Matsutake

The most notable of all edible fungi is Matsutake, as they call it in Japan, awovedly the most delicious and aromatic mushroom in the world. Obviously, wild ones, are much more subtle, delicious and rare.    With a very strong aroma and intense flavor, this fungi grows under the obscure fallen leaves of dense pine-tree forest.  Equivalent in distinctiveness and exceptionality to European Truffles, they are found in Bhutan. Freshly cut from ground they are quickly grilled with scattering of salt and sprinkled with tamari and japanese lime and a pinch of sewchuan pepper. Very delicious! In Tokio they can cost up to 8,000 US /Pound. We found them in thimphu market for 500 Nguldrums ( 10 US $) and asked Bishnu permision to cook them (TEMPURA) in his kitchen at the Druk hotel!         

Avalokitesvora

Changgangkha Lhakhang

Drugon, The first Tibetan to bring official Drukpa 'sects & teaching to Bhutan founded this temple in teh outerskirts of Thimphu. More than 500 years old and probably, nobody knows, less than 800 hundred years old. Accoding to the monks... "The monastry stands in Sacred ground, where Drugon Shigpo, fell in love and seduced a village girl of heavenly beauty and where they "meditated together"....the monk smiles while he tells this part of the story...The mother of the heavenly beauty caught them "in the act of meditating" and Drugon promptly turned himself into a manifestation of Avalokitesvara.

      

Bhutan's dilemma

Many Bhutanese still flow themselves flat with their face down in stunningly and heavenly decorated temples, such as this one: the Changangkah Lhakhang  in the outerskirts of Thimphu. Many bhutanese keep away the curses of evel spirits with sophisticated constructions of strings winded around sticks, placed outside temples and family homes... is this tradition worth of conservation

Bardo

Bardo, in Buddhist terms is the place between cycles of death and rebirth, waiting to see if they will enter the next life...

That is more or less how I see Bhutan, desconcertados ..... a nation anchored in the past unaltered and inbetween steps to a moderniziation f

 .... as another small third-world country... rent with social and ethnic divisions and vulnerable to corruption, violence and political opportunism. One way or another, change is coming.!1!!

Stray Dog Dilemma

Bhutan has a Stray Dog Dilemma!

This dilemma is rooted in the heart of the bhuddist universe: a conflict between piety and progress.
For Bhutanese, as good bhuddists, bestowing the life and feelings of an animal, such as a stray dog is an act of faith!

Monks in Bhutan run into the conflict of modernity in a daily basis.

My dilemma is much more mundane.  These cute little bastards have been barking all night long and I could not sleep.

Its 04:00 am in Thimphu. I have been unsuccessfully trying to sleep. Docens of dogs are fiercely barking  outside the Hotel Druk.  Stray dogs are an essential part of the landscape in Bhutan. They live on the street.

As a Buddhist Nation, Bhutanese don't believe in killing.  The very act of taking a life, killing a dog, prevents the person and the animal from living out its karma in its present form and realm. Therefore they dont "take care" of the street dog population.

These dogs have no collars, have no owners. Most of the dogs I have counted tonight have seriuos skin problems - scabies and sores, some are crippled, one does not have a leg , many have open wounds.  Flies whiz around. The dogs play and lay on the grass and pee and shit on the grass, the same grass where children were plying few hours ago.

I am not a Buddhist, I loove dogs, I am sure there good ways to solve this problem. I am going back to sleep...