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October 2001

Phuentsholing, Paro, Thimphu, Bumthang District

Brett Voegele
2005-11-14 18:40:19

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sculptures, etc., and then went someplace to watch them make paper. We visited the Memorial Chorten and witnessed the monks chanting and performing a ceremony, and visited several other monasteries. We saw the national animal - the takin, which looks like a cow with a goats head. As in all of Bhutan, both the men and women wear a traditional outfit. For the men, the kho is a long robe that is hiked up to just below the knees and tied with a sash, and is worn with knee-high socks. The pattern of the material is usually some sort of check. For the women, the kira is a large sheet of bright material wrapped around the body to form a dress, and is usually worn with a small jacket.

Bumthang District

From Thimphu we headed 9 1/2 hours east to the district of Bumthang, which sounds like something somebody would yell towards you at a disco, "Hey, you, shake that bum thang", until you realize that it's pronounced boom tong. Jakar is the major village in this area where four valleys meet, and the area contains much of the early culture of the Kingdom. We walked around the valley to several monasteries. We happened to be there on an auspicious day, so there were many offerings and ceremonies to witness.

In Bumthang we also did a short two-day hike. The first night we spent with a family in a remote village. Homes are actually quite large, with a clay wood-fired oven in the kitchen used for cooking, which tends to smoke the house. There is no electricity, so it was fun to sit in the kitchen, talk, drink, and eat by candlelight. There is also a room with an alter for the offerings and prayers, as well as some bedrooms. The living quarters are usually found on the second floor at the top of a very steep ladder. In the past the ground floor would have been used for animals, but this is less common today. That night we sat around a fire outside while some of the local people sang songs and danced ...