Author: mag

My office mate’s van was stolen on Saturday evening. He was working in Chang Lam Plaza, the up market shopping centre where we have our office, until about 9pm. When he went out, he found a bunch of teenagers sticking something into the lock of the building manager’s car and told them off. They stood… Continue reading Stolen Van

Little to report today – it’s been a cold, wet and gloomy weekend – but yesterday I went to VAST for the first time in a while. I’ve been looking for another way to get involved in society and recently decided that I might be able to help at the Voluntary Arts Studio Thimphu. They’re… Continue reading VAST

I’m home relatively late (late for me, early for others in my life) from the pub on a Friday evening. The expats generally congragate at Benez on a Friday evening to drink the week’s frustrations away. Ironically, it was on my return from this outing that I found reason to be happy. And it’s not… Continue reading Hug a Lamp Post

I’m back in gho today after a few days. My stomach kept getting worse until I had what seems like an attack of giardia on Monday night. I was a set of biological bellows for about 7 hours that night, expelling my own volcanic gases. I’m normally one to trust in my body to resolve… Continue reading Giardia

I wore a suit in public today. It’s the first time in well over a year. I’ve been sick all weekend, but thought I was recovered this morning, so I put on my gho as usual and went to work. After an hour of the thick belt pushing against my stomach, I had to rush… Continue reading Suited Up

One week ago today, Gasa town was electrified. Gasa is the most remote dzongkag in Bhutan, and even now the town is most of a day’s walk from the nearest road. Until last week, they had lights and a community phone powered by solar panels – if the weather was good enough. In the last… Continue reading Gasa Electrified

Today I got to see my Bhutanese office mate submit a tender for a government project. I’ve never seen this done outside of Bhutan, so perhaps this process is similar in other countries, but it was new to me. The documentation was standard enough, but he had to pay about $50 (a lot of money… Continue reading Government Tender

The newspaper today reported that a Bhutanese soldier sodomised the 11 month old baby of his neighbour. In general, people here are more peaceful and civilised than anywhere else I’ve been, but then they can be more horific too. I hate to make judgements about people of another culture, even for something like this. Who… Continue reading 11 Month Old Girl Sodomised

My new business cards arrived from Australia today and they look fantastic. I’d like to have ordered them locally to save on shipping, take advantage of the low costs here and most of all to support the local industries. But my target clients are international companies and I it wouldn’t look good to use what… Continue reading Printing

I got a call from Marie just after she left this morning. She was at the petrol station staring at a cut fuel hose. When she left, she noted the full tank, but by the time she’d reached town a couple of minutes later, the guage showed almost empty. The fuel attendant had showed her… Continue reading Fuel Gone