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On our early morning trip to the
airport, our hotel driver involved his van in a car collision happening between
a few vehicles driving in front of us. Two other cars hit us in the back,
making the situation even more confusing. Because of the early hour, the police
and ambulances took some time to arrive to the spot and to manage the
situation. Our driver was hurt at a wrist and needed to be transported to the
hospital. The car, which hit us in the back, was literally stuck in our van's
luggage compartment, and the inner metal grid separating this compartment from
the seats made it unfeasible to recover our belongings and field tools. It took
more than an hour to free the cars, and some time until a taxicab could be
called and arrived to the spot to pick us up. As we eventually arrived at the
airport, the check-in time was well over. We had no choice but to change our
flight tickets for the next flight, which was scheduled two days later, on
April 4th. We knew that Helvetas promised to pick us up at our
landing in Paro, and it was necessary to inform them about our misfortune. The
lack of any telephone or fax number of the Helvetas Coordination Office in
Bhutan in our files was a mistake we shall never forget! The only way we had to
inform our contacts in Bhutan was to send a fax to the General Secretary of
Helvetas in Zurich, what we have done as soon as we got back to the hotel. After a second full day of
sightseeing in Bangkok, we could finally take the flight to Bhutan, but I must
admit we shivered silently during the taxi drive to the airport! In the small Paro airport, we got
our visas checked and we encountered Mr. Fritz Baumgartner, the architect
responsible for the plans of the new research center to be built. He had to
pick us from Paro and to drive us to Thimpu, the capital of Bhutan. During the
two hours drive, we had a first glance on the surroundings, and some general
information about the planned schedule. Mr Baumgartner kindly showed us the
location of the house in which Mr. Dieter Zürcher, the Resident Coordinator for
Helvetas in Bhutan, is living. He dropped us at the hotel and we promised to
take contact with Mr. Zürcher during the evening. During the first discussion with Mr.
Zürcher, he informed us that we had to attend a briefing with the Minister of
Agriculture on the next morning. We encountered the following persons during
this meeting: Lyonpo 2
Kinzang Dorji (Deputy Minister of Agriculture), Mr. Dieter Zürcher, Mr. Kinzang
Wangdi (Programm Coordinator for the RNR-RC in Jakar), and Mr. Singye Dorji
(representative of the SCCA). The latter was the person that would accompany
and help us during the fieldwork in the Bhumtang valley. During the briefing, we received
some more information about the goals of the Ministry concerning the
collaboration with us. First, Deputy Minister Kinzang Dorji acknowledged the
interest of Bhutan for the questions relevant of culture and history. He said
that the accidental discovery of the remains on the RNR-RC building site
enables the first collaboration in the field of archaeological research in
Bhutan. He thanked Helvetas for the rapid reaction and for the steady
engagement the organization showed. The documentation and preservation of the
archaeological remains by an expert team will eventually lead to the
integration of the monuments in the environment of the new agronomic research
center to be built. Mr. Dieter Zürcher stressed his wish
to comply with the recommendations of the SCCA and his hope that the engagement
in this field investigation will be fruitful. He wishes that it will enable
Helvetas and the RNR-RC of Jakar to take the right decisions relevant for the
preservation of the remains. On behalf of the SCCA, Mr. Singye
Dorji presents the goals the commission sees in this collaboration: (1)
documentation and preservation of the remains, (2) building up of the premises
of an effective archaeological survey in Bhutan, and (3) taking contact with
foreign specialists for future archaeological collaborations. In the name of the SLFA, Blumer
added a few words concerning the modality of the collaboration. He presented
the general scope of the SLFA archaeological interventions and projects, with
particular emphasis on mutual respect when cultural investigations are carried
out on foreign territory. He pointed out the SLFA wish to see further
development of the archaeological effort in Bhutan and its readiness to
contribute to such development. Shortly after the meeting, we
returned to the hotel to prepare ourselves for the long road trip through the
country; we left Thimpu about mid-day. A driver from Helvetas was responsible
for bringing us safely to Jakar, in the Bhumtang district (central Bhutan) with
a 4x4 vehicle. The nine hours drive took us through a few cities and villages,
up and downhill, on a sinuous track, to our final goal, about 150km away from
Thimpu (Fig. 1). On the next morning, Mr. Walter
Roder, Helvetas Co-Manager for the RNR-RC Jakar, greeted us at the Karsumphe Guest House 3. He
immediately drove us to the dzong 4
lying on the other side of the valley for a briefing planned with dasho 5 dzongdag 6 Jigme Zangpo. Just before the meeting took
place, we had the privilege to visit two of the temples hidden in the highest
tower of the dzong. The immense and
detailed canvas wall paintings, as well as the ritual statues with their
associated objects and relicts, left us an unforgettable impression of majesty,
dignity, and respect of the cultural and religious heritage. Finally, dasho dzongdag Jigme Zangpo received our group which included Dr. Walter Roder, Mr. Singye Dorji (SCCA), Mr. Bhim Bdr. Pradhan (junior engineer of the RNR-RC Jakar building site), and ourselves. The discussion stressed invariably on the almost historic importance of this archaeological investigation. Dasho dzongdag hopes that this enterprise would lead toward the development of an active archaeological research in Bhutan. He presented Bhumtang dzonghkag 7 as one of many yielding a very great number of monuments of national and international significance. He stresses that their preservation must be encouraged vividly, and he hopes that the remains to be uncovered are important enough to be integrated in an archive of this rich heritage.
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Copyright 2000 by Blumer R. and Vial F.
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