Home again, home again…

Back home in my Bangkok apartment after a tiring but hassle-free return trip from Bhutan, I’m ignoring the mountain of unopened post, turning a blind-eye to the growing list of unread e-mails and closing the door on the exploding suitcase of unwashed laundry in favour of a quick flick through the photos I’ve taken over the last two weeks.

A novice monk at Wangdichholing Dzong (1/125, f/2.8, ISO400)

This image was made at the “Blue Palace” or Wangdichholing Dzong Lobdra (school) and is already becoming a favourite. I’ll be devoting as much time as possible to processing others over the next couple of days but I have a quick turn-around before heading off to meet up with David in Kathmandu next week and lots to do before then so we’ll see how things pan out.

Leaving Bhutan

We checked-out of our spacious Bhutanese hotel at mid-morning and by lunch-time were enjoying the roller-coaster ascent out of Paro airport. Surrounded by steep mountains, flying in or out of Paro airport requires the pilot to treat the passenger jet more like a light aircraft, sweeping left and right to follow the curves of the valley until sufficient height is gained to brush over the peaks below. This video shows the approach to the airport and will give you some idea of the surrounding topography and the obvious expertise of the pilots who fly in and out of Paro on a daily basis.

Reflections

So now I’m sitting in my study, re-acquainting myself with the view of Bangkok’s city lights beyond the balcony and reflecting on my Bhutanese experience. Returning home after any trip inevitably involves a brief period of readjustment when familiar, homely things seem somehow different. My apartment feels a tad smaller than the one I hurried out of two weeks ago and there’s a subtle shift in the way I’m seeing things. It feels like everything in the place has been shifted by half an inch, not enough to be obvious but enough to be sensed. Of course, nothing has actually moved at all, it’s me that’s subtly changed. The one and only thing that’s different from how it was two weeks ago is me, altered slightly but fundamentally by the experience of two weeks in beautiful Bhutan.

Looking out of a classroom window at Wangdichholing Dzong (1/50, f/2.8, ISO200)

Travel of any sort changes the person travelling. Always. But it’s rarely about the distance travelled and is not dependent on exotic locations or adventurous activities. The simple truth is that a change of perspective, however slight, will prompt an inescapable change in our thought-processes and, consequently, a subtle shift in our relationship with the world.

Now I don’t want to go all wishy-washy on you. I know that regular readers of this blog appreciate a robust, no-nonsense, get-on-with-it-and-don’t-fanny-about approach and are not the sort of people who have time to waste reading touchy-feely monologues but I also suspect that after a two-week absence you might just indulge me briefly before I get back to business as usual on Monday if I ask politely so, if you’ve no objection, here goes:

A child demonstrating a wildly impressive yoga position (1/80, f/2.8, ISO200)

Things to be grateful for:

OK, OK, I know, making a list of things to be grateful for could take a very long time and there are, of course, a zillion things that I try to remember to be grateful for every day but there are a couple of things that I’m especially grateful for this evening.

Firstly, there are a few simple things I’m delighted to be enjoying again like a relatively stable electricity supply and hot, running water. To be fair, time in Bhutan without these was very brief and didn’t cause anything more than a temporary inconvenience. Nevertheless, I’m glad to be enjoying those relatively stable services again.

I’m also tremendously grateful for the multitude of photo opportunities that presented themselves to me in Bhutan. I’ve never filled memory cards so quickly and shot over 4000 frames. I can’t even begin to do justice to the majestic beauty of Bhutan in a few short sentences but suffice to say that a magazine editor wrote to me last week asking me to name my favourite location in the world and Bhutan had edged out all others by the time I replied. Clearly, it’s very fresh in my mind at the moment but the combination of clean, crisp mountain air, amazing scenery and the friendliest people I’ve ever encountered makes for a pretty unbeatable combination.

Monk in the dressing room at Thangbi Goemba festival (1/30, f/1.2, ISO400)

Outstanding local guides: Sonam, Ugyen and our drivers Norbu and Dower were impeccable, reliable, courteous and knowledgeable. A decent local guide can make all the difference and these guys really knew their stuff. Ugyen in particular was ace at getting us into positions that other visitors wouldn’t even have known existed and I’m especially grateful to him for getting me into places where I was able to capture some of my best images.

This is the important bit

I should probably work on cutting these rambling blog posts down to a more readable size, or at least on placing the important bit at the beginning so that those of you with short attention spans will still get the point, which is this: the one thing that I am grateful for beyond all others this evening is the people who’s company I shared over the last two weeks. It would be hard to put together a more eclectic bunch of photographers but, whether by coincidence or divine intervention, they shared a common trait of all being thoroughly decent, empathetic, gentle and lovable characters. It’s true that the Bhutanese people are almost invariably friendly but it still takes genuine souls to make the very best of that. Time and time again during the past two weeks I watched, enchanted, as one or other of our group made a connection with a local person that went far beyond the usual “Can I take your photograph?… CLICK… Thanks”.

I think it boils down to this: our friendly group were certainly in search of engaging photo opportunities but it seemed just as important to each of us to make memorable connections along the way. Whether that was a connection with the outrageously beautiful landscape or with the ancient architecture or with one of the charming Bhutanese people we met, these connections were pursued, nurtured and enjoyed by each of our group. I don’t think it’s possible to make really, really good images without establishing those connections first and it was inspiring to see people appreciating their surroundings before trying to photograph them.

A great spectating position at the Wangdue Phodrang Dzong festival (1/125, f/2.8, ISO50)

Travelling is always a privilege, that’s one of the few facts that I rarely have trouble remembering. And travelling in the company of good and honest souls is something to be cherished. My feelings about Bhutan will always be closely tied to my memories of the group I travelled with and that’s fine by me.

Finally, for a visual representation of my feelings about the last two weeks, the expression on this grinning monk’s face is a perfect example of how I feel inside when I think of Bhutan.

What a smile! (1/60, f/2.8, ISO200)

—UPDATE—

The leader of our Bhutan expedition, Tewfic El-Sawy, has posted his verdict of the trip on his popular blog. I can vouch for everything he says about consistently getting us to the front of the queue and into the best positions for photography.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 19th, 2008 at 12:06 am and is filed under My work, News, Travel and tagged with bhutan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.