I asked Tona if she wanted to join me for a run tonight. I don't know why she said no; I'm sure it had nothing to do with being at 7500 feet starting on the side of a mountain with a planned 850-foot climb, nor with running through a town with an estimated 5000 unclaimed dogs (source: Kuensel weekly newspaper 7/16/05)... nor the fact that it was getting dark and we're in the middle of monsoon season with rain always imminent.
My run was pretty much uphill, on winding roads and occasional muddy paths with a goal of reaching Motithang and seeing the legendary takins. We've mentioned takins in a previous blog entry - they are the national animal of Bhutan and a small herd is kept in a preserve above Thimphu city. Forrest wanted to do a school report a couple of years ago in Stow on the takin, but was told by his teacher that takins were mythical beings and he had to choose "a real animal" for his report topic instead. As it gets darker, the dogs become bolder and I turn up the volume on my I-pod... maybe if you don't hear a menacing growl and bark, it doesn't happen, right?
I have been up this path several times before but since I am losing light, I ask a number of people if this is the right way to the takins. People look at me strangely and point in different directions, but I continue on the path that I am quite sure leads to the preserve. Towards the end, I take a path with a couple of log river crossings; the brush is pretty dense here, but at least I recognize that this is definitely the way... it's only when I get to the entrance of the preserve that I see a new, paved road leading straight there.
I don't see the takins at first. I find an old man sitting outside next to a woodfire, unravelling a bag used to carry rice and tying the ends together to make string. He has no teeth, speaks only Dzongkha, and is barefoot. I point in the direction that I think the takins are, but he leads me up to a muddy slope to a point where we can both see the herd. Bhutanese say the takins have the head of a goat on a cow's body - or is it the head of a cow on a goat's body? In the darkness, it could be a head of moose, or bear, and I really don't care. I'm happy to see any funny-looking head on a funny-looking body and get on with my descent back into Thimphu.
I'm expecting mythical knee pain when I wake up tomorrow morning.
