When it happens
The festival has no lunar rule. It is held on the same fixed dates in October every year and lasts two days.
Where it happens
Laya is a remote highland village in Gasa, in Bhutan’s far north-west. At 3,820 metres (12,533 feet), it is the country’s highest-altitude permanent settlement. The festival ground sits above the village, at around 4,000 metres.
History
The Royal Highland Festival was founded in 2016 under the Royal Vision of His Majesty the King, to mark 400 years of the Zhabdrung and the birth year of Guru Rinpoche in the rabjung (sixty-year cycle).
The festival’s stated purpose is to celebrate, promote and preserve the life and culture of Bhutan’s nomadic highland people. It also aims to strengthen the highlanders’ sustainable livelihoods, yak farming among them. The district administration places the festival within its “Good to Great Gasa” vision.
What happens
The programme centres on competitions for highland animals: yaks, horses and mastiff dogs. The animals are adorned in expensive fabrics, coloured hair and bells. There is a yak dance, a yak-milking contest, horse-racing and a strongman competition.
Songs and dances by the people of Laya are part of the programme. Buelwa (gift offerings) are made, accompanied by auley (recitations). This is a cultural highland festival, not a religious festival of cham (sacred masked ritual dances).
The races include the 25-kilometre Laya Run from Ponjothang, and the multi-day Snowman Race starts from the festival ground. Evenings bring a rigsar (Bhutanese pop) concert, campfires and food. Stalls sell yak products, highland technology, agricultural equipment and medicinal plants.
Being there
There is no road to Laya. You drive to a roadhead and then trek in.
The trek is usually a substantial one. Reported routes include a drive of about six hours from Thimphu followed by a four-hour trek, a three-hour drive by four-wheel drive followed by a five-hour trek, and six to eight hours each way from Taktsimakha. On the route via Punakha and Gasa, the trek is reported as five to six hours. Porter ponies are recommended for carrying loads.
There are no lodges at this altitude. You camp on villagers’ farmland at Laya, or stay in a homestay at Laya or Gasa.
Days are cold, at 10–15°C, and nights fall below freezing, so bring layered clothing.