Cycling, Fly Fishing, Archery and the Mad Monk of Bhutan

(Paul) Since Navyn and kids have written about the beauty and culture of Bhutan, I thought you might enjoy a male’s perspective.

Warning, parts of this blog is rated PG-13.

Bhutan is like Colorado, just without the people. People enjoy magnificent mountains, beautiful clean air and amazing streams and rivers. When we first met our guide Ugyen, he told us he once lived in Belmont, MA and worked at the bike store Wheelworks. A nice American he met in Bhutan, invited him to live with his family and he got him a job to learn how to repair bikes at the age of 21. This was Ugyen’s first time out of the country. Immediately we bonded and talked about our love of bicycling and how for 20 years I have done the Pan Mass Challenge. Then he tells me about his bicycling exploits. He is the first person to ever bike the entire country of Bhutan. In 21 days, he rode 2,500 kilometers, climbed over 8 passes of more than 10,000 feet and visited every county to help educate young Bhutanese about drugs, drinking and teen pregnancy. While on the trip he learned his sister died of leukemia.

In honor of his sister and to support cancer research, Ugyen started another event – a one-day bike race of 268 kilometers, up four mountain passes of 10,000 feet. The race starts at 2:00 am and finishes with a 5,000 foot ascent over 44 kilometers. Ugyen has won the race a couple of times. He has basically formed his own Pan Mass Challenge.

Of course I have to go on a ride with the Bhutanese version (nice and clean) of Lance Armstrong. Our first ride was to our hotel in Punakha on mountain bikes. Only 10K but last part was straight uphill. Turns out, this was just a test to see if I could ride. The next day we rode from Thimphu to Paro, 80 kilometers starting at 7,700 feet altitude. Thankfully we had some nice downhill rides, but the wind was blowing 30 mph in our face, the first time I have ever had to pedal downhill. The ride was one of the most beautiful rides you can imagine. Surrounded by steep peaks, following a roaring river, climbing and descending beautiful valleys.

While biking by these amazing streams, I had to ask, “How is the fishing?” In his understated way, Ugyen said, “Pretty good, we only fly fish, spinning reels not allowed, so hardly anyone fishes.” The next day, we all went fly fishing for brown trout. It was great seeing Halle catch the first fish on her fist time ever fly fishing. Then Maya made a terrible cast and boom, she catches a brown. There are few unspoiled streams left in this world, and Bhutan is filled with them. After fly fishing, we tried our hand at archery, the national sport. To reinforce this is a fun place, archery is usually practiced and played only while you are drinking. These guys know how to have fun.

Now for the PG-13 part of this blog.

A Mad Monk, known as Druka Kinley, came from Tibet in the 15th century. His primary weapon to subdue all evil forces was his FLAMING THUNDERBOLT OF INFINITE WISDOM.  Yes, his “phallus” has been reproduced all over the country. When building a new home, phallus hang from the roof, to ward off evil. There is a temple honoring the Mad Monk, who is known as the monk of fertility.

A temple which we visited, was constructed by his brother and visited by many to ask for fertility. Once the baby is born, you must come back and pick a name after making an offering. When picking names a monk will give you holy water and produce a pile of cards attached to little strings that you pick, on the card is your child’s new name. We witnessed a newborn getting her name.

Bhutan is known as happiest place on earth. For a guy, you can fish, cycle, drink, shoot arrows and enjoy the outdoors. Or maybe the real reason everyone is so happy has to do with the FLAMING THUNDERBOLT OF INFINITE WISDOM.