"zo mangna go lhong mi tshu"

bhutanese saying

By 默默富酷

February 10^th, 2011

in search of happiness

“zo mangna go lhong mi tshu” - when there are too many carpenters, the door cannot be erected. or in my case, i made so many photos, it was almost impossible to select the images to be included in this article. i wanted to make around 30 portraits during the trip, but i ended with over 300. i was meeting (or terrorizing - according to the girls during this trip) and making images of over thirty strangers every day.

the visit to bhutan had to be one of my best trips in my life, despite having to consume the same medley of red rice, chili cheese and dried cured meat (it was their penance month and there wasn’t any fresh meat) for every meal in the middle of winter.

i am not sure if i can agree that bhutan is the happiest place in the world, but this trip had 5 of us really really glad. i will go back bhutan in a heartbeat.

"partab chogha"

these 2 were our guides. they taught us a phrase that allowed us to interact with every single individual we encountered along the journey from paro, phobjika, punakha, wangdue to thimpu.

“partab chogha” - may i take a photo? or at least that’s what we were told it meant. perhaps it meant something rude or funny enough to allow everyone to respond and accommodate our requests.