Hello from Bhutan!

Geophysicist Yeshey Seldon, is the first Bhutanese to set foot in Antarctica. She was in Antarctica as part of a research team called TIME (Thwaites Interdisciplinary Margin Evolution) who were there to study the Thwaites Glacier. Find out about her research and experience in Antarctica on this podcast. Yeshey is on Instagram: @yesheybokuuu. 00:00-Intro 1:45-Initial Antarctica experience 2:23-“Hurdy Gurdy” and local lingo 4:06-Expectation vs. Reality 5:52-McMurdo station (US Research Facility) 7:31-Wais Divide field camp 8:32-Thwaites Glacier 8:50-Reason for studying glacier in Antarctica 11:59-Being a geophysicist and climate change 14:32-Challenges 19:47-Memorable experiences 22:06-Animals

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 Happiness at 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

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.

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 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/).

Karma Dupchen gives great advice on navigating queer relationships in this podcast. Also hear a transboy in high school talk about understanding and expressing his identity, and hear him sing beautifully.

Hello from Bhutan is highlighting queer stories from Bhutan this new season. This episode was originally filmed for Queer Voices Bhutan. It features Aum Penjore, Bhutan's oldest known transwoman.

Bhutan is not as homophobic or transphobic as the laws of the land make the country out to be. In fact, the transwoman Ugyen in this conversation, talks about how painless it was for her to get her gender changed on her identity card despite no law existing to provide such an option. She is among the 5 transwomen in Bhutan to have legally changed their gender. The gay couple Pema and Tashi talk about their involvement in making the LGBTIQ community visible in Bhutan, their advocacy work, milestones, and their dream of marriage equality. May Pride Month remind us to be better at understanding and embracing our friends and family who identify as LGBTIQ!

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. 

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. 

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."