Royal Visit, Part I

Last weekend, His Royal Highness (usually abbreviated HRH) Prince Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck visited Kanglung in honor of Olympic Day. Prince Jigyel is the second son of the Fourth King from the Fourth King’s first wife (the Fourth King has four wives, all of whom are sisters), which means he’d become King of Bhutan if anything fatal were to happen to the Fifth King.

Prince Jigyel is the head of the National Olympic Committee of Bhutan so he came to Kanglung with an entourage of athletic “masters” from the Committee. Masters from such sports as basketball, volleyball, Tae Kwon Do, karate, tennis, football, and shooting all made the long journey on the lateral road from Thimphu to Kanglung.

For the Olympic Day event, a few thousand students from surrounding schools, including my school, many teachers, and hundreds of townspeople all converged on Sherubtse College. All the participants of the event were given a white t-shirt featuring the Olympic rings. For days prior, a couple of Sherubtse’s athletic facilities received a minor facelift. The basketball court had lines painted on it (although they still didn’t fix the height of the hoops, much to Scott’s chagrin. At where the hoops are now, an average sized Bhutanese can easily dunk) and the football pitch got its weeds pulled out and its dips filled in, but that still didn’t prevent the pitch from becoming a muddy swamp come Olympic Day following a night of hard rain. Early that morning, workers were attempting to get rid of the mud puddles by filling them in with bags full of sand. That didn’t do the trick though.

Similar measures were taken during the basketball game – the Prince and members of the Olympic committee vs. Sherubtse students. Minutes before the game started, workers were wiping the court with towels under their feet in a failed attempt to dry it after an afternoon sprinkle. In both cases, the sun had the strongest affect. By the end of the basketball game, the court was almost completely dry. By the end of the Olympic Day celebration, the pitch had almost dried out.

Despite these conditions, Olympic Day turned out to be a huge success. My students absolutely loved it. They loved interacting with students from other schools. They loved getting medals and prizes and certificates, lunch and t-shirts and snacks. They loved learning new games and skills. But most of all, they loved that the Prince was there to share his time with them. Only a small percentage of the students got a few words from the Prince or a hug or a pat on the back, but his presence alone, his smile, his glances – just him – was enough.

Like most of my students, I didn’t get to personally interact with the Prince either. I was presented with a couple opportunities to shake his hand I think, but I squandered them. Scott, though, got to shake the Prince’s hand four or fives times, received a Royal hug, and even had a small chat with the Prince. The reason for all this attention paid to Scott? Is it because Scott is a tall white guy among thousands of Bhutanese and a hundred or so Indian teachers? No. Is it because Scott is just so darn charming and demands the attention of Royalty? No. It’s because Scott came in first place for the Olympic Day “Marathon.” I put quotes around it because the “Marathon” was, in fact, a 6-kilometer run (Bhutanese will call any organized run a “marathon”). Scott says himself that he does not excel in short distances, but he was still the strongest runner of around 500 race participants. Three times a week, Scott regularly runs 10-kilometers, whereas most of the other race participants – if they trained at all – ran a few mornings for a week leading up to the race.

I was in the middle of the muddy football pitch getting ready to participate in the Tae Kwon Do dance when Scott crossed the finish line, so I couldn’t capture the moment on film (I should also mention here that many minutes passed before second and third place runners crossed the finish line), but I was definitely there when Scott received the prize for winning the race from the Prince himself.

Other images from Olympic Day in Kanglung.


The Prince near a kicking bag. While the Prince did actively participate in many of the sporting events with the students, I don't think he actually kicked this pink plastic toy, although I'm sure he was tempted.

Warm up for volleyball.


I was mostly involved with Tae Kwon Do, but I walked around a little bit and did get to shoot an arrow. Archery is the national game of Bhutan. It's been well over a decade since I last shot a bow and arrow at Cape Cod Sea Camps but, with only one shot, I think my aim is still quite good.

The whole day, I was anxious to get a shot of the Prince with some students for the KPS Observer (my newspaper club's paper), but there was always such a gaggle of people around the Prince that it was actually quite difficult. During the football match, the last event of the day, I had some students politely ask the Prince for a picture while he was on the sidelines during halftime. This is the only shot of the Prince I have with him looking at the camera.

Tomorrow brings another Royal visit. This time it’s His Majesty The King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the current King of Bhutan. This visit is particularly exciting because he’ll be traveling with the future Queen, his wife-to-be Jetsun Pema (the wedding is scheduled for mid-October). In fact, the reason why they are coming all the way east is because Jetsun Pema’s ancestral home is in Rongthung, a village six kilometers down from Kanglung. On Monday, the King will be speaking at Sherubtse.

Squandering chances to shake the Prince’s hand is one thing, but hopefully I won’t miss the opportunity to shake the hand of a King.