Mountain Towns

I’ve always loved mountains, though as an Australian, I’m easily pleased. Where I come from, 1000m is a mountain. So when I go to a place like Cochabamba in Bolivia and see a mountain at the end of every street, my mood is bouyed. Then I’ll visit a place like Grenoble in France and find that there are snowy mountains in almost every direction and think I’m in wonderland.

But those mountains are always in the distance. Thimphu is right among them. Mountains tower over each other to see what’s happening in town and I get to see them all. Every morning I go outside and decide whether to head up, down or along the lumpy landscape. All day I look up from my PC and see distant trees reaching to the top of the window. And every evening I leave the office and see a temple on a hill at the end of our valley, the dying sun lighting it up while leaving me in shadow. You can’t beat it.