The travelers chatted and gave us yak cheese. The elder man's red cloth
shows that he is a senior monk. Our young-looking guide (and ladies' catch)
asked about the border patrol at the pass. I didn't quite follow what was
said but the monk explained that his group was from Paro and was returning
from a 20 day trip to hot springs on the other side of the pass. So it appeared
that with the right intentions, the border was/is open.

With the Chinese occupation of Tibet, conditions are tense. When you are in
Bhutan you have the feeling that its spell could be broken at any moment
and the outside world will come tumbling in with its cruelty and insensitivity.
During our brief stay, Maoist rebels violently commandeered several villages
and schools in not too far away Nepal. They used the same tactics and code
as the Shining Path guerrillas of Peru. People I know who had planned on
being in the Everest region, had cancelled their plans because of the violence
in Nepal earlier in the summer of 2003. The Maoist rebels do not have
the official support of the Chinese government. China, however, has not
expressed any intention of backing away from Tibet. As a matter of national
pride, it would love to have Everest as a golden feather in its cap.

It is very important to have Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan as independent buffers
between India and China. They are unique "species" in their own right.
On with the tour, but remember, this could all fade away like a forgotten dream.

For current events see Bhutan's National newspaper online.
Additonal commentary is in the 3rd and 4th Installments.

Click on the griffon or the photo to continue.

Below is editorial comment drawn closer to my home (feel free to skip):

Rural Grand Lake, Colorado has experienced many changes in its short written history,
although it has been said that the number of storefronts is the same, just the faces change.
Huge trans-basin water diversions were brought on by outside interests, before there was
much local settlement and demand for water. Home builders can now be required to spend
up to $20,000 for a single well while lakes of inexpensive water are off-limits and sent to
outside interests through tunnels under the mountains. Tourism and the second-home industry
are a mixture of internal and external pressures. It is not known to what extent these "forces"
can be controlled. For some perspective, I chose to look at a much older part of the world
that has managed to keep its resources and culture intact, in the face of immense pressures
from neighboring regions and also from the ubiquitous effects of everything Western,
be it in film, food, Christianity or international relations.

In Colorado, we joke about being taken over by Californians or Texans. The rural western
slope communities worry about being taken over by money 'n lawyer-rich front range interests.
On a global scale, the Canadians, French, Iranians ... have active policies aimed at curbing
the relentless Americanization of their countries.

These cultural wars may seem silly, but they absolutely hinge upon each culture's and each
individual's indivisible and inalienable right to the pursuit of peace and happiness on their
own terms. The physical basis of this right to individuality and privacy may not seem obvious,
but it is hinted in the discrete nature of atoms that gives us those chemical formulas and rules
that involve whole integers and finite math. To put it in related Buddhist terms: there are no
partial reincarnations. We work with whole units. You cannot divide and split a country's
resources and people without violating its integrity.