Well things are winding down here, sadly. I would stay a lot longer if I could. Drove to Ha, the next valley over with a few friends, 2 Bhutanese girls (Sonam and Sonam) and firey Sri Lankan Ashok, giggling most of the day. We brought a big picnic and a camera, and when we arrivedContinue reading “Following Machig’s footsteps to Ha valley”
Author Archives: Kim Roberts
Taktsang
Winter is in the air dropping pine needles on my head. A velvet chill lines a good wind, fluttering prayer flags in its wake. Puffs of chimney smoke cloud the road where I take my afternoon walk. A new season has been announced, and I feel slightly wiser today. Perhaps this is due to blessingsContinue reading “Taktsang”
Meeting Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche Yangsi
So last week I learned that Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche’s Yangsi (it means child incarnation before they assume their teaching responsibilities) lives just down the road from me here. He’s 15-16, just about to go away (to Bodhgaya and Kathmandu) for the winter, so I started asking around how I could go see him. Because heContinue reading “Meeting Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche Yangsi”
84,000 paths
Its strange to hear news of the world from here. Life on earth as I have come to know it feels like a distant dream…goals and aspirations, career path, shopping, social obligations, rent. Here streams babble louder than discursive mind.I’ve just had a nice chat with Khenpo Phuntsho Tashi, director of the Paro museum. HeContinue reading “84,000 paths”
Gangtey
The road from Paro to Gangtey is not for the faint-hearted, or the faint-stomached. Winding up and down, around and up again, I lost my travel companion after the first hour. Green faced and swaying, he begged the driver to stop in Thimpu, took a taxi back to Paro lodge. Karma, our driver, likes toContinue reading “Gangtey”
Market Day
The smell of betel nut pervades the air – a bit like rotten meat. You can tell who consumes these nuts by the red lips (who needs lipstick?), missing teeth (hey, cut down on dentist bills!), and the lovely wads of red spit decorating the dirt nearby, and sometimes hovering in the air just aContinue reading “Market Day”
Freedom for all
You’ve got to love the king of Bhutan: one day His Majesty decided that keeping animals in captivity went against the ethical and spiritual ideals of the kingdom, and ordered that all animals be released from the zoo. Apparently the only animals left there now are takin, the national animal ( http://www.windhorsetours.com/bhutan/wildlife.php ), who didn’tContinue reading “Freedom for all”
Thimpu
A two hour drive through humongous mountains, or rather great walls of rock and earth swirling overhead like tidal waves about to crash, takes us to the country’s capitol. The first thing one notices is how un-capitol-like it looks. More like a Swiss mountain village, with medieval stone and wooden palaces painted brightly in primaryContinue reading “Thimpu”
Paro
Well, there has been a change of program. Landed in Paro today. My first hit of Bhutan was of total peace. Peace so peaceful it is palpable: heavy and thick. Heavy peace that settles into the earth like the monsoon rains; thick peace like the air in a deep deep cave, no echos of discursivenessContinue reading “Paro”
Winds of change
Who knows why we make the choices we do, or where the wind will take us. I used to think that being offered choices was evidence of being at the controls. You choose one path, you control the outcome, is how that logic goes. Now I wonder. It seems we all have certain lessons toContinue reading “Winds of change”
Diary of a Pilgrim 