Wolfgang's photos with the keyword: Daga

This is our group to the Labatama plateau: The horseman, myself, Mithe our tour assistent who passed away one year later in a disco brawl, then our cook, my wife Salama, the second horse man and Pima the organizer and tour guide.

A group photo in honor of the principal, teachers and all the pupils of the Genekha Primary School.

The last village on the way to the Labana plateau.

Bhutanese architecture is a remarkable adaptation of Tibetan architecture to different ecological conditions. As in Tibet, the walls of fortresses slope inwards and are whitewashed, with the windows becoming larger in the upper storeys. However, in Bhutan, the need to cope with heavy precipitation and the availability of wood have given its architecture a flavour all its own. Wood is widely used. The assembling of windows and doors is so complicated that the work is done at ground level, the finished elements being fitted into the upper walls later. Windows are characterized by trilobed crossbars at the top and by complicated lintels that carry symbolic meaning in all of their parts. Lintels and windows are painted with floral or geometric designs. The roofs of houses are pitched above a flat floor. They are mortised and covered with shingle held in place with heavy stones. These pitched roofs are completely original in style and help give an impression of lightness to the whole building.

Once I was ask by a Bhutanese friend, what I would like to be my next life on the steps to the Nirwana. I never was asked such a question before so I had to think a long time what creature would be nice. Never an human being again as they are wrong thinking, making wars, conflicts, cheating each other being corrupted, killing the other for nothing ect. ect. My answer then was easy: An eagle? An elephant, a tiger? Then I said that an horse in Bhutan would be nice because the Bhutanese people keep the animals so nice.

In honor of our faithful friend who took care of us all the trekking way. Mithe passed away in 1997 caused by a disco brawl. We keep our friend in best memory.

Oh well maybe for cooking an spicy hot Bhutanese chilly curry. Later in Bhutans district Bhumtang people made an yak cheese in top quality.

On the way back to the Paro valley and to Thimphu we passed a small village were we could rest for a while. I forgot its name but not the warm hospitality from the villagers and the invitation to visit their rebuilt monastery. The drawing of the phallus on house walls is a sign for the power and protection against bad influences. In Bhutan the phallus is an integral part of ceremonies observed by communities, commonly used to ward off evil spirits and counter evil.

Its a custom to walk on the left side of the cairn and set a stone onto the top.

Most cottages at the Labatana plateau are used for bivouaks only, the herdsmen don't stay there permanently. The roofs mostly are blown away by the strong storm which sweeps over the plateau every day.

There is a steep way up to climb on fixed ropes to reach the first lakes of many others.

During the night time it was a heavy storm blowing over the plateau and suddenly was blow away our tent. Our crew immediately improvised an other roof over our heads that we hadn't to stay outside in the Blizzard storm. From one moment to the other it was calm and next morning the landscape was covered with a thin layer of snow like iced sugar.