Expression from an Idiot by birth:

As you drive from Bumthang to Thimphu or vice versa, you will pass through beautiful RED Rhododendron flowers in full bloom and often making you to gasp for more oxygen as you tend to forget even to breath after looking at the beauty of the nature. The scientific name may be Rhododendron arboreum (I will have to check). But, at times even the beauty of nature seems to be surpassed by human carelessness of littering the beautiful landscape and famous BUMPY highways of Bhutan, not forgetting the slipperiness of road formed due to accumulation of mud on asphalted road from widening activities. Highways: I can understand the bumpiness in places where road widening is occurring or where road sunk due to some geological and topographical characters. What irks me is the bumpy ride one experience in newly asphalted road. I can’t understand why the road engineers along with road contractors are not chipping in extra effort to level the road for the comfort of everyone. I wish that, road ge...

Rinpochhe Consecrating the lhakhang and Sertog  His Holiness the Nyamkhai Nyngpo Rinpochhe visited Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Environment (UWICE) today (12-04-2012) upon the request offered by the management of the institute. Rinpochhe was invited to bless the Institute as well as to inaugurate the newly built small lhakhang (temple) in the courtyard of the dzong, where utse (four storied central tower) used to sit before it was brought down in 1994 or1996 due to safety issues as the timber in the building started to rot, since maintenance was out of question (the universal problem, budget issues). Brief history of the dzong:   Lamai Goempa Dzong Lamai Goempa dzong, where UWICE is housed at present used to be the summer residence of first king of Bhutan, Sir Ugyen Wangchuck, one may rightly say the name of the Institute has been honored in the name of Bhutan's first king. With time the dzong was inherited by one of the princesses. There are ...

I have been passed this book to read by one of my seniors, probably knowing my passion for reading, in-fact reading anything from science, biographies, fictions, philosophy etc. At first glance, I thought when will I be able to finish this reading as I am also reading a book by H.H. Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpochhe "What Makes you not a Buddhist" and Min Jin Lee's "Free Food for Millionaire". The book is pretty thick with 572 pages excluding appendix and chapter summary which if considered it comes to 600 pages. This is one book which seems to have covered almost every life and struggle of Siddhartha Gautama, the Lord Buddha, an Enlightened one. The book starts with the chapter "Walking just to Walk". At a glance the title of the chapter does not seem to make any sense but as you drill dipper and flip pages as you go, it makes lots of sense. It seems to be the first teaching of Lord Buddha, the awakened one. The deeper meaning of "Wal...

Both Non-Wood Forest Products (NWFPs) and Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) refers to what is earlier known as Minor Forest Products (MFPs). The use of "MFPs" terminology has been discontinued as it seems to greatly mis-guide the produce. For instance collection and trade of Cordyceps ( Ophiocordyceps sinensis ) by high alpine dwellers and even Chirata ( Swertia chirata ) in the east (Shigkhar Lauri) contributes more than 50% of their annual earnings, which of-course is clear that these forest products doesnot justify to be called as minor. NWFPs and NTFPs are two very similar yet different terminologies adopted to address these produce of forest other than timber. In short it includes everything besides timber. Rattan Shoot In Bhutan we use NWFP and it is defined in the National Forest Policy of Bhutan, 2011as, "NWFP means resin, varnish, katha, kutch, plants, flowers, seeds, bamboo, bulbs, roots, leaves, grasses, creepers, reeds, orchids, cane, fungi, moss, medic...

It was January, 2012 and 8.00 PM. Hodgson's Flying Squirrel licking something on Asphalt road. I was on my way to Gelephu from Bumthang. I was pretty tired driving nearly 280 kilometers in the geography of never ending winding and narrow roads of country, Beautiful Bhutan, the safe heaven for diverse flora and fauna. I have also lost incredible elevation while driving from Bumthang to Gelephu. Bumthang is at an elevation of approximately 2800 meters and Gelephu at 300 meters above sea level, whenever one passes through such a diverse ecological zones within short period of time, it is natural to feel excited experiencing the sudden shift in the environment and biodiversity. Before it disappeared in the dark After driving for nearly 9 hours my back started not to cooperate with me, making me to rest and drive diverting nearly fifty percent of my attention to my back pain. I crossed a place called Jigmechholing (600 mtrs) still complaining and not happy with my back pain. It...

For the last two days (13-14th March, 2012) I was attending a workshop in Paro. It was yet another workshop on policy and adaptation issues. The title of the workshop was "Legal and Policy Tools to Adapt Biodiversity Management to Climate Change". The workshop was beyond doubt very informative and interesting. I have learnt many new things and understood various adaptation issues that countries across the globe is adopting to combat "climate change". I was surprised by the number of "acts", "rules", "policies" that exists in our country. Bhutan is indeed bestowed with great natural habitat and forest cover, handed over by our ancestors who strived very hard to leave behind the environment in the way they were handed by their fore fathers. The conservation this far surprisingly came without the existence of any rules/acts/laws. The conservation came with the existence of total anarchy. I think Dzongsar Jamyang Khentse rightly pointed th...

Our Horses and Horse-men On 24 th November, 2011 a group of enthusiast, I may be included, hopped in the car at 4.00 AM excited about the up-coming hike. We were equipped with GPS, Cameras, Tree Borer and a Butterfly net. By 7.00 AM we reached Khandopang (3399 mtrs of elevation) and met our horses and horse-man. Expecting chilly I was in my long under-wear, sweater and a jacket, which I obviously had to shed after hiking (losing elevation drastically) for couple of hours. Sometime I like to be in Uniform: Rafting An Elephant Ride The first day of the hike was a test of our ability to withstand the tough terrain and strength of our leg and ligaments. Our objective was to reach Thek-pa-leng from Khandopang, but our energy, leg, ligaments all seemed not cooperating with us which made us to camp in Murgang. Murgang is at an elevation of 1814 mtrs and is by the bank of downstream Chamkhar chhu which flows from Chamkhar, Bumthang. It is this first day of the hike which proved to...