BHUTAN
In 2026 I returned to Bhutan after 26 years to retrace my journey in 1999. I had stayed in touch with Ugyen, my young guide from the first trip, who welcomed me many years ago into his extended family in the remote Tang valley. Ugyen had moved with his wife and two daughteres to Australia, and in 2024 we began to discuss the idea of returning together to Bhutan to embark on another trip across the country. In November of 2025 Ugyen informed me that his sister and two of his nieces who I photographed together in 1999 were planning to have a reunion in their ancestral home at the end of January, so we planned an entire trip around this fortuitous event.
Here is what I wrote about the 1999 encounter: I was sitting in a valley at 9000 feet having a picnic of hard-boiled eggs, yak cheese and tomatoes when the three girls asked if they could sing and dance for me. To the north were the high mountains and Tibet and to the south was India. I had entered the Tang valley in central Bhutan with my guide to visit the yearly festival commemorating the defeat of the Tibetan intruders’ 400 years ago. The monks were chanting in the temple to my right as men dressed in their finest robes danced with masked intruders, swords in hand. Earlier in the morning we had hiked two hours into the valley from the nearest road, and I felt as if I had stepped back in time. There were no vehicles of any kind or electric lines to remind me of the civilization that I had left behind. My guide’s father, who was a renowned astrologer, greeted us with an open smile as his wife hid in the shadows silently weeping in joy. Her son had not been home to visit for 18 months, and she was overwhelmed with emotion. The three girls danced in a circle, singing songs of yak herding and love. I was in another time and place, and as I sat there sipping tea I realized how fortunate I was to witness such a scene in such a wonderful setting.