go out! ;-) Maarten surrendered, we socialized with some guys in the street, and we landed in a local bar, were you can request a song, and some girls and a guy will sing it. Nice place, typically Bhutanese, and again closed at 1am! As drunk as we were, we continued our journey to the ACclub, a local club, but actually really nice. Girls drop there Kira and boys leave the Gho, Bhutanese youngsters in action!

Saturday morning was a ruff day for both of us... hmm I wonder why...
Sonam our colleague, came to pick us up at 9o clock, for a praying and visiting day. We probably saw all the Monasteries of Thimphu, and we loved it. We loved it because of the architectural qualities, but also because of the atmosphere in the sacred places. We learned to be quiet, think, meditate and pray. Buddhism is a religion open for every new interested soul, which made it a peaceful and interesting day.
Before reaching the first place called Dechempau (protection) we went to a local shop buying some offers (Maarting gelijkend op Maarten, maar eigenlijk olie voor de kaarsen, wierookstokjes, koekjes,...) and to a local house for some local wine.
A second place, called Pangri Zampa were monks are specialized in astrology, we asked some questions to one of the monks. In his personal room he opens a long book, filled with strange letters and signs, and answers our personal questions. Three bows and some sacred water for 5Nu, and we go to the next monastery. The Queen mom monastery, Dechemphodrang, nuns-monastery Anim Dratshang and finally a thee break at Choden's (friend of Sonam) place. We concluded the day with one last visit to the Lhakhang monastery, and a great Bhutanese dinner at Sonam's place.
Thank you, we had a great time!!
We don't go to bed late, because 1. we are exhausted, and 2. we leave early in the morning for a Paro trip. In Paro we plan to visit Takhsan, better known as the Tiger nest. For everyone in Belgium,... THE monastery you can see on the front of every guide.

In our company: Durga the great driver, friend, host ;-), Campbell and Binda (durga's wife).
We leave at 6.30, and start our climb at 8.30. The only thing I can say about this is: 'wow'! The walk was amazing, the place is an architectural wonder! Check the pictures!!

Afterwards we went for a fast meal and a quick visit of Paro.

After a great weekend, Monday morning was a cold shower. Work work work was waiting.

But the week will be short since we will have a day off on thursday, a working day on wednesday and a trip to Bhumtang planned from friday to monday!!

What if...

2009-09-18T13:06:00.002+06:00

They ask you to stay for some more time ?

pictures

2009-09-18T10:10:00.012+06:00

As promised some pictures of the past few days:

Protect you house with a phallus, protect your phallus with a condom :-)

Alles tegen aids en te veel kindjes...

Archery finals: every time they hit the target they make

a Little dance :-)

The kings son, also the winning team

And suddenly it started raining!! We were in the Vip tent ;-)

Our romantic trip in the mountains, and the 'wow' view

we had on Thimphu

The walk to the monastery surrounded by prayer flags

The prayer wheel at the entrance, Chime explaining to Maarten

The entrance

biswa karma Puja dag :-)

2009-09-17T15:11:00.011+06:00

which means, the day of the engineers, and machines. A both, Hindu and Buddhist festival day here in Bhutan. That is why they tend to decorate there cars in a really strange way. Tsirring (I know the name isn't spelled right, but now I should continue with this one, otherwise it will become complicated!! :-) ), took us in his car ( that we decorated) for a car blessing. they bless the car with a red swastika, and incenses. After that they blessed us, with a red spot. :-)

After the blessing we went to a constructions site, to see the way they are building here. And our fear came true, they build without 'spouwmuur', without isolation, without 'waterkering',... just concrete and bricks :-) Which obviously for us will make the details really easy!! :-)

decorating the car :-)

street views of today

the cars at United Nations :-)

blessing tthe car

party tent :-)

construction site

soms gaat het staal ook krom :-)

I had some trouble with the pictures on the computer the last few days, today I fixed this problem and I will be able to post some of the pictures I took the last few days!!
Enjoy!

x

Belgian Ambassador calls on Prime Minister

2009-09-16T14:57:00.003+06:00

This week really is a working week... pff and I start to hate looking at the great weather outside!! So we decided to go and have a drink with Chime yesterday evening (on dry day!! :-) ), and so we planned our weekend. We will ask to leave on friday, (hopefully with a car of the ministry :-) ) and head to Paro, to see the 'Tiger nest Dzong'. Maybe we can stay there until saturday afternoon, come back to Thimphu, and have another walk here, or finally visit the Thimphu Dzong before the tourists arrive.

Today I planned to finish all my work, so that we could easily leave on friday, until we saw that the Ambassador of Belgium (Jean M. Deboutte) is in Bhutan. Maarten called the Chief of protocol in Bhutan, and so we got in contact with Mr Deboutte. He invited to come over to his hotel, and afterwards to go and eat a hamburger with some fries in 'The Zone' :-)

He is actually here because Belgium and bhutan recently signed agreements for the diplomatic relations between both countries. Next to that, he is trying to plan the first visit of our Queen to Bhutan (at the end of october, when we already left...)

Friendly guy, nice hamburger! :-)

Another thing, my computer has been updated with SP2, and I recently installed shop cs3, which means more pictures online in the next days!!

verhaaltjes

2009-09-16T14:45:00.004+06:00

Ik ben eerder het lui type als het op een blog aankomt, Maarten laten we zeggen is heel ijverig :-)
Bij onze tocht van dit weekend horen een aantal verhaaltjes, verteld door enerzijds de zatte (misschien ook een beetje drugsverslaafde), lieve, integere Tashi en anderzijds door Chime zelf.
Maarten heeft die mooi opgeschreven, en ik doe een kleine copy-paste van zijn werk :-)
Thanks Maarten ;-)

'In een tempel mogen absoluut geen foto’s genomen worden, dus ik probeer alles in woorden te beschrijven. De meeste tempels gelijken vanbinnen nogal sterk op elkaar, maar desalniettemin overvalt me telkens de sfeer, de kleuren, de stilte, de geur en de magie van deze ruimten. In de hoofdtempel heb je ook een nog heiliger afgesloten gedeelte waar in dit geval drie grote Boeddha’s stonden -links de Boeddha van het verleden-in het midden de Boeddha van het heden-rechts de Boeddha van de toekomst. In zulke beelden wordt altijd een “schat” of iets van onschatbare waarde gestoken. In de 15e eeuw leefde in Bhutan de monnik Drukpa Kunleg -beter bekend als “The Devine Madman”. Kunleg of Kunley was de vleesgeworden manifestatie van alle mogelijke zonden en vunzigheden op deze wereld en dronk, was een vrouwenzot -zelfs met z’n eigen moeder- enzovoort, maar preekte tegelijkertijd ook en was op zijn manier toch goddelijk. Ooit kwam hij een monnik tegen met een rol perkament met Boeddhistische tekeningen op die hij door een monnik in Tango wou laten zegenen. The Madman vroeg of hij deze mocht bekijken, de monnik toonde de rol perkament en Gunley piste het kunstwerk helemaal onder. Toen deze droevige monnik uiteindelijk aankwam in Tango en zijn beklag deed over de pissende Kunley in het klooster, vroegen de monikken hem het doek te laten zien. Toen de man de vuile vlekken op het doek wilde tonen, bleken deze allemaal te zijn veranderd in puur goud… Nu, deze 500 jaar oude ondergepiste rol perkament lag daar voor mijn neus in die grote Boeddha van het Heden verstopt in de tempel van Tango.'

op de weg terug, zijn er nog 2 andere verhaaltjes:

'De reïncarnatie van Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal

In de 15e eeuw werd Bhutan gesticht door Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal. De manier waarop hij dit deed is uiteraard een verhaal op zich en dat deze man belangrijk is in Bhutan en de geschiedenis van het land spreekt ook voor zich. Hier in Tango wonen vele jonge monniken waaronder één hele speciale 17-jarige jongen…Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal -jawel- de stichter van Bhutan.
Op zijn 5 jaar vertelde deze jongen heel zijn (vorig) levensverhaal na tot in de kleinste details en herkende allerlei atributen die ooit tot de stichter van het land behoorden. Hoe graag ik het ook wou, het was onmogelijk om de jongen te zien te krijgen, maar op de driedelige troon in de tempel stond wel een foto van deze onschuldig uitziende 17 jaar jonge, maar ook eeuwenoude stichter van het land Bhutan…

Hoe de monniken van Tango wegvliegen en verdwijnen

Zoals ik hierboven beschreef, studeren, lezen en debateren de jonge monniken in Tango ongeveer 8 jaar lang in en rond het klooster. Na afloop van zijn studie, trekt de monnik het bos in om te mediteren. Dit doet de monnik tot hij een volgend en hoger stadium van meditatie bereikt en trekt vervolgens nog hoger de bossen en de bergen in. Dit ritueel blijft zich herhalen, elke keer hoger en hoger de bergen en de bossen in tot de monnik uiteindelijk wegvliegt en verdwijnt…In Thimphu wordt gefluisterd dat de monniken eigenlijk worden opgegeten door tijgers in de bossen…geloof wat je wil, maar ik zie ze liefst wegvliegen die monniken.'

presentation!!

2009-09-15T10:20:00.004+06:00

yesterday was the first big presentation day. The first part of as well my project and Maarten's project had to be presented to Meghraj, Sonam, Tserring, Latha, Thukten. And it was a success!!
The only worry about the project was that it was not perpendicular to the street. This may cause some problems for the religious and superstitious people of the new city, or for Maarten, In Thimphu.
The second problem about my project, was the fact of building in bricks. The use bricks in the constructions, but they never use is as a structural element in the building. Other solutions could be bamboo, concrete or wood (only 20%).

We shall see! For now we can continue the project, in the hope that it will be build as soon as possible!!

party...

2009-09-14T16:32:00.005+06:00

the famous smelly Bhutanese toilet!

samir at wine and dine

local vegetable shop

Why we didn't go for hiking at noon

Chimi

Maarten and Tsirring

weekend!

2009-09-14T16:16:00.010+06:00

We have been working hard until today (friday)! niet zoals bepaalde (vriendelijke) vrouwen hier :-)
Noon can always be a good excuse to leave the office for some time... (2.30h), and yes we joined them to the international market, with traditional food, jewels, kira's, Indian stuff,...

Friday night is always the starting night for the weekend, Saturday night is party night.
So on friday night we went to eat something with Cambell Dunkin (australian friend), and later on, drink something in the famous OM bar.
OM bar should be the fancy bar of Thimphu, and yes it is. Many way to fashionable bhutanese women, and horny men...
But, everything here closes at 2.oo, so at that time, we were sitting in the dark surrounded by kissing bhutanese couples :-)
Time to go home!

On Saturday morning, we slept until 9, which in bhutan is unusual for most of the people, since we can hear people screaming, baby's crying,... already at 5 o clock. The worse creatures here are cats! They cry like dying baby's, attack people in the streets and according to Durga they grow really big, that big that they can kill human...

For Bhutanese people, saturday was a big day, as big for us, as when Kim is playing tennis!
Thimphu hosted the final of the national sport, archery!
Whole bhutan was fixed behind the TV, we were able to get a seat in the vip tent!
Vip tent in Bhutan means getting free food, beer, cola, water, but also Doma (vuil rood chewing ding)

The purpose of the game, is to hit a target within 200m (approximately). The other team can try to discourage his adversary by singing, screaming,...
And all this they do in traditional clothing's with white socks and sneakers!
The winning team obviously was the team of the kings brother :-)

Back at Durga's place, we prepared ourselves for a night out with Tsirring (my boss :-) ), and his friends.
We started the evening with a romantic beer and ships on the top of the mountain, followed by a local drink made of wine, coffee, beer, soup,... (bahh) and some local datsee,...
There we met all Tsirring's friends ( a doctor, journalist, guide,...) sorry guys for the names...
They took us to one of the many karaoke bars, were I showed my musical talent.
Again, 2 o clock meant the end of our night out... next time we try the OM bar again with Chimi ;-)

Next morning, again the sun is shining ( this may be the end of the rainy season!!!). Chimi isn't answering (still drunk, still sleeping, or he just forget the phone in the car...) He would help us to find a way to get on the top of Tango (horse-head) were there is a beautiful monastery. No answer, so for the 3th time we are going to the market, this time with Durga.
At 4 o clock, finally we leave for our walk. 45 minutes to climb 700m (2200-2900) and reach the monastery. The sky is great, the air is pure, and again the views are amazing! Thanks to Chimi we enter the monastery without the typical bhutanese permit request.
He explains us the different meanings of the paintings, the statues, the rooms,... which is great because the Buddhist religion has so many figures, meanings, stories,...

I can not describe the place, look at the pictures, you will understand :-)

Going down again is always the best part of the walk :-)

A great meal at the wine and dine, working for monday, and going to bed!!

2009-09-14T16:07:00.000+06:00

Bhudist monks at Bajo

Wheel of prayer (Bajo)

2009-09-14T15:28:00.003+06:00

verloren bekisting voor ornamenten :-)

on the way to Wangdue

top of Doch La

Dochu La

hehe

some extra pictures

2009-09-14T14:48:00.004+06:00

Bhutan-style poker (Durga with blue shirt)

Durga's car :-)

Bikash-Binda-Maarten-Laura-?-?-samir-?

vegetable market

project

2009-09-10T09:14:00.000+06:00

Yesterday, was the first real working day...

A meeting in the morning with Mr Tsiring and Mr Meghraj made my project clear.

'do not use our traditional architecture', 'we want new, revolutionary architecture'. 'show us how they do it in Europe!'

'The building should be an icon'...

Those are supposed to be the main rules for the new building. The only thing I shouldn't forget, is to include the Bhutanese ornaments.... you should know that Bhutanese ornaments are on the roof, around the windows, around the doors,...

For the materials, I should not use wood, because they are scared of ruining there forest. It is a good mentality, but if you know that more than 80% of the land is covered with wood, ... :-)

I started yesterday, and yes, it is interesting!

View of the town. In the centre you can see the open space for the town hall and square

some pictures...

2009-09-09T11:21:00.001+06:00

Thimphu Dzong

Mountain trip with Dumber

During the pic nic

Maarten walking on the traditional bridge of Thimphu

wangdue trip

2009-09-09T09:37:00.000+06:00

08.09.09

Trip planned to Wangdue.

Together with Mr Tsiring and the driver (I have my doubts) we leave at 5 o clock in the morning for a trip to Dargue, a city in the center of Bhutan, not far from Punakha, the former capital of Bhutan.
Durga, sweet as he is, made us a little pic nic for during the ride, and so we left in our traditional clothes towards the place were I will design the future town hall.

In Bhutan, going from one place to another, even if it is only 70km, takes time! The roads are bad, and narrow, but the worst thing are the drivers. they always drive in the middle of the road, and never drive faster than 40km/h, which is slow!!!

We could say that Wangdue is the 6th mountain at the right, which means that most of our trip was happening in the mountains. This showed us the great diversity of landscapes that Bhutan is rich.
After one our driving we suddenly reached the la (top) of the mountain (Dochu la, 3140m), a square, with 108 shortens. It was only 6 o clock in the morning, the sun was rising, the sky was red, with almost no clouds in the sky and a thick mass of clouds filling the valley, we had the perfect view on the mountain peaks. The tone for the day was set!

Mr Tsiring had to follow a meeting with the minister, but before, we made a quick visit of the new town hall area.
Like they already mentioned in the Lonely planet, this project seems absurd. Because they need a capital town is this district, they slope the old city and make a new city. The problem with this sort of things, is that they lose every sense of logical thinking about architecture. The architects drew a linear pattern, with one main road and 7 secondary roads, filled up with 125 houses ( all the same). In the center they would like to achieve their capital with a land mark, called the town hall.

During Mr Tserings meeting, the driver took us to the local dzong, and a temple. Yes, still in traditional clothes, and it was hot hot hot!!

In the afternoon, a rural road took us to Punakha, with the 'winter dzong' of the country. A huge palace, decorated with painted wood, beautiful rooftops, gold,... I love it!
Sadly we couldn't go in, because we still don't have the permit do visit the different dzongs.

Tsering brought us to see the locals playing archery, they look great!
Two teams playing against each other, trying to deconcentrate the other team... 'een lachertje'!!!

The road back showed us again the scenic views of Bhutan, and just to see this, everybody should come to Bhutan...

the office...

2009-09-07T14:41:00.000+06:00

Monday morning, back to "the introduction to traditional architecture of Bhutan..."

It seems that today won't be such a busy day, tomorrow we leave at 5.45 to Wangdue. A city near Phunakha, were you can see the great Dzong of Phunakha. We are going on an official visit with the ministry, and his architects.

After 2 days I finally solved the problem of not finding Bajo (the town of my new town hall) on the map. Dorji, the young sexy architect of the city and also my boss, forgot to mention that Bajo was also known as Wangdue. Mr Meghraj Adhikari the upper chief and most popular town planner of the city should also follow us to this little town.
And yes, because of this fancy visit we go shopping this afternoon!!! we need a gho and a kira... (local dress. again, pictures will follow!!) for tomorrow!

x

Maarten's birthday...

2009-09-07T12:27:00.000+06:00

Sunday 6th of September is THE date that has always been hidden for his friends...
The 1000 problems we had made me notice that the 6th of September was his birthday!!

Durga proposed to join them at the royal (because everything is royal...) botanical gardens just outside Thimphu.
He planned a pic nic, together with his Friends, and hotel staff (Binda, Samir, Bikash) since they all have our age, it seemed really nice.

I know pictures are still missing, we do our best... because the car of Durga, you should see!!

Two things that Bhutanese people can do: drink (a lot!) and play bhutanese poker whilst chewing! We started drinking porto (they call it indian wine) at 11 o clock, climbed a little hill around 12, and at 13, we were eating again. Dinner, always overloaded with 11000 the local beer. To conclude Durga (actually you should meet him to understand how he is. small, fast, nepali, sweet,...) opened a big box with Maarten's cake. Just great!!
Imagine, a trip in the himalaya, with Bhutanese people, drinking beer, gambling and eating cake... still surreal for us!!
They, drunk and a high from shewing, we, amused went back to town for a little rest.

In the evening we concluded this day with a revenge in Bhutanese poker, but again we lost...
2o o clock, time for bed, tomorrow is serious again :-)

weekend starts

2009-09-07T10:52:00.001+06:00

Friday the 4th of September, we had our first meeting with Meghraj at the office of human settlement.
He normally should explain us the different tasks, and introduce us to a fast and working computer (hmm).
Maarten and I are seen as two total different architects, so we both have different assignments.
He should be working on the first social housing project in Bhutan, I should work on the design of a town hall in Bajo.
Which seems complicated now that I got all the guidelines about traditional architecture in Bhutan.
I believe so complicated that even the Bhutanese need to look at the guidelines 10 times a day. Know that there are 19 type of roofs, 4 traditional types of windows, and so on. But I can manage :-)

In the afternoon our friend Dumber released us from the office by taking us with the driver of the office to see the 2 temples outside Thimphu. (I believe Dazling and Begana...)
It is confirmed, for now, Dumber is the most funny Bhutanese we have met. They are shewing this strange nut, enveloped in a leaf, with coconut and lime, which makes them feeling drunk, high,... Dumber is the king in shewing :-)

Back home, we get a message from Campbell, the typical Australian expat in Bhutan, who takes us to dinner in THE typical expat restaurant.

Saturday we meet the first rain in Bhutan... and yes, it is true, when it rains, it doesn't stop...
Comunque, we go for a walk to the royal palace and his weed plants. Indeed, there is weed in every corner, and especially around the royal palace :-)
But, they don't smoke weed, they don't cultivate it, they just shew this horrible thing that make the teeth red an ugly...

In the evening, we meet the fancy friends of Durga, who strangely enough weren't be further than Thimphu and Paro... Totally drunk (seems to be a habit here), they promised to come with us when we go for our big 3day trekking!!

And at midnight we drink the first beer for Maartens Birthday.
weekend officially started!!!

short trip to bhutan

2009-09-04T10:33:00.000+06:00

Indeed, we left on the first of September, why do I write only today?

Internet is slow, and there is no computer...? nope, plenty of computers, yes internet is slow... but, european airlines are grrr that is why my first blog post is only today.

What if the flight from brussels to london is delayed?
What if, because of this delay you miss the connecting flight to kolkatta?
And what if, because of the missed flight you miss the connection to paro (bhutan)?
Than you can call yourself an unlucky traveller like maarten and me.

But we are strong, innovative and creative, so no problem ;-)
We cancelled the Air India flight, and changed it for a Lufthansa flight.
This means that instead of leaving from london at 9.30pm, we left for frankfurt at 7.15am (the next day), and we slept in an over-romantic Ibis hotel paid by BMI. ;-)

At 5am we ran from terminal 1 to terminal 3 and back for a new mission; finding our luggage! And yes, in London heathrow you can call it a mission! 6.30, still in the same clothes, smelly but alive with luggage, we take out the famous VISA for our new saving ticket.
6.45am, we find ourselves in front of the check-in desk in direction of frankfurt with lufthansa.

7.15, we leave london. finally!

9.45 am (local time) we land in frankfurt, ready for a race to gate B61, where our flight to kolkatta from 10.45 is waiting for us.
10.45, we are sitting next to X our new indian friend

....and internet crashed...

and back :-)

23.30pm local time, you can find us in a euphoric condition in front of our luggage, Bhutan is coming really close!!!
together with our second new friend 'Dan the American', we rent a little room in kolkatta, for one night. 4 hours later we pull ourselves out of bed, into the taxi heading to the airport of kolkatta.
you may not have noticed it, but during our trip the airport became the enemy!
So arriving at the 'enemy', we are informed that the flight to Paro is delayed (5hours). It is now 5am, still in the same clothes, we have slept 7 hours in 2 days, but we are going to Bhutan!! So we do not care about the enemy, we stay calm, eat terrible things, watch strange movies and wait.

12.10, flight to Paro is ready for boarding!! We rush to the left side of the airplane, in the hope of seeing the Everest, unfortunately.
13.30, 3th of September, local time, we finally arrive in Paro, the city of your dreams! And I would do it all over again!

This was the worse trip ever, but this will probably be the most beautiful country I have ever visited! I let you know.

maandag 31 augustus

2009-08-31T20:58:00.000+06:00

One day before leaving for the big trip...

Bag: check

knive: check

passport: check

visa for India: check

for Bhutan: check

4 tshirts: check

1 coat: check

2 pants: check

...