Last Weekend in Thimpu

We ended our time in Thimpu with a hike to Cheri Temple. We didn't get permits, but we lucked out and met the majesty's assistant again and a nice monk, so we got in to three of the temples. Monsoon season has started and now we have water pouring into our guesthouse. But we are flying out on Monday, pray for good weather! We will spend tomorrow in Paro then have 13 hour lay over in India, not looking foward to that. Bye Bhutan, it was great!

Last Day of Clinic

This was our housekeeper's baby. So cute, I watched her while her mom worked. I think they are Nepalise or Southern Bhutanese because of the darker skin.

Dad and Dr. Sonam in the ortho ward. It was a good experience to work at the hospital. Dad got to teach the doctors about nerve repairs and rotator cuff tears as well as teach the ortho-tech students. I learned how to assist and suture in the OT. I also spent time in the NICU teaching and helping to initiate protocols. Medicine here is very different than the US, but it was interesting to see things such TB of the spine and osteomyelitis.

How Cool

Dad and I received gifts from the Queen mother of Bhutan! How cool is that? She was one of Dad's patients and she gave us each a wool textile and 2 books on Bhutan that she wrote.

Masked Dances

Here they are purifying the grounds.

This is a reincarnated Lama who danced, which is a rare occurrence. Maybe we get triple merits for seeing this!

Bumthang Festival

Yes that is what you think that guy is holding in his right hand. This is the festival jester. The 2 clowns or jesters go around the festival with phalluses or penises and joke around with the crowd and dancers. It isn't that out of place though because the Bhutanese hang phallic figures from the roof of their houses or paint it on the walls more as a symbol for protection than sexuality.

The women dancers.

The jester trying to thrust his wooden penis at me. Quite a unique experience

Women dancers dressed in the Kira and Tego.

Festival in Bumthang at the temple.

The cutest little kid dressed in his gho at the festival.

This temple is very holy. I can't remember all the background, but the holiest water in Bhutan is found here. Here I am coming out of a rock tunnel cleansed of all my sins. You enter one side and if you come out the other you are cleared of all your sins. If you get stuck in between then there is some demon in you.

Dad getting cleansed of his sins. Karma is big here and so is earning merits. You hope that you get enough merits to get yourself to heaven. You get merits for doing things such as walking around the chortens, turning prayer wheels, and watching festivals. You get double merits if you do these on an auspicious day, but you also get double sin if you sin on an auspicious day.

Long Weekend Out

The Punakha Dzong. We took a 5 day trip over to Trongsa, Bumthang for the festival or sechu (all Bhutanese spelling might be wrong), then back over to Punakha. The roads are nuts. They are single lane rough and rugged cut into steep mountains so there is a drop off cliff with no guard rail to break your fall if you happen to over correct (and sadly we did see this, all 4 passengers died). Thankful we had a great driver and I'm still alive but I couldn't eat for 4 days because I started the trip already nauseous with a stomach thing and the roads kept it going for me, but it was good to see more of Bhutan. I will get some festival pictures up later, but dad can tell you about it because he got more of the story than I did.


Punakha Valley. A view from the roof of a chorten. We got to have juice in the Lama's house because our driver's brother was the Lama of this Chorten.

I love this. The men and women carry their kids on their backs like this with a Kopne. Sonam's sister weaved me one and it is beautiful. I watched women weaving garments thread-by-thread and there is no way I would have the patience for that.

The fertility temple in Punakha "Chimi Lhakma." It was an auspicious day (The reincarnated Buddha's birthday) so many people were making the walk through rice patties to give and get blessings. Sonam said that I needed to go, so I got blessed by the monk and asked that someday I will have healthy and happy kids. I rolled three dice and lucky me I rolled an auspicious number which is very good. Then the monk had me draw a card from a stack and I guess my first child will be a girl who I should name Chimi Durma. Chimi is the name of the temple meaning "no dog" and Durma is for Terra- the mother of all buddhas or deities and the goddess of wealth.

I can't remember what this temple is called, but I think it is in Phobjikha- valley of the black necked cranes. All the temples start to run together but I am beginning to get the essentials or basics in Buddhist rituals and stories of all the reincarnated Lama's and Buddha's and what demon was subdued where. They teach all these stories in school, but they get complicated.

Ortho-techs

We took the ortho-tech students to dinner the other night before they went home for vacation (Chimi, me, Nhamka, Tobden, and Pema). Their education and boarding is payed for by the government, but once they are done with their schooling the government chooses where in Bhutan they will be placed to work. The auspicious month is now over so we had meat. During the auspicious month they close all the meat shops and you aren't even suppose to kill a mosquito unless you want to come back as it 1,000 times. So right now I will probably come back as a mosquito a million times. Also, Tuesdays are dry days. You aren't suppose to drink alcohol or sell it. But we know a couple places that will bring you out a beer in a coffee mug while you keep the bottle hidden under the table.

OT

Dad and Dr. Thapa. Dr. Thapa is pretty brilliant with an innate sense of humor. I think he speaks over 10 languages fluently.

I think this case was an 11 year old boy you almost sliced his entire heel off when he jumped off a fence and landed on a blade or something sharp.

Phajodhing

Thimpu Valley. About one in seven Bhutanese live in Thimpu

Tshring and Dr. Depak in the traditional gho before entering the temple.

Phajodhing temple. We took a day hike here on Sunday and it was a beautiful day.

Other HVO volunteers

Windhorses. The long prayer flags on poles are set up for burial ceremonies.

Forgot these

Another yak herder house. I wanted to add a couple more trekking pictures.

Harvesting wheat

I can't believe I forgot to mention the famous Cordyceps. I am holding what is a dead caterpillar with a parasitic fungus growing out of it. Sounds gross, but they are rare and highly sought after. They supposedly have health benefits ranging from improving triglycerides, male impotence, kidney and hepatic function. It was made popular after a Chinese track team broke all sorts of records and their coach said they had been taking Cordycep. You can only find these rare treats above 4000 meters in the high Himalaya mountains in the month of May. They sell for about $1 US dollar a piece which is a ton of money for mountain villagers. In Bhutan only mountain people are permitted to pick these, but people pick them illegal, the money is too good. We bought as many Cordyceps as we could from the yak herders. They don't really taste like anything, my mom is a true believer in this rare herbal medicine, my dad is still looking for the journal article that proves their benefit.

Notes on Bhutan

I thought I would just add some additional information on common things here in Bhutan.

1. Stray dogs run around everywhere. They especially like to sleep during the day and bark all night. I was told they are the last reincarnation before human incarnation so they are accepted. No one really takes care of them so they have nasty mats or ticks or tumors or mange.

2. If you are walking downtown you will probably have to look down at your feet for awhile until you get used to having holes and open sewage traps all over the sidewalks and streets.

3. Marijuana is just an ordinary weed here. It is actually the most common weed I see as I walk down to the hospital. It grows naturally and people feed it to the pigs so they get lazy and eat and fatten up. So, if you like weed you should visit end of August or September because I think the plants will be mature by then.

4. People here are very nice. They all want to know if you like their country. But there are definitely two different markets here- tourist and local. Bhutan is not cheap for a tourist although a local doctor's salary here starts at $400 US dollars a month with a max of $1000 a month. The ortho-techs we work with get about $220 a month. You would think it would be cheap, but we pretty much pay American prices for everything. Food might be a little cheaper.

5. The entire country is mountains. I can't find a flat place to run anywhere so I can only run for like 3 minutes before I am huffing and puffing. I think they only have one airport because there is no other flat place to land.

Market Places

Textiles are a big part of Bhutanese handicraft. The ones that are handmade on the loom with silk can cost as much as $750 US dollars for a table runner. Here I am shopping for a Kira, a traditional skirt that most Bhutanese women wear. I wore one to work today and it took me 15 minutes to put it on right. No buttons, no snaps, it stays on with just a wrap around textile cloth belt.

This is a corner street market. Usually you can pick up your fresh vegetables, fruit, and rice at the big weekend market.

Bags and sticks of incense at the weekend market.

The weekend market.

Making brooms at the weekend market.

Minor Operation Theater

Dad doing a minor surgical removal. They call the OR the Operation Theater or in this case the minor operation theater. The OT here is different than the US for sure. Everything is reusable for the most part. They use cloth drapes and gowns. They will even reuse hardware that is removed from a patient if it is still in good shape. I mean why be wasteful. The US could pick up some tips from other countries on how to reuse things. The only thing is you bring your own scrubs, mask, and hat to the OR. I've been reusing the same mask for days now and am looking for a new one! Oh and most of the staff wear flip-flops to the OR.

Archery

Monks enjoying the day watching an archery match.

Dad learning about traditional Bhutanese bows. This guy has been making them for over 40 years and showed dad how to put one together.

The Bhutanese shoot their arrows 140 meters from a small white target. If a team hits the target, they do a victory song and dance. They are wearing the traditional gho which is required during tournaments. They take archery very seriously, often before a tournament the men will go to the temple and pray and some Bhutanese ave also told me that the archers will not sleep next to a woman the night before. Maybe to better concentrate on the game.