Solo Episode - Bhutan Series w/ Breathe Bhutan - Days 1–3: Everest Views, Sand Mandala Art, Epic Walks & A Breakfast with a Lama
In this solo episode of the Winging It Travel Podcast, I take you through Days 1 to 3 of my journey in Bhutan, sharing the sounds, stories, and real travel context behind one of the world’s most fascinating destinations.
From the unforgettable flight into Paro Airport with Himalayan views stretching all the way to Mount Everest, to my first encounters with Bhutanese food, culture, and daily life — this episode is designed to give you a true sense of what it feels like to arrive and begin travelling in Bhutan.
I break down how travel in Bhutan actually works, including flights, visas, costs, accommodation standards, weather in December, and why guided travel is essential to experiencing the country properly. You’ll hear about traditional sand mandala art, gentle acclimatisation walks through the Paro Valley, and the rhythm of life in Bhutan’s cities and temples.
The episode finishes with one of the most memorable moments of the trip: breakfast at a hilltop temple overlooking Thimphu called Wangditse Lhakhang, followed by a translated conversation with a Bhutanese lama, where we talk about happiness, belief, spirituality, and life in Bhutan today. A cool way to finish the episode!
This is an audio-only episode built to let your imagination do the work — placing you right there through natural sound, reflection, and honest storytelling.
In this episode, I also mention the two accommodations I stayed at, called Tiger's Nest Camp and Access Suites Hotel, both of which were fantastic!
All in all, this is a classic episode to break down my first three days in Bhutan. For more information on Tiger's Nest, check out my immersive episode on the hike below.
My first episode of the series takes a deep dive into Bhutanese culture, Buddhism, and history through a great guy I met in Thimphu called Ugyen Rinzin. Check out this episode below.
Flying into Paro and why it’s one of the most spectacular landings in the world
What it really costs to travel in Bhutan and how the visa and tour system works
First impressions of Bhutanese culture, architecture, and daily life
Traditional Bhutanese food explained — from chilli and cheese to butter tea
The meaning behind sand mandala art and impermanence in Buddhism
Gentle walks and hikes used to acclimatise to Bhutan’s altitude
Morning sounds and views overlooking Thimphu from a remote temple (Wangditse Lhakhang)
A translated interview with a lama on happiness, belief, and spirituality
Why do authentic experiences in Bhutan rely so heavily on local knowledge
Featured Conversation
🎙 Translated interview with Lama Dorji Tshering
Recorded during a morning breakfast at a hilltop temple overlooking Thimphu, discussing:
Daily life as a lama
Bhutanese happiness and contentment
Spirituality in the modern world
His perspective on belief and non-belief
Thanks & Credits
Huge thanks to Breathe Bhutan for creating an authentic, culture-focused itinerary and making experiences like this possible during the first days of my journey.
Welcome to today's solo episode for this Bhutan series. So you may have noticed I've started my Bhutan series with an interview with Ugyen Rinzen. That's a fantastic chat about Bhutan and Buddhism. And then I released last week the immersive episode of my tiger's nest hike to see the tiger's nest monastery. That was absolutely sensational. So today I thought I'd give a bit more context on this collaboration with Breathe Bhutan and also all the information of days one to three.
Day 2 for Tiger's Nest. I pretty much said everything in that episode so check that out last week. In today's episode, I'll give more details of days 1 and 3. And we'll finish with an interview with a llama where I had a great breakfast with him overlooking Thimphu Welcome to the Winging It Travel Podcast, your weekly ticket to the world, dropping every Monday and hosted by me, James Hammond, proudly part of the Voy Escape Network. This is a travel podcast that throws out the itinerary and dives straight into the raw
real and unpredictable essence of global exploration chasing moments over milestones, those spontaneous encounters, immersive sounds and unforgettable stories. Whether I'm hiking up volcanoes in Guatemala,
or camping under the stars in British Columbia.
met incredible people, seen breath taking places and collected unforgettable stories. I now get to share them with you, alongside some of the most diverse and well travelled guests from around the world. Expect engaging conversations that bring fresh perspectives and inspiring travel tales. There are also raw, reflective solo episodes where I share personal insights, practical tips and honest stories from the road. This is a podcast for travellers, dreamers, backpackers and anyone who's ever thought, what if I just went for it and travelled? If you're looking for stories to tell, tips to share,
and experiences to inspire, then you're in the right place. There's so much travel content coming your way, it might just spark that trip you've been dreaming about for years. You can find Winging It and more fantastic travel podcasts from around the world at voyescape.com. The link is in the show notes. Let's go and explore the world. Context first, Breathe Bhutan. I collaborated with those guys in December for my trip.
They produce a fantastic 10 night, 11 day itinerary. And the idea is we would both get content for both of our respective channels. Me, my podcast and my YouTube and then for the social media channels. A lot of reacting to stuff, a lot of talking about stuff that we did on the itinerary. And of course, I'm collecting sounds, interviews and video for my YouTube, for my content. So that was the idea. And I spoke to Tourism Bhutan. They love the idea too.
So we all come together and eventually it came together in December for this trip and I went in December. So this is the start of winter. Potentially the weather is going to be mild in the day, 14, 15 degrees Celsius. And then it gets down to like minus two or three at night. So we have that interest and balance of weather. Non-tourist seasons, not many tourists. Things are pretty quiet. I was there for national day, which will come later in the series. And yeah, just a real great time. So day one, I did fly in.
from Bangkok to Paro. Now this side of Southeast Asia, Bangkok is alongside Singapore the only place you can fly to Paro. Singapore is a bit more spontaneous in terms of their flights. Bangkok is a bit more scheduled every month. And when you book a tour to Bhutan, you need to make sure you check the schedule released on Tourism Bhutan's website because they actually fix days in where they fly from Bangkok. So I picked my day as December the 10th and it cost about
$:
They'll make sure they get the visa for you, which costs I think 40 US dollars. And of course they'll pick an itinerary for you and you can really customize it to what you're really interested in. So for my itinerary for this series, I chose culture, hiking, interviews, local people, homestays, three to four star hotels. I wasn't interested in luxury and just kind of being in nature and in the hills. That's kind of what I asked for. And that's pretty much what I got. So I flew into Paro. Now, if you fly from Bangkok, sit on the left hand side.
of the aeroplane because you'll see views of Everest and Kenjenjunga which is the third highest mountain in the world. And it was clear blue skies, unbelievable views flying in. It took about two and a half hours and the captain on the flight come through Lantanoi and said look left because you're going to see some great sights and we saw Everest. Absolutely incredible. And I got picked up by my guides at the airport from Bribiutan. So I had a bit of an entourage with me. I had Sonam, my main guide. I had a secondary guide called Rolatu.
and he was mostly filming and collecting content for the trip. had Parbati who works with Breathe Bhutan so she joined us for the tour and was more on my side so experiencing stuff rather than giving information out. Then we had our driver and I called him God because he's the most important person in the group. And normally transportation will be a minivan, very comfortable. And Bhutan's not that big in terms of a country but a lot of the roads are in the hills so you need a bit of a decent vehicle to get around. So I Sonam and the crew.
And we checked into Tiger's Nest Camp. This is like a glamping hotel, three to four star, I'd say. And it had views overlooking Tiger's Nest and it's in Parrow where the airport is. And I must say Tiger's Nest Camp is a dreamy stay. The glamping pod was so comfortable and so warm. The bed was amazing. They have lots of heaters in there. Tea and coffee was served as well in the room alongside amazing shower and Western toilets. So this is sort of comfort level you're going to get.
And when you book your tour, they'll ask for your comfort level and you can choose three, four or five star hotels. So checked into Tiger's Nest Camp. had a bit of a nap because I was in the airport at Bangkok around 3am. It was a tough start at 6am. Then we had lunch at Pell Diner. So I do have an interview from the owner of Pell Diner. He came onto my YouTube to talk about what he serves and the type of restaurant that he has. You can check out that interview on my Roaming with Hammo YouTube channel.
And it's in day one. And so you get to hear about what he serves, but I'll tell you what he serves. He serves Bhutanese food. And this is my first taste of Bhutanese food. And that is pretty much chilies and cheese. Amadashi is their national dish. That is basically chili and cheese. They're very spicy, they're very tasty. And they chuck cheese in most things. So we had red rice, we shouldn't have cheese in, but we had some vegetable curry with cheese in it. We had mushrooms with cheese in it. They also serve trout from the local river.
chicken as well on the bone alongside some classic sort of like curry inspired dishes. I'd say it's a mix between Indian and Chinese cuisine somewhere in the middle and I absolutely loved my first taste of lunch but let me tell you lunch is pretty much gonna be the same as dinner. They're gonna serve the same sort of dishes and for breakfast I did normally go for Western but honestly the plethora of choice is amazing. It's super tasty and they come out in the style of bowls.
So you have as much as you want and you stop when you're full. It's that type of service. The first activity on day one, I went to a sand mandala display. This is Tibetan artistic culture. And I have also another interview slash explanation from the owner of the center. Again, on day one on my YouTube channel, where she explains the art form and we get to see a monk perform this art form in real time. And effectively what it is, is little bits of sand.
that different colors get created into this huge display and huge piece of art which the monasteries and the zongs will take to put on their wall. What's interesting about it is they create this and it takes two to three weeks to complete. It gets displayed for two or three days and then it all gets washed away into the local river. It's very sustainable. It doesn't harm the environment but the thought process of actually spending weeks and weeks of creating this art piece and then
Within two or three days of it being finished, you then literally wash it away. It's supposed to teach you mental strength because it's telling you that everything in the earth is not permanent. We come with nothing, we leave with nothing. And the idea is that we can embrace the challenge, embrace the art form, look at your work, like it, approve of it, but then don't feel too bad when you have to start again in a week's time for another piece of art. So these guys who actually are experts in this, they have memorized I think over a hundred
types of designs and they get asked to create one just off the cuff like that and it can start. So I was watching this guy pick up each bit of sand and placing it on the big, big board that they create these things on. Pretty incredible to watch and hear. And then we got to create our own masterpiece, which is a much smaller board to create like a little bit of like colorful art. And I did that, completed it, loved it. And then just collected it all up and threw it away. Yeah, it's pretty interesting. So if you want to
Research more. Again, you can watch my YouTube channel and day one, or you can just research Sand Mandala displays and read about this Tibetan art form. Now for my tour, did emphasize I like walks and hikes. It's quite hard to say this. I went to the Zurich Zong hike. Zong is like a religious building in Bhutan. And this was a one hour walk, not very difficult, but for the first time it got to see the views of Paro and the Paro Valley. And the reason that's so spectacular is
because that's where the airport is. Now when you fly in from Bangkok, I hope you're not too squeamish about how close you get to the mountainside because you are literally flying in the valley. The mountainside is to your left, literally there. I think pilots need a special license to fly into Paro. So anyway, when you see planes come into land into the airport, they have to weave in and out of this valley and then they straighten out into the Paro Valley. So we get to see a plane land at the airport. That's pretty cool. This hike was very lovely. Great to get some views and some boutonniers air into my lungs.
to the altitude. We're about:
but the afternoon tea was spectacular. The classic scone sandwiches. And the best thing about it is overlooking the view over the Paro Valley. That was pretty sensational as well. So it's a full on day straight in. And then we finished with dinner at Tiger's Nest Camp, which again was like lunch, just loads of dishes and you eat as much as you want. And that was the first day. And I think reflecting on the first day, it's great to understand the customs, understand some of the history from Sonam. He's given me information all day about the various things that we see.
And it's great to see Paro like a mini city in Bhutan, the buildings, the architecture. Good to get a feel of that as well. Of course, Bhutanese food and then just kind of seeing day-to-day life. Because it's been number one on my list for a while, I really didn't know what to expect. Of course, I've been to Nepal and India, but these are different countries and I wanted to experience Bhutan and actually understand how they live and how they operate. And I loved my first day. Honestly, it was the best first day of a tour I've had. Brilliant.
And just to say the reason I chose Breathe Bhutan is because they actually concentrate and emphasize authentic experiences. That's what they offer as a tour group. And when I was looking at Bhutan tour groups, I really wanted one that was going to be providing me with the most authentic experience possible, right? But I think these guys get it as close as they can. And honestly, as we go throughout the series, you'll understand why I chose these guys because they produced the most amazing itinerary. So day one was perfect and a great way to start the tour. Now day two.
I've said pretty much everything on this on the previous episode for Tiger's Nest, head to last week's episode. You'll hear the immersive bit and I'm chucking a bit of extra at the end with some details of that hike. And just to finish on that, I actually reached Thimphu in the evening to go and spend an evening at Breathe Through Tan's owner at Kinley, his house. And the staff who work at Breathe Through Tan, we had a nice dinner and drinks with the guides as well. So we'll all get to share stories, get to know each other.
and I get to hear what Breathe Bhutan is all about, more about Bhutanese culture and what's to come. I will say the Bhutanese do love a drink, I must admit. They love their beer, their wine and any spirits they've got. So don't be shy getting stuck in to the alcohol because they will definitely as well. So yeah, day two was hiking the Tiger's Nest. Amazing scenery. It's a moderate hike. You climb up to 3,100 meters, so it's no slouch in terms of altitude. The cafe halfway up.
is a fantastic coffee point. They do espresso coffee or Americanos so you can sit and have a great coffee with the most unbelievable view. And in December, it's going to be clear skies, very mild and not many tourists on the trail. One of the best days I've had in travel and Tiger's Nest for me was almost, I think, the number one thing to do for the last five years. Probably is number one thing actually thinking about it. So experiencing that sort of hike culture, the temple was pretty breathtaking and it's pretty hard to follow, I must admit.
but day three did produce something that was pretty special as well. So let's go to day three. Bit knackered from the hike on day two, but it was an early start because we're actually having breakfast at the Wangditsi Lakhang temple. This temple sits on a hill overlooking Thimphu and you park up to the start of the trail and it's about a 45 minute walk. It's not a hike, it's a walk. And Breathe Through Tan, talking of authentic experiences, arranged for me to have breakfast with the Lama there.
And also got to interview him for 10 minutes. So that interview will come at the end of this episode. A fascinating chat. Had to translate through my guide because he doesn't speak great English and that's fair enough. But honestly, the view of Thimphu was breathtaking. There was a quite low fog slash cloud over the city. So that was majestic. And you hear all the sounds from the city, the traffic, the beeping or even the calls, the prayer, all this sort of stuff. And as you walk on the trail, you get a view of Thimphu on your right.
and you approach this temple and the prayer flags are there and I got welcomed into the temple by the monk. So the lama of this temple is quite well known and he said, want breakfast inside or outside? And it was that mild. I thought, you know what, let's go outside. So the other monks alongside the lama brought the breakfast out on tables and we sat there and we had the most amazing breakfast overlooking the most amazing scenery and getting to know each other is quite surreal. I was absolutely loving it. And the lama was talking about
the food and Yutan and through my guide who is translating life really. And the breakfast just to give you an idea, it's the same sort of thing as lunch. It's red rice, the scrambled egg, there's chili cheese, of course, bread as well. They also like fried dried nuts, like a snack you have with your coffee. But actually we didn't have coffee. We had milk tea, which I think everyone knows what that is. It's just tea with milk in it. We also had butter tea. Now I'm not a fan of butter tea, but I felt
It was too rude to say no. So I tried it and honestly, it's such a savory taste. I I have sugar in my tea, so it wasn't really the best thing for me, but I gave it a go and I enjoyed having the milk and butter tea with the lama. So the interview is to come. So we'll hear more about him and Bhutan. I ask him some interesting questions and then we get to have a tour of the temple and we walk around the grounds, get to go in the temple. No cameras allowed in temples in Bhutan. That's a rule. Make sure you cover up as well. That's another tip.
shoulders and knees. So always go in trousers really, or at least carry something to get changed into if it's too hot. Just a quick pause in the episode there. If you're enjoying the podcast and getting value from these conversations, one of the biggest ways you can support Winging It is by leaving a five star rating all of you on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you're listening right now. It generally helps the show reach new listeners and keeps the podcast growing and it's free.
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It helps support the podcast at no extra cost to you and allows me to keep sharing these stories from the road. And finally, if you know someone who loves travel, storytelling or meaningful conversations, please share the podcast, whether that's by word of mouth, sending an episode to a friend or posting it on social media. It really does make a huge difference. Right, let's get back into the episode. So we had a nice little chat and have a cup of tea and a biscuit.
And then it finally opened up to locals to come and visit. So it dawned on me that Breathe Through Town actually arranged this breakfast before locals can start coming up to see the temples. So I felt really honored that I got to have this breakfast. The Lama is such a positive person. He's so funny, he's making jokes. He wore my cricket sunglasses, posed for photos, videos. Always laughing, always joking, wishing us luck, prosperity into the future. It's really a positive experience. And if you go with Breathe Through Town for your tour,
Honestly, try and ask for this if you can, or at least get to meet him because you won't regret it. felt like super cool that you couldn't do really much elsewhere around the world. That's experience of morning breakfast on a hill at a temple with a llama overlooking Thimphu. Sensational. We walked back down to the car and it's time for the next activity and that is Chokhi Traditional Art School. That's in Thimphu, a bit further on outside of town. And this has got a fantastic history.
supporting the underprivileged in Bhutanese society and the idea is to help people who can't afford to go to school or don't have access to school to provide them with free education through learning a skill. It could be artwork, could be being a carpenter, there's so many different types of things that they do there, male and female too. I had a female guide with me who showed me around the school checking out all the different classes that they have. I got to meet the students, ask some questions, they received donations.
from people in the country and outside internationally that really keeps them going. And my guide was the most sweetest person ever. She spoke great English and she took me around explaining everything. I could ask her any questions. Then it comes around to trying some activities. So I got to try and cook that fried nuts I mentioned for breakfast, which was quite interesting. They're laughing at me because they didn't expect me to get stuck in, but I was on the big walk and you to be careful not to burn yourself. was kind of shaking the pan.
It's almost like roasting coffee almost as that sort of technique. I created my nuts and I tried some and they're great and they're kind of laughing and appreciating that. Then I got to take part in some hieroglyphics, butanese style. That was pretty cool. That requires patience and the guy who's an expert there, he's also a student, but he's obviously very good at it, was very patient with me as I copied what he did. I have no idea what it really said. I've still got it, my piece of paper. They actually said I was quite good at it. That's quite interesting, right? Actually my favorite thing,
was when I got to use almost like imagine the printing press back in the early days, how they printed the alphabet or story onto a piece of cloth. So I had a piece of cloth over the story and you wipe it down with a brush with ink and then you pull it back up and you have this whole story written on this cloth. It's incredible. Again, not really sure what it said, but the locals were happy with what I did there.
Then they showed me how to make butter tea. That's actually quite difficult. That was the toughest of the demonstrations. It's a bit interesting how to make it in terms of making it strong. I couldn't really get a handle on the contraption that you use. I don't explain it very well here because it's hard to describe what I was doing or even what I was using. Again, that'll be on the YouTube channel in the coming weeks. And then finally we walked around to do a bit of artwork and to finish the tour. And towards the end, I obviously want you to check out
all of the things that the students create in their shop and you can buy anything you want. Now on my list for Bhutan before I went was the masks. They're very famous for their festivals and their masks in Bhutan. Very colourful, very detailed. I thought, you know what, I want some of them to take back. And this was the perfect opportunity. So went into the shop and I just couldn't help myself. was buying Bhutanese bowls, artwork, the little temples that go around, like the little souvenirs, magnets. And of course I bought
quite a few masks. think I probably spent, I'd say roughly 200 Canadian dollars in there. And my guide who showed me around the school was crying. I was like, what's going on here? She goes, this is so needed. Like we need donations and stuff like this to keep us going. And you don't understand how important this is. I felt like really proud that I've made her happy and that is contributed in some way. So if you want traditional arts,
from Butanese students, you can check out Choakee Traditional Art School or Choakee Traditional Art School, C-H-O-K-I, put that in Google. And I think you can buy online potentially and hopefully they can send it to you wherever you are in the world. It was just a wholesome moment to say goodbye to her. I feel like she wanted to show me all the things and she did, but also part of that was to maybe try and convince me to buy something. And that's not meant in a negative way, it's just meant that they want people to visit, to buy stuff, to keep the school going. And the fact that I spent that much probably really made it happy.
I think combined with me getting stuck into the activities. I don't think many people get stuck in, they're bit shy, but I wasn't shy in this and I was trying everything that was going. What a great time and what a great experience, I must admit. Next up was lunch and this was a special lunch because we got to visit Dr. Ken Sonam Dorji. He's a famous traditional Bhutanese musician. Now, of course, I'm not an expert in the art form and I didn't know who this guy was, but I could tell by the reaction of my guides and my driver that he was well known.
in Bhutan and specifically Thimphu as well. And he has a house hotel recording studio all in one in Thimphu. And he provided us with some lunch. And I got to chat with him actually about music, life in Bhutan. And he's recorded with people like Image and Heap, Josh Stone. So he's very well known in those circles. And it was an honor to spend lunch with him talking about music. I have a music degree, as you might know from this podcast, so I could contribute to the conversation somewhat.
Then he collected one of his instruments, I think it's a dramian, which is a traditional Chinese sort of like Himalayan folk guitar music, loot type thing. And he sang a song for us live there in his restaurant. And it was filmed. And I think God, the driver knew the song and said, yeah, that's a very famous song. I was like, wow. Okay. And what experience just got to hear him perform live one song. Amazing. Totally unexpected. This was not on the itinerary. This was made up as we went, I think.
What's cool about this is the guides, Sonam, Aratu, and I guess Kinley would have been involved in this as well. They realized that I love music and I have a degree in it and this would be a cool thing to add in last minute and he was available. So that was a great experience, great lunch, great to talk to him, great to hear him perform. And of course, just one of those well-winded hours where you have like what happened there. Amazing. I did record some conversation with him, but haven't reviewed how good that is in terms of the recording or what we talk about.
There could be enough to release an episode. I'll see how much I've got. So that kind of was a late lunch. That was like mid afternoon, 3, 4 PM. Then we drive into Thimphu to get coffee. Apparently this is one of the best coffee places for coffee in Thimphu. We went to Meraki by Yanchen. It's a cafe and patisserie. They do great coffee, support the crew, some Americanos and cappuccinos. That's right next to the Faculty of Traditional Medicine. And we went to their museum. Now.
Traditional medicine is not something that we obviously use in the Western world. This is very Chinese based and this museum was actually quite interesting to learn about their philosophy and what they believe in. I'm not going to do this justice really, but the guy who showed me around is an expert. He's a doctor obviously, and he's explaining different concepts and the foods that we should be eating. And he gave me a pulse reading, which he can determine from that what I need to work on. So he told me something health wise that could be something to work on, which weirdly
em true with what I've had in:
read all the stuff and learn about. To finish the day we went to one of the wonders of the world apparently, well it should be anyway, and that is a place called the Buddha Dordenma statue. This is a humongous statue of Buddha overlooking Thimphu and obviously the hills of Bhutan. You can see it as you drive into Thimphu in the distance. It's so big. So we drive up there and this is towards the end of the day so I didn't get the sunshine reflecting on the statue.
I think the last knock-in is about half four. We got there, got my photos. It's pretty cold and pretty windy at the top, but just breathtaking the scale of it. And it's taken decades to build. I think I might even still be going to finish it off. Very popular in Thimphu to go and see and do. And it was great to see Buddha on that scale. So that kind of wrapped up day three and I finished day three at the hotel I was at for day two, which is the Access Suites in Thimphu. This is a four-star hotel.
Very luxury. My room was huge. Had like a little living room, TV, everything. It was absolutely incredible. And also had an aircon unit which can be used as a heater as well. So that's the level that we're at. And again, very comfortable and very good location in town. But end of day three, I was knackered. As soon as we arrived on day one, it's been nonstop. Early starts, walking hikes. So it's nice just to have dinner at the hotel.
early night and just reflect and chill out for a bit before we crack on with the rest of the tour. That's the end of this podcast episode. That's the end of day three. So what's to come? Of course, it's days four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11. The next immersive episode is going to be me visiting a festival. That's in my top five things of what to do. And luckily I was there for one of the major festivals in December. So I'll leave you with that little teaser and I'll leave this episode with the interview with the lama at the temple for morning breakfast.
on day three. hope you find it interesting. had about 10 to 12 minutes of content through my guide Sonam who's translating. So hopefully it translates well. I've got my microphones out. It should sound good. I hope you enjoy. Thanks for tuning in to the first three episodes of this Bhutan series. Don't forget to rate and review the podcast on your podcast app. Follow as well for more content coming your way for Bhutan. And if you listen on Spotify, leave a comment. I do check them and respond to them in good time. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks to Breathe Bhutan for the first three days.
and let's go and hear from a lama about what life is like in Bhutan and what it's like to be a lama. I'll see you in the next episode. I'm sitting here with the most amazing view, having a cup of tea and breakfast with a priest here in Bhutan. So my first question is, can you introduce yourself, your name and where we are in Bhutan?
The lama or the priest is saying that his name is Dojitshring and he is the main lama of the Tukwonditse temple, Lha Khan. And what's his most important part of the day? ⁓
The very important task for the day ⁓
for him is that ⁓ waking up early morning and getting ready by 4 a.m. and then performing ⁓ worshipping ritual ceremony kind of the prayer to worship all the gods and deities to bring peace and harmony in the country to help liberating all the sensual beings who are suffering in the universe and also to bring peace and harmony in the world.
On top of that, sometimes he had to go out of the station and during that he invites one of the good friends who is knowledgeable, who has the capacity, who is a high level like him, who got the post of lama. And he invites him mainly to perform that prayer and the ritual to worship local guardians deities. Okay. Yeah. And how would he describe the Bhutanese people?
I think that's most important thing.
⁓ His general view on the people of the country is that as a happiness country, the people are satisfied and happy with what they do, what they are having and what they are earning. people, yeah, that's what he exactly mentioned. Okay. And my last question is a religious question. What do he say to people who
don't believe in a God or any religion, is there any advice or something that he could share like his wisdom that would help someone? ⁓
the I'm not I'm going I'm I'm not sure if to it. I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm going to I'm not
I it's importance of I the importance ⁓ of
His general view on Buddhism, or the people who don't believe in the God, or exist of God and those who don't believe in Dharma.
He's saying that here in the country, almost all the 20 districts have monks and the Lamas, the priests around the country. And they will be all sitting in the temples, religious monuments, mainly to encourage or advise and to educate the people about ⁓ why to worship, why to believe in God.
how to bring peace and harmony. on top of that, he said that out of a hundred people, one person exists that who don't believe in the God and who is not really a religious person. from his point of view, that when something goes wrong with him, that he advised, this is because of not like a believing.
yourself in the God and these things. And he used to advise people and from after like giving advice for a certain period of time that obviously he changes his mind and believes in that. Okay. One last question. Does he worry for people who don't believe in God or have no spirituality?
⁓ I'm
He has a very big fear and worry about those people who don't believe in the Buddhism and who don't take the path of spirituality. it is like that, like for example,
A rotten apple in the basket can spoil whole apple in the basket. Same thing that if we don't like ⁓ take him to the, like through the right path. And if we don't educate them, then high chances that one person can like, how to describe that, that one person can encourage other, like good people to turn in negative side as well. I understand. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
I'd just like to thank you for your hospitality, your warm welcome. The breakfast was incredible. The view is amazing and you're so positive and so nice to me. So I really appreciate it. Thank you. ⁓
I'm I'm it. I'm I'm I'm not sure I'm if going to be it. I'm sure if to be I'm sure I'm not sure if to it. I'm I'm I'm if it. I'm not sure if able to it. not sure
As a lamb, the priest is very happy to host you because when some, like when foreigners come and visit our country, as I said that SDF, the tourist tax, which goes
for the well-being of the country. That's why he is very happy for your visit to Bhutan. Because like your contribution helps for the development of the country for free education, free healthcare, yeah, for the well-being of the nation. That's why he is very happy to host you and also the future guest who turn up to visit Bhutan. Yeah. Yeah. So I'll finalize with if people want to have this experience.
They should visit Breathe Bruton, who I'm working with today. And they can have this experience of the most amazing breakfast and amazing company. So, and honestly, the view people should look at my Instagram for the view is incredible. So yeah, thank you so much. Appreciate it. And that's it for this episode on Winging It. I hope you took something from this episode where it sparked a new idea, offered a different perspective, or simply let you feel part of the journey. If you enjoyed it, leaving a quick rating or review on your podcast app really helps the show reach new listeners.
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