this is a story of how a small group of filipino photographers entered bhutan through its southeasternmost border with india. they embarked on a 16-day cross-country photography of the himalayan kingdom.
bhutan is about the size of switzerland but with only 700,000 inhabitants. and we took the east-west highway that meanders through scenic valleys and gorges of the whole breadth of the enchanting himalayan kingdom. that road was originally intended for the horse-drawn buggies of the king's tax collectors as well as for the royal carriages of a few decades ago. it is known locally as the lateral road and is continually being expanded to accommodate two-way traffic.
the idea of a cross-country photography of bhutan came from eddie jose, a former high school classmate of mine who used to do regular volunteer work there. he still visits the kingdom regularly to make sure that his project continues. he is a renowned asian art conservator based in seattle, washington, usa.
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| Samdrup Jongkhar, border town of Bhutan |
Our team took a cab to bhutan for a cross-country photography expedition! the cab had a missing side mirror on the driver's side. but it fit three photographers, a monk, the indian driver and a stocky bhutanese driver who managed to sit comfortably at the back with our luggage.
normally, tourists took the plane from bangkok, hong kong or singapore to paro, western bhutan. our team flew from manila to bangkok and then to kolkata and a final connecting flight to guahati, india.
from the airport of guahati, our cab headed north through the major commercial artery of assam to eastern bhutan. the 100-km ride took six hours as it was slowed down by convoys of slow-moving cargo trucks, patches of rough road and a carburetor that probably needs an overhaul as our lead-footed driver can't seem to get the battered jalopy to accelerate fast enough.
the first amusing surprise
the indian overseas workers were all excited to go home for the weekend in the cathay flight from bangkok to kolkata. and garrie was visibly irritated by the cacophony of animated gibberish as our team of grey-haired photographers hardly had sleep on their overnight stay at the suvarnabhumi airport in bangkok the previous night. he shouted for silence on one occasion but to no avail. and when the pilot announced that the plane was preparing for landing and the seat belt sign went on, the indians simultaneously stood up to get their bags from the overhead bins. keith, garrie and i were incredulous while the flight attendants looked unamused and helpless.
the guide monk
the flight to guahati was surprisingly quiet. the male indian passengers were in coat and tie. everyone remained seated whenever the seatbelt sign was on. i took a nap.
lopen neten dorji patiently waited at the guahati airport with his driver yeshi. but they had to hire a cab to samdrup jongkhar, the border town of bhutan where another rented vehicle, a korean SUV, was waiting.
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| Click image to enlarge. |
our team had to have a monk-guide. lopen neten dorji, a senior monk, was a trusted auditor of the monastic body. he was the government-assigned "big brother" who would look over our shoulders. and being a monk of some rank, he was also our ticket to the innermost sancta of bhutanese social and religious life. we became quite comfortable with neten; we eventually dropped the title of deference. and we called ourselves the trashi-gang (named after bhutan's biggest easternmost district, trashigang).
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| bhutan border gate with vehicles lined up for exit to india |
the burning tongue
trashi-gang loves to eat. keith tirelessly shoots and posts photos of gourmet food in his "masarap kumain" series on facebook. garrie designed his own beautiful kitchen that churns out great food. indian cuisine is a favorite of mine due to some lurking indian blood in my veins. however, i can only name palak paneer, samosa and dal. for the rest, i point. and we continued to enjoy indian food up to samdrup jongkhar. beyond this border town, chilli was main dish. they were as ubiquitous as flies. the bhutanese would mix it with vegetables, with cheese and with every viand. and chillies were laid out in the sun on patios, on sidewalks and inside homes.
the burning cab
we hit a snag at the border control gate. visas were issued at ports of entry but the immigration officer had not yet received any notice from the central office. this was understandable since samdrup jongkhar was not the regular entry point for tourists. however, we had a different purpose. we were to document with photography sacred art works that were due for conservation. the cross-country photography, on the other hand, would be used for the promotion of the conservation project. and i also had patients to see. a call finally came from thimphu, the capital city, to clear everything out.
upon reaching the main town of samdrup, neten proudly showed us the spanking new SUV that he had rented for us and he got us clean, comfortable hotel rooms. neten set us well for a thousand kilometer road journey to the west to meet tony, ricci and connie who comprised the other half of the team.
nestled on the foothills of the himalayas, samdrup jongkhar welcomed us with its cool clean air and her chilli-ridden food -- unmistakable reminders that we have entered the magical kingdom!
the week after our arrival, the TV news showed a burning cab on the same road we took. assamese rebels were being blamed. i just hoped that it was not the cab of our scrawny, kind-hearted driver.
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lopen neten dorji, garrie david, our indian cab driver and keith sundiang
of the trashi-gang in northern india on the way to bhutan. |
epilogue:
we made it! the exhilaration of a great and unique adventure was occasionally reined in by anxieties -- the near-misses, the unknowns and the "what ifs" -- that made us fully aware of our vulnerabilities. the 16-day odyssey of the only remaining monarchy of the himalayas has started.
cesare pavese, an italian poet, once wrote, "traveling is a brutality. it forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. you are constantly off balance. nothing is yours except the essential things -- air, sleep, dreams, ... the sky -- all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it."
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samdrup jongkhar early in the morning
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for more photographs of the trip, click
here.
