The longitudinal nutrition/microbiome and the anthropological parts in Laya have been in full swing again!

We are happy to inform that, despite the challenges with three of our Research Assistants (RAs) and the consequential downscaling of the longitudinal nutrition/microbiome part, the sample and data collection in the nutrition/microbiome and anthropological parts have been in full swing again, even superseding our downscaled expectations!We are happy to inform that, despite the challenges with three of our Research Assistants (RAs) and the consequential downscaling of the longitudinal nutrition/microbiome part, the sample and data collection in the nutrition/microbiome and anthropological parts have been in full swing again, even superseding our downscaled expectations!

After we had to let three of RAs go and we downscaled the longitudinal nutrition/microbiome part accordingly, as discussed in the previous blog post, the two remaining RAs—Tshering Tashi and Uttam Acharya—have given their all to maximize the downscaled expectations and thereby minimized the damage to the EATWELL project. While Tshering Tashi conducted another round of data and sample collection in Buli, Zhemgang, around the end of October/beginning of November 2025, Uttam Acharya had immediately after the Royal Highland festival started contacting all longitudinal participants in Laya to plan their sample collections and integrated surveys. In a very short period, he reached nearly double the number of collections compared to our estimations and even re-mobilized some of the participants we seemed to be losing. In the beginning of November, during a brief visit to Laya amidst my administrative work, some of which related to the aftermath of departure of the three RAs, we could see the fields being harvested, ploughed and prepared to be fallow for the winter.

We also witnessed the Aule festival, which is an annual ritual which commemorates the stop that Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, the unifier of Bhutan, made in Laya in 1616 and the offering of the first harvest of barley to him when he was on the way from Southern Tibet to the lower valleys of Bhutan. The festival in that way also celebrates prosperity.

After the observations of this ritual, Uttam and I returned from Laya to deposit the samples at RCDC in Thimphu, knowing that most people from the community went to Thimphu to participate in the global peace prayer festival. This was an extraordinary event taking around two weeks and drawing a record number of participants, so it was also anthropologically interesting and relevant to observe some of the unique and even historic events, with Bhutan again showing an alternative way forward and putting itself on the global Buddhist map. This event was organized in relation to the birthday of the Fourth King of Bhutan who is the architect behind the Gross National Happiness (GNH) philosophy, and it was part of the attempt to make the Gelephu Mindful City (GMC) the Vajrayana Buddhist capital of the world. GMC is the ambitious project conceived of by the current Fifth King of Bhutan and builds further on the legacy of GNH.

By the time Tshering Tashi returned from Buli, we all prepared to return to Laya around the middle of November to continue the sample and data collection. Unfortunately, after a few days, I had to return to Thimphu to deal with the aftermath of the three RAs having left, but happily I was able to co-organize the ongoing sample and data collection with Uttam and Tshering who executed it diligently and were able to do even more. Yet, the anthropological data collection got seriously hampered in both October and November 2025, and these were months that I had not been yet in Laya to observe seasonal activities and rites, and so this has led to necessary gaps in the anthropological work.

After Tshering had dropped the samples on 1 December at RCDC, we both returned to Laya on 3 December 2025. When we arrived at Taktsi Makang, our horses and porter were waiting for us, and we could see people transporting fodder for their animals for the winter.

Given our planned stay during the winter in Laya, which tends to be harsh, the host family prepared a large stock of firewood, so that we would not get too cold, especially when electricity would break down. This required around 50 horses to transport the logs from down in the forest up to our house and then further cutting it and stapling wherever possible.

We also immediately started planning and organizing the sample collections in the winter herder sites. First, we had to find out whether our participants would be there any time soon. This is in general not as straightforward as one might think, since there is often no telephone or internet connection and so we need to ask around, and by the time we find out, they may already have changed their plans and have travelled. This has already happened to us a few times. We thus tried to find out about the whereabouts of our respondents in two main areas where winter herders tend to stay, and soon it became clear that we could go only to one of these areas as we did not get a clear overview over the whereabouts of our respondents in the other area. Once we located and decided where to go, the second step of organizing transport began: finding horses and a horseman as well as someone who could act as both guide and porter and thus someone who has thorough knowledge of the area and whereabouts of the sites to help us locate the participants and find lodging on the way. Once found and agreed, the packing of the stuff started: preparing the stool kit sample boxes, charging the tablets for the surveys, collecting the materials for the 24H dietary recalls, buying some food stuffs for our supply to not add to the burden of those living in the remote herder sites, and of course warm blankets and clothes, and not forgetting the papers for the anthropological part. All these then had to be packed in porter bags carefully considering weight, so that when they are tied on the horses’ backs, the weight is balanced. This journey had also some socio-anthropological aims. First of all, this was the first opportunity to observe life in the herder sites during the winter season and to examine the season’s food habits among the herders. Second, the aim was also to expand into a new area the cosmological mapping of largely invisible beings that affect the lives of herders in multiple ways. Finally, it allowed us to have ethnographic conversations on the way.

So, on 7 December we loaded the horses and left 7 days for our sample collection in one of the areas where several herders herd yaks throughout the winter

So, while hiking towards the first site on the first day, we learned quickly about the sheer complexity of the cosmological world of the Laya herders and the areas where different entities of deities and spirits reside, which can potentially affect health of the inhabitants and their families, the health of their yaks, and may cause adverse events, such as flooding and storms, and thereby may affect harvests and animals in various ways. The hiking on this day and the following days went slow as we sought to map the locations where the different entities dwell and there are many classes and forms of (invisible) beings, including Nyeda, Zhida, Tsen, chub di, Gangtsi, dratsi, Demoi Choe Zhago, Gyalpo, Tshomen, and many more. While discussing and noting down the nature of these entities and (as much as possible) their individual names, we also discussed with the local herders, what kind of (food) offerings would be required and what would happen if these beings are left unhappy to determine their effects on health of both human and other-than-human beings and entities, and how these shape practices that may affect the human gut microbiome. So, we stopped at different rocks, water streams, trees, altars, chortens and offerings along the way to map and understand the influence of this cosmological world on the practice of human beings, while jotting down bits and pieces of information. We also obtained an overview of the different herder sites and grazing lands. All this hiking also generated wonderful views of yaks grazing in the magnificent landscape.

In the nights, we stopped at the herder sites where we could take part in everyday life, chatting and eating herder food together, and observe the yak-related activities. So, every evening we used to write up all the notes and ask for further explanation from our hosts to add to our understanding of the complex cosmological world and how it shapes their activities, which may ultimately affect their nutrient intake and their gut microbiome.

This continued for several days and led to numerous pages of information, which will require considerable analysis and further contrasting the information with existing literature on other parts of Bhutan and the Himalayas. Given that it was winter and that these herder sites are not well insulated, the cold sometimes forced us to stop earlier than we wanted so that we could keep ourselves warm in temperatures down to -15 degrees Celsius. Anticipating this cold, I have lent out some of my warm Norwegian clothes

The socio-anthropological part was of course combined with the nutrition/microbiome part, which meant that, whenever we passed or stayed at a site where one of the participants in the longitudinal nutrition/microbiome part was staying, we also gave the stool sampling kit and agreed on when to collect it and subsequently conducted the 24h dietary recall and integrated survey. Throughout this journey of 7 days, we collected 4 stool samples and associated data, which illustrates how much effort goes into collecting these and how slow it can go. And here we were quite lucky to find our respondents at the right time and place, which is not always the case and then we need to prepare another expedition later. Hence, given that we do several such expeditions where we collect small numbers of samples each time, it is even more heartening that with only two RAs, we have been able to collect in total 73 samples and surveys between 24 October and 30 December 2025, and this in combination with the intense work on the socio-anthropological part.

The last days before returning to Thimphu, we continued the cosmological mapping, but now of Laya itself, and participated in some final rituals of the year and before the winter migration of the last people who migrate to the lower areas, which constitutes about 70% of the population.

After these rites, we also joined others in going down and returned to Thimphu for a little pause in the fieldwork. We also prepared for the work to be done after this New Year break where we will start tracking the participants who have migrated for the winter months to lower lying areas in Gasa, Punakha, Wangdue, Paro and Thimphu. Hence, when returning we had quite some materials to carry down with us and then take some treachery road patches and pass the many horses on the way down with their owners…