land of the thunder dragon

this morning i was listening to cnn weather while i was doing sit ups... "monsoon rains will continue to be heavy across bangladesh, india and eastern nepal." until a few days ago, this statement was not a cause for pause. however, someone forgot to mention the most radical buddhist kingdom (well, probably tied with thailand) in the world. bhutan, population 634,982, is situated between china and india. gross national happiness reports that about 96% of people are happy. in 2006 there were only 15,000 tourists admitted to bhutan, mainly because each tourist (not on invitatation from a bhutanese citizen) is obligated to spend $200 a day. i was lucky enough to be invited by one of my student's parents. bhutan is a dream, which makes sense since so many people don't even know it exists. it's harry potter if harry were buddhist and in asia. the roads are narrow and do not allow enough space (typically) for two cars to pass one another without utilizing the shoulder. forests must cover (by the king's mandate) 60% of the country. monasteries, dzongs (structures that were once citadels and are now administrative centers) and goembas (monasteries) dot the rolling landscape. bhutanese history is one of folklore with demons, demonesses and holy figures riding tigers. the compassion and patience inherent in buddhism are inherent in all interactions. the king has mandated that national dress, gzo for men and kira for women, be worn in all goverment buildings and religious establishments. here's a picture of men dressed in gzos playing archery, the national sport.

over the past week, i've done as much hiking as monsoon allows, visited some students, learned to play snooker with the locals, seen some of the most incredible buildings ever created and eaten delicious food. my favorite hike was that on the way to taktshang monastery, nicknamed tiger's nest because guru rimpoche, the man who introduced buddhism in bhutan, rode a tiger to decide that the monastery should be built in a rocky cliff. even though i became incredibly lost i finally found the right path and happened upon a guide and his japanese client who allowed me to go into the monastery with them (you have to have a special pass to go anywhere in bhutan). yesterday, after monsoon ruined my plans to mountain bike to some nearby cities, a driver and i set out to explore punakha and wangdue phodrang. one of the dzongs, dedicated to the man who made painting penises on the side of houses auspicious, was 20 minutes down the muddiest path in the history of muddy paths. whenever i would falter or pause, my driver, tatho, would swoop in from nowhere and grab hold of my arm to prevent me from eating it. that's just the way they roll. when i was making my way back from the snooker bar earlier this week, a man invited us in to hang out with his family. as a fellow tourist and i gave his daughter math problems, he poured beer in our glasses, joking and trying to feed us the entire time.

politically, bhutan is switching gears. the bhutanese king has decided to transform bhutan a parlimentary democracy in 2008. the government has established mock elections where citizens are familiarized with the ballot box and the concept of chosing a specific candidate. when i was having coffee with my students, they spoke of the development of parties and their familys' possible involvement in the new democracy. it's crazy to sit and listen to 15-year-old girls talk about what political party they want to be a part of.

the internet cafe owner, narayan, is telling me that people come to bhutan to see virgin forests and buddhism in practice. a country that operates on different ideals from the rest of the world. one that's outlawed mtv and wwf wrestling. and man, is it ever a sight for sore eyes.

t.i.i. (subtitled: harry, how i adore thee)

i am buzzing from caffeine and sugar and excitement and happiness. i would probably be similarly excited and buzzing from caffeine in the united states, as harry potter just went on sale in minnesota 14 minutes ago. how to explain... after returning from ladakh yesterday morning, arguably one of my most favorite places i have ever been, i high-tailed it to khan market to reserve my copy of the deathly hollows. over the past 8 years, hp has been a staple. i've bought the last 5 books on the day of their release, saw the first movie on the opening day and have dorkily discussed hp/ j.k. rowling happenings with the best of them.

this morning i arrived at the store as they unpacked the cardboard boxes on the sidewalk, revealing the lovely book. as i sipped my coffee at the "harry potter breakfast party," a news camera recorded me reading the first tantalizing pages. and in the back of my mind, the "t.i.i. (this is india)" sign on the door at the american embassy store. india or america, hp is loved.

oh so high

my love for leh has grown exponentially. and, of course, increases with nostalgia as i write from a boiling internet cafe in delhi. after hanging in leh solo for a week, peter joined me and multiplied the adventure level with his presence. on his second day, we crossed the third highest pass in the world and visited one of the largest lakes in asia, pangong tso, and had a picnic on a sandbar near the ever-so-turquoise waters.

after that, we rented motorcycles to explore alchi and likir monasteries. of course, driving a motorcycle through the most amazing terrain ever was the highlight. at one point, we happened upon a construction site with bulldozers and a foot of thick, sandy gravel. since i struggle with shifting into gear, two construction workers silently approached, affixed themselves to the back of the motorcylce like training wheels, and pushed me through the thickest of the sand. the whole scene was akin to a parent running behind a child learning to ride a bike and releasing the bicycle as she overcame the wobblies. despite that moment, bajaj was right about their latest add campaign, riding a motorcycle does make you feel like a god.

after road explorations, we headed for the trail. however, we were far from roughing it. it was sort of ridiculous and embarassing. the tent i ordered never arrived and, because of the moon-like terrain, we went for a package deal-- guide, horses and cook. now, we did walk the whole way, crossing 3 over-15,000 foot passes. and we were rockstar hikers, peter, the aussie-we-met, jacob, and i. but rough it we did not. each day our guide, sonam, brought us tea in bed as our cook, kumar prepared a too-large breakfast. we'd hike for about 5 hours, usually up a pass with some occassional huffing and puffing. the 8 horses carrying the tents and our larger packs, the horseman and cook would arrive ahead of us at camp. miraculously, camp would be set up and we'd be served hot pineapple juce as soon as we arrived. tea time and a seriously-five-course dinner followed and assured that this hike was the first in history to make each of the trekkers gain, not lose, girth. despite the over-pampering, i've never been surrounded by so much natural beauty. when we descended the highest pass, 4950 meters, i orchestrated an ipod mix on the fly and ran through the valley, pausing to visit baby donkeys and yaks and skip across a stream on the way.

we only passed 3 villages in the course of the 5-day trek, but on the first night i was pleased to find that the schools in leh were on break and the kids (strikingly absent from the villages i visited on the snow leopard hike), as friendly as all ladakhis, included me in a game of volleyball. though simply the ball-retrieving-sherpa on our college intramural team, each time i hit the ball, the girls would call out "very good!" if only all the areas in my life garnered such positive and immediate feedback. my favorite kid, dorje, was a young, enthusiastic monk who called out, "yes, please, hello!" each time he made contact with the soccer-ball-like-volleyball.

peter and i finished out our time in leh by renting a motorcycle and scaling the highest motorable pass in the world, somewhat over-estimating the road quality of the last 5 km leading up to the 18,000 foot pass. stepping off the plane into the delhi heat was not exactly a welcomed experience. but by the time peter and i worked our way into the american embassy, all returned to leh-like bliss. i don't think i've ever written about this heavenly oasis, the american embassy acsa club. it will sound like a mirage, but it's olympic-size pool, hoegarden beer and bacon cheeseburgers are real.

alright, i've got to get back to the grindstone-- reading harry potter and drinking coffee in air-conditioning. photos of the most beautiful place in the world are to follow. someday. next stop: bhutan, land of the snow dragon.

"we two are super fast walkers"

that's a direct quote from tashi, my trekking guide. tashi, an aspiring flight attendant, is a little bit like alex from extremely loud and incredibly close, a villager who yearns to escape what he sees as the mundaneity of the village and has a general grasp of english with some lovely variations. now, like i said, leh is like nothing i knew existed. it's some combination of desert, my thoughts concerning the planet mars and the himalayas. last week i went on a trek through the markha valley/ hemis national park. for three nights i stayed with ladakhi families, arguably the most hospitable fabulous people in the world and for four days i hiked over some pretty incredible terrain, including crossing a 16,000 foot pass in a snowstorm. i am pretty sure i got frostbite on my fingers, despite 3 jackets, making a peanut butter sandwich under some prayer flags...

so, in 2001 snow leopard conservancy set up a homestay program to assist local economies and off-set the cost of lost livestock due to snow leopards. now, families agree to open their homes to trekkers in the summer months (for a fee) and not kill the endangered leopards that attack their animals. the conservancy is also responsible for parachute tents run by village women interspersed in the trekking routes. i wish i'd thought of that. it's awesome.

during the hike i couldn't help but feel that i was witnessing something endangered. each of the families had children attending school in leh, sometimes a multiple day journey away. one of the villages only had one house left and another had shrunk from four to two houses in the last few years. but the small families greeted me more than warmly with countless cups of tea sheep's milk tea (which i can no longer speak of) and ladakhi butter tea (which i can speak of less than the sheep's milk), huge meals, warm conversation (with tashi as a translator), chang-- an alcoholic barley concoction that resembles the hybrid of sake, beer and lemonade and a general openness that is usually reserved for one's closest friends.

we combined the last two days of the trek into one (explaining both the brevity of the trek and tashi's comment) and when we reached chiling crossed the river in a little basket on a pulley. i saved just enough battery in my ipod to listen all the way back to leh and remembered how much i love ipod + mass transport in a foreign country. i ooze love. and will add pictures someday.... someday...

julleh leh!

no, i don't typically use exclamation points. so, on choice occasions, they are only to represent true emotion. i've been in lahakh for a week and i think i am in love. now, don't get me wrong. i love india. but ladakh is like the non-india. the people are incredibly kind. while the kashmiri store owners still want to gouge the hell out of you, there is a shanti shanti (peacefullness) here.

part of this peace derives from the large buddhist and, specifically, tibetan buddhist population. i've been reading up on the trials of the tibetans over the past decades and i have become just another tourist with a "free tibet" sticker on a nalgene. today i went to a huge celebration for the dalai lama's birthday. since his birthday is a holiday, whole families gathered to dance, sing, eat and celebrate their long-repressed culture. i have always advocated that tibetans are the most beautiful old people and babies and the following pictures certainly add weight to my argument.

leh is a sort of capital for all the kinds of tourists. now, of course we all travel for different purposes and in different ways. there are the experience junkies that range from trekkers to wannabe cultural anthropologists to mountain climbers. and there are the hippies, constantly in search of a "good" deal and the partiers who can't get enough at home so are forced to go aboad. leh has it all. this means a few things. outstanding people watching. fabulous coffee and food you can't get in most of india. the main purpose of this blog was to include pictures. however, since leh is the tourist capital i speak of, the internet connection is not capable of uploading photos right now. so, you can wait with baited breath, my friends, cause it's like nothing you ever knew existed. it (like most beautiful things) took my breath away and continues to almost daily. but that's mawkish me.