"My Beloved Yak"

Coming at you from the Norling Cyber Cafe on the Main Street here in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan and home to 72,000 loyal citizens of the enlightened monarch, King Wangchuk, who passed me today in his blue Toyota Landcruiser. For an agrarian country, this is a happening place - there are buses, traffic circles (but no light), a 9 hole golf course and even a movie theatre across the street, now showing "My Beloved Yak".

Bhutan is mountains and mountains and more mountains, big old farmhouses on the hills with red chilis laid out to dry on the roofs and stray dogs everywhere because no Buddhist will kill them. Today we visited a temple from the 6th century, built when Padmasamvhata brought the teachings of Buddha from Thibet. The monks who live there paid us no mind, just smiled and ushered us into the inner sanctum where ancient statues of various saints and demons alternately beam and glare down from shelves illuminated by the flickering glow of butter lamps. Across the street farmers were out harvesting rice and herding cows, dogs curled up under the cypress trees.

"Ema sawachen abou tsome" means, "these chilis are burning my asshole."

Back to the street - walking through puddles from the late monsoon rains, new snow up on the hills.

Look for another post next Saturday....