Day Four in Bhutan
Black-neck Cranes feeding in a farmer’s field in Gangtey valley
Woke up and was working on my blog post when the sun came up there was a cacophony of calls from the cranes passing overhead. I managed to step outside the tent to see a few of them pass by. I got ready for the day and since the tent was a bit cool decided to head down to the main lodge of the tent camp early for breakfast just to hang out and get warm. At 8am we had our breakfast. I was getting the sort of western breakfast and then saw that Tsering was having fried rice and egg and asked if I could have that instead. It was much better than what I was getting. I had some lovely milk tea with a strong cardamom flavor going on. The valley here is absolutely amazing. The sun came up over the mountain and burned the fog off in the valley.
At 9am we set off to the Gangtey temple at the head of the valley up on a hill. Did a tour of this working monastery as the monks were tidying up from morning prayers. This temple is from a different Buddhist sect than the standard one in Bhutan and there are two monasteries of this sect in Bhutan. Tsering is being very patient with me as he explains all the iconography and images in the temples. I am starting to recognize some of the characters and themes going on. He keeps reminding me that it takes years of study to really understand it all. I do have the going around things clockwise and circling temples 3 times down pat though. Putting my hiking boots back on in the temple one of the shoelace holes pulled out so I had to reroute my laces. I’ll have to see if I can get it fixed, Tsering seems to think he could find a cobbler somewhere to do it.
After the temple we set off on a walk on the valley nature trail. We headed down the hill to the North side of the valley and walked through the local village and then through the pine forest along the edge of the fields and the marsh in the valley. It was a lovely walk which I enjoyed a lot. The fresh air here made it all the better. Even though it is over 9,000 feet here I wasn’t feeling too bad. I had two epiphany’s as I was walking through the forest. The first was that there were no planes flying overhead and leaving contrails in the sky. I was kind of blown away when I realized that. The second epiphany as I was walking along was that hiking is s sort of meditation for me. As I am walking I am focused and very mindful of the now and here. I am usually carrying a hiking pole in one hand and am rolling it around in my hand balancing it as if it is a set of rosary beads. When I hike I often get a phrase or a line of a song stuck in my head that I repeat over no over which is like my mantra for meditation. I like to hike in solitude and just walk at an even pace without stopping for a while. As I realized this I got even further into it and enjoyed the hike a lot. Near the end of the hike we came to an observation deck where we could see the cranes feeding down in the valley.
We finished the hike a bit early and some went for a drive down the valley. The road wound its way further down the valley and we could see where it split and meanders even further. We stopped at a particular lookout that has several groups of poles that all had prayer flags on them flapping in the wind. Tsering explained to me that when someone dies the family sets up 108 poles and puts flags on them in remembrance of the departed person. The white flags are for the dead person while the colored flags are for the family. The colors represent the 5 basic elements. The flags then flap in the wind until they have completely disintegrated. I have been seeing these groups of flags throughout the countryside so it was nice to get this explanation.
We next headed to lunch. Tsering explained that we were originally going to have lunch in a local farmhouse but the farmer had headed off on a pilgrimage so wasn’t available. Instead we went to a local home stay hotel and restaurant for lunch. It was the standard fare of rice, vegetables, roast chicken and chilies and cheese all washed down with some hot tea. I am getting used to the standard fare as it is hearty and tasty. After lunch we headed back to the head of the valley.
As we climbed up to the forest level at the head of the valley we were dropped off and started hiking back to the tent resort. We were hiking through pine forest and it was very peaceful. Tsering explained that the locals were collecting the pine needles as bedding for the animals and also for composting. The forest floor looked a bit groomed as the pine needles had been raked up into piles to be taken down to the farms below. We followed some paths and sort of bushwhacked through the forest. It was another lovely walk and I enjoyed it a lot. After 2 miles we got back to the resort. I convinced Tsering to climb the fence to get into the resort rather than walk the 3-400 yards back down to the road to come back up through the main entrance. He was impressed that I just climbed over the fence nonchalantly.
Back at the camp I hung out in the lodge and finished the book I was reading, I went back to the tent to hang out but shortly after I got there the power went out. The tent was dark inside without lights and was cooling off rather quickly without the electric heat on so I went back down to the lodge as they had a fire going in the lounge area. The power came back on shortly after but since it was quite cozy warm there I just stayed and sat and did some reading till dinner time. The dinner was the same standard fare but they was a fried fish dish that was very nice. I think it was sea bass filets. After dinner I pretty much came back to the tent and headed off to bed. I slept pretty well although I can still feel some jet lag trying to disrupt my sleep. Not sure if it is that or the altitude. I can say though that the fresh air and walking is helping me sleep well.