Phajoding Monastery ཕ་ཇོ་ལྡིང་།

Lovely people!

I have been seeing things and doing stuff.

First off, I have felt homesick much more frequently than I had anticipated! Being away in such a new environment is, in fact, challenging. I am grateful for these feelings nonetheless because they remind me of how much love I have for people and things in Massachusetts. I miss you all.

Last weekend, Sasha and I hiked part of the Druk Path trek which is around 60 km and goes from Thimphu to Paro. We camped at the top of a pass… first overnight in Himalayas!!! Beautiful!!! Some wins include: only having minor altitude sickness symptoms, water filter breaking our SECOND day instead of the first, and wind and snow starting only once we practically finished our day of hiking.

Hiking up here is (shockingly) still challenging. I was feeling quite lightheaded and weak as we finally reached a place that we could camp for the night. The next morning after a spectacular sunrise, we left our things behind to freely pursue some lakes. Even without my pack, it was extremely challenging to hike even a mile, as I was still not feeling well at this altitude. As I was on the verge of giving up, I heard Sasha let out a yell from the top of a hill. I made my way up, and we were greeted by the most amazing view of the mountains I have seen since being here. We had panoramic views of the snow-capped Himalayas, including Jomolhari and Gangkhar Puensum (the tallest unclimbed mountain in the world!). Next to us was a rock scramble which we could see on the topographic map surpassed 14,000 feet, which was my first opportunity to reach that altitude! It was a bit of a technical challenge and only 17% dangerous to get ourselves to the top — but entirely worth it. What a beautiful world.

We made it back down to continue our trek, and intercepted a small tour group on their last day of the Druk Path trek. We chatted with their Bhutanese tour guide, after the habitual “No guide?”. A note on that — every single tourist to Bhutan is required to be part of a tour group. Usually in town there are no questions regarding our existing sans Bhutanese tour guide, but hiking is an exception. Virtually every taxi driver driving us to trailheads and every person we pass on hikes gives us a look of befuddlement and questions our lack of guide. Since we are here on student visas, we do not require one of course, but most people are quite concerned that we are unable to Not Die While Hiking.

The guide told us he saw we had made it to the top of the 14k foot rock pile and then asked: “Did you see any bones”? This was not the question we were expecting… and we looked at each other with a mutual, “were we supposed… to have seen bones”? The guide explained to us that the point we had just been on used to be a common location of sky burials, where people leave the bodies of their deceased loved ones at high altitudes. Apparently it is not an incredibly common practice anymore, but still occurs somewhat regularly. This is good knowledge to take with us for the rest of our Himalayan treks.

We finished our exploration, packed our tent, and began the descent. The trek passes through Phajoding monastery, which is nestled high up at around 12,500 feet. We stopped outside one of the buildings to fill up our waters and take a break. There were some young monks roaming around and curiously watching us. There were around six of them, mostly 9 and 10 years old with the oldest of them being 13. We offered them snacks, including Cheetos. They were incredibly grateful, and eventually found the courage to ask us where we were from. The rest is history… they welcomed us inside and served us tea, and we gave them all the cookies and snacks which we had to offer. They asked us if we wanted to go with them down the mountain a bit to play. Our small entourage bounded down the mountain with much giggling and glee. They were very happy to ask us questions ("do you know how to jump?", "are you married?") and we all got to know each other quite well. For the next three hours, we played with a tennis ball, swung on swings, skipped rocks, and sailed boats of sticks and leaves. They were very excited to take us into the temple as well and explain the various deities to us.

This experience was one of the best I have had in Bhutan, and maybe ever. The unwavering joy and welcoming that the kids showed us was unlike anything I have ever experienced. We eventually had to leave, with promises that we would soon be back. It is a very lucky thing to have made such friends.