Purification By Fire : Domkhar Tsechu #1

In Bhutan the exact date of Tsechus is not known until the last minute and nor is the timing of events. We found out this week that the Domkhar Tsechu (a village about 7km from here) would start this Friday night and continue over the weekend. We also heard that it would start with some sort of fire event on Friday night, probably around 9pm-10pm.

We arranged a taxi to take us to the event, but the driver rang us to let us know it would all be starting earlier at 8pm. Good for us – heading out into the cold night with two little kids, the earlier the better.

When we arrived at the Lhakang the crowds were gathering. We found a ‘front-row seat’ on the ground with a good view of the courtyard. Having lived here a couple of months now, it was so lovely to greet many familiar faces in the crowd and have a feeling of being one of the locals. A couple of my favourite class 6 students came and sat with us, talking to Remy and Xavier and explaining what was going on, I was so grateful for their excellent English skills.

At first, some elaborately dressed dancers performed around the courtyard – a high-energy dance of spinning, jumping and leaping - as a small fire was lit. Gradually more wood was added to the fire so that it grew higher and higher. A second group of dancers entered, dressed in only tiger-skin printed wraps on their lower half, chests bare – they would have been cold except for the fact that their dancing was energetic and the blazing fire kept them warm and illuminated in the night. The students asked if we were scared – they said they were – but it was not at all scary at this point, just fascinating, and very reassuring that all around us were people we knew.

 

Dancing around the fire.

 

 

Setting the fire up at the Lhakang.

 

An atsara teasing people in the crowd with his larger-than-life you know what!

 

The crowd started to cheer and wolf-whistle just like we were at a football game – and I was told this was to encourage the flames to go higher and higher to the height of the temple. The tiger-skin clad dancers were holding a piece of paper attached to wooden poles above the fire and the aim was for this paper to catch alight.

Finally this happened with a bang, and the crowd started to disperse immediately. Again my students explained we needed to leave the Lhakang and walk up the hill to the site of the next ritual.

Hundreds of people walked in the pitch dark up the hill where a large ‘arch’ had been prepared, covered entirely in flammable grasses, sticks and dried foliage. As we waited a teacher from school came to warn me about how dangerous the next event would be, to be careful with the children, and that it was best to run through the fire alone. At this point I didn’t realise what was about to happen and I thought his comments were overly cautious.

The group of elaborately dressed dancers and monks arrived from the Lhakang below bearing torches lit from the fire. They set the arch way alight and in no time it was all aflame – there was not an obvious place to run through – the whole space was on fire!

 

But quick as a flash the crowd started to run through the middle of the fire! Young and old, male and female, even astonishingly parents with small children strapped on their backs, ran through the middle of the flames! Now the teacher’s words of caution made sense! There is no way known I would run through that fire alone, let alone with one of my children!!!!!

 

Leaping through the fire - would you be brave enough?

 

Onlookers gathered to watch the spectacle.

 The fire was blazing and hot!

This photo was perfect for my FMS photo of the day prompt 'fire'.

 

Monks, dancers and musicians gathered to watch in the glow of the fire.

 

We stood at a distance where we could see the action but clear of falling flaming debris.

The crowd was loud and cheering – some like us standing by watching, but many filing through again and again through the fire. A part of me wanted to join in, but it just looked too dangerous. We went around to the other side to see the people emerging from the fire - with sparks on their clothes, and smoke coming from their shoes!!! The possibility for disaster was imminent – with glowing bundles of fire overhead threatening to drop on people as they ran through. Of course there was no St. John ambulance personnel waiting nearby, and sure enough it seemed that actually no one caught fire or was hurt in any way.

As the fire died down children joined in, even when I still judged the situation too dangerous for myself. The crowd headed back down the hill to the Lhakang where dancing continued on.

As almost all the fire had burned out, and only embers remained I decided it was my time to run through. Looking through the photos this morning we had a good laugh at how tame my run was. We saw a man nearby who we knew and asked about the significance of the ritual. He said that if you run through two times your sins will be purified. Also you can ensure the year ahead will be blessed with good-luck. I ended up running through three times, and I kid you not that as we walked down the hill I felt a very fresh, clean, pure and light feeling inside – perhaps my slate really had been wiped clean?

We re-entered the Lhakang and watched some more dancing before deciding it was time to call it a night and get the little boys home. They had been fascinated and at times scared by what they saw, but it was definitely something we will never forget!

Break from Routine

As much as I love my Class Two students, and seeing their happy smiles six days a week, I welcome the fairly frequent changes to school routine here.

Last week, in the middle of unit test week Chumey MSS welcomed an eminent Buddhist monk from Taiwan: Hai Tao Master. He came with an entourage of 80 or so followers from countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia who were accompanying him on a tour of Bhutanese holy sites and also donating to his social and religious projects. Excitement was in the air the morning of his arrival - after assembly we waited patiently for the word that they were on their way. The teachers lined up at the gate to welcome the visitors and when they finally arrived it was interesting to be on the receiving end of 80 cameras flashing at us. Of course their eyes widened in wonder when they came to the end of the receiving line and there were Xavier and I in our kira and gho, blending in... almost!

Xavier and I wait for Hai Tao Master to arrive.

Teachers were dressed in their kiras with rachu (scarves) and ghos with kabneys (shawls).

 

Waiting with the two Mrs Pemas.
 

I was hoping that since the Lama has international devotees that he would speak in English, but unfortunately for us he spoke in Chinese which was translated to Dzongkha - on this occasion we didn't have the karma to receive his message. He spoke for an hour or so, and it was a freak hot day - the warmest we've had, and the students and teachers sat in the boiling sun. Xavier and I sought out the shade and enjoyed chatting with the pilgrims who were intrigued to find an Australian family in a Bhutanese village. They showered the boys (Bob and Remy came down to join in the fun) with foreign lollies and chocolates (Xavier's first Ferrero Rocher!) and had their photos taken with us.

The Principal gave a welcome speech to Hai Tao Master and his followers.

Hai Tao Master is seated in the saffron robes. He had a serene, but jolly demeanor.

 It was a big event for the school in our assembly area.

I'd love to tell you the sage message imparted that day, but only heard later that it was generally about making sure to do good things in this life to have a happy life, now and in the future.
The group gave a notebook, pen and eraser to each student as well as sweets and juice. It was very exciting for the students! One member of the group also made a generous cash donation to the school of $1000 US which is a huge sum of money here. I am hoping we can spend some of it on books, although the prevailing attitude is to put it towards another Buddhist altar for the school.

When the students came back to class it was a little hard to settle down after all the excitement, lollies and fruit juice!

And today at assembly my ears and brain were straining to make sense of the Principal's address in Dzongkha to the students. I heard a couple of familiar words which helped me understand he was speaking of the rumoured upcoming holiday, and finally he finished in English with those magic words "You all have a loooong weekend". Afterwards we had a meeting with the teachers, again in Dzongkha of which I understood the basic message, but again wanted to be absolutely clear - 'So what day exactly do we need to be back at school? 'Thursday!' - music to my ears - a 6 day holiday!!!

And then in the way I'm getting accustomed to - mid morning a teacher came round with a notice for teachers. Usually this is ominous and tells us to meet after school for a short meeting - which means a meeting that goes for 3-4 hours in Dzongkha! But this time, I was pleasantly surprised to be invited to lunch with all the teachers at Dhomkhar (a few kms up the road) to honour a Rinpoche (reincarnated Lama) who passed away a year ago. I was happy to sign my name to that notice to say I would attend!

Curious to my western-mind and values - all the teachers and Principal boarded the school bus and headed off to the lunch - leaving all the students behind at the school unattended for the next hour or two. In Australia it would be unheard of for this to happen - here in Bhutan no one bats an eye-lid. A few weeks ago I probably would have been uneasy, but this time I just went along with it. We did drop Xavier home on the way though - he asked if they would have vegemite sandwiches for lunch at the Rinpoche's house and I thought he would have more chance of that at home!

I felt like a kid on a school bus - all the teachers were in high-spirits (must have had something to do with an afternoon off work and a 6 day holiday coming up!) and it is just so nice to escape from the 100m stretch of road of Chumey that is my existence 6 days a week!
I thought we must be going to the Dhomkar Lhakang (monastery) which is holding a tsechu this weekend, but it turned out to be a large private home of the late Rinpoche.

Upon arrival we saw that anyone who is anyone in Chumey was there - hundreds of people gathering for the lunch that was offered. We were invited into the large home where we were entertained in a small room with tea and biscuits and snacks. There is an unspoken rule here in Bhutan about who sits where, and of course I forgot and went straight for the most comfortable looking seat in the room. All the teachers who followed sat on the floor first before some banter went on and they eventually took up the chairs. It was curious that although an air of reverence was in the room, and of course we were gathered to show our respects to the late Rinpoche, a television in the corner of the room was playing a sci-fi martial arts type movie with all sorts of violent images, dubbed in Tibetan! These inconsistencies always make me smile!

At the front of the Rinpoche's house.

 Lining up to receive lunch in the special tent.

People sat around outside and enjoyed the festive atmosphere.

 Couldn't resist a photo of these ladies in kiras with their woven baskets and that beautiful blossom tree.

After that we went to the altar room where an enormous mountain of food: packets of biscuits and snacks and fruit were piled high on a table. The chair of the Rinpoche was decorated with large framed photos of him and all the teachers prostrated to it and other images in the room. We then walked around the mountain of offerings and made a small cash donation to the altar and then left to allow the next group of teachers to enter.

It seemed like we were the last group in Chumey to line up for the buffet lunch, and yet the food was still plentiful. Red rice, pork with daikon radish, beef with red chillies, ema-datse with eggplant, vegetable curry, puta (Bumthang specialty buckwheat noodles) and a glass of warm milk were served. It was a delicious meal and they must have made so much food to cater to the enormous crowd. After lunch beer and ara (rice wine) were offered but I couldn't possibly have had either and headed back to school - I would have probably fallen asleep (or sung our class favourite 'Country Roads' Bhutanese style in a loud voice straining for the high notes - hang on I do that anyway without the ara and beer!)

As is Bhutanese custom, as soon as the food was eaten, plates were cleared and we were ready to board the bus back to school. We still had two classes left for the day, and amazingly all the students were happy and well-behaved in their classrooms awaiting the teachers!

Now as I write this I feel that great feeling knowing six days stretch ahead for a break from school. Tomorrow is the start of the Dhomkar festival which begins with an interesting fire ceremony at night. On Saturday our friend Kyle, an American BCF teacher in Trongsa about 2 hours away is coming to visit and stay - I'm sure he knows he is going to be smothered by two little boys when he arrives, they both love him!

He has heard there is a Tsechu on at Ura on Sunday so if we can find out more information about that it looks like we might be heading back to Ura sooner that we would have thought. Tuesday is the first of three national elections - although we won't be participating, it will be interesting to see what goes on. I'm sure there will be many experiences worthy of a blog update over the weekend, so stay tuned to hear how it goes!

 

Tingle your Taste Buds!

As far as world cuisines go, Bhutanese is probably one of the least known – even in Brisbane and the Gold Coast you will find Nepali and Tibetan restaurants, along with every other Asian favourite, but the food of Bhutan is elusive. Having travelled all over the Himalayas before I expected that Bhutanese food would be basically like Indian or Nepali food – and yet here in Bhutan, while you certainly come across a vegetable curry and dal is a staple, in the home setting I have found Bhutanese definitely have their own cuisine using the unique ingredients available that is very distinct from Indian cooking.

In an environment where for much of the year vegetables are scarce, the Bhutanese rely on a few fresh ingredients: chillies, onions, garlic, potatoes and datse cheese supplemented by dried fish, dried mushrooms, meat (chicken, beef, pork - every part of the animal is used) and eggs. Sporadically we are able to buy green beans, tomatoes, eggplants, cauliflower and spinach which widens the possibilities dramatically. Hopefully as the weather warms up we will see even more variety in what is available locally.

At any Bhutanese feast there is always ema-datse – which literally means chilli cheese. The chillies vary from mild to eye-poppingly hot and the cheese is usually a mixture of the fresh homemade datse cheese and processed ‘Kraft’ cheese from India. We have a milk processing plant right next door where we can buy datse cheese by the hand-sized ball and I find it very versatile – using it in place of ricotta or fetta in favourite recipes from home. We keep ours in the fridge, but I was told that Bhutanese people like to keep it on the shelf where it gets a mouldy outside crust which is scraped off to use in cooking and then it is left to sit a bit longer to grow more mould. I’m sure the French would understand!

Datse cheese on the left comes in handsized balls and the processed cheese that is the secret ingredient in ema-datse.

 

When we arrived in Thimphu  I was very keen to try ema-datse for the first time, and for the first week or so we were treated to a mild foreigner-friendly version that tickled our taste buds but didn’t overwhelm them. In the second week things changed and super strength chillies were introduced – I could only eat a teaspoon of the dish before I broke out in a sweat. A popular variation is shamu datse which has mushrooms (sometimes tinned button mushrooms or much nicer fresh or dried shiitake, matsutake or oyster mushrooms) with the chillies and cheese.

This delicious (made even more so by the hot pink dinnerware!) meal at Ura featured local matsutake mushroom shamu datse.

 

Bob really likes his ema-datse so he was keen to try out making it for himself – he came up with the idea of adding some green beans to the mix to fill out the dish and make it more nutritious and less spicy for our tastebuds. I had a go at making it last night too – and it was really tasty – the cheese is delicious, the chilli had enough heat to be interesting and the beans make what is usually a side dish into a complete vegetarian meal. We ate it with corn-rice. Here we buy course ground cornmeal (like polenta but coarser) which is mixed with rice in the rice cooker at a ratio of 3 parts rice to 1 part cornmeal. It is really tasty and a nice change from plain rice.

 

Corn-rice with bean ema-datse - will you give it a try??? (Sorry, I need to work on my food-styling and photography!)

 

So here is our adapted recipe. I hope Bhutanese readers don’t mind the way we have adapted their national dish.

 

Green Bean Ema-Datse

 

2 tablespoons butter

1 large onion sliced

4 large green or red chillies sliced in quarters lengthwise (remove seeds if you prefer less heat)

4 garlic cloves sliced thinly

250 g green beans, sliced into 3cm lengths

1 large tomato (or two smaller ones) sliced into 1/12s

1/2 cup water

1 large ball datse cheese (or try a combination of about 100g ricotta and 100g fetta cheese)

100g processed cheese - cubed

1/2 cup milk

salt to taste

 

1. Melt butter in medium sized saucepan.

2. Add chillies, onions and garlic - cook until tender (3-5 mins).

3. Add tomato and green beans and stir.

4. Add half a cup of water, cover the saucepan and allow the beans to soften for 5 mins.

4. Crumble the datse cheese (or ricotta and fetta) and add the processed cheese.

5. Stir and allow the cheese to melt into the vegetables.

6. Add milk to loosen the mix - add more if necessary to create a smooth sauce.

7. Season with salt.

8. Serve with rice - basmati, Bhutanese red rice, brown rice or a mix or cornmeal and basmati would all be great!

 

What do you think of (this slightly different version) Bhutan's national dish?

'Dreamy'

Last Sunday morning I woke from a dream where I found myself suddenly home in Australia. I started crying as I wasn’t ready to have left Bhutan. It was interesting to wake up from that dream and realise that while at times we daydream about our Gold Coast life, we are committed to being here for the duration of the year – to experience to the full our opportunity in Bhutan.

And by coincidence, the FMS photo-a-day prompt for Sunday was ‘Dreamy’. I contemplated what type of photo I might be able to take to capture the idea of ‘Dreamy’ and decided any photo I could take of a Bhutanese landscape would fit the bill, particularly when you consider that we spent all of last year at home dreaming of Bhutan and find ourselves here living the dream now. I still have those pinch-myself moments when I think – am I really here?

This image is the 'Bhutan of my dreams'.

 

We had arranged with Mr Tandin, an English teacher at school to go for a day trip to Ura Valley. Bumthang, the region where we live has four valleys – Chumey Valley, Tang Valley, Choekor Valley and Ura Valley. In the short time we’ve been here we have explored the first three so Ura was top on our list for a weekend day trip. A couple of weeks ago we saw an interesting travel show on BBS (Bhutan Broadcasting Service) in English and the host travelled to Ura so we saw for ourselves how beautiful it was: green and alive – it  must have been filmed in summer.

A couple of kilometres down the road towards Chamkar there is a turn off to a new road to Ura, a short cut, so from studying google maps it  looked to be a pleasant 40km drive. It turns out that road is not completed yet, and so when Mr Tandin offered to take us he knew he was in for the drive the long way around – 150kms return – and this is not highway driving but winding round the mountains driving, although the road was all paved.

Just a few kms down the road, this village is lower than Chumey and is brilliantly green.

 

We set off at 10am and did the trip to Chamkar (also known as Jakar) which is becoming very familiar and seems to be faster every time we go. From there we headed in the direction of Tang, but where the Tang road veers off on its rocky dusty unpaved way, we continued on. The scenery was beautiful as we climbed higher on the road, passing the occasional small village which Mr Tandin was able to name and describe for us, but mostly we saw glimpses of snowy mountains in the distance and trees such as pine, spruce, poplar, willow, walnut, fir and the famous rhododendron with gorgeous red flowers.

Family photo enroute to Ura. Remy didn't let go of his 3D glasses all day!

 

Fragrant bush that was growing all along the roadside with pretty yellow flowers.

Potato field with little hut: at night farmers sleep in the huts to keep wild animals away from their crops.

We stopped frequently for photo opportunities and to have a breath of fresh air and stretch our legs. About half way we produced our picnic supplies – tea and the muesli bars I made – and sat by the road with a lovely vantage of the Himalayas touching the clouds.

 

Roadside picnic #1

Roadside picnic #2 'Look at those Himalayas!'

Roadside picnic #3 :Tea and muesli bars.

 

The boys grew restless for the last leg to Ura, so it was a relief to arrive and get out at a little restaurant for lunch. They provided a wonderful spread of fresh food made from local ingredients – homemade wheat noodles (chewy like udon), matsutake mushrooms with chilli and cheese (shamu datsi), dal, rice and crunchy baked potatoes. It was as good as any meal we’ve had in Bhutan – and if it wasn’t so far away I’d want to go back there regularly!

A cosy place for lunch.

Remy was happy to have this little guy sit next to him during lunch.

 Cute artwork above the restaurant door - a 3D woodcut.

View down to Ura from restaurant window.

Typical Bhutanese house next to the restaurant.

We drove a little further down to Ura village and then walked up through the village to the Lhakang (temple). We commented on how lovely it was that Ura’s houses were all clustered together joined by dirt paths and roads, far off the main road, unlike Chumey which is built along the main road and doesn’t have the same atmosphere. We saw a couple of blossom trees in pink splendour, but mostly the warmth of spring is yet to bring Ura into full bloom. Even the willow trees that are quite lush with foliage now in Chumey were only sprouting the first green buds, so it goes to show that Ura is considerably colder than where we are (which is saying something as we feel Chumey is colder than most places we know of in Bhutan!).

 

We saw some impressive scarecrows during the day dressed up in ghos.

 

The impressive blue feather on a bird we see often here (can't remember name right now??).

Walking through Ura.

Large farmhouse in Ura.

Firewood was stacked so neatly outside houses to create a high fence.
 

 

The Lhakang was impressively large at the top of the village, and built around the 1800s. Mr Tandin said there were some beautiful statues inside, so he sent a child to find the key. After waiting a while in the late afternoon chill and still no key had arrived we decided to move on. Hopefully once the connection road is completed we will be able to come back to Ura again, maybe for their Tsechu (festival), or in summer to see the verdant fields.

 

Approaching Ura Lhakang.

An impressive sight - Ura Lhakang.

View of Ura from the Lhakang. Top points if you can work out what is hanging from the eaves.

 

 

The boys and I felt sleepy in the back seat for the return drive, but the interesting conversation continued. We stopped in Chamkar and took the second opportunity in two days to stock up on fruit and vegetables (we never know when we might get back, and the bananas were so good the day before that we ate the whole bunch!). We even bought a bunch of plump asparagus which is in season right now and a pomegranate, a treat we all enjoy.

Mr Tandin generously took us to the fancy bakery for a snack to keep us going for the last leg. The selection of cakes is impressive and they tasted as good as they looked. Xavier and Bob chose a chocolate ‘swiss roll’ type cake and I went for the same, but made with buckwheat flour. Both were delicious. Mmmm, look forward to return there soon!

 

These cakes tasted as good as they looked!

This one's for Nana - he still loves a special treat!

 

Jakar Dzong overlooks the town of Chamkar.

 

When we arrived home it was nearly dark, 6.30pm. Soon we received a call from Karma, our contact at BCF in Thimphu who helps us out in a variety of ways. We had heard he would be coming through Chumey with a tour group so had asked him to do some shopping for us in one of the modern supermarkets in Thimphu: 3 kg of sultanas, three packets of cocoa (now I have worked out I can make chocolate brownies in our oven I don’t want to run out of the essential ingredient!) and dried apricots. Ok, not essentials, but things that add a bit of flavour to our life. Thanks Karma!!!

We were all worn out, but full of happy memories of our trip to Ura.

A postscript – it has taken a week to post this blog as we had used up our internet quota for the month (could be my fault!) and the only way to recharge is to go to Chamkar in person to pay the bill. For us that means hiring a taxi for the return trip (approx  1000nu) while the bill itself is only 400nu. In the end Bob found someone who could pay the bill in person for us.

PPS - It turned out it was not only that we hadn't paid our bill but that somehow our password had been changed and that's why it didn't work. Even since the problem has been fixed I have also been trying for hours to work on this blog and upload it but the internet has been going sooooo sloooowwwww - just so you know!

 

Sunday Morning Cooking Time

I woke up early this morning - it's Sunday - my one day of rest and leisure. I have a lot of rest and leisure to squeeze into one day a week! In Australia I often get into some type of baking on Sunday morning - a nice banana or carrot cake or some chocolate and date, or apple and yoghurt muffins: some type of a mildly healthy treat to take for lunches through the week.

I started making a cup of tea and took time to look at the assortment of foodstuffs on our pantry shelves. Bob had an unexpected lift to Chamkar yesterday and came back with a great haul of vegetables, fruit, bread and cereals including a huge bag of puffed rice which Bhutanese people like to snack on with their tea. For us it is an easily accessible and cheap (about $1 for a kg) and healthy (at least no sugar) breakfast cereal for my breakfast cereal loving boys.

So I saw the enormous bag of puffed rice and the tin of condensed milk I bought a while ago and thought - there has to be something I can make with these. In a flash I found this recipe online for Chewy Rice Bubble Bars.

In the time it took me to make my cup of tea, I had assembled the other ingredients: butter, honey, muesli and sultanas (I substituted these for the choc-chips). While I drank my tea I stirred the condensed milk mixture until it turned to caramel, and then it was a quick stir and into the fridge to set.

Stirring the caramel.

Adding caramel mixture to the dry ingredients.

And into the fridge to set, can't get much easier than that!!!

It needs at least 6 hours in the fridge which is a bit of a shame as we are going on a day trip today with one of the teachers and his daughter who is in my class to Ura - another valley in the Bumthang region where we live. It is supposed to be very beautiful and we thought that at this time of year with the first signs of spring all around - the blossom trees puffy and pink and the willow trees sprouting green foliage - it would be gorgeous. Perfect for a little picnic with rice bubble bars and tea! Anyway, lets hope there is a momo shop on the way!

I am pretty passionate about cooking - it has become probably my favourite hobby in recent years as a part time stay-at-home-mum. Living in Bhutan presents challenges to my inner Masterchef  - a lack of many of the basic and also exotic ingredients I love - and also a more limited kitchen. But on the other hand I am opening to new ingredients, new kitchen appliances, new cuisines and so I thought that I might add a 'new dimension' to my blog and write about some of our kitchen miracles. I hope you will enjoy reading along!

Oh and if it seems this post is a bit inconsistent with my previous post about Dental Health, well I guess it is!!! We all need one day a week off to just have fun, right?  I promise we'll all brush and floss after eating, ok!