A trip to Bhutan feels like the perfect antidote to the last few years of uncertainty and stress. Blissfully apart from the outside world, and notably untrammeled by travelers, Bhutan remains true to itself - its rivers and mountains pure and magical; its people gracious and welcoming; its culture rich and enlivening; and its spirituality prevalent and inspiring.
You will savor this nature, culture, and adventure for a lifetime, uncovering paths known only to the locals; taking tea with monks at their monasteries; and venturing away from the cities to meadows filled with wildflowers, ancient hamlets, forests of blue pine, spruce and rhododendron, and terraced paddy fields and orchards.
This year's program coincides with the Jambay Lhakhang Drup, one of Bhutan's most popular cultural festivals!
Day 1: Arrive Paro, drive to Thimpu
Day 2: Thimpu
Day 3: To Punakha
Day 4: Punakha
Day 5: To Phobjika
Day 6: Phobjika Valley
Day 7: East to Bumthang
Day 8: Monasteries of Bumthang
Day 9: Fly Bumthang to Paro
Day 10: Tiger's Nest Monastery
Day 11: Depart Paro
Moderate; Regular Walking
Faculty
Sienna Radha Craig is Professor of Anthropology at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire (USA). Raised in Santa Barbara, California, she received her BA in Religious Studies from Brown University (1995) and her PhD in cultural anthropology from Cornell University (2006). Craig’s research and work in medical and cultural anthropology has received support from the National Science Foundation, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council, among other sources.
Craig has authored several books, including The Ends of Kinship: Connecting Himalayan Lives Between Nepal and New York (University of Washington Press, 2020), Mustang in Black and White, with photographer Kevin Bubriski (Vajra Publications, 2018), Healing Elements: Efficacy and the Social Ecologies of Tibetan Medicine (University of California Press, 2012) and Horses Like Lightning: A Story of Passage through the Himalayas (Wisdom Publications, 2008). She is also the co-editor of Medicine Between Science and Religion: Explorations on Tibetan Grounds (Berghahn Books, 2010) and many other publications. Craig served as co-editor of HIMALAYA, Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies, from 2012-2017 and is an Executive Council member of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Asian Medicine (IASTAM).
Craig enjoys writing across genres and has published poetry, creative nonfiction, fiction, and children’s literature. This includes her children’s book, Clear Sky, Red Earth: A Himalayan Story, featuring artist Tenzin Norbu’s paintings, now in its third edition (Mera Publications, 2018) in English and published in Tibetan (TALI, 2011).
