One of my very first introductions to the kingdom of Bhutan was through the movie Travelers and Magicians. Travelers and Magicians is a Wizard of Oz-like tale where Dorothy’s ruby slippers are replaced with traditional Bhutanese boots and the yellow brick road to the Emerald City is replaced with the road back to Thimphu.
The movie is, by far, the most famous film to come out of Bhutan. It was an official selection at both the Toronto and Venice International Film Festivals and has won several awards at international film festivals. It follows two intertwining stories. One is the tale of a fatal love affair. The other tells the story of “the traveller”, a young Bhutanese man who has dreams of escaping his life in Bhutan and travelling to America. He sets off on the road towards Bhutan’s capital (Thimphu, aka my hometown) only to discover along the way that “There’s no place like home”.
So, never did I ever imagine that one day I would find myself travelling down that very same road, back to Thimphu with the very “traveller” whose adventures I had followed many months ago! But this is how I spent one very interesting Christmas in Bhutan.
In front of the Trashigang Dzong |
My first stop after the SJI launch in Samdrup Jongkhar (see previous post) was Trashigang . I met with Tempa, one of the Observer’s bureau reporters, who acted as my unofficial guide and took me to the Trashigang dzong, which is known as the ‘Dzong in the Sky’ because of is breathtaking location on a cliffside.
The three of us realized that we must have looked like a very dysfunctional family on a Christmas vacation (with Noa being American, Tshewang being Asian and me as their biracial daughter) and had fun trying to convince anyone we met that Noa and Tshewang were my parents. Tshewang took advantage of the fact that he was the only one of our trio who could speak Bhutanese and told Noa and I that, while most people could believe she was my mother, they couldn't fathom that he was old enough to be my father!
Noa and I - Christmas Day |
Noa and Tshewang at one of the filming sites for Travellers and Magicians |
After a day spent wandering through the temples of Bumthang, some of the oldest and most significant in Bhutan, we headed on the road back towards Thimphu. Along the way, we stopped at the sites where Travellers and Magicians had been filmed. It was the first time that Noa and Tshewang had been back to the sites since filming wrapped and I felt really lucky to be able to share the experience with them. One of the murals painted on a rockface for the film has become a site of spiritual significance and hundreds of tsa-tsas* have been placed there by locals.
It was a very special Christmas with my crazy and wonderful pseudo family!
* Tsa tsas are small Buddha and stupas made out of clay. In some Buddhist cultures it is believed that the process of making tsa tsas accumulates merits and virtues. When placed at spiritually significant sites, Tsa-tsas are believed to have the power to prevent disasters, cure illness and provide atonement.