Jon Gone to Bhutan

I've been lying a little in this blog.  Life in Bhutan wasn't all prayer flags, green scenery and magical clouds.  There was another side too. This is a genuine message I sent to a family member during my first days in Bhutan.  I read it now with a smile, with a sense of dramatic irony because I know that everything turned out OK.  But it's an honest artefact of how it felt to be a few days into a new life, completely removed from anything familiar or safe.  And -- dammit, I loved those headphones. Well today has been a very very hard day for me.  It began with not being able to find a very nice (and expensive) set of headphones I bought myself, which made me much more upset than it needed to… I mean, they're gone, but… well, they're gone, and the suffering that came from that is the issue now.  It made me doubt myself and my ability to be responsible enough to look after myself.  Honestly it's a fear of the immensity of going to the east on tuesday, a fru

It's hard to imagine Bhutan without Buddhism.  It's the last of what used to be a string of Buddhist nations in the Himalayas; Ladakh and Sikkim were incorporated into India, and -- we all know the tragic and unjust fate of Tibet.  Buddhist philosophy, tradition and ritual are essential to Bhutanese culture in almost every facet of life.  For this entry I've chosen a few images that I think might communicate the way spirituality permeated every moment of life in Bhutan, from the moment we woke to the moment we slept; not a proud or selfish spirituality, not a showy or false spirituality, but a simple and natural compassion and a constant acceptance that humans are simply part of the scenery, every bit as fragile as the tiniest life forms with which we share the earth. 1. Prayer flags above Wamrong:  This is a spot where I used to sit and meditate from time to time.  It wasn't hard to find peace in Wamrong, but this place was exceptionally tranquil.  I myself am Bud

It's nice to read back through these old writings, now, as I prepare finally to chronicle the experience of those three years in Bhutan.  So much about life there made it difficult to write from Bhutan, but I think more than anything it was something I read from Hemingway in A Moveable Feast . He said that you can never write about where you are , only where you were , and I found that to be true. Now that enough time has passed and I can reflect upon the many experiences that defined my three years in Bhutan, I will take up this blog again and finally tell the stories I was too busy living through to write about. I'll begin with a few of my favourite photos from my time in Bhutan.  There are many more, so there may be a few posts like this, but this first set offers a glimpse into the life of a volunteer teacher in rural Bhutan.  I hope they're enjoyable, and please do comment if you have any observations or questions to share. 1. There was little holiday time for t