Royal Highland Festival Laya Bhutan

Laya Royal Highland Festival

This fall we traveled to Laya, in Northeastern Bhutan, which was the location of the 4th annual Royal Highland Festival. The King in 2018 and the Prime Minister 2019 have both graced the occasion to highlight Bhutan's special ethnic groups and their cultures.

Laya is above Gasa in the upper left corner of the map. It is the highest, 3800m, year-long inhabited village in Bhutan. The people of Laya are called the Layap and are known for their distinctive hear wear.

To reach Laya from Thimphu the road passes the Punakha Dzong, built 1638, and follows the river called Mo Chu that flows from the mountains near Laya.

The river also feeds the paddy fields where Bhutan grows most of their rice.

Gasa village has an ancient Dzong where the governing body is for Gasa district.


From Gasa, we drove about two bumpy hours which was just short of 10km. The views were amazing of deep valleys, long waterfalls, and multicolored layers of trees and shrubs.

At one point we drove through a stream and on the other side found donkeys waiting on the road ready to carry goods to Laya.

There was a huge blast as we got out of the car to clear rocks for the road being built. It didn't seem to phase the donkeys.
Our first hurdle was to get past the big tractor and rocks to find our trail that was covered by debris from the blast. 

The second hurdle was waiting for the mules and donkeys to pass carrying loads to Laya. On a narrow trail, when you hear the lead donkey's bell you need to get on the up-hill side of the trail otherwise you can get bounced over the edge.

It was a long drop to the river below.

Bridges were there to cross the river, which we crossed several times on the 15km walk to Laya.

The walk was rocky, muddy, up and down, but mostly up and sometimes strange objects appeared in strange places.
Finally, after 5 hours of walking, we arrived in Laya and found our homestay.
We were very tired after the walk and needed to settle in and get ready for another long walk to the yak pastures beyond Laya early the next morning. The next morning there were dark clouds and ominous weather. 

After eating fried rice with chiles for breakfast we took off walking. Our horses were loaded with camping gear and food for one night in the yak pastures above Laya.

We walked for 5 hours and arrived at a woman's yak camp, where she lives with her two children. Her husband lives in Laya for his work. She herds their yaks and milks the naks, making butter and cheese from the milk. She served us some hot yak milk tea.

We passed another yak herder camp where three families lived. It was very basic with earth and grasses for the roof. The herders were out so we didn't get to meet them.

The weather was closing in and it was starting to rain and snow - too bad we couldn't see the beautiful snow peaks at the end of the valley.

We needed to get the tent's rain fly on quickly because it was starting to rain as the tents were going up. The rain continued through the night.

While we were setting up our camp some of the yak herders from the camps above were coming down for the festival in Laya. One woman carried her butter churn for the festival. There was still work to be done even at the festival.

There were many yaks on the trail heading to Laya. Soon we realized after the rain what that meant for us using the same trail. It was muddy and mushy!

There was a very steep drop just below our tent so I had to plan where to "go" at night so I would not have an unexpected drop.

A young couple was living in a tarp house for their pasture stay. It was very rough. Inside it was full of so much smoke tears ran from our eyes.

Early the next day, the naks were being milked in alternating sessions letting the baby yak have a sip of milk before taking some for the pail. It seemed to be a hard start to married life for this young woman.

The landscape was beautiful with so many colors of winter starting to appear.

After following the muddy path in the rain we could see a village showing through the fog. It was our lunch stop where we visited a Layap family while we ate our food. It was wonderful to be warm and dry.

There were two cute young daughters at the house. We took photos of them in their festival clothes. After lunch (chilies and cheese), we set out again and had one pass to cross over before arriving in Laya and back to the comfort of our homestay. 

The next morning a lovely day appeared after the previous two days of clouds and rain. This was the judging day for the festival.

We decided to walk up to the festival grounds 200m above Laya. The top of the hill in the photo below where the clouds were rising.

A couple of young Layap girls were heading up too and were resting during the steep climb.

We want to watch the judging of Yaks, horses, and dogs. There was some pre-festival dance practice too. 

The local school children were practicing for the festival.

The venue was being set up with yak hair tents for different vendors.

Young men were riding their fastest horses to get to the judging.

The judging was in progress when we arrived at the holding area.

Yaks were separated into groups by age and purpose. Owners waited next to their group of animals waiting for the judges. Breeding yaks were pulled off to one side since they can be aggressive.

A proud owner of one of the breeding yaks.

Judging the horses was done by the livestock officers. Winning was special for the owners because if they won their animals would have more value and they received a cash prize.

Our homestay owner was proud to show off his horse that won the highest marks last year. 

Dogs that guard the yaks were also judged on their looks and size. Many were so ferocious that the owners advised us to take a wide path around them.

Our group gathered for a photo and to set up our Yak product booth in one of the tents.

We returned to Laya and our homestay looking forward to the next day - the opening of the Royal Highland Festival!

The next day we had help putting on Bhutan's traditional dress, Men wear a Goh and women wear a Kira. The Prime Minister was coming and we wanted to meet him in style.

Everyone from the village climbs up the 200m hill to reach the event.

Our group all dressed for the ceremonial start to the festival.

Layap women prepare to dance and welcome the Prime Minister. They all follow a procession once he arrives.

The Prime Minister looks on as a dance is used to dispell any evil and creates beneficial elements for the festival.

My daughter with the women from Bumthang.

Brokpa women from eastern Bhutan wore their distinctive hats. Brokpa men below were decorating their yak for the animal parade.

The horses and yaks were paraded in front of the prime minister.

Meanwhile, the marathon first and second place winners were just arriving after running 25km.

We were lucky to meet the prime minister and have a brief chat.

Children could not resist the cheap plastic toys from China.

The tug of war was a fun moment as people ran to help their favorite side win. There was obviously a lot of cheating.

The next event began with fanfare for the strong woman contest.

Above the bags with 15, 30 and 50 kgs of rice are stacked up. Below they are lined up and ready to go with their supporters behind them.

Off they go with the leader on her way to the winning spot.

With 50kg of rice on her back, she was still moving well and completing the contest well ahead of the competition.

The winners, first and second place, were given a prize from the prime minister.

The last main event was a slingshot competition. The slingshot is used to redirect the yak's movements when they are grazing. Pride in the contestants' accuracy was displayed they tried to hit a target on top on a hill some distance away. People were kept far away as accuracy was very variable.

At the end of the day, we said goodbye to many friends including our horseman that took us to the yak herders camps. He was proudly holding his 2-year-old daughter.

One of the last events of the day was a song by the Brokpa people. They had wonderful voices. As they sang a flurry of snow was starting and we headed down the hill to our homestay.

Unfortunately, it was our last day and we would miss the last day of prizes for the best of the show in the animals, a strong man competition and more songs.

Still, we were very lucky to have experienced the Royal Highland Festival. It will be at the top of the memorable events we have experienced here in the Himalayas.