Troops,
Bhutan is an awesome place. You can actually see the mountains here. And the sky too! Apart from a little wood smoke, the air is great. The people are so incredibly happy. They run around in tartan dressing gowns (sort of like the guy on Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy) and smile continually. They also have a national sport here which is archery. In case you haven't come across this, they stand 150 metres apart and fire arrows at their opposite targets. They seem to treat it like lawn bowls, with skips and a numbering system hanging from their belts, except that instead of watching bowls coming in at 5 kph, the watch arrows coming in at 320pkh and they don't even take cover. Let me make this clear. They have teams at both ends as the arrows launch in! One of the arenas was next to (and I mean next to) the main road. I stopped and saw another in town today in Paro. The spectators sit on benches right next to the arena and watch it like a footy match. Someone hits the target and the team get up and do an song a dance.
The list of things you can do in the sub-continent I may have mentioned before which would get you in deep shit in Australia included spitting in public, piddling in public, breaking every traffic law, dangerous driving and taking photos of kids. Well, now you can add obscene graffiti. Every second house has a very large, or two very large penises emblazoned upon them. Up to a metre long. In fact we stopped at a house for rent and saw a small gazebo in the front yard which had a one metre long wooden penis mounted on a brick stand. Our official camera man got some footage of another one of our number about to lean on said penis, when it fell from its stand. Sight and sound were both recorded, including expletives. It will be interesting to see what makes the cut. But as it is anticipated that it will air on SBS or ABC, it may well be uncut. Tears flowed down most of the group as they rolled about in laughter. Anyway it is supposed to signify fertility, good luck and strength, and is perfectly acceptable.
Pretty relaxing day today as I didn't go up to Tiger's Nest. Tomorrow into Thimpu, the capital.
Stay tuned.
Derek.
Let me see if I understand.......... you spent the day looking at tartan dressing gowns, the local version of lawn bowls as well as Phallic symbols, and skipped the chance to ride a mule up a steep, teacherous, rocky track to a place called Tiger's Nest. Did I get it right?
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