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THE FILM
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We reach the peak. The air clings at about 40 degrees. Sandwiched between two thick cloud tables - one in the valley below, one just above head, The ground is still wet but it isn't quite raining. The monks are a rainbow of different oranges, maroons, pinks, purples, maroons and reds against the surrounded mist. My lungs feel the altitude. Bottles of lemon juice, orange fruit squash, milk, and Golden Eagle lager and fresh made tormas line the cement landmarker next to some cushions on the side of the road. Thirteen piles of damp firewood have been placed along the ridge. Monks employ matches and kerosene hoping they will catch. Khenpo Sonam Tashi fills a plastic tub with offerings - cookies, Nestle Every Days, butter, spaghetti, grains.
Down to the last match, the wet wood finally succumbs to flame. Rinpoche emerges from the smoke and mist wearing his favorite crushable straw hat - white with a black band - and monks robes. He looked happy. "No matter what we do we still have some kind of superstition necessary," he says. "Whatdoyouthink?" The puja is to appease the local deities. "We are doing something that has never been done before," he says. "We need to make sure the spirits are OK with it."
The monks fall into line and begin their mantra. They've set up cardboard boxes for puja tables. In the mantra I hear the names of our crew and laborers - Dorji, Sangey, Pema, Ugyen...
The rest of the crew begin to arrive. Many of them are not Buddhist at all and this is their first experience with a Puja. Soon they are all joining in, carrying plates of offerings and dumping them in the fire, pouring whiskey on the flames and calling out like banshees to scare away the evil. Sonam Chophel does a little dance. The fog is still thick but for the first day in a week and a half it is not raining. A rainbow circles the sun.
September 30, 2003 - Finding A Groove In the Gravel: I am sitting in the shade of a Hi-Lux on a pile of gravel. Pretty soon a truck full of Indian men and women will come break more rocks. Diesel exhaust blends with morning mist - everything is white and green. Rinpoche calls "action" deep in the woods. The drivers are all snoozing, doing mantra, relaxing.
October 5, 2003 - Day Off #1: The first rushes are here! Finally evidence. The first five days have been a huge success. It stopped raining and the crew is cranking to keep on schedule. There has been a lot of camp drama (coming, goings, but no romance). Today we celebrated over a very nice lunch with Chokling Rinpoche and the other Chokling Rinpoche.
October 9, 2003 - Boiled Sweets: The crew is clustered, trying to keep warm against a driving sleet. Rinpoche and Raymond are in a creative huddle. The camera guys are searching for tarpaulins. The make-up and wardrobe girls are singing bawdy songs in a shed. Clothes smell of campfire. My walkie-talkie scratches out a communique across the forest. "Can someone make sure we have some boiled sweets with afternoon tea?"
October 17, 2003 - Waking Up: Getting used to Rinpoche's early morning DJ activities - iPod perched on window sill attached to Bose speakers. Today was Bob Dylan. Music wakes us not only in the morning. Last week, he loaned the speakers to a few of us who didn't feel like sitting in the bar. It was then, sipping beer by a fire under a hundred billion stars, listening to Radiohead, that suddenly my eyes opened for the first time. The music unlocked the me I left behind in America. I am here, really here in Bhutan with Rinpoche making a film, an amazing film, All the hardships of last week melted away...until I woke up with a hangover in my crispy cold sleeping bag and the chaos railroaded any pleasant thoughts back into the ditches of my mind.
October 22, 2003 - Taksang: A day off. Hiked up to Takseng with Tshewang Dendup, our newest cast member and court jester. The grueling hike was worth the sights at the top - Offering bowls in the sun light, a giant half-finished mahakala, claws hanging from the ceiling, a spring of bubbling saffron water. Sculptor Lopon Karma was there deciding on the proportions of a goddess statue. Returned to Kichu to meet Princess Ashi Pem Pem. Nicole, Amelia, Raymond, Alan and Catherine were entertaining and entertained by the Princess. They had visited the palace and the museum opened just for them. Nicole was tickled to the core.
About Bhutan
The Royal Government of Bhutan has adopted a very cautious approach to the development of tourism
in the kingdom in an effort to avoid the negative impacts of tourism on the culture and the
environment. In 1997, the number of tourists who visited Bhutan reached 5,361. Visitors to
Bhutan must either be guests of the government or tourists. All tourists must travel on a
pre-planned, prepaid, guided package tour. Independent travel is not permitted. Bhutanese
currency is the ngultrum (Nu). The approximate exchange rate is Nu.36 for one US dollar.
The ngultrum is on par with the Indian rupee (both the Nu and Indian Rupee can be used in Bhutan).
Archery is the much loved national sport of Bhutan. Each village has its own archery range,
and it is impossible to imagine any festival taking place without a competition. The country has an area of about 46,500 sq.kms. and a population of about 6,75,000.
The population density in 1994 was 14.5 per sq.km. The capital, Thimphu, is situated in
Bhutan's western part at a height of about 2,440 mts. Most Bhutanese are Mahayana Buddhists
mostly of the Drukpa Kagyupa sect. They were converted to Buddhism in the 8th Century A.D.
by the well-known Indian saint, Padmasambhava (Guru Rimpoche). People of Nepali origin, who
are concentrated mainly in the hot and humid doars of Southern Bhutan, are predominantly Hindu.
There are four main languages spoken in Bhutan; (a) Dzongkha - spoken in western and
northern Bhutan, is also the official language of the country. (b) Bumthangkha in Central
Bhutan, (c) Sarchapkha in Eastern Bhutan, and (d) Nepali in Southern Bhutan The first three
languages are written in the Tibetan script. Nepalese is written in Devanagari.
Unlike its neighbours, Bhutan never had a rigid class system. Social and educational
opportunities are not affected by rank or birth. There is tremendous social mobility.
Bhutanese women enjoy equal rights with men.
Bhutan has three major land regions. The Great Himalayan region in the north rises more than
4300 m (14,000 ft) along the Tibetan border. This area is uninhabited except for a few scattered
settlements in the high valleys. The Great Himalayas radiate southward into central Bhutan,
creating the Middle Himalayan zone.
The Middle Himalayas enclose fertile valleys that have moderate rainfall and a temperate
climate; they are well populated and cultivated. South of the Middle Himalayan valleys and foothills
lies a large plain called the Duars. The northern part of the Duars, including the foothills,
is home to deer, lion, leopards and the rare golden monkey as well as much tropical vegetation
including many species of wild orchids.
The southern section of the Duars was once covered with dense savanna and bamboo jungle,
but has been largely cleared for rice cultivation. Bhutan is a land of soaring snowcapped peaks,
alpine meadows and densely forested hills and ravines abounding in exotic flora and fauna. Climate varies with altitude. Days are normally warm. Nights can be quite chilly. Dry spring starts
in early March and lasts until mid-April. Summer weather commences in mid-April with occasional
showers and continues through the premonsoon rains of late June.
The summer monsoon lasts from late June through late September with heavy rains from the
southwest. The monsoon weather, blocked from its northward progress by the Himalayas, brings heavy
rains, high humidity, flash floods and landslides, and numerous misty, overcast days.
Autumn, from late September or early October to late November, follows the rainy season.
From late November until March, winter sets in, temperature is below freezing point.
Snapshots from the Film Set
September 29, 2003 - Day One: Rinpoche's Hi-Lux churns dust on the road ahead. We are trailing him with a few hot cases full of breakfast for the nine monks who are performing a puja at Chelela peak, 3,988 m above sea level, the highest point on Dantak Road, and one of the highest passes in Bhutan.
Bhutan is a landlocked country. It is about 47,000 kilometres - roughly the
size of Switzerland. It is located between Tibet in the north, Indian states of West Bengal and
Assam in the south, and Arunachal Pradesh in the east.
CLIMATE
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