Category: Asia

The Japanese have a saying ‘too late for the festival’ meaning that a person doesn’t realise what they have until it’s gone. The phrase seems apt for the Bhutanese who missed the Japan-Bhutan festival held yesterday in Thimphu. It was run by members of the various Japanese volunteer organisations here in conjunction with the Japan… Continue reading Too shy for the festival

This post is actually from a few days ago, but I’d forgotten what I wanted to write by the time I got home and it only just came to me. It had been a beautiful day, one of the first sunny days in weeks, when out of nowhere, it started raining. Sun shower we call… Continue reading Someone died

My home laptop has been shutting itself down a lot lately, seemingly from overheating. A quick google showed that most others with this model have similar problems that lead to PC death. The cure is to clean out the fans with compressed air. Lacking even the tiny screwdriver necessary to open the fans, I took… Continue reading Gotta change my expectations

Marie’s back and we’ve cycled up to BBS Tower a couple of times this week. Normally my energy gives out half way up (unless I’ve been munching just before) but this week I’ve been able to stay in front of her all the way up. It’s not all because of fitness though. She’s been breathing… Continue reading Pure Oxygen

It finally arrived! The memory I ordered locally and paid 50% extra for because they promised it in 10 days, arrived after nearly 5 weeks. First it was the fact that the memory wasn’t in stock in Singapore (10 days lost). Then it was that it was raining in Kolkata (7 days lost). I have… Continue reading More memory

Dogs were crowded around a couple of people squatting on the main street this morning. It’s not an unusual sight as people choose strange places to chop their meat for drying and it’s yak season, but it wasn’t meat in the centre. The pile of white fur being held down made me think of a… Continue reading Cats and Dogs

Marie wrote last night to say that her boss in the Embassy isn’t motivated to work on her extension, so it seems we won’t be staying another year in Bhutan. Part of me doesn’t want to believe it. Surely it’s more work for him to find a replacement and arrange the transfer, paying the shipping… Continue reading Moving out

Today was the day that the great tapestry is displayed to the world in Thimphu dzong. It has to be rolled up before sunrise, so people rush down at 4am to get a look. I decided not to go because I think, like the Tsetchu, once would be enough and I’d rather do it with… Continue reading Missed chance

The trek didn’t go as planned. The taxi driver tried to rip us off, our Bhutanese partner wasn’t available, it was cold, wet and foggy, I slept with rocks in my back, we got lost, some of my equipment was broken and my knees were pushed to the limit. But it wasn’t all bad. We… Continue reading Dagala Trek

Yesterday was the Damchen, a religious festival before the three day Tsetchu. I’d never been to one before so I joined a few friends and headed down at about 10am. The crowds were much smaller and we easily got a seat in the hot sun. About 10:30, a group of monks dressed in masks and… Continue reading Damchen