Category: Asia

We leant our car to Sam, a visiting FAO consultant, for the weekend and he was stopped by police. They probably recognised that he wasn’t the usual driver, because even at the official checks, they wave me through and only ever ask Marie for her license – probably just so they can talk to her… Continue reading Registration for Ransom

It started out as a bike ride to Chelela, one of the highest passes on the road and to our west. It ended up as a ride down to Tsirang in the south of Bhutan. Carolyn, a fellow Aussie is dating a bloke called Kinzang who was posted there a year ago. Now he lives… Continue reading South

After so long that I can’t count the months, perhaps 8, we have chicken again. Most of the chicken in Bhutan is imported from India. That includes the day old chicks that are grown for laying eggs. As soon as there were confirmed cases of bird flu in India, Marie’s department closed the border for… Continue reading Chicken!

We’re lucky enough to have our own washing machine. It wasn’t always like that. We used to spend about five hours each week washing by hand and we still wore everything three days in a row to reduce the workload. Even most of those who have machines have the split washer / spinner type that… Continue reading Holy Smoke

I came home for lunch today, having forgotten my wallet. My favourite restaurant would have been happy to put lunch on my account, I’m sure, but something drew me home. It was no real surprise then, to find our landlord, one of the most respected men in the country, chopping meat in our car park.… Continue reading Shameless Meating

Something like 80% of Bhutan’s export revenue comes from power. The huge amounts of water coming off the mountains is easily converted to power with a little diversion and a drop of almost a kilometre before rejoining the main river. But today a Canadian joined us at rock climbing and he’s working on a problem… Continue reading Winter power problems

I made the effort to get my bow working again today, but it seems it’s not as simple as I expected. Or perhaps it will be simpler. First problem was the string. I took the broken piece back to the market and was sold a better replacement. This one is waxed and has a loop… Continue reading Sweet archery

Winter starts this week in Bhutan. At least, it does for government workers. The office I share with a growing community in the base of Thimphu is quite bright and warm, getting the sun all day. In winter, particularly because of its southerly aspect (northern hemisphere, remember) and we had curtains installed recently so people… Continue reading Winter Time

It’s taken a few days to get up the courage to write this as it’s not a view I want people to have of Bhutan, but it’s real. One of my old students, who now works for Marie, has a brother in intensive care. Marie went to see him the other day and just made… Continue reading Street gangs

My day was rescued in part by finally gaining the throne in the war campaign of Stronghold2, but mostly by a visit to the handicraft fair in the late afternoon. I’d been watching stalls being erected in the Clock Tower Square for the past week with no knowledge of what they were for. It was… Continue reading Handicraft Fair