Layap Tribe

A Buddha once said

that all suffering comes from the wish for your own happiness.

I'm travelling to Bhutan, a mountain kingdom in the Himalayas.

I want to understand what it must be like to live in a world

where gods and ghosts rub shoulders with holy men and yak herders.

But this would turn out to be a very different journey,

one that would challenge some of my most fundamental values

as I tried to see this land through the eyes of a Tibetan Buddhist.

My name's Bruce Parry.

I've been travelling to some of the world's most remote places

to see how people there live

and how they're adjusting to a rapidly changing world.

I believe there's only one way to really understand another culture

and that's to experience it first hand,

to become, for a short while, one of the tribe.

Heading deeper and deeper into the Himalayas,

I've still got ten days' trekking ahead of me before I reach my destination -

living with the Luna people, who are one of the highest communities on the planet.

They're blocked off half the year by snow.

The path just to get there is higher than I've ever been in my life.

Right now it's still closed

so it's touch and go whether I'm even going to make it.

Bhutan is a remote mountain kingdom in the Himalayas

with a population of only 650,000.

It lies between India and Tibet.

I'll be heading north to the most inaccessible part of the country,

to Laya and Lunana,

two villages separated by a series of dramatic 5,000-metre passes.

From the low-altitude tropical forest,

I will have four days of hard trekking before I reach my first destination - Laya,

at an altitude of nearly 4,000 metres, three times the height of Ben Nevis.

My guide for the journey will be Chimi Dorji,

who has spent 20 years trekking through some of the most remote regions of Bhutan.

-Are you Chimi?

-Yes.

Very nice to meet you, Chimi, at last. How are you?

-Fine, thank you.

-We've had a wonderful journey so far.

-Have you been waiting here long?

-Not long.

-Are these your animals?

-Yes.

-32.

-32?!

-Yes.

-Wow!

And have you news of the pass? Is it good?

Yes, the pass still closed. By the time you get to Laya,

-probably, I think, we'll be able to get through, yes.

-Oh, that's good.

Fantastic. Well, let's get going.

I have to take enough food for the trek in

and to get me and the team across the mountain passes.

After a long winter, I can't presume the villagers will have enough food to feed us all for month.

These lush forests look so pristine and beautiful,

but there's a nasty lurking in their midst.

At least when I get leeched, I can pull mine off.

This poor mule doesn't have that luxury.

He's been leeched everywhere. Here's one here.

Look at that.

So, Chimi, when I pull my leeches off,

I like to cut them in half as revenge,

but I suppose as a Buddhist that's not allowed.

-Just pull them out and leave it.

-You just leave it?

-Yes.

-You don't feel any negativity towards it?

-No.

Well, you're a better man than I am, Chimi.

Maybe I'll have to learn that.

After two more days, we reach Gaza,

the last significant town on our route.

The people of northern Bhutan are Tibetan Buddhists

and this is an important religious centre.

But we are aiming higher, another two days' hard trekking

and another thousand metres up the mountains.

Wow! It's pretty, Chimi.

So this is Laya.

-Shall we say hello?

-Yes.

-This is the school, yeah?

Hello.

You've got gloves. Wise. ..Look at you.

Hello.

Hello.

Can I have a look at your hat?

-You like Laya?

-I like it so far. I've just arrived.

But it's very nice. And everyone is very friendly,

especially you lot.

Laya is my first destination.

At 3,800 metres, I need to acclimatise to the thin air.

Chimi has sent word that we are coming

and Kencho, the spiritual leader of the village, invites us to stay with him.

-Come join us.

-Yeah.

Kencho, it's so very nice of you to let us stay in your place.

Thank you so very much.

Well, that says a lot.

We are going to have to think about our plans.

It's clear that I won't be getting over the passes to Lunana for a while yet.

So Laya will be my home for now.

And Kencho will be my host.

Laya has a population of 700,

with houses dotted along a shoulder of land just above the tree line.

There's little good farm land here so the Layaps depend on yaks

for cheese, meat, clothing and much else.

Everyone sleeps in the main room in Kencho's large wooden house.

This is luxury compared to many of the places I've stayed -

yak wool blankets and an open fire.

Can I help?

I'm sure I'd put the fire out or something!

Kencho's wife Amom shows me how to make yak butter tea.

Let's have a go, see if I can do it.

There's always some on the go in Laya

and the teapot is something else.

I can smell it.

No lumps. It's a good job.

It's nice serving you for a change, Kencho.

Oh, just a little bit?

There's me having drunk tea after tea after tea,

thinking it's really rude to say no.

Before I even pour it they put their finger on the spout

so I just put in a little bit. They probably smelled my tea!

Kencho was trained as a monk

and while I'm here he will be my guide to Buddhism.

Wow! What's this?

Kencho, what are you drawing here?

There's six - three positive and three negative.

So, when I die, you say, all of my karma is added up

and if it adds up to being positive, I'll go to this side,

and if it adds up to being negative, I'll go to this side?

If you're going to learn about Buddhism,

THIS is the place to do it.

One of the first teachings that the Buddha gave was about the noble truths.

The first one of these is about suffering.

We've all experienced suffering. My legs are on fire just walking up this hill! That's tangible,

as is the suffering of bereavement or of lost love or whatever.

But another area that is interesting is this suffering of change, as they call it.

Imagine you'd just bought a car.

You're so excited. Before you know you're putting in the petrol, the MoT, the tax and that's a nightmare.

A few years later, it's rusty and you've got to buy another one, then you enter into this cycle.

What they would say is anything you become attached to,

after a while, will inevitably bring you some form of suffering.

Now, that's quite interesting

and actually quite at odds with how I live my life at home.

As I get to know Kencho and his wife,

I discover that married life in the highlands of Bhutan has developed in an extraordinary way.

Kencho's wife Amom

was married to both Kencho and his elder brother at the same time.

Polyandry is one of the rarest forms of marriage in the world.

Yes. So...

-his elder brother...

-Yes.

-..is the first husband.

-Yes.

-He is the second one.

-And you have different houses?

-No, one house.

-One house.

-Yes.

-OK.

-And from his brother, there are six children.

-Six children.

And from him, it's six children.

-So there is 12 children, two fathers and one mother.

-Wow.

But his elder brother now... he expired.

I hope this is not too cheeky, but is there any jealousy?

WHISTLING

I knew these girls were tough

but when I was asked if I would go out collecting wood with them...

I realised just how tough they were!

Yeah?

Again?

Er...OK.

Why don't I carry it long?

You want to chop it here?

OK?

I've chopped wood... many a time before

but this is something else, man.

It's like anything out here that raises your pulse just a little bit

takes it out of you so much.

I'm just made to look like an idiot,

compared to these cool girls who are just beavering away

without even the slightest puff.

HE LAUGHS

So what are we doing?

This? Here?

Oh. What are we doing?

Oh, my God. I think we're gong to collect some flowers. Fantastic!

Zam, what are these for?

For the house? For you?

-Yes.

-For you?

This is the quandary - two very pretty girls, one bunch of flowers.

It's all in the balance.

Seriously, could you have a better day in the hills? Check this.

THE GIRLS SING

One thing I'm interested in is that a lot of the women in Laya have more than one husband.

Is this something that you see will continue for many years to come?

Or is this the old ways, do you think?

What do you think about having two husbands?

Is that something you might contemplate?

The second noble truth that the Buddha talked about

was the understanding of the true nature of desire.

Now I know desire in my life - of course, the senses, I overload them every day at home.

Love, taste, lust and all these things, we feed on them.

But, to Buddhists, all forms of desire are wrong.

And what I'm going to try and do in some small way while I'm out here,

freaky as it sounds,

is try and live my time without any desire at all.

Ah, my God! I thought I'd got the trick right.

'I've been here ten days now.

'The passes to Lunana are still closed, but every day I spend here in Laya,

'I'm learning more and more about the Layaps and their beliefs.

'Like all Tibetan Buddhists, the villagers believe in reincarnation -

'that your behaviour in your past lives determines what you've become in the present.'

I'm just about to meet the village astrologer,

who is not only going to tell me what I was in a previous life,

but also, depending on the path I take, what I could be in a future life.

It's quite a big thought for me,

and I'm not entirely sure that I even want to know. But here goes.

HE CHANTS

Leave it open, it's good, it's good.

Things have just started to change and a wind has picked up.

Now he's going to talk about your coming life.

-My future life?

-Future life.

So your next life will be monkey.

-A monkey?

-Monkey.

-And is that confirmed?

How about if I have a good life?

Do I have an option of going up? I have six realms.

-No, I think he will probably explain how to improve your...

-Oh, I see.

He says, after monkey, probably then you will come to a rooster or a hen in a house.

My plan is to go to the valley of Lunana.

I was wondering if there was any chance you could give us some advice?

-Some problem or something might arise at the destination.

-OK.

And also that it's a hard route. I knew it would be a hard route and that doesn't deter me.

But could you tell me, just you and me,

um, if we were, if...

is it disrespectful to listen to the advice and then say we will go anyway?

My whole thing is I must be culturally sensitive

and I wasn't expecting him to say, don't go because it's bad.

That would be... that's quite a big thing for me.

So, um, you know, just what's your advice?

Do you think that this puts a new angle on even going?

Chimi and I decide to give it another week.

At least that way I can get to know more about life here in Laya.

In recent years, the villagers of Laya and Lunana have struck it rich

by collecting a weird caterpillar fungus called yatso gimbo.

It's a highly prized Chinese medicine that can only be found at these extreme altitudes,

and it's about the strangest gold rush I've ever heard of.

That small? Really? Just tiny, tiny...

So it's a sort of browny red.

All right, let's have a look.

Is that cool? Good luck?

OK, well, wish us luck.

Oh, right, he's off already!

He obviously knows what he's doing.

It's quite cold on the old hands as well, all day long, frozen ground.

Oh, my God!

That is so not what I was expecting.

Is this still alive?

-Er, it's kind of like it's dead already.

-OK.

Oh, my God. Well, I don't want to touch it because I might break it

but show us how you take it out.

You don't need to excavate it?

Oh, you just pull it out!

My God, look at that fat one.

So this is the caterpillar that was alive underground,

but the fungus has infected it, it's growing out of its head - poor thing, imagine what that's like!

And this is about mid-growth. But it would be up to about here, maybe with a head.

And at that stage, when it's fully grown,

the caterpillar is consumed and gone.

Oh! Ooh, ooh!

-Is that one?

-Oh, yeah!

Yeah, baby, look at that! I've found one.

Can you believe it?

I managed to spot that - that! -

amongst all of this.

I am actually quite impressed.

Check that baby! That's worth a million bucks!

How much is this one worth?

-Eight rupees.

-Eight rupees?

About 10p?

Oh, no, this is not...!

That is not really a gold rush.

My Lord, I'm going to have to collect a lot to make my fortune.

The third noble truth is that once you've understood

that all suffering actually comes about because of desire,

then you're beginning to rid yourself of that ignorance which causes desire in the first place.

Until you understand that, you're always going to be brought back

in this endless cycle of birth, death and re-birth.

There's a rumour around camp that we're finally off. Can you believe it?

We've got a six-day, incredibly hard trek ahead of us over four of the highest passes around.

Everyone says were never going to make it - I kinda think we are.

We're setting off pretty much in time with what the astrologer said,

but the biggest thing is, if we do make it, we still have

no idea what our reception on the other end will be like.

We're taking Chimi's ponies some of the way,

but soon we'll have to rely on the yak herders from Laya.

1,000 metres higher up, and we rendezvous with Kencho's son Pianki,

an expert herder.

He's mustering the male yaks at base camp ready for the ascent.

We'll need all their skill and knowledge of the route

to have any chance of crossing the 5,000-metre passes.

The fourth and final noble truth is Buddha's methodology

for living out your life as correctly as possible.

What the Buddha said was, all desire is just a mental construct anyway,

so if we want to overcome that and combat it,

we have to go into our mind and fundamentally restructure

the organisation of it - through meditation.

If we can do that, we'll not only overcome that desire,

but all the pain and suffering that comes with it.

By next morning, the yaks are loaded and ready

and we begin the real climb.

These yaks, I just love them! Look at them, they're so amazing!

There's more innate Himalayan knowledge in one of those

than any amount of humans who have climbed Everest.

These guys can just smell the danger. I love 'em!

5,000 metres, Chimi?

It's almost 5,000.

Almost 5,000?

-So this is our first big pass?

-Yes.

-Cool. Do we have one of these for every pass, Chimi?

-Yes.

This is called Lapsa, asking for the protection from the new valley,

-that the local deities from the new valley...

-Sure.

-..and giving our thanks to our previous deities from the other valley here.

-OK.

Cool,

wonderful.

Getting people and goods over this terrain is how the Layaps have traded for more than 500 years.

But at 5,000 metres, even yaks can run into trouble.

Hi!

What's the problem, my friend?

How are you?

Tell me, what's the latest?

It's too high, up here, really.

So what's the solution, do you think?

CHIMI: Yaks can sense danger sometimes, so sometimes they dig the horns through the snow

and they don't move, no matter you whip them, they sometimes they just lie down here, what you see there.

They know, don't they?

-We can walk and see...

-Yeah, let's go and have a look.

There's no other way around it either side? Yeah, you can see here.

Thing is, the yak just goes in much further than us, doesn't it?

Could we not shovel it, or make a path? How far is this? It's not that deep,

it doesn't seem that bad. I don't want to push anyone because it's not my place,

but I was wondering if there's any option?

If there was any option it would be good. But I don't, you know, we can't push anyone.

But if we can come up with an idea, or maybe our people shovel a path.

It's something. It would help them,

but it's up to you, my friend. I don't want to put any pressure in any direction,

I just want to offer advice or help.

Not to be defeated by deep snow, the guys have spent the last few days digging out a path

and, er, today is our fifth day of trying to get over this pass.

And, er, I'm hoping - well, we're all hoping -

that finally we're going to be successful.

WHISTLING

This really is the moment of truth.

It's taken the guys two days to build this path up this really steep bit.

Yeah, come on, baby, come on, come on, come on, come on, you can do it, you can do it,

you can do it. There's this one at the top here, it's just stuck,

it's up to its waist, but they won't let me help it. If the yaks see or smell me

they just run off in the opposite direction.

Unfortunately there's nothing I can do, it's really annoying.

Yes! Well done guys, well done, yeah.

That's such good news, this is such good news.

If these yaks make it over this bit, there's only two or three other elements in the next few days

before we get to Lunana, that are like this,

and if we can succeed here, it's a really good sign for the rest of our journey.

But it looks now, finally, like they're going to make it over this pass. That's fantastic news.

The guys are even wearing sunglasses made from yak's hair. I love these animals!

I'm above the clouds now and there's only one major pass between me and Lunana,

the 5,100-metre Gangala Chu.

WIND HOWLS

It's in the sun's shadow for most of the day,

making it the most treacherous of all the passes.

And we're so close to Lunana, and so rather than go back,

-we will try and make a yak motorway.

-HE LAUGHS

HE PANTS

It's this ice here -

it's a real difficulty, it's cos

it's just beneath the surface

and the yaks will just get no purchase.

It's going to be like this all day I think.

The path we've cut today, genuinely, honestly,

what is your view of the yaks getting over that path?

Cool, well then that for me, then the final decision,

no more umms and aahs, the final decision is we'll will go with the yaks tomorrow,

we'll try with a few up front to see if they work.

If there's any problems, if they turn around, it doesn't work,

-we come back and we go home. And that is it, we won't try again.

-OK.

HE EXPLAINS

BELLS RING

Come on guys, come on you can do it.

This is the moment of truth.

Come on.

It's not too bad, it's not too bad.

My heart is in my mouth really,

But so far, so good. Brilliant.

Right, they're moving it, that's fantastic. C'mon.

Oh, no. No!

Damn.

Damn, damn, damn, damn.

What happened? Too much? Too steep?

-One just slipped.

-Yes.

And the second one started to push off the last one...

HE SIGHS

A whole month I've been wanting to go to Lunana,

and I feel like it's a failure, frankly.

Um, I feel disappointed and frustrated.

I'm not used to that. All my life, whatever I set myself I go for it

and I nearly always succeed, especially physical challenges.

And this just feels awful.

But, in a funny kind of way,

what have I been talking about?

What's this journey been about the whole way?

What would the Buddha say?

Well, he would be laughing at me, wouldn't he?

Because I'm feeling suffering, I'm feeling pain and anguish

and that has come about because of my blind desire to get to Lunana.

Well, Bruce, if you can't work that one out, then what good are you, frankly?!

Because that is it, the penny has finally dropped.

It's... I can talk about it forever,

but now, here and now, I've finally realised

what it is that I've been saying. It's desire that's caused my pain.

And desire, man, it's a tricky thing.

Come on, Chimi, let's go home, man.

We need to get back to Laya

but, for now, we have to wait at base camp

until Chimi's horses are brought back up to collect us and our gear.

We may be here for a few days so Pianki suggests I stay

with his 78-year-old uncle -

he lives here during the summer months looking after the yaks.

-What's your uncle's name?

-Pencho.

-Pencho?

Pencho. OK.

Incredible structure.

If it's very big storm, if it's really raining, does this still keep you dry?

IN TRANSLATION:

I'm just about to do my daily chore of collecting the yaks.

Only today I'm doing it with Pencho who's 78 -

that's over twice my age -

and I'm worried sick whether I'll be able to keep up with him.

Are we OK, Pencho? Shall we go? Up here?

I'll follow you, my friend.

BRUCE SIGHS

He's just nails!

Can you imagine at 78 climbing these steep hills? It would just absolutely knacker me.

BRUCE'S LABOURED BREATHS

I think Pencho's just spotted blue sheep.

Look.

Wonderful.

(That's amazing!

(I've so wanted to see blue sheep on this trip

(and this is my first sighting of them.)

Blue sheep are incredibly rare and only live here in the Himalayas.

Maybe my luck's changing.

PENCHO WHOOPS

Pencho and I spend the whole afternoon

bringing down the smaller female yaks.

PENCHO CALLS YAKS

PENCHO'S CALLS ECHO

Later, there was work with the mighty male yaks.

-SPEAKS IN LOCAL DIALECT

-Hey, I've got him.

One thing I wasn't expecting to be doing on my journey to Bhutan was wrestling yaks.

IN TRANSLATION:

This looks barbaric but what we're doing is giving it salt.

And the only way to give a big animal like this salt

is to get it on its back and, er, it's not as easy as it looks.

Or, in fact, it's about as hard as it looks. Let's put it that way.

IN TRANSLATION:

At ease?

Yeah?

Obviously all animals need salt but I think that they force-feed these ones salt

as a kind of fattening process to encourage them to eat.

Pianki, can I have a go at the...?

Yeah?

MEN CHUCKLE

IN TRANSLATION:

OK, so...

IN TRANSLATION:

YAK LOWS

MEN CHUCKLE

It's strong.

That wasn't so hard.

Thanks, Pianki.

I know he really didn't want me to do that.

He was quite worried that I might get gored

but it wasn't so hard.

I just hope the poor old hairy wee beast isn't feeling too bad

after his, er, compulsory dose.

Back at the tent, Pencho offers to make me a brew of yatso gimbo -

the caterpillar fungus we'd collected out on the hill.

Tell me, w-will I feel anything?

Will I suddenly be overcome with a sensation of health,

or will I feel any different tomorrow?

W-w-what should I expect?

IN TRANSLATION:

So I think we're melting butter.

We're going to add the yatso gimbo to the butter, I believe. And then,

I think, we're then going to stick them in some whisky.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Wow, you want the whisky already.

There. It's a screw top.

I'll let you pour it in because I don't want to be accused of kicking the arse out of this.

Ah, hubble-bubble.

OK, this is, um...

You want a bit more? I thought you might.

There you go.

BRUCE CHUCKLES

That wasn't just a little bit more, that was half a bottle.

How many of us are having this? I don't suppose your two nephews are having any.

My Lord!

Looks like it's going to be a good night after all.

Now I know why everyone thinks these things are waterproof -

because you're so pissed you don't know what's going on!

HE CHUCKLES

That's a mug of whisky!

Oh, my god!

We are gonna sleep well!

-That's quite...

-HE CHUCKLES

Oooh! Some might call this...

butter-fungus-caterpillar-whisky,

but I call it yatso gimbo.

Now...

You've got a tiny bit!

What are you trying to do?!

Ten days after we left,

we are back in the village.

Maybe one day I will make a film in Lunana,

but for now I am rather pleased to be back in Laya.

It feels a bit like coming home.

The annual festival is about to happen

and Kencho is keen for me to get involved.

I feel like an Elizabethan queen.

Ooh!

HE LAUGHS

Is there a reason why they make the cuffs so long and have it wide?

OK.

Fantastic.

Kencho, that's so... That is so lovely.

Show me how you do that - that's such a good move.

KENCHO SINGS

Kencho, one quick question. Have you ever won this competition?

You have?

And how many times have you won it?

-Four times, not by himself, but...

-His team?

His team. Wow! Well...

That's a nice shot.

Kencho...

KENCHO SINGS

Everyone runs for cover.

It's a bit of a wobbler but it wasn't too far off.

My second shot.

HE LAUGHS

You are brilliant.

Let's make a move.

Wow!

This here is the beginnings - it's still early morning -

of the annual village festival.

A half spiritual affair, half fete.

And, of course, at the helm as ever, is my wonderful host Kencho.

HORNS SOUND, BELLS RING OUT

COLLECTIVE WHOOPING SOUNDS

The festival is an intense three days,

starting with offerings to cleanse the village of evil spirits.

MAN SINGS

Before I came on this journey, most of my readings had been about the original Buddha himself

and his spirituality, his lifelong journey,

his reaching of enlightenment and his philosophy as such.

And although, of course, that is very prevalent here

the interesting thing is that the day-to-day activities that I see all the time -

and even festivals like this annual ceremony -

aren't about that at all. They're all about I would consider almost like an animist belief.

HORN SOUNDS

It's all about the appeasement of spirits and gods that come from the sky and the ground

and effigies and devils and demons, and it's all that sort of stuff.

And I just had no idea about that, it's so much more complicated than I'd ever given it credit for.

MEN: Ohh ooh ooh!

THEY ALL JOIN IN

Ho!

Ahhh, my friend!

I never got near my targets on this journey

but by coming back to Laya, I feel I have got much closer to Kencho

and I think that I have understood something else.

Life doesn't have to be all about achieving your goals come what may.

If the pass hadn't been blocked I would have missed out on so much here in Laya.

But as it is, I have come to realise just what a remarkable community this really is.

You've all looked after me so well, I've got to know you.

Amom, Amom, what can I say?

Thank you for everything, you are so lovely, thank you so much.

And Kencho, give me a hug.

OK. Well, Kencho, let me tell you that...

..I have learnt so much from you.

You don't come any further, Kencho. It's very muddy here.

Thank you so much.

You really have changed me as a person. You've made me think so much about my life

and for that, I'm really very grateful.

Thank you all.

No, no, you stay. Stay!

Stay, stay, stay.

OK. It's muddy, Kencho.

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