Given the lack of recent major happenings, I thought I would simply do some free associating and make a few random observations form my month here, interspersed with some pictures I have taken while walking to work or in town. The hope is to give you a sense of what Thimphu is like.
This is a much more colorful world than home. Scarlet and gold stand out most prominently to me. Houses are sometimes brightly painted, yellow not being unusual, and they are decorated. A goendhar or prayer flag is erected on the top of most Buddhist homes. Besides the front door are large paintings of mythical animals or large red phalluses. The phalluses are not fertility symbols, but are associated with Llama Drukpa Kunley, one of Bhutan's favorite saints and an example of the Tibetan tradition of "crazy wisdom". Trucks are bright painted, often with inspirational messages.
I walk faster than everyone else here. I don't try to.....even when I slow down I pass everyone. It must be a western thing. To me it just says something about the pace of life here. Everything just happens slower here. That is wonderful in day to day life. It is not so wonderful in a hospital. There are times when something needs to be done, and needs to be done soon and it can be hard to create a sense of urgency.
Traffic rules are very different here. First of all, they have neither stop signs nor traffic lights. Apparently a traffic light was put in a couple of years ago and objections were so fierce they had to take it down. Crossing a street has different rules. If you wait for traffic to clear in both directions you will wait a long time. Rather, when there is any kind of opening on your side of the street you step into traffic and the cars stop for you. However as soon as you are past the stopped traffic they drive right behind you in the position you were just located. You can find yourself in the middle of the street with traffic going both ways. One bravely plunges ahead and the traffic in the other direction stops until you get past. All of this requires a great deal of trust, which surprisingly I have developed.
There is a surprising police and military presence here. There are numerous military compounds, and police and guards are very conspicuous. Given that this is a country with next to no violent crime I find this somewhat surprising. Pat of it may be crowd control. In the hospital there are guards in the stairwells who try to control access to the wards. There are a lot of people wherever one goes and very few formal rules (You should see how people park in parking lots!). I suspect the very visual police and military presence helps to ensure order.
There is not a high premium given to maintenance. There is almost always trash in the streets and I can never find a public trash receptacle. At night all of the shop owners roll metal doors over the front of their shops. This morning I came across an elderly woman seeping the walk in front of what I assume was her shop with a whisk prior to opening it.
Asian Toilets! They bother western women a good deal more than western men who are only bothered half the time.
The streets can seem medieval. At times I can imagine it is 1514 rather than 2014.
This is a beautiful world. Today it was warm and sunny. As I strolled into work after breakfast and coffee the sky was blue and I passed underneath peach trees in full bloom. I had one of those rare moments of epiphany when I am so very grateful to be alive. I am trying to cultivate the ability to appreciate those moments when "Life is good"!
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