Laya – The land of yak breeders
Discover one of the most remote villages at the foot of the Himalayas. Laya, and in particular Bhutan, has a reason to be grateful to the fox, as he helped Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal reach Bhutan and unify it. It was the year 1616. Heavy snowfalls had totally blocked the road between Bhutan and Tibet. The trail was lost. The mountains on both sides seemed to close in on each other. Zhab drung Namgyal was lost. That night, the great Lama dreamed that an animal would show him the way the next day. And so it happened. A fox howled at regular intervals. The great Lama followed the sound and the footsteps, and was able to cross the mountain pass safely. The region he reached was Laya.
Below the village, in a small meadow, which Zhabdrung is believed to have passed through, there is a chorten with the footprints of Zhabdrung and his horse.
Spread over a hillside at 3700 m, near the Tibetan border, Laya is one of the highest villages in Bhutan. Here one comes face to face with the most primordial in the breathtaking beauty of nature in its stark authenticity, manifested in the daunting Masagang (7165m) towering over the village, snow capped mountains emitting golden hues to the sun and arched blue sky. over the valley. It is the most fascinating and frightening spectacle.
Even now Laya is inaccessible. You can go by helicopter or on foot. The region is home to the Layaps and the old faithful: the furry Yaks. Life here is not easy at all. People live in the most formidable conditions. The daytime temperature in winter often drops to minus 20 degrees Celsius. Snow more than a foot deep stays on for days and days. In rainy summers, the Laya Valley is shrouded in fog and clouds. Stubborn elastic leeches haunt humans and animals. Except for a little wheat, corn, millet, and some vegetables, nothing grows here. However, to meet the demands of the environment, layaps have developed the spirit and culture that is uniquely Layan: the spirit of adventure, the spirit of optimism. The layaps are robust as they are modest.
It is strange that even though it grows so little here, Laya is called the grain basket of Gasa, one of the districts of Bhutan. Some houses are said to have stored grain dating back two decades each house and some of the livestock sheds are even a barn.
Worshipers of Dra-Lha (local deity), the Layaps are a community at peace with their culture, which is quite different. The practice of polyandry ensures that property remains within the family.
The women have long hair and peculiar conical bamboo hats with a bamboo spike at the top, held by a band of beads. Her dress included a black wool jacket and a long Tibetan-style wool skirt with horizontal stripes in natural or earth colors. Men have largely switched to Gho, the national dress of Bhutan. Layaps live in one- or two-story houses made of stone or wood. The yaks and the horses, mainly the former, comprised the livelihood of this community which relied heavily on cargo transportation and barter. In addition to being infused with endurance and strength to carry a load, yaks provide milk and dairy products, as well as hair and hair products. Master of instinct and sure-footed, yaks are the first and last companion in snowy high-altitude areas, including the treacherous Snowman Trek. Yak could be the main tourist attraction and income generator for the community.
The Yak ride during the yak show held in October 2003 in Bhutan greatly impressed the tourists. The show was organized to examine the suitability of the animal to be trained to ride. One of the jockeys from the University of Colorado said, “If riding a horse is like riding in a Toyota hilux, riding a yak is like riding a Land Cruiser.”
Even without the luxury of a highway, Laya already has a Basic Health Unit, a wireless communication facility, a renewable natural resource center, and two non-formal education centers. With an essentially introspective and self-sufficient society, Laya is a world unto itself. It was a day of great importance in April 1997 when the Layaps and the Royal Government wanted a community school to exist.
This small, unpretentious four-room structure with stone walls and clay plaster is Laya’s window to the world. Sixty-four little boys and twenty-six girls with crimson cheeks flow from the neighboring villages. They are taught the language of Milton and Shakespeare, the numbers of the Arabic, and the grammar of Thumi Samboda.
These students have already set their sights on opportunities beyond the confines of Laya. Some of them want to be teachers, others dream of being doctors or engineers, while others want to become dzongda (district magistrate). During the wind of change, even united families find themselves torn between tradition and progress.
How the Layaps accept change or respond to the world beyond remains to be seen. But one thing is for sure: the school is there to stay and grow.
