01 August 2013

Emergence of New Culture in Thimphu

There are a few things I bet even most Thimphu residents might not have known that happen in their city in the depth of the night. It was a big surprise to me and thought it would be a pleasure to share it with you.
Thimphu has the best nightlife culture which has a long history down to the times before television and internet, and even today the culture has only become bigger and stronger. Interestingly it's not as fearsome as it look from outside Thimphu. People are in their own peaceful world unless you call them out for a fight. Gone are the days of gangs and fights, so it seemed to me in last three weekends of expedition here. However this is not the real subject of surprise.
The surprise element is in the following:

  1. Every Night club has their own regular visitors crowding the place and on special occassions there are hundreds more joining. Bhutanese Economics problems is a joke among them because everybody has so much money to drink. Drinks are very expensive but nobody minds paying. The bigger concern is not money because it keeps rotating, it's the number of young citizens lavishing their productive age on drinking. Sometimes, lost in the drinking crowd, I get a crazy feeling that the whole Thimphu is drinking.
  2. 24X7 Business might sound like another joke to the early sleeping country, and I saw pitying the 24X7 shop on Changlam a few months ago. Well in these three weeks I realized that the lone shop does bigger business than any other shop in the town. At odd hours, when people are tired, hungry and thirsty that shop is their oasis in the night desert. Such business has growing potential in Thimphu.
  3. And last but the best is What happens when all the parties are over, that after 2 AM in the morning; Dozens of cars gather in the parking below YHS. People just come there to cool off before going home(?) There is no one organizing or controlling it, it's amazingly instinctive. There are drunk people and young people full of energy but they keep it truly peaceful. It's a place for courtship(?) because I see young people moving around looking for potential friends (you know...) Then from nowhere comes a man with food for sale, perhaps breakfast for the hardworking people at 3AM. He has packed fried rice and tea, and business is good for that opportunist. 
Everything is amazingly new to me and I was like a lost tourist trying to make sense out of things more than enjoy them, but eventually I digested it as a need of time... 

5 comments:

  1. The above listed events are so much fun and interesting to read and know that Bhutan has a place for entertainment.
    It seems like I have more to explore when I reach Bhutan. Can't wait for it! N become a regular :D

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  2. of all the event you have mentioned, i liked the idea of man coming with food for those hardworking people at 3 am.. what an idea sir jiii...Some day i too wish to become a food seller....


    Nice one though...


    PSN

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  3. I will experience it at least once when I'm there :D In here, this happens every weekend. The next morning you can find pools of vomit around the area... jeez....

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  4. Been living in Thimphu for years but haven't seen them yet.

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  5. and what were you doing in NIght clubs and YHS parking...:P

    ReplyDelete

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