Hello from Bhutan!

In this candid interview, Chencho Gyeltshen, talks about playing internationally – the struggles and the highlights. He shares tips on finding work outside Bhutan and little known details about his life before professional football.

Language: English and Dzongkha

In this podcast, Arun Bhattarai, talks about the "Mountain Man," the first Bhutanese documentary to qualify for the Oscars (2025). The film features Bhutan's first qualified glaciologist Phuntsho Tshering.

He also talks about his latest film "Agent of Happiness" that is the first Bhutanese documentary to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Arun shares what it takes to make documentaries, the process, his journey, and more.

00:00-Intro

1:15-On qualifying for the Oscars 2025

3:12-Filming the Oscars entry Mountain Man

6:42-Climate Change in Mountain Man

11:15-Journey of filming documentaries 

11:42-The film Agent of Happinessat Sundance

13:45-Looking for love

17:35-Studying filmmaking in Europe 

19:14-Funding for independent filmmakers 

20:18-On the film The Next Guardian

25:06-Where to watch the films 

28:31-Queer characters in the films

In this episode, communications scholar, Dorji Wangchuk, talks about his award-winning research: “On Identity, Spirituality, Community and the Sacred Chronotope in Bhutan", the biggest announcement from Bhutan – GeSAR (Gelephu Mindfulness City) - a city like no other, and the unique Bhutanese identity.

00:00-Introduction

01:18-Background to Research

03:03-Types of Bhutanese Communities

04:08-The Bhutanese Identity

05:35-Meaning of Chronotope

07:26-The Sacred Chronotope

10:12-National Day 2023 as a Sacred Chronotope

11:56-What Unites us as Bhutanese

15:39-GeSAR or Gelephu Mindfulness City

23:42-Bhutan as a Collectivist Society

27:25-What should be the Bhutanese story?

29:34-Various interpretations of Dec 17 2023

This conversation takes us through Pawo's journey from being a photographer and writer to a film-maker. Pawo was nominated for an Academy Award for his very first film – Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom. Pawo's second film: The Monk and The Gun, is Bhutan's submission to the 2023 Academy Awards.

Episode 2 of Hello from Bhutan, Season 3, brings you an inside look at IMTRAT's famous Jalebi shop in Thimphu. If anyone should take credit for cultivating a sweet tooth among Bhutanese in the capital, it's the Jalebi shop! Did you know that they never reuse their oil and give the utmost importance to hygiene? All this and more on this podcast.

The first podcast of Hello from Bhutan's third season features Project DANTAK. Here, I find out the incredible history and wonderful connection formed over six decades between Bhutan and India through people, infrastructure, and food! It all began with the inspiring leadership and friendship between His Majesty the Third Druk Gyalpo and India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Fmr. US Ambassador Curtis S. Chin, talks about his two decades long relationship with Bhutan and why the country "defies stereotypes.' This is a candid insight into Bhutan from someone who is in a unique position to talk about the country as both an outsider and insider. This podcast highlights fashion and food as well! Curtis is also the chair of Milken Institute Asia, and on the advisory council of the Bhutan Foundation. 

This episode is brought to you by the Department of Tourism (https://bhutan.travel). 

This episode features running legend and race director of the Snowman Race, Luis Escobar, and the Snowman Secretariat's Damcho Rinzin. The first Snowman Race took place in October, this year. 29 international and Bhutanese ultra athletes took part. All participants underwent a selection process. The world's highest race has been conceptualised to raise awareness on Bhutan's melting glaciers and the impact of climate change. The Snowman Race had about a 100 people involved in its execution. Luis says the race is "a gift to international athletes."  

This episode of the podcast is brought to you by the Department of Tourism. Find more information on: https://bhutan.travel/.

The Centre for Bhutan and GNH Studies has been organizing the international conference on Vajrayana Buddhism in Bhutan since 2016. Bhutan is the only Vajrayana nation in the world. The 4th conference which takes place from 1-4 October 2022,  is seeing unprecedented participation. There are speakers from 41 countries presenting original papers on everything from ritualistic traditions to Artificial Intelligence. Find the fascinating agenda and list of speakers on www.bhutanstudies.org.bt.

The tourism sector has undergone massive changes (also called "transformation" by the government) over the last couple of months in preparation for Bhutan officially welcoming tourists for the first time since the pandemic. In a major update, potential tourists may directly pay USD 200 as the revised sustainable development fee (SDF) along with a one time visa fee of USD 40 and enter the country without a tour operator being involved. The itinerary may be planned after arrival. Guides continue to be mandatory. Damcho Rinzin, from the Tourism Council of Bhutan (TCB) talks about these changes and more in this podcast. 

This episode is brought to you by the Department of Tourism (https://bhutan.travel/).

The Trans Bhutan Trail is an ancient trail used by Bhutanese in the past to get from one end of the country to another. It was the only route in existence then. The trail that will officially open this September, is now listed by Time as one of the "World's Greatest Places" to visit in 2022. The newly renovated trail has not been covered in its entirety by anyone yet. This is a great opportunity for anyone interested to be the the first one to traverse the full length of one of the world's most difficult trails! There's more fascinating information from Tsering Dolkar ( Trans Bhutan Trail Social Enterprise) on this podcast. Give it a listen. This episode is brought to you by the Department of Tourism (https://bhutan.travel/).

Bhutan is opening to tourists by fall this year, after being closed for two years due to the pandemic. In this podcast recorded in April 2022, Namgay Zam talks to the Director General of the Tourism Council of Bhutan (TCB), Dorji Dhradhul, about Bhutan's unique "High Value, Low Volume" tourism policy and post-Covid tourism.  This podcast is brought to you by the Department of Tourism (https://bhutan.travel/). 

Hello from Bhutan is highlighting queer stories from Bhutan this new season. This episode was originally filmed for Queer Talks Bhutan. It features Pema Dorji, founder of Queer Voices of Bhutan. Queer Voices of Bhutan are the producers of Queer Talks Bhutan. 

This is the first in a series of podcasts on Bhutanese living abroad. The series will explore their lives outside of Bhutan. 

This episode highlights how the lives of a Clinical systems application trainer at the NHS in the UK and a postgraduate student studying sustainable resource management in Germany have changed due to Covid-19. 

Two young women who tested positive in quarantine share their experience in this episode. Lhachi and Tseki are 2 of the 3 Bhutanese confirmed Covid-19 cases.  Both are recovering well. 

Bhutan has seen 5 confirmed cases till date, two of which were American tourists. The first confirmed case in Bhutan was an American tourist. 

How's your relationship with Social Media right now? Dorji Wangchuk talks about fake news, too much information and how to stay sane in the time of COVID-19. 

As of 2nd April, 3218 Bhutanese were in quarantine. I speak to former MP Sangay Khandu about life in quarantine. Bhutan recently extended the mandatory quarantine period to 21 days from 14 day. Khandu speaks candidly about mental health challenges he's faced due to COVID-19 and how a lot more needs to be done for the mental health of Bhutanese stuck abroad. 

Independent Bhutanese films have been doing incredibly well at international film festivals. Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom is one of them. The film opened to rave reviews in Bhutan after touring the world via film festivals. This is Pawo's first film as a writer-director. Lunana won the Audience Choice Award at the Palms Spring International Film Festival 2020 beating Oscar-nominated films!

The National Assembly of Bhutan will be deliberating the Goods and Services Tax Bill of Bhutan 2020. We've never had a single rate tax before GST. The GST deliberation is important for women because for the first time, there will will be a discussion to remove taxation on feminine hygiene products like tampons and sanitary napkins. 

In this episode, I share an opinion piece of mine written in December 2018 for The Diplomat on "Why Bhutan’s 'Blood Tax' Needs To Be Scrapped."

Health officials say at least 10-15 percent of Bhutanese women experience Postpartum depression after childbirth. There are many Bhutanese women who also experience difficult pregnancies, but do not talk about it. Dragon Tales brings you a conversation with two mothers whose experiences are rarely recorded or shared in Bhutanese society.