Bhutan is known locally as Drukyul, the Land of the Thunder Dragon, Druk Yul. It is a landlocked country surrounded by India and China, and laying in the lap of the mighty Himalayas. Only a handful of pilots are authorised to land at the challenging Paro Airport. Above all, Bhutan is an interesting and not a very well known country that for a long time was considered remote and isolated.

But first, as always, food. 

photo Tibet Vista

Food: chili is as chili does

The Bhutan night reunites eleven Virtual Nomads on a warm summer / autumn night. The Bhutanese kitchen has been strongly influenced by Indian and Chinese culinary traditions. Where our Benin night was all about peanut, the Bhutanese kitchen seems to love chillies. When preparing the food, we limit the number of chillies as our palate might not be totally accustomed to extremely hot food.  

The national food of Bhutan is Ema datshi – a spicy stew of cheese and chillies for the brisk mountain air. It is fairly easy to prepare and quite chewy and yummy. ‘Ema’ literally means ‘chillies’ and ‘datshi’ means ‘cheese’. The cheese used for this dish in Bhutan is a soft fresh cheese that cannot really be found outside Bhutan so instead we use a combination of fresh mozzarella with mild Danish fresh cheese. The mozzarella in the end was not the best option (even if it gave a good taste) because of its stringiness, but nevertheless it was fairly successful dish. We cut the number of chillies used in the recipe and used medium green chili peppers instead of red. Combined with red rice – the only rice that grows in high altitudes – it makes a great dish. 

We also enjoy a variation of Ema Datshi which is Kewa Datshi, with ‘Kewa’ meaning potato. It is a very similar recipe with tomato and potato, and this time we used a combination of goats cheese and feta. 

The protein is provided by Jasha Maroo, a spicy chicken stew with onion, tomato, ginger, garlic and again – chillies. JK who prepared the dish used one chilli pepper instead of four and the stew was still quite spicy but judging from the reactions of the meat-eaters, really delicious. It is a perfect winter dish and not probably well suited for a warm summer night, but was well received by the Virtual Nomad crowd. It’s colourful with a delicious smell and perfect with red rice. 

As a side soup we have Jaju – a warm creamy spinach soup with a taste of soft cheese. We use spinach, cream and cheese with garlic and butter, which makes a heavy but delicious starter for our Bhutanese dinner. The jewel on top is the Bhutanese red berry and hazelnut salad that AK prepares. 

The Land of the Thunder Dragon

Bhutan has a long history and has never been colonised. The ‘Bearded Lama’, Ngawamg Namgyal unified the kingdom in the 1630s and established a dual system of government. An interesting fact is that when he died, his death was kept a secret for 54 years! A remote and isolated kingdom, it started to slowly open to the west in the 1960s, and in 2008 Bhutan adopted its first democratic constitution. The Heads of State is called Druk Gyalpos, meaning Dragon King. Since 1907, the kings have come from the Wangchuck Dynasty. The current king, since 2006, is Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck (the 5^th Dragon King) whose father (the 4^th Dragon King) married four sisters, all who were queens. The current king is allowed to have more wives than one but has said one is enough for him. 

There are a few surprising facts about Bhutan. Some disturbing and some, well, just surprising. One is that slavery was not abolished until 1958 by the Nationality Act – which was repealed in 1985 by the Citizenship Act. As a result, between 1988 and 1993, more than 100,000 (some sources say close to 150,000) ethnic Nepalese were labelled ‘illegal immigrants’ and forced to leave the country in what has been called ethnic cleansing of Lhotshampas – Bhutanese people of Nepalese descent.    

These people represented around 40% of the population of Bhutan at the time. The Bhutanese armed forces were accused of several human rights violations and the death rate in Lhotshampa refugee camps was documented to be 1.15 in every 10 people. There are more than 100,000 Lhotshampas immigrants living in different countries and they have not been granted the right to return to Bhutan. 

Vajrayana Buddhism is the state religion in Bhutan and Je Khenpo is the religious leader. The capital of Bhutan is Thimphu and the official language is Dzongkha.  There was no actual money or currency until the 1960s. Television was not introduced until 1999.

Books from Bhutan: female tales and the weight of tradition

Kunzang Choden is probably the most well known Bhutanese writer. She was the first Bhutanese woman to publish in English and her most famous book is The Circle of Karma (2005). As I cannot find this book, I decide to read her book Tales in Colour and Other Stories (2009), which is a collection of 13 short stories primarily focusing on the role of women in a traditional Bhutanese society. These are universal stories, with themes that include shattered dreams and unfulfilling lives, humiliation, inequality and a life not lived. 

It is essentially a feminist book denouncing the misogynist traditions and values of the Bhutanese society that cuts girls’ wings, values boys’ education above girls’ and forces women into a very small space where they cannot succeed on any front. It is about letting one’s dreams go while still dreaming big and the sacrifices women have to make. The stories are well crafted and there are parallels to some of the other books that I have read on the Virtual Nomad journey. 

Many of the stories focus on single mothers and the sacrifices they face, many abandoned by their husbands. Most stories are about women in villages under the watchful eye and constant gossiping of the community. Communities where true friendships and mutual support are rare. The first story is about the author herself and the background of her name. There is a strong sense of place and duty. These are engaging, captivating stories with vivid, real, believable characters. It is an intriguing, pleasing read. 

“Learn from the humans but never imitate them”

Impressed by the dynamism of Kunzang Choden, I decide to read another book of hers, Dawa: the story of a stray dog in Bhutan. It is a light hearted book about a stray dog Dawa who is the reincarnation of a multilingual translator, and therefore can understand many human languages. Dawa is an orphan dog who lives in the streets of Paro, but he dreams big and goes on to find a new life in Thimphu. It is a clever and enjoyable book with many parallels to human life, and at the same time it satirises human behaviour. Dawa goes through many hardships from leadership position pressures to getting an infectious skin disease from a fluffy female dog. Even if he learns to speak perfect Dzongkha, he will still not be enough and always considered just a street dog. He is smart, strategic, has great instincts and survival skills, speaks many languages, acquires education and knowledge, yet still he cannot escape his condition of not being born with privilege. His condition and the precarious role of leading the nightly howlings lead him to take a pilgrimage close to a monastery in the mountains. It is a remarkable little book and I truly enjoyed it, its wit and cleverness, subtle satire and description of village life in Bhutan. I am not surprised at all that the book forms part of the school curriculum in Bhutan. 

My final book from Bhutan is again from Kunzang Choden. Bhutanese Tales of the Yeti is a collection of 22 oral stories about the migoi – the Bhutanese version of the yeti or mountain man. Choden collected these stories from four different regions of Bhutan, talking to village elders and relying on oral tradition. The purpose was to conserve the oral cultural heritage and make sure it would not disappear. Many of the stories are about the encounters of yak herders with the migoi. The stories are short and they capture Bhutanese folklore well. As is the case with short stories, even if the themes are similar, some are more interesting than others and they start to feel a bit repetitive. It is still quite a nice read. It’s short and offers an introduction to Bhutanese oral tradition. 

Bhutanese film

Bhutan’s movie industry is not very dynamic but several movies have been made and produced in Bhutan. What is common to all the movies we watched from Bhutan is that the cinematography is outstanding. It is a whole new cinematographic world that we discover in the three (and hopefully soon, four) movies we watched – an aesthetically very beautiful and quite intriguing movie landscape. 

We start with the biggest international hit. 

Lunana: A Yak in a Classroom (2019) by Pawo Choyning Dorji won several international awards and was Bhutan’s first ever nominee for the best international feature film at the 94^th Academy Awards (the Oscars). I watched it with A (10) and it’s a delightful if slightly predictable movie. A reluctant teacher is sent to teach at the most remote school in the world (an eight day hike away) in Lunana and then goes through a personal journey. Based on a true story, it offers breathtaking scenery, an inspiring storyline and a subtle but loving environmental message. Overall it is a gorgeous movie, skilfully directed and even if you anticipate what will happen to the young teacher, there is a lot of heart and emotion. It is a love letter to the simple life. 

The Monk and the Gun (2023) – another movie from Pawo – was shortlisted for the Academy Awards in 2024. It has been sold to major distributors, is coming shortly to different platforms and may have a festival run in Australia. We will wait to see it and, once we have, will come back to update this section. 

Updated (June 2024): We had a change to see this movie at the Sydney Film Festival. It is wonderful – funny, clever, poignant. It is such a clever movie with brilliant observations on both progress and tradition, change and old lifestyles. It has a lot of heart, and a lot of wit.

Honeygiver among the dogs (2016) is a mystery film noir tale and debut from Dechen Roder, who started her career as a music video maker. It takes a mystical, nearly spiritual, feminist approach to a quite classic ‘disappearance storyline’ in which there is a policeman and a mysterious woman.

While the murder mystery is the central piece, the story grows bigger to mix Bhutanese mythology with the narrow place of a woman in a community/society in which she is labelled as ‘different’– “not married”, “always alone”, “not asking for anyone’s help”, “a flirtatious demoness”. The cinematography is beautiful. It’s mainly dark and grey except in the fantasy sequences connecting the story with the supernatural. It contains Bhutanese female deities and the description of greed. 

The pace is slower than in other movies from the film noir genre, containing long shots without dialogue. Some of the shots are gorgeous, almost meditative. The cinematography rises above the story itself that, while not the most original, is refreshingly spiritual while staying true to the eeriness and mystery of the genre. The lead actor, Jamyang Jamtsho Wanchuk (in the role of the policeman), does a very decent job as a policeman quietly lusting after the mysterious seductress played by Sonam Tashi.     

Ap Bokto (2014) is a cute animated movie. It’s the first computer animated film in the country and is based on a folktale. It is a story of a man who encounters several wild animals who either plan to kill or eat him, and he outsmarts them with his words. It is a sweet tale with a very folksy feeling. 

Music: the hills are alive 

Bhutan might be famous for the Paro Taktsand Monastery and its steep 700 hundred step climb, high in the mountains, but don’t be fooled, even the Bhutanese are not saved from easy listening pop music. Check out the video on youtube of the aesthetically blessed Etsu and Ngawang Thinley as they perform their pop tune with the Bhutanese landscape. It would probably do well in the Eurovision song competition.

For other music, there are different traditional forms that use instruments such as the lingm (a flute), the chiwang (a fiddle) and the dramnyen. Music is very important for Bhutan to reflect the country’s spiritual landscape. The Music of Bhutan Research Centre lists the most important Bhutanese singers.

We end the cosy Bhutanese night with the news that CH – who we call the Special Advisor of Virtual Nomad and who has been in over 140 countries – is travelling to Bhutan in two weeks time. We look forward to hearing her travel stories. 

Next stop: Bolivia 

Thank you JK for your proofreading