First Dzong in Haa

Let alone the rest of the country even most Haaps won't know that we had Dumcho Dzong in Haa before Wangchuklo Dzong. The present Dzong was built in 1913 by Gongzim Ugyen Dorji after Dumcho Dzong was destroyed by fire that year. Dumcho Dzong was located somewhere near Lhakhang Karpo in Dumcho, about a kilometer away from the present dzong.
Except for the ruin of the foundation, there is no trace of Dumcho Dzong, which was once a power house of the region. One record suggest that Dumcho Dzong was built in 1895 after the establishment of post of Haa Drungpa but going by the only picture I ever saw of Dumcho Dzong taken in 1905, it has to be way older than recorded.

Gongzim Ugyen Dorji posing in front of Dumcho Dzong (1905)

The picture taken by John Claude White in 1905 is the only visual evidence of how the disappeared piece of history looked like in its glorious days. Eight years later, 1913 the Dzong was heavily damaged by the fire and instead of reconstructing it a new Dzong was constructed at a new location- Wangchuklo Dzong.

Every time I see an old picture of our past I thank John Claude White, it was this man who left us priceless treasure trove of our history. He was a close friend of our first king Ugyen Wangchuk who was then the Trongsa Penlop, and I say the friendship was evident in the amount of time and films White invested in shooting every aspect of Bhutan in the early days. I am now on the mission to get a copy of John Claude White's book "Sikhim & Bhutan: Twenty-One Years on the North-East Frontier, 1887-1908" hoping there will be more pictures of our past than the dozens I could get on internet.

Wangchulo Dzong

Today I am sent on a long history trip by the inspiring historian Tshering Tashi. He posted the picture of Dumcho Dzong that took me on a nostalgic journey back in time. This is not the first time Tshering Tashi has inspired me, there were many moments where he would post a piece of historic record and I will be lost in time. Today after I saw the picture, which was the first ever picture I saw of the Dzong, I went on internet hoping to find more of it. But turned out that it's so rare that it's not even included in the huge collections of White's pictures. But on my way I found so many pictures I have never seen before. I even called my mother to confirm about the location of the Dzong before I illustrated the following map. Thank you Au Tshering Tashi, you inspire me, you make history exciting, and you make me believe.

Illustration of Location of Dumcho Dzong and Wangchuklo Dzong

Twelve Frames of Inspiration, No Bob Marley

When we were young Bob Marley was just a great singer who sang 'Buffalo Soldier' and 'No Woman, No Cry', Now Bob Marley has suddenly become a god among the already confused generation. The Rastafari Flag, with either Bob himself or with a marijuana leave on it, is all over the place. For someone who died in 1981 to brainwash smart kids of 21st century is so unbelievable. Bravo Bob.

He is on the cap, scarf, shirt, locket, wrist band, pants, shorts, socks, shoes, taxi, truck, and even on the cover of textbooks and notebooks (kids buy three cello-tapes to cover their books in Rastafari Flag colors). If Bob Marley lived to see this day, how proud would he be? I swear he will shoot himself. Of all the things in the world he wouldn't want to be worshipped as the lord of the drugs. Bob Marley is grossly misunderstood by this generation and therefore when you see your child liking him you should start fearing.

Where does your child take inspiration from? If people on television can tell what your child should believe in then you are even closer, you should touch his soul with your strongest finger. If people in the town can influence your child more than you then you should question yourself.

I am a computer teacher, and I don't want my students to worship someone, they believe, who smoked marijuana all his life. That's not, I suppose, why they chose to take up computer. I want them to read about Bill Gates and dream big, I want them to believe in the excellence of Steve Jobs, I want them to be fans of Mark Zuckerberg and aspire to be like him... I want them to pause and reconsider where they want to go in life.

Therefore I want them to look at the Twelve Frames I have hung on the Computer Lab Wall, the twelve pioneers in the world of computer technology, and wonder how they must have done what they have done. Wonder, Appreciate, and Get Inspired.

12 Frames on the Wall

Enlarge the picture and see who all have made it on my list of Twelve. Did I miss out anybody worth featuring on my wall? Let me know.

Gelephu Airport- the Biggest Photo Studio

Another Landmark place to visit in Gelephu is of course the Airport. It's a few minutes drive from the Gelephu town on Sarpang Highway. You will be surprised at the security system there- the gate is unmanned and open, you can drive your car on to the runway. It feels very empty to see a brand new facility so deserted, there is not a structure to be seen anywhere within view, forget any aircraft.

Since no plane is landing, I landed there!

The dream of an airport in Gelephu remained on the pillow for ages, but that dream somehow seemed so sweet to me now when I look at the vastness of the plain. If Bhutan wants an airport of international standard Gelephu has the scope. Of course Paro will always remain our iconic airport.

I don't know why Gelephu is so shy about growing. Nothing seemed to have worked well here. It's such a waste of this beautiful place. Even the airport is more like a photo studio, where people come with cameras take picture in different pose.

This is the last post I am writing from Gelephu. But I have some more to write about this place when I reach home. I have been here for 24 days and tomorrow morning at 8 am PaSsu Diary is Signing out from Gelephu.
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Journey to Southern Bhutan

I have discovered that I am a very bad traveller, worse when I have to drive myself. I feel very exhausted at the very thought of driving, I almost fall sick the day before travelling. My wife adds to this by packing stuffs two days ahead of the journey and reminding me about it by reconfirming about everything that's there in our luggage- I land up unpacking and repacking everything just to reassure her. She makes me wash our car, refuel the tank, check the engine, brake, tyres,... 

But there something about this journey that made me feel very excited. I washed my car without her orders, and did everything that she would ask me to do even before she could think of them. I even asked for something extra to her surprise- to take tea for the road. Because it's my maiden journey to Gelephu through Tsirang, I have always wanted to visit Tsirang and I also have an unfinished quest for Gelephu. My first visit to Gelephu some years ago left a very bad impression, I was sick throughout the ten days I spent there and this time I want to even the account and forgive Gelephu with a beautiful experience.

I learned that I had to keep a comfortable six hours in hand to make to Gelephu before 5PM curfew on Sarpang Gelephu highway. I made some calculation and left myself enough time to stop for tea and photography. 

We made a cozy bed on the back seat for daughter so that she can sleep comfortable when she get tired without bother us. She does that always. Kezang had travelled that road before, but it was too before that she hardly remembers anything. So that made the journey double exciting. I felt sorry for my daughter who could enjoy the new road. She slept.

The road from Wangdue to Wakleytar Bridge is almost like travelling through India, with lots of Indian presence. The Punatshangchu construction madness is very heavy but there are occasional smoothness on the road that is even better than the best road in Thimphu. The project has changed the entire geography of the place, and at two points on the way we could see the giant river disappear into the hills. The river bed was full of activity.

The Lost River

The bridges on the Wangdue-Tsirang highway are something to marvel, they are very soothing to eyes and their strength is evident from the freshness the concrete work has maintained. After all it's built by Japanese!

View Point: Dagana Road on the other side

Tsirang road diverts from Dagana road somewhere near Sunkosh, well Punatshangchu changes its name from here on. The brave river is here on called Sunkosh. The road to Tsirang is all uphill through the paddies and orange trees. I woke up my daughter to show her where the oranges grow. Somewhere on the top we meet a chorten from where we get the panoramic view of the Dagana road, Sunkosh and endless hills.

The View Point

We stopped in Damphu Bazar. I had to literally put my foot on the ground to reassure that I have covered one more Dzongkhag. Kezang bought a bottle of native honey. Infact everything is very native in Tsirang. The cozy cottages along the road, the goats in the paddies, the smell of gungudru everything tells stories of the originality of the place. The influence from outside dzongkhag has not changed anything in Tsirang.

Damphu Bazar

The descending road to Sarpang after Tsirang is already lonely and the fog makes is even more melancholic. It feels so much like Gedu. It's only when we close on to Sarpang that we see the sun again, my northern root has always given me special curiosity for everything in the south. I love the plains and the broad leaf trees.

Gate to Sarpang 

Sarpang town disappointed my expectations of it, it's very small, dusty and unevolved. It's too small for all the problems it faced. We stopped for a very satisfying southern Bhutanese lunch in Sharpa Restaurant- how could I resist mutton curry with raw onion on a big plate. Out of curiosity I asked about the kidnap story and the victim happens to be the son of the hotel owner. She showed the place where it happened and how they disappeared. None of the adults were home that fateful day. The boy is now home and doing well after initial shock.

Sharpa Restaurant in Sarpang Town 

Saprang town ends at security gate which is surrounded by tree laden with Honey combs. Every tree around that place has at least 50 huge combs hanging with juicy honey, and I was told that no one harvests them. Such a waste of nature's resource.

Honey Tree in Sarpang

The road between Sarpang and Gelephu gives you the rare opportunity to try the 5th gear on my old car. The much feared road, where stories of kidnaps are often heard, turned out to be a wonderful experience. Within half an hour we were in Gelephu, and just like any Bhutanese the first thing we did was to cross the Bhutan Gate to feel the air in Assam. Kezang went out for shopping and while I waited I saw some scribbling on the pillars: WE WANT SEPARATE BODOLAND. But it wasn't quite readable which must be the reason why their voice is still not heard. I wasn't feeling very secure there, as soon as Kezang came back I drove back to my safe country.

Assam, the denied Bodoland

My Oldest Photograph

Last Sunday a cat has given birth to four kittens in my storeroom. Kezang wanted to feed the exhausted mother but my store is so cramped up that we could hardly get to the cat family. So with all the reluctance I had to invest my weekend in clearing the dusty room. I took out about a truck load of old stuffs until I reached the cats. One kitten was almost dead and I had to rescue it quickly but I needed the approval from the mother. O' She wasn't bad I could easily get the whole family into their new carton box home.

Thanks to this cat family that gave me the chance to dig into my storeroom. I couldn't believe how much priorities have changed in these few years alone. Opening the dusty carton boxes I discovered the things that were considered useless a few years ago are now very essential. There were also things we held on to fondly that are no more of any use. There were clothes and shoes damaged by rats and fungus. One box contained books once I bought with big dreams but over the years I didn't even remember they were there.

And among the old dusty stuff was one picture of mine that I had once considered as just another picture but when I saw it this time I realised that it's the oldest picture I have of myself with me. It was shot by a foreigner in 1997 and sent to me by airmail.

Me and My Friend Tashi Tobgay

It was story of those days when Bhutan had only a countable cameras and foreigners were fond of taking picture of funny things- I was one such thing. They would mail us a copy diligently. Many kids from our generation had one such photo. 

Look at the picture and you can already write a story about my childhood. If you think it was bad, perhaps you haven't known me before that. I didn't get any chance to be a good boy, I didn't see a reason to be one. I am only happy that I survived myself. 

I showed this picture to my friends and Jaggu in particular laughed endlessly. It's on his request I am blogging this picture. My daughter can amazingly identify me in the picture- "When Apa was achu". And just imagine what my wife would have said about this picture...

Picture of a Bhutanese Woman

In 1986, my cousin's wife recollects, she was asked by a western photographer to remove her tego and pose for him with her jewellery shown, during Paro Tshechu. Many years later someone came with a magazine cover with her picture on it. I don't know if it's the name of a Magazine-Arcarama 86. She was sixteen then. She has preserved the picture and can be seen on her wall even today.

1986

24 years later another photographer, this time a Bhutanese professional photographer, got a shot of her during the same festival in Paro. I know it's by Yeshey Dorji because I saw the picture on his blog. I even printed a copy and given it to her. Recently when I visited my cousin, his wife was showing me a book in which her picture has been published.

So, I was wondering if there is something special in her looks that captivates the keen eyes of photographers and perhaps to them she is a picture of a native Bhutanese woman.

2010

She still regrets her inability to go to school because of her grandmother but her passion has taught her to be a weaver, tailor, business woman, and a wonderful mother. 

Drunk Chorten on the Sober Road

I was looking for ST Auto Spa, the latest car servicing facility in Thimphu, to give my car a nice treat for the 90,000 km service it provided to my family. I could see the orange building with big signboard but couldn't find the road that leads to the facility. After a short drive I was startled to find a chorten standing on the road, I nearly honked at it. It looked like a drunk chorten on a straight road.

My Tweet! (@Passu_Diary)

For sometime I forgot everything, just came out of the car and stood there wondering what exactly must have happened with the chorten to be there right on the road. I joked about it on twitter but it's anybody's guess that it wasn't the chorten that encroached on to the road. It was standing there for ages not realizing that one day it would be standing on our aggressive road to change.

No Street Children in Bhutan- Wish the same to the rest of the world!

A lady from Belgium,Manu Louage wrote to me, asking me to help her get a picture of street children in Bhutan. 

"My challenge is to find somebody living in Bhutan to take a picture for me and for all the street children in the world. With the Belgian organisation 'Mobile School' we want to claim April 12th as International Day for Street Children through the United Nations."

I love photography and I am concerned about children living on the street, but not matter how much I recollect I could not remember seeing or hearing about any street child in Bhutan. Or is it just my ignorance? seriously, if I saw any child on street in Bhutan I would have taken them home myself. 
Mobile School has launched "NoStreetKidding" Move on Facebook for which they wanted me to get a shot of street children in the pose they have illustrated and post it on their Facebook Page. There are getting it from all 193 countries of the United Nations to "claim April 12th as International Day for Street Children!"
I proudly wrote back saying I would love to do that for the great cause but Bhutan has no street children, though there are over 150 million children living on streets across the world.
She replied shortly, asking me to take a picture of any Bhutanese child in the said posture and support the move. I consulted Kezang and we agreed to use our homegrown model to pose for us- our daughter!
When I posted the picture on their Facebook Page, they welcomed Bhutan as the 103rd Country to join the move. 

One Two, 12th April 2103- My Model
On April 12th they will draw the #nostreetkidding sign together with the flags of each and every country on one of the biggest squares in Belgium!
Check out the Map of their progress

Photo Gallery for Blog

Did you wish you could have a photo gallery for your blog? I mean the dynamic type? I spent good amount of time figuring out how to create one for my blog like the ones good websites have. It's not hard after all. It doesn't take an expert to work on it.
I experimented the discovery in the following two:

1. PaSsu Diary Photo Gallery
2. Bhutan Crown Adventure Blog

I love to share how I did it, in case you loved it and wish to have one for your blog; Go to QuickGallery. If you are good with internet you can already follow the 3 steps given on the website and carry on.

1. Create an account on Quick Gallery
2. Select your pictures (an album on Facebook,Google Picasa, Instagram or Flicker)
3. Choose the Gallery Design 
4. Copy the code generated and paste it as a post on your blog (in the HTML tab)

If you have further question, leave it in my comment box. I will answer it as quickly as possible!

Ruddy Shelduck- the Ill treated Guest in Bhutan

Today I went to photograph the migratory ducks on the sands of the Punatshangchu river with my family. I have seen them year after year and admired them since I know a little about them. It was at this time of the year my class teacher in junior school would ask me to join him down to the Paa Chhu in Paro to photograph these ducks. Mr. Karma Wangchuk, a born naturalist and self taught artist, is an encyclopedia of birds, plants, butterflies, and animals and has great love for nature. He now teaches in Paro College of Education. He told me about this bird that flies from Tibet to spend their winter with us like the famous black necked crane. The duck is known as Ruddy Shelduck and it's found along the banks of the Punatshangchu at this time of the year.

The Sands of Punatshangchhu

However, ruddy shelduck is not as fortunate as black necked cranes because they are not yet endangered. They are among the least concerned category of birds since there are plenty of them across the world. Perhaps the way we are treating this birds might explain why so many birds are already extinct or endangered.

Ruddy Shelduck in Punatshangchu

They are our winter guest as much as Black necked cranes are but they are left to their own fate. There are posters talking about conservation of herons and cranes but this bird is pushed aside.

They are preyed by wild dogs and there are also rumors of construction workers finding it easier to hunt duck then to buy chicken. With increasing number of workers in Wangdue the fate is this visiting bird is further doomed.

Group of Ruddy Shelduck basking in the sun

If we had records, we might discover that the sands along with Punatshangchu river were their homes long before we knew the sand could be used for construction but now our aggressive and indiscriminate excavation of sand has made them homeless. We are not even waiting for the water to dry up to excavate sand, hundreds of truckloads are carried away everyday. Soon the water will dry up in the place where the ducks are sitting now and then the trucks will come there, where would the birds go? They have come to spend their whole winter here.

The Ducks Flying over Trucks and Dozers 

Riverbed filled with machines 

Every guest coming to Bhutan goes back happy but we are forgetting to be Bhutanese with this poor guest.

The Rough Road to Bajothang

August 31st was the date people in Wangdue were waiting for months with different feelings. But nothing much was happening today besides some closed shops and one lone DCM truck carrying a family's belongings to Bajothang. Official notice has been issued, where it is stated that if any shop is found operating from tomorrow their trade license will be seized. The road to Bajothang, to change the history of a place is going to be rough again.
The biggest cannonball that the people loaded in the cannon to backfire the deadline is the readiness of Bajothang. They question the safety of town, hygiene, traffic, accommodation of people and vehicle. While the finished Bajothang town would have answered all these questions but if you visit the half-alive town today, you will see

1. Many structures are half complete. Anything could fall from above and risk the lives of passersby. 
2. The road network are blocked by construction debris on almost every street thereby making road inaccessible to cars. 
3. Sewage from some building are running free on the streets, pollution both land and air. 
4. All drainage systems are damaged, and nothing has been done till today. 
5. There is not a single traffic signs erected or line drawn on the road, forget the line, there is not blacktopped road visible in the entire town. Streets are filled with cars parked randomly without following any traffic rules.
6. All apartments are filled up, there is no room for people living in Gangthangkha to squeeze in.

I have toured both the towns this morning and viewed the situation from the eyes of an ordinary Bhutanese who has nothing to lose or gain for whatever happens. I had taken along my camera and captured shots of things to backs the story of what people claim. All the pictures are taken this afternoon, please go through the photostory.

This is where Children Park will be. Who will construct it and when is the deadline?

The tiny truck parking is being cleared for tomorrow. How many trucks will fit in there?

BOD. Why did they have to late for so long. Will they be ready by tomorrow morning? 

How to get to the other side of the street? Is it a mule track? 

Forget about traffic signs, you can't even see the road. The bridges you are seeing is constructed over sewage overflow. 

Desolate shops in Gangthangkha, left behind by people who have  shifted to Bajothang.

So far only two structures were dismantled. September 10 is the last day for clearing structures in Gangthangkha.

Where is the road?

Lone truck shifting a home.

Tomorrow morning when I wake up, Gangthangkha will be no more the place people will crowd. I wish people all the strength it takes to let go the past and embrace the new place, after all Bajothang is a bigger town, with bigger opportunity, with space for bigger dreams.
And I wish if the responsible authority could play their role swiftly and give themselves deadline, besides giving to others, in making Bajothang business ready.

Butterfly-4.0

The only thing I know about butterfly is that it comes from Caterpillar- I don't know their names, I don't know their family, I can't even say if it's a butterfly or a moth but I still love photographing them. I wish to learn about them.

The story of Monarch Butterfly on National Geographic amazed and inspired me to take a closer look at this beautiful insect.

This is my fourth post on Butterfly and interestingly my Butterfly-II fetched me huge number of hits from search engines. But I know it must have disappointed the readers since I didn't have anything worth in there. So each time I put up a new butterfly post I am thinking harder and defining what I want out of this modest interest in photographing Butterfly.

Here are links to my older Butterfly posts:

• Butterfly (6 June, 2010)
• Butterfly II (25 September, 2010)
• Butterfly III (9 October, 2010)

Full Landscape of Bajothang

Inspired by the National Geographic photographer, who combines over eighty different shots to get the full view of 1600 year old tree, I tried with two shots. But as always I failed. The two shots are of different size and different lighting, making it difficult to merge. The end result looks funny but until I plan a better one this one is for the record.

As seen from North

You can see Bajo School, Bajo town, the Punatshangchhu River, Tencholing Army Camp, Wangdue town, Wangdue Dzong and Ninzergang Lhakhang. Well, if you don't see them clear, forgive me and wait for the next try!

Paro Dzong at Night

This was the shot I was attempting to get the last time I visited Paro, but because of the cold or may be my hand, I landed up getting blurring images. This time I made sure I came with my tripod so that I don't have to blame anything if the picture still came out wrong. And here is it!

Glowing Paro Dzong

Like a Diamond in the sky!

A Casual shot that served a purpose

I drove my wife and mother to Sunday Market, and unlike other Sundays I didn't have to accompany my wife through the crowd since she had my mother, so after I found a parking space I went out with camera to shoot Wangdue in morning sun. A group of western tourists soon joined me with their cameras, only one of them had a little better than mine. It was a great location to catch the Dzong and the bridge towards south and upon facing north we get clear view of the Bajo town and my school.



Western tourists. Look at the man on the left, he has the Camera I envied!



It was a long wait. I already finished shooting in all four directions.By then the tourists left. Then I sat there and took close-ups of anything that came into my view. I shot two varieties of flowering plants, they didn't come out well. I shot the maddening crowd in the market with full zoom and previewed it to see if I can recognize anybody- yes I knew most of them. I enjoyed shooting behind the bush scenes, every now and then a persons runs behind the bush and hurries their clothes off to give way to nature's call. Only then I realized there is no toilet constructed anywhere around the vegetable market.



I got back in the car and started deleting the pictures which weren't good, and which were just taken for nothing, like those behind-the-bush scenes. I don't know how I missed out deleting the flowering plants, my friend Ugyen Tshering upon see them later in the evening exclaimed,

 "Where did you click this pictures?"
"Why? it's above the vegetable market"
"Good, good, good, let's get it. This is the plant class XII are going to do Biology practical exam on."



The Flower that was needed- I don't know the name even!



For last three years I joined him in his specimen collection and I still remain his savior. It could have taken him days to locate the plant. He was grateful and I was happy too.



When Kids are made to Fight

I was supposed to photograph the fight actions but I rather found the expressions more charming. I was laughing most of the time and missed many good expressions. To save space I have photoshopped the four pictures into one:

Amused, Anxious, Hurt and Shy- all too honest!

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Memories from Drukgyel

It reminded me of my silver medal in Drukgyel High School back in 2002. I was then 72 kg heavy, which put me up with a tall red belt guy Karma Tenzin. I requested him early on not to knock me out and not to hit me hard. I wasn't even white belt. During my trainings I was put far behind because I wasn't so pleasing to the master, whose sharchopka I didn't understand. Thanks to Jakie Chan, I had picked up some kicks from his movies.

During those longest two minutes of my life I was running around the ring. Karma was kind enough to spare my head until I used one of Jakie Chan's kicks to push him down. I quickly regretted it but by then he was upset and I had to pick my helmet from the ground. I lost the match to win the silver medal because there were just two of us in our weight category.

Butterfly-III

This is my first time trying my hand on Macro Lens. I got some self satisfaction but I know they have nothing special in them. I took care of a few aspect of photography, like positioning at the side, but despite my long chase I couldn't get the butterfly rest in the shade.

It's hard to believe that this little creature will soon become a butterfly

A flower near my lab

Face of a flower

Another guest on flower

butterfly with torn wings

amazing colors on a butterfly wings

Butterfly-II

It was a noisy day among the excited children in the sports fields. I was running after balls and people with my camera, and of all the shots today I loved the butterfly sitting calmly on a flower.

My favorite Shot of the day- photo by PaSsu

My King and I- The Best Moment of my Life.

My Short visit to Heaven

I graduated in 2006 December, employed in 2007 January, got paid in 2007 July onwards, and was called for convocation only in 2009 October. All my friends were coming and they called me up to come, which is the only reason why I had to agree on going back after three long years. It was too late for them to tell us that we have graduated. Some friends had passed away in those three years.

Upon reaching there I thanked god that I came, because His majesty the King graced the occasion. To add to the glory his majesty posed for photograph with each one of us. I was about 700 teachers behind and yet shivering with excitement. As my turn neared I was almost flying and fading. When I finally gave the closest bow to my king, received the scroll and stood next to him I couldn’t feel myself anymore until I felt the royal pat on my shoulder. If I had a little weaker heart I would have fainted. That was the moment I felt totally enlightened. When I recomposed myself I forgave the convocation and thanked it for giving me the life’s best moment.

I even forgive Kuensel for letting me come there over and over for the last one year and a half for the Picture.  And I forgive the person there for not giving me the softcopy of the picture.