One People, Many Cultures

The weather this year is crazy different to last year. I don’t want to attribute it to global warming. It might just be the standard flux in weather patterns that occur everywhere. Anyway, last year had almost no rainy season and winter was cloudless for its entirety. This year, after an extended rainy season, winter… Continue reading Winter Weather in Bhutan

Finally! I’ve just heard that the main monk body snuck off to Punakha in the middle of last week. That means that the real winter (as opposed to the government winter) has officially started and I can wear thermal underwear under my gho. Of course, that would look silly if it was too visible, so… Continue reading Religious Winter

I’ve been having a small debate on kuzuzangpo.com because at least one member feels that whites should stay in their own country. He seems to ignore the fact that there are far more Bhutanese in Australia than Australians in Bhutan (especially if you look at per capita numbers), but other reasons for a dislike of… Continue reading Language to Change Thoughts

Over the past year and a half, Marie has regularly come home from work, frustrated with stupid management style and government policy. I’ve had to tell her that it isn’t any better in the rest of the world. We all have the same complaints, though I’ve come to realise just how lucky I’ve been with… Continue reading Tea bags prove Bhutanese management like corporations

Bhutan has only had TV and internet since 1999, but they’ve taken to technology like stray dogs to a meat shop. One prime example is kuzuzangpo.com, a web forum for writers in or about Bhutan. I recently found out that it’s run by a young Bhutanese man studying in Bangkok, and has members throughout Bhutan… Continue reading Thimphu Writers Meet for first time

Recently, when I’ve walked out of our flat in the evening, there’s been a young girl sitting on the steps outside our door. She lives upstairs, but I guess there’s no room in the attic flats to study, so she brings her notebooks down and sits there to read them. This morning, Marie and I… Continue reading Exam time in Bhutan

Karma’s friend came with me this morning to see the Regional Transport Officer, which may or may not have helped. The RTO scanned my letter, scribbled dates on the page, checked his calculator, reminded me that I now owed 16,200 Nu, which included one month free and then offered a reduced fee of 4500. It… Continue reading A Ransom Paid; Confusion Caused

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!