Encyclopedic of Bhutanese Hotels

I didn't know there were so many hotels in our country until I came across hotel.bt. Out of curiosity I checked a few hotels I know to see how good the site is, and I am thoroughly amazed at the collection of precise information backed up by beautiful pictures. It covers the hotels across the country and now I can already choose a hotel in any part of the country depending on my budget. And since it's online tourist from outside the country can make their choices too.

Click on the picture to visit the site.

The idea and the design re-inspired me to go back to my drawing board and work on my Question bank project which I dropped after MoE announced their project, which of course didn't materialize as well.

Rising Star- Promote Little Tshering Dorji

Little Tshering Dorji is a fifth grader with magical voice. There are about five YouTube videos uploaded by pemajigs in last three days, and I couldn't help watching them over and over. The boy has that charm in his voice which I never felt in most Bhutanese singers. He is as good as those kids on SaReGaMaPa Lil Champs, only he needs some training and support.

If you haven't heard him yet, you won't believe me. Just watch the video and help him by spreading the words. Somewhere there may a musician who may invest in his voice and give us a singer who will pay us back with songs that could touch our souls. We must help him because he deserves it.

Update (2 Feb 2012): Tshering Dorji has found the stage with National Talent Hunt, and is winning the hearts of every Bhutanese with his seasoned voice on BBS 2. Like they say, he is going to Do Something!

Dear Daughter, you were wonderful today

You just slept. It took a long time, you were feeling strange, I know, it's your first day without milk in your entire life. But we could see you were trying so hard, you already finished over five bottles of orange juice by the time you closed your eyes. Thank you babe, for being such a nice girl today. You have always been so cooperative when it came to taking big steps in your life like the toilet training last week. We sat you on the potty one time and the next time you asked for it. These for many other kids proved to be very difficult and often painful but you are special.

My Daughter's Recent Picture

 There are 14 days left for your second birthday, which is when we had planned to quit breastfeeding you but today out of the blue your mummy excitedly shared with me what she has done to you in my absence- she applied soya sauce over her nipple and showed to you saying it's so painful. You looked at her with worried expression and asked her to cover it up. You then asked for bottle. By the time I came home for lunch you have already passed six hours test without milk. By then you were resolute, you were saying No even when you mummy teasingly tempted you.
Darling, we are very sorry to have done this on to you but you must understand that this has to be done one day or the other and it is always better to be done earlier. We were with you undergoing the same pain every minute today, trying to comfort you each time you were frustrated.
Babe, you have to know that you are the only lucky baby in whole of locality who had the luxury to suckling for entire first six months of your life without mixing with a drop of water. Your mother was very insistent on doing this so that you live a very healthy life. You are the storeroom of million surprises babe, for the last one month you constructed many sentences and even had your four new teeth. You have shown craze for technology, which I think I should control and of all the thing today you surprise us by being so nice, which we thought would be very difficult. Now you have climbed one stage up in your life, and thank you for making it so easy for us. Love you.

11.11.11- Remembering Young Jigme at 17

At 17 I was in high school trying to figure out why my mathematics teacher didn't like me, why the warden had to be so strict, why all the beautiful girls were scared of me, and what was I doing there in school. I had all the time to live my school life day by day. Little short of financial luxury but I had nothing to worry much about, it was a beautiful school and food was sufficient, hostel room was cozy, I only had to wake up in the morning and sleep at night- much of the waking hours went in sleeping and rest hardly mattered.
But at 17 young crown prince Jigme Singye Wangchuck not only lost his father, but also his king. Bhutan turned numb at the news but young Jigme had to wipe off his tears midway down the cheeks and answer to his country's calling. He had to leave his playground too soon. He was born a crown prince but was deprived of all boyhood fun, life didn't give him time to grow one day at a time.

At 17, I was only half worried about my exam, and damn excited about my winter vacation but at 17 young Jigme ascended the golden throne and gave hope to every Bhutanese. At 17 he became the Fourth King of Bhutan and brought back the warmth in Bhutanese hearts, which they feared they lost forever.
At 17, I was trying to make sense of many things in my history textbook. At 17, His Majesty the Fourth King made history by becoming the youngest monarch.

At 17, I finally knew a few tricks to survive in hostel thereby ensuring my happiness, but I was yet to understand what makes my teachers happy, and what it takes to keep my mother happy. But at 17, His Majesty the King Jigme Singye Wangchuk kept aside his broken heart and pronounced his dream of happiness for his country and the people, and ever since, every Bhutanese felt the impact of his dreams in our lives. The dream, which the rest of the world could comprehend only now.

At 17, what were you doing? At 17 what are our kids doing now? Remember at 17, His majesty ensured happiness for all of us till the end of time. The best way to celebrate the life of the Great IV is to leave behind our excuses and start giving our best!

Singaporeans Believe in Bhutan

Two weeks ago, when Mr Khaw made a conclusion about Bhutan, I was disheartened. I thought he took away a wonderful friend from us because we count on Singapore when it comes to technological development. I knew his beliefs were his own yet I couldn't deny that those words were spoken in the parliament. I just sat down and wrote a letter to him, fully aware that my words won't make it anywhere near him in this vast universe of information. After over ten regular days, my blog stats suddenly started shooting up like a timer and comments flooded in. At first, it brought me immense joy and satisfaction as a blogger, and my message made it through. When the hits shot over 45,000, I began to worry. What have I done?

I only wanted Mr Khaw to know that we are happy, and far beyond my intention, it has gone viral, disturbing the minds of many Singaporeans. Many turned up to apologize on behalf of their minister, and discussions were heated on many forums. In trying to convince him that we were happy, I landed up making him unhappy; while I don't regret my words, I apologize for the unprecedented noise it made.

Our King and Queen just visited Singapore, and perhaps Singapore must have seen the very reflection of our simple happiness in the humility of our King. Over ninety positive Singaporean comments on my blog convinced me that they believe in Bhutan, that they believe in happiness, and that they are sorry about Mr Khaw being cynical. 

I am not used to so many comments on my blog; therefore, I am sorry I can't reply to each one of you, but I am very thankful that so many of you read my blog and took the time to leave your comments. I wish you happiness.

Thanks, Kuenzang Thinley, for the wonderful Award.

To Mr. Khaw Boon Wan, What did you expect?

(This is in reply to National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan of Singapore on his comments made on our country )

Dear Mr. Khaw,

I was not surprised when you said Bhutan is not the last Shangri-la on Earth, because I had a friend from your country who found Bhutan only "full of mountains and valleys". When you visited Bhutan, what did you expect? Those flying mountains you saw in Avatar? or Every Bhutanese merrily dancing in designer clothes? Well, you must have at least expected fancier cars and taller buildings but we only have taller mountains (not flying ones) and thicker forest (truly natural).

I am not surprised even when you said "Most of the time, I saw unhappy people, toiling in the field, worried about the next harvest and whether there would be buyers for their products." because I heard a proverb in school that goes, "Two men looked through the prison window, one saw the mud and other saw the horizon". I am only surprised that you have spend "Most of your time" in Bhutan looking in the fields. I am amazed at your ability to figure out whether the people are happy or unhappy just by looking at them- O' you even knew they were "worried about the next harvest". No wonder you country export human resources.

The Man who didn't find happiness in Bhutan. Source:channelnewsasia 

I visited your wonderful country sometime ago, and it felt like a city from the future. The transportation system held me spell bound, Cleanliness of the street is so much that I didn't find a fragment of dust on my shoes after walking for the hours, Every building and car looks new, and there is no question about the civic sense among the people. Four days after I landed in Bhutan I woke up and started sharing the stories of your wonderful country- yes it took me four days of sleeping to shake of the hangover of many sleepless nights in your 24X7 country. I read the amazing history of your country and thought to myself, if Bhutan's to develop, Singapore can be our vision.

But since you questioned the presence of happiness in Bhutan, let me answer by telling you few things that you overlooked when you visited my country. Those people you saw in the fields weren't unhappy, if you have gone closer you would have heard them singing and enjoying the social lives, perhaps you won't understand that. If you have spent a little longer time watching them, you would have seen and a woman with basket on her back and holding arms with several children coming with steaming food- we don't have McDonald or KFC. Then everybody will sit down to eat their lunch, laughing and joking, feeding babies, for over an hour- you wouldn't have had so much time to sit and watch I know, times means money in your country. But we have luxury of time. People don't worry "about the next harvest and whether there would be buyers for their products." In fact, we don't do much commercial farming, we do most of them to keep with the tradition. And when the sun sets, doesn't really matter what time, people leave for their homes where they have a large family waiting. Large family because we don't chase away our children when they become 18 or children cast away their parents when they age.

We don't need Health Insurance to survive, nor have to go for Education Loan for educating our children. We don't hang the drug users, we counsel them to hang on to their lives, we don't have to have a job to survive, and when we fall sick even the furthest cousin comes to attend without having to update Facebook status.

If you reread our history you will find that our wise kings have hidden us from the outside world so that we could remain the way we are today. If we start mining our mountains and lumbering our forests, we can become Singapore but no matter what you do you can never become Bhutan. It is far too difficult. We shall be the last breath of oxygen on earth.

Bhutan may not be the Last Shangri-la but we are happy.

Gaddafi Killed, World Healed

God gave Gaddafi everything a man could desire for in life, only he failed to understand his purpose of life. Over years he thought he was the god, deciding who should live and who should die- same thing that bloody Hitler did over half a century ago, and same thing his contemporary Saddam pursued. But the cow dung didn't learn anything from their fateful ends. He rather died a dog's death, much like this kinder spirit Bin Laden. Even when a dog dies next door we stop to pray for it but not a teardrop deserves to be wasted for these blunders of God. Their brutal deaths are God's apology to humanity for His having created them, and having bestowed them with powered they could handle. World is a better place without them. Hope they don't gang up in hell and restart their regimes there.

I wish Libya recovers from the months of war and join hands for a better future, and I wish the new government shows mercy on the captured Gaddafi Loyalists and allow them to make fresh beginnings. Punishing them in anyway makes the new government no better then the old regime. Let the sun shine brighter on the Libyan soil from tomorrow.

Father King's Gift of Happiness to Bhutan

On December 14th, 2006, when His Majesty the Fourth King handed over his duties as king to his son, His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the ministers and senior government officials who were attending the ceremony shed their tears silently, common people across the country were shocked and felt helpless, unable to comprehend. I thought it was a bad dream. For us, the Fourth King was the personification of God himself and I had a wish to live and die under his rule. It was the hardest to accept that the King we loved all our lives was resigning at the age of 51, changing the course of history and tradition.

But what we didn't realize was his vision of happiness for his people. And today, after two major events in the history of the nation- the coronation of the His Majesty the King of Bhutan and the Royal Wedding, when I look back it brings tears to my eyes as I understand how great a gift our Fourth King has given us on that fateful day in 2006.

First Time in the History of Humanity

Never in the history of our country, or any other country, a father king crowned his son. It was always after the passing away of the father that son gets crowned. For the first time in the history the raven crown was worn on the head of king who was perfectly happy during the crowning ceremony. And that glory reflected in lives of every Bhutanese. That was the Gift from the Fouth King that we didn't understand back in 2006.

The Royal Kiss in Changlingmethang

Never in the history of our country a queen was crowned in the presence of her father in-law. Ashi Jetsun Pema Wangchuk was the first queen who received Dhar Negnar from the dotting father King. The Royal Wedding became so special just because there was the father king to bless them and this is the blessing to the people of Bhutan that we didn't understand back in 2006.

And every morning we wake up to the love and grace of the charming young King without having to miss our former King just because we know he is still there watching us, and that is the daily happiness we enjoy and it's the gift from the Fourth King that we didn't understand back in 2006.

Now, there will be another moment in our own time when our Crown Prince will be born, who will be the first crown prince to receive the blessings and wisdom of his Grandfather. That shall bring immense joy to us all.

Thank you Your Majesty, now we know why you did what you did in 2006. You are truly the God of happiness.

Bhutan's Queen Crowned Today

How much ever I write today, it is bound to fall far short of what actually happened.Queen of Bhutan is crowned and people far beyond our country have seen the crowning glory. Just for the record, I want to post this so that someday my daughter will grow up to read this and know that she was present at the ceremony.
I watched the whole ceremony live on BBS with my family and just when the King and Queen walked out into the crowd to meet the people, we dressed up and rushed to the Latshothang to see them. I nearly lost my camera at the security gate, but I convinced them that I am a responsible photographer and that I have taken it just to shoot my wife and daughter. After two shots of my family the battery died out, that's how responsible I was.
It was so exciting to see the newly wed King and Queen, Fourth King and Ashis, Princes, Princesses, Sogyal Rinpochee, popular political figures like Loenchen, OL Tshering Tobgay, Sonam Kuenga, Sangay Khandu (We shook hands) and many many more. Something special about Bhutan is that we consider these people as celebrities and not actors and singers.

The Royal Couple posing for Media. BBS Photo.

There are two events I will never forget in my life; First, The crowning of His Majesty the King, Jigme Khesar Namgay Wangchuk by his father, Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singey Wangchuk and Second the crowning of Ashi Jetsun Pema by His Majesty.

And Dear Daughter, you were a little sick and cried a lot but you were there with us in Punakha during the Royal Wedding (October 13, 2011).

My visit to Lingkana Palace

In Bhutan you don't have to be special to visit the Royal Palace, meet your King, and converse with Him. His Majesty makes it his personal interest to invite different groups of people to his palace and talk heart to heart with them over tea, which often he prepares himself.

With Royal Couple in their Palace

On the eve of royal wedding I am proud to share about my visit to the palace and meeting His Majesty and Ashi Jetsun Pema. His Majesty wished to sit down with people from different media groups and thus there were people from newspapers, radio, TV, film industry, Media Foundation and me- well I was to represent the bloggers. Blogging is picking up in Bhutan and now it is claiming its space alongside the mainstream media in the country.
During the conversation His Majesty shared with us about how he wants his wedding to be- humble and truly Bhutanese. He wants no chairs, no plates, no cold drinks, no beer, no wines, no international cuisines. He beamed as he described the display of local delicacies from 20 dzongkhags and palangs of local beverages. From the way he described his wedding plan it sounded to me like a wedding of an ordinary Bhutanese, and it made me so proud to be a Bhutanese.
His Majesty talked to us on various subjects ranging from his choice of music to books he read, from ancient Indian kings to first recorded Bhutanese song, from Ashi and him fighting for TV remote and laptop (they only have one TV and one laptop) to discovery of Third King's storeroom in Tashichhoedzong. When he shared the letter third king wrote to his Majesty the fourth king, who was then studying in London, I couldn't hold my tears.
His majesty and Ashi talked to each of us by calling our names and asking about things we do. Ashi Jetsun showed interest in my blog and asked for the blog address. She said, " I should read your blog.", which sounded to me like " The Oscar for the best Best Blog goes to PaSsu!!"
Throughout the audience I couldn't help watching his majesty's expression of love to ashi through his words, his smile, his touch and playfulness. Nothing in the world seemed to me so perfect than the choice our king made, and nothing in the world felt so powerful than the love I saw between the royal couple. His Majesty fondly told us that ashi takes good care of him despite being ten years younger to him and I thought that's the best service a queen could render to her country.
Tonight I pray to all gods in heaven with all my heart to bless our king and queen all the happiness in the world. And May the divine Royal love reflect in lives of every Bhutanese couple for all the times to come.

P:S: My visit to Lingkana Palace was about a month ago, I am sharing it on the eve of Royal Wedding.

Diseased Turnip: Call for Help!

Turnip may not be one among the best vegetables- some people in town may not have seen one yet, but people of Haa have woven their lives with it. Infertile soil deprived of favorable weather conditions forced Haaps to make their living by herding yaks and turnip is one among a handful of crops grown in Haa. Turnips goes in making the region's famous recipe- Haapy Hoenty. The leaves of turnip are dried to make Lhoom, which then becomes very good combination with phaksha seekham and shakam.
However, the harvest looks bad this year. During my recent home going, I found all the turnips in our garden yellowed and dying. My mother wasn't surprised, she told me that a disease had been spreading in the region for last two years. Once infected the turnip buds turns into chain of three balls(see the picture), something similar to radish and then dies out gradually. I inquired if they have reported to the agricultural officer of the region, to which they gave a casual no. Perhaps they didn't know that they needed help. How come people don't know that there is an office who could help? How come the three year old disease didn't receive remedy so far?

Boy posing with Healthy turnip bud (right hand) and two diseased turnips (left hand)
(the symbolism of healthy boy and injured boy in the backdrop is accidental)

My Mother is giving up

My mother was in Thimphu during the earthquake. She told me, "Since you all are away there is nothing to worry about in the village". She went home after six days to check on our house. Though the house was still standing there were several large cracks running down the entire mud wall. Rooms were filled with debris from the broken walls. But she returned to Thimphu that same day, without even cleaning the rooms.
She later told me, "If this house falls to ground as well, I am not going to build another house." I could see tears welling in her eyes.
Our village Yangthang rose from ashes after 2002 Fire. It took years before we had a roof over our heads. We  not just lost our homes in that fire, but our history and memories. What we lost after the fire changed the whole course of our lives. During construction we were living in huts, where we lost all our ancestral inheritance. We learnt to live without it, just then we lost our father. By the time we entered our new home we had nothing.
My mother is giving up, she doesn't want lose so much again. I wish our house will stand strong and not let my mother relive the trauma of building a new home again.

Bhutanese Twitter Accounts Hacked

My mailbox is flooded with direct messages from Bhutanese twitter friends, and after checking two of them I was confirmed that it was spam. It seems like all the accounts are hacked including mine, from where many messages have gone out as well.
Experienced internet users like Boaz, Murray Gunn and Sonam Ongmo knew it right away and took time to alert friends but many might fall victims to whatever the hackers are after. Murray seems to have followed the link and got "sucked"- he wrote to me. It may be for a promotion of something or may infect your computer...

How NOT to get "sucked":

1. Change your password right away.
2. Don't click on the link mentioned in the tweet.

That's all I know and I did. For more secure advice ask Boaz @www.Thimphutech.com.

P:S: Apologies to all my Twitter followers who received direct message from my account that sucked!

Troy Davis Murdered by the US

As far as I understand Troy Davis' murder case of 1989, there is hardly any evidence against him and he maintained his innocence for the last many years. We are not sure if he really killed police officer MacPhail but we are very sure that Troy Davis is murdered by the US, despite millions of petition. We have witness and evidences to prove that the most civilized country in the world has murdered Troy Davis in Georgia.

Troy Davis

Who will punish the ancient judge? Who will punish the men behind the barbaric law? Who will punish the man who injected poison into Troy Davis? It's a very organized crime and they call it justification of death. Who says the US is a civilized country?

Bhutan's Biggest Earthquake

This was the strongest and the longest earthquake I felt in this life of mine. I was with my wife and daughter at a hotel visiting my brother and our Japanese in-law. At first I was calm, telling my wife not to worry but as it went on and on I was the first to run underneath the door frame and then gathered everyone around me. My in-law was unexpectedly cool about it, she shares how such quakes happen often in Japan. But what she doesn't know is that the pillar she is holding on to may not be as strong as those in Japan.
Our son was all by himself and away from us, we desperately tried to connect to him but in such times even mobile fails us. Then I got worried about my mother but it was five hour later that I could talk to her. She tells me this was the biggest quake she felt in her 50 years on earth. Upon reaching home it was a big relieve to see nothing happened and that we could share news to friends and family via Facebook.
Our Prime Minister, who is currently in New York quickly clammed us all by sharing news from across the country through Facebook. He was even aware of the status of Mobile Phone service in the country, to which I asked what alternatives do we have in such times. His excellency was kind enough to make a reply on my wall. But despite his comforting promise I wonder how could we possibly ensure a secure communication line in such times, when we saw earlier this year how super countries like Japan could fail.

PM's reply.

Another major concern is our lack of preparedness despite so much of awareness done through different medias. Listening to how people reacted today, everybody seems to have ran out of their home for their lives, but that is the unsafest way out- many know about it and only few trust it.

The final and the most dangerous practice in our communities is our quickness in cooking up rumors and spreading them. In times of disasters we must try and help calm people around us, ensuring everybody's safety, get needful information from authentic sources and report casualties to authorities without waiting for someone else to do it. On the contrary, we are good at panicking ourselves and dragging others into it by listening to and spreading rumors. Today, many families are sleeping outside fearing the aftershock which was rumored to happen by midnight. Some people are already talking about GLOF triggered by the earthquake and few crazy people have started talking about the end of the world. As an educated individual it becomes our personal responsibility to verify the rumors and make it stop from spreading further because sometimes it could cause more damage than the disaster itself.

It may shake us but it can't break us.

Oil on Canvas for my King and Queen

As I watched my friend Hemlal giving finishing touch to the portrait of their majesties the king and queen for their wedding celebration, I wondered how I should express those million feelings that are singing in my heart. I could see people around me writing beautiful poems and composing sweet musics, there are already so many lines written on Facebook walls and blogs, how could I write something so differently satisfying? Eventually, after months of pondering I realized however I write I am only going to dilute my strong feelings.
Then during one of my visits to Hemlal's makeshift studio I suddenly remembered my childhood passion for painting. But since he has done the portrait so well I had to think of another way; something through which I could bring out the character of the compassionate king and the divine romance of the wedding.
I recollected all the kings I know from history and none really qualified my criteria- some weren't kind, some were brutal, some fully consumed by greed and others by lust, the few kind kings I remembered weren't either wise or handsome. There was no one worldly king I could think of who could be used as a legendary reflection of our beloved king.

Penciling my feelings.

The only king I know who so much characterizes our king was but an imaginary king from Disney Renaissance; an image of the perfect king envisioned by Walt Disney Feature Animation- yes the Lion King. The king I loved for ages. There among the many pictures of Lion King I saw one which emits the radiance of pure love and eternal comfort, which is exactly what I wish for our king. Thus I picked it up and started sharing the room with Hemlal.

The Finished canvas. 

Thank you Dawa Knight

My blog began enjoying over 1000 page views per day since early last week even when I didn't add anything new. I just checked back and found that one post I wrote on September 11 last years was drawing in lots of American visitors. It was about how not to remember 9.11. Later yesterday I saw an unbelievable 3080 page views and it happened on September 11, 2011. I couldn't help announcing it on Blogyul, a Facebook page for Bhutanese bloggers. What happened next gave me even greater joy, a fellow blogger Dawa Knight gifted me a sketch of me and my daughter in appreciation for the massive hits.

Dawa Knight's Gift.

I would like to thank you Dawa for considering me worth for blackening your wonderful fingers. To the world it may mean nothing more than a sketch of an ordinary Bhutanese with his daughter but to me it mean the world. I would love to receive the original copy as you promised.

Screen shot from Blogyul

First Weekend in Bajothang

Today is a day to remember in Bajothang, the first weekend after the closing of Gangthangkha. In the last three days after the deadline, town has almost come alive. There were lights everywhere, so many cars and hundreds of people coming out in open for the first time in my five years in Wangdue. The hustle and bustle quite resembled a busy evening in Phuntsholing.
The beautiful evening however might not have been so good for many families who didn't get a parking space, who were stuck in traffic jam, who had to honk and wait forever for the driver who has parked behind them, who got their slippers in sewage overflow, and those who didn't get an apartment to live in yet.
I am full of smiles as I walk the streets and see all the beautiful shops that we never had, so many options to choose from- looks like time has come for all the monopolies to break once and forever.

Earlier Stories:
31st August: Battle of Wangdue Phodrang
1st September: Rough Road to Bajothang

Wangay's Letter - "Bereaved leave"

Wangay is a teacher in Phuntshothang Middle Secondary School, Samdrup Jongkhar. I don't know him but his letter (see the picture) published in Bhutan Observer yesterday connected to me. He had to come to school to attend to his duty leaving behind his grieving wife whose mother passed away. In times of sickness and death even enemies join in to give helping hand but because he was a working man who ran out of allotted leave, he failed so much as a husband.

When I was in my first year of college my father passed away. My sister was one year senior to me in the same college. Two of us cried our long journey home. I cried more when I thought of how my mother would be, and cried even more thinking about our three younger siblings. Our youngest sister was only three then. When I reached home I rushed to see my mother, why has already cried herself to unconsciousness. My little sister was among the villagers trying to revive my mother, she wouldn't know what had happened. She would say her father has gone to collect firewood. My youngest brother was on his way back from school and hadn't yet known his father was dead. My other younger brother was strongly waiting for us, since he was the eldest when we were not there.

All our close relatives living in Thimphu provided us with all the money we need to preform the funeral rites, but when it comes to being by my mother's side they weren't there for even a single night. We children were the only people surrounding the widow. And the most ugliest, most regretful and the most inhumane part of that story was our early return to college. The two eldest children left their mother on the seventh day because of our unforgiving attendance system in college. If we didn't have the required attendance we wouldn't be allowed to sit for exams no matter what. Even today, it pains me so much when I think of that system, and my biggest regret is the choice I made- I chose too leave my broken mother for a damn college.

This is my story among thousands of your stories. Of all the times in life shouldn't we be given a special leave  when something like these happen? These are life changing moment that don't happen often. And with Wangay, I wish to urge the government to think over it. It's should matter if it isn't in American system, Bhutan is the first country that should welcome "bereaved leave". Please.

The Rough Road to Bajothang

August 31st was the date people in Wangdue were waiting for months with different feelings. But nothing much was happening today besides some closed shops and one lone DCM truck carrying a family's belongings to Bajothang. Official notice has been issued, where it is stated that if any shop is found operating from tomorrow their trade license will be seized. The road to Bajothang, to change the history of a place is going to be rough again.
The biggest cannonball that the people loaded in the cannon to backfire the deadline is the readiness of Bajothang. They question the safety of town, hygiene, traffic, accommodation of people and vehicle. While the finished Bajothang town would have answered all these questions but if you visit the half-alive town today, you will see

1. Many structures are half complete. Anything could fall from above and risk the lives of passersby. 
2. The road network are blocked by construction debris on almost every street thereby making road inaccessible to cars. 
3. Sewage from some building are running free on the streets, pollution both land and air. 
4. All drainage systems are damaged, and nothing has been done till today. 
5. There is not a single traffic signs erected or line drawn on the road, forget the line, there is not blacktopped road visible in the entire town. Streets are filled with cars parked randomly without following any traffic rules.
6. All apartments are filled up, there is no room for people living in Gangthangkha to squeeze in.

I have toured both the towns this morning and viewed the situation from the eyes of an ordinary Bhutanese who has nothing to lose or gain for whatever happens. I had taken along my camera and captured shots of things to backs the story of what people claim. All the pictures are taken this afternoon, please go through the photostory.

This is where Children Park will be. Who will construct it and when is the deadline?

The tiny truck parking is being cleared for tomorrow. How many trucks will fit in there?

BOD. Why did they have to late for so long. Will they be ready by tomorrow morning? 

How to get to the other side of the street? Is it a mule track? 

Forget about traffic signs, you can't even see the road. The bridges you are seeing is constructed over sewage overflow. 

Desolate shops in Gangthangkha, left behind by people who have  shifted to Bajothang.

So far only two structures were dismantled. September 10 is the last day for clearing structures in Gangthangkha.

Where is the road?

Lone truck shifting a home.

Tomorrow morning when I wake up, Gangthangkha will be no more the place people will crowd. I wish people all the strength it takes to let go the past and embrace the new place, after all Bajothang is a bigger town, with bigger opportunity, with space for bigger dreams.
And I wish if the responsible authority could play their role swiftly and give themselves deadline, besides giving to others, in making Bajothang business ready.