Kencho Dorji

Kencho is from Gangtey Valley — a place he returns to not just in memory but in practice, spending time there with his parents and grandmother, grounded in the landscape where he was raised. Growing up in a farming family in one of Bhutan's most celebrated valleys gave him an early and instinctive connection to the outdoors, to tradition, and to the quiet rhythms of rural life. It is a connection he has never lost interest in preserving. He has trekked to Laya with guests, spending a week in the high-altitude valley where the culture, dress, and way of life differ markedly from the rest of Bhutan. What stayed with him was simpler than any single detail — a sense that Laya shows you what Bhutan really is, before the modern world began to layer over it. In the field, he cooks for guests under open skies — shakam datsi, momos — and has given impromptu cooking lessons along the way. One of the more distinctive skills he has developed is pitching a Layap tent — the traditional Laya-style shelter — learned directly from the people of Laya themselves. He now brings that knowledge into his work at Sangwa Camp, where it adds something genuinely local to the experience. His favorite dish is shakam datsi. He carries a quiet motto that suits someone who works mostly outdoors and mostly be...