Bloggers Around Bonfire

I extended 'Bloggers Meet in Thimphu' invitation to 1156 members in Blogyul (The Facebook Page for Bhutanese Bloggers), of which I assumed at least 100 to be based in Thimphu. Amazing 40 members said they were coming for the event on 23rd September. I was still in Wangdue when this event was planned but I counted on Riku, Ngawang and Sogyel to work on it and they actually made it precisely the way I romanticized- outdoor with bonfire.

It was unfortunately Monday night but Rima Reyka, Singaporean Blogger who is in love with Bhutan, has always looked forward to this day and I thought passion will surpass the timing. But I was badly betrayed when only eight of us gathered. Mr.JJ, another Singaporean blogger, was my guest to the event and that made two of them from Singapore.

From Left: Riku, Sogyel, Nawang, Rima, PaSsu, Tshering C Dorji, JJ and Dema. Kunzang Thinley(PSN) was Cameraman.

Tshering C Dorji, the writer of 'Shadow Around the Lamp' and 'Living the Bhutanese Way' paid us a surprised visit, all the way from Phuntsholing. He made the evening so much fun ;) and the story related it is exclusive to the attendees.

Dema Yangzom, the youngest among us made it to her debut bloggers meet. Her presence touched me to the depth. We didn't allow her to drink because she was still considered underage ;) but I don't know what happened later...

Kuenzang Thinley (PSN) drove 59 Km from Paro, after office, only to meet us. He is a father of three daughters and still found time and meaning in attending this gathering. I was reminded of the first Blogger Meet I attended in 2010 driving 75 Km from Wangdue. It's all about passion, and I will always cherish Kunzang's presence. 

From Left: Tshering C Dorji, PaSsu, JJ, Dema Yangzom, Sogyel, Kuenzang Thinley(PSN), Rima, Nawang
Photo by Riku

The remaining four of us where the hosts and we have met often in the past and I am sure we will always work together to organize such events- once beaten twice try.

Bloggers Who Attended (Click on the Names to go to their Blogs)

1. Rima Reyka
2. Nawang Phuntsho (Penstar)
3. Sogyel Tobgyel
4. Riku Dhan Subba
5. Dema Yangzom
6. Yee Jenn Jong (JJ)
7. Tshering C Dorji
8. Kuenzang Thinley (PSN)
9. PaSsu

Swimming Pool in Bhutan

A Swimming pool in Bhutan is almost equivalent to Eiffel Tower in Paris or Taj Mahal in India not for any special reason but for having just one in the country for many many years. That lone swimming pool is located in Thimphu and it has become a landmark, the whole area around it is proudly named Swimming Pool. Many people died without seeing this pool but seriously it’s no better than a pool seen in an average hotel abroad.

Much later some hotels built their own swimming pools and interesting any average Bhutanese can name the hotels with swimming pools in chronological order like an intelligent child can name the oceans on the earth. Yes, if you want to be famous in Bhutan built a swimming pool. It’s so rare than even today people consider going to swimming pool like going to Disney Land, including myself.

Swimming is known to be the best form of exercise to our body. It engages our entire body parts including buttock where usually no exercise can impact. Swimming gives muscles to our heart and lungs. And when you are injured or pregnant swimming is the safest exercise. But where to swim? Our rivers are killers where parents and teachers would never send and thus swimming is very uncommon among Bhutanese.

I am learning the basics of swimming at this age because I didn’t have the opportunity before. I heard about the swimming pool in Thimphu long ago like a legend but I didn’t have the confidence or money to go there.
Now that we have a swimming pool in a Hotel near Bajothang, which is commercially open to public. I am investing in my swimming skills- better late than never. I have learnt enough to safe myself in case an emergency happens but I am yet to master the skill to rescue others.

Bajothangu Swimming Pool- Picture by Hotel Pema Karpo

With the confidence gathered from swimming pool here in Bajothang I dare a visit to the Swimming Pool in Thimphu with my little sister, niece and nephew. I was not allowed to go in because I wasn't going to swim. They told me my little ones will be taken care of. So I had to go in but they wanted me to wear swimsuit and not my regular boxer. So I had to hire a swimsuit for an addition cost on top of the heavy fee. Worse even, the suit was wet, someone just removed and passed it to me.

I could see so many children stopped outside because they either didn’t have full amount to pay or weren’t carrying swimsuit. And inside there were about hundred. The big hall felt like an army firing range with noise echoing endlessly. I badly missed Hotel Pema Karpo Swimming Pool in Bajothang then.

Few Reasons why I loved Bajothang Pool more than Thimphu’s:

Thimphu Swimming Pool Hotel Pema Karpo Swimming Pool Indoor,suffocating and noisy Outdoor with views of Paddies and sky Restrictions: Only swimmers, family should wait outside. Only in Swimsuit. Family can visit and only swimmers have to pay Nu.200/hr for Adults Nu.75/hr for Children Nu.150 for 3 hr for adults (Nu.50/hr) Nu.100 for Children for 3 hrs. (Nu.30/hr) No privacy in the restroom and change room. Private Restroom and Change room. Water Heated to comfortable temperature Water Naturally heated to comfortable temperature.

Why Bhutan didn't have many swimming pool? Well I think we must forgive the past and swim into the future. Swimming like any other thing must begin in school and schools in warm places should have a pool each, where every child gets to jump for free and without restrictions that insult their financial ability. It can not only beautify the campus but also make children fall in love with the school. It will not only keep children fit but also keep them from running to the river during hot seasons. This list of advantage goes on and on.

I and many teachers in Bajothang dream of a swimming pool in our school, our principal shares our dream and our Dzongda is the inspiration behind our dream, therefore it won't be long before we have one in our school. Wish us luck.

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... 

Perhaps the History of Mojo Dog

Mojo Park is undoubtedly the most happening night club in Thimphu. Having heard about it so much I have been there thrice since December. The last one was yesterday at their Summer Gaga. Unlike hundreds who were passionately participating by coming in theme dress and screaming along with bands, I was a mere visitor in my jeans and jumper standing in a corner. I am yet to understand and live the urban culture but I love observing and appreciating small things happening in big places.

There was a fat white dog outside Mojo Park Gate and I have seen him every time I went there and assumed he lived there. The regular visitors fondly talk to him and allow him to sleep between their legs. Of many dogs there what makes this white dog their favorite? The interesting answer to it is that dog hates cops. He growls and barks at the sight of cops. I have personally seen this happen twice. Cops on night patrol make their presence at the club gate when it's about time to close down, and the dog barks at them with dedication as if he was trained to do that.

I have no idea about how this dog actually learned to hate the cops but the very character that made the canine popular among visitors made him unpopular among the cops. Last night, It broke my heart to see three cops waiting at the club gate, long after it was close, to put an end to this poor dog. I was waiting for a friend to return to pick up another friend whom she forgot to take along, which made me an eye witness to the brutality. The poor dog knew what was going to happen to him and was feeling very insecure without his hosts, who already left. He took refuge under the bench I was sitting  and was making pleading sounds. The cops closed in and asked us to move aside to avoid accidental hit. My friend protested and so did a hippie Band member (The drummer of the last event) but the cops were all set to finish the animal. He took one big hit on his back but managed to escape, crying in pain. The cops went chasing him and what happened after that will largely depend on his luck.

When Mojo Park opens on Wednesday if the fat white dog is seen around know that he has escaped a murder attempt, and that it's your love that brought him back to you. Perhaps it's time to untrain him. But if your favorite dog doesn't appear this Wednesday, that's what happened to him. Please pray for him. I will come around to check on him too.

Meeting the Greener Friend

Karma Yonten, the founder of Greener Way and of course the winner of Global Entrepreneurial Award of the year, is a friend of mine on social media for quite sometime. I was following his greener way with admiration and shown interest to meet him. Thus it happened last weekend at Simtokha. We sped past each other on the narrow road and both of us pulled over and began conversing like we knew each other for ages.

We met again yesterday over coffee and shared so much within the short span of time he had in hand. He is a young man who has already seen so much of life in so many different shades. Listening to the stories of his journey before he found the Greener Way is heart wrenching yet so inspiring. He is still struggling despite all the name and recognition but he is built to survive out of the comfort zone. He is among the few Bhutanese who will go down in history for having dare to think and work differently. When are we going to break out boxes?

Jigme Couldn't Find Taxi From Thimphu

My son Jigme was rushing home from Paro this afternoon. He wanted to spend this election holiday with us at home. But he is stranded in Thimphu tonight because he couldn't find a taxi coming to Wangdue. The taxi he got into asked him Nu.450, almost 100% more than normal rate, and when he questioned the driver, he was told that all taxi charge same rate today. His repeated protest made the taxi driver change his mind and direction. The taxi politely threw out my boy and went to Paro.
I made the following request on Facebook (see picture) and only respond I got was to note the number of the taxi and file a formal complaint against it in RSTA office. 

It was not about my son alone, it was about the illegal fare hike going on and I thought RSTA will go there and catch them red handed, but it turned out that we have to follow procedures, which indirectly meant there is no heart in dealing with the problem. Like a friend on Facebook commented,

 "That is the problem we have la; even, if we file a formal complaint with veh. registration No., they will ask for evidence and will go on..."

This was a problem since my school days and I am shocked even during my children's time the same problem bothers our country. I am sure many desperate travellers during this election must have been harassed by these taxi drivers, which will make the very voting experience bitter. Now I know why Monggar election officer chose to hire private cars rather than taxis. 

Meeting ThimphuTech.com Authors

This morning I traveled early to Thimphu to attend a presentation by the two authors of Thimphutech.com, the most reliable blog on technology and tech-services in Bhutan. I will write about the program in the next post ( you can already read about it on their blog-Click Here).
This post is just to express my joy of meeting two great people Boaz Shmueli and Galit Shmueli, today and spending enlightening time with them. It has always been my dream to meet the two of them but on two occasions earlier I failed. I decided I won't let go this chance and even the luck gave with me- I received personal invitation to attend the presentation from Boaz, and my principal yesed it right away.

Boaz, I, and Galit

Its's Seriously Winter in Thimphu

Having lived all my life away from Thimphu and having been just a visitor on rare occasions, the most I know about life in Thimphu was on Facebook and Twitter. Keeping aside the occasional crime news, Thimphu seemed like a nice place to come, with popular musicians playing in popular pubs, intellectuals gathering over coffee, artists putting exhibitions, young entrepreneurs polishing their dreams, etc. 

Thimphu wakes up!

I have come here on a paid vacation of twenty days and I thought I would live the Thimphu life to the fullest this winter, but here I realized that all the glamour on Facebook are frozen. It was best left on Facebook. By the time I lock my classroom in the evening it's already dark, and there is hardly anything left outdoor. 

And without my family waiting at home I feel no rush to go home any sooner, so I drive around to see Thimphu at night with heater on, and soon I convince myself that there is nothing there to see at all. Then I retire to my sister's place and wrap myself up in blankets until dinner and watch UFC after dinner till I doze off. And the next morning is another painful experience...

Changlimithang Stadium at Night

Tashichodzong at Sunrise

I miss Wangdue already, because it's not the place that makes life interesting, I realized, it's the way we live that makes the place interesting, and the way we live in Wangdue is the best way to lead a life...

City with Disability

It hurts to hear that there are over 25,000 Bhutanese living with disabilities, it hurts because though supposedly a compassionate society Bhutan is also superstitious and has lot of stigma. Many spend their lives in hiding either by choice or by force from the family. Those choosing to come out in open and live normal lives are confronted with countless challenges of which one is the structural unfriendliness, which is easily avoidable.

 

Friendly office

There are hardly any toilets, any building, stairs, street or buses friendly enough for a disabled person to comfortably use in Bhutan. Even the streets in Capital city has no provision for even a wheelchair and therefore it's as good as Thimphu banning disabled people from coming out on street. Disability happens without a choice, but when it comes to building structures we have choices. 

Friendly Transport

We speak thousand good words and print thousand touching pictures of disabled people to awaken the society and remove stigma, and the result could be as theoretical as the process is. One wheelchair friendly street could speak more than those thousand words, one bus with seat for disabled persons could show more than thousand pictures, because words and pictures won't quite practically help people with disability move on street and travel in buses.

Friendly Shopping places

Friendly streets

For now our able-society with able-planners and able-engineers could only come up with cities with disability; city that are absolutely unfriendly to our disabled fellow. 

I join the world to celebrate the International Day of People with Disability with all my heart!

How Much Would it Cost Us?

I have learned that "If Amazon.com shuts down for 60 minutes, it loses more than US$3 million" from a ThimphuTech.com's tweet. Boaz Shmueli, the passionate brain behind ThimphuTech.com works and lives in Thimphu. He has the world of internet on his finger tips, and has been very kind in helping every Bhutanese with tech related issues. He also runs a Q&A column in Kuensel's weekend K2 magazine to extend his helpful hand further. So far he has been our 'May Day'; he enlightened us on issues faced by our isp and other organizations, he warned us of hackers and malicious activities on our sites, he showed us better and secured way to occupy space on the virtual world... he always remained tactful and did us the services that we should actually expect from our ISP Druknet. He also covered areas in cellular communication when BMobile failed to explain or inform.

That Tweet!

So when he tweet about Amazon.com right after Bhutan experienced an unexplained and uninformed internet outage he means to let Druknet understand that every time they are out of service they are losing business. But question is would they even know about the tweet since Druknet is not even on twitter?
If Amazon.com loses $3 million in 60 minutes of shutdown, how much could we (Bhutan) possibly be losing when;

1. When Internet is down across the country four many 60 minutes?
2. When Mobile network fails?
3. When the electricity goes out for days and weeks?
4. When the roads remain blocked for days? and 
5. When the whole Nation is put to standby mode for a day on the Pedestrian Day?

Or do we even care? Another tweet from @tsheringtenxin suggests that unlike Amazon.com ours are "govt owned enterprise after all. It's not going to hurt them in the bone to lose business for weeks and months."

Please Review The Pedestrian Day

I am a big fan of pedestrian day, not because I live in campus but because it time we slow down and think before we reach a time we have never anticipated. I have other reasons in loving this initiative which was reflected in a post last week: Friendly Road for Walking. While I was writing that piece I was only worry about the sun, as was the weather in Wangdue all the while, and totally ignored the rain.

Get Out in the Rain. Source: Kuensel

Today I see a Kuensel report of Pedestrian Day in Gelephu by Dawa Gyelmo, and though the report reads bright the picture along with the report tell another story. It was raining on Tuesday (of all the days) and people are expected to walk their way to schools and office anyway. Shouldn't we consider this? While umbrella will cover the head and body, who will take care of the wet shoes? We can't control the rain but there are things we could.
Another things to consider is- are the monitoring authorities ready yet? Considering the cases in Wangdue I think officials themselves need to understand what they are to do and where to do it. My brother was heading for Thimphu yesterday and he really had to convince people to let him go, and one of them told him that it's not allowed at all, since Thimphu is observing the day as well. Look who is talking!
And one last thing that didn't do justice to the divine intention of the pedestrian day is allowing taxis to do their business. This idea is attracting taxis from other dzongkhags to join the feast in Thimphu. And so many taxis in the town is more than enough to nullify the whole idea of reducing whatever...

Book Fair Should be More Than Business

It was a great joy when National Book Fair happened in my school for the first time, putting my school in the center of over hundred schools from western half of the country. It also gave me satisfaction knowing that we are finally understanding the need to equate events in and out of Thimphu to narrow the gaps between the extremes. Just by know that Thimphu is not the center of earth we could ease lots of social issues.

SOLD OUT!

The organizer and the book stores were bombarded with pleasant surprises- they never seemed to have expected beyond what they had seen in Thimphu for last four years. Many of them literally ran out of stock and spent all seven days in Bajothang smiling. Unlike Thimphu there were hardly any preoccupations that distracted people away from books and therefore people who were sent to buy books were really buying books. For the first time I saw so many school buses parked in my school. As far as sale of books is concerned the event was a grand success, though the buyers were only school libraries with government funds.

However the bigger question is why we are investing millions in books when we know that reading habit is almost extinct in schools? Is being optimist enough? Shouldn’t we invest in building the culture of reading? What is the purpose of Book Fair? Is it to spoil the business of book stores that didn’t participate?

My idea of a Book Fair was an event where the organizer will involve schools in activities that glorify books, where the best readers from different regions will present their reads and suggestions over the seven days, where Bhutanese Writers will be invited to read and autograph their books for buyers, where buyers are inspired to invest in books… But I was wrong. 

The book fair here was an absolute business; everybody was engaged in buying and selling of books with money that didn’t belong to them. And some, I heard, were capable of finding half a million worth of books in a single stall ignoring 24 others. It was already sad to know that Book Fair was just a business, and now some were making it dirty business for the sake of relationship.I believe official who were monitoring the event took note of that. 

My school had the luxury of sending every subject department to look for our own books and our democratic approach led to diverse choice and subjects, and we finally found that we have purchased from 16 stalls.

I personally bought Dear Seday- …letter from the mountains by Ugyen Gyeltshen, one of the most promising writers on Writer Association of Bhutan blog. His story was born on our blog and it grew there day after day, until one day his readers insisted him to turn the story into a book. I am reading it now and will write about it soon. 

Why Everything Happens in Thimphu?

Night in Thimphu,   From  bhutanmajestictravel.com   

"Why everything happens in Thimphu?" was the question I often asked, sometimes in desperation, often in frustration and at times in sadness. Wherever our works begin it has to end in Thimphu, and without going there for umpteen times nothing gets done. From wherever the buses travel the road must end in Thimphu. Every taxi seems to head to Thimphu. All the offices operates from switches in Thimphu. Businesses find Thimphu favorable. All Jobs are in Thimphu. And therefore people move to Thimphu.
At one time we were scared of Thimphu, believing that the city spoils our children but now we know that Thimphu is scared of us because our kids are spoiling the city. Everybody wants to live in the city and nobody seems to take ownership of it, nobody cares about it. It's only now that I understand Thimphu is just an innocent little town who wants its dwellers to own her as their own. But the tragedy is that everybody just wants to use it.
So many stabbings, so many robbery, so many arrests, where are we taking Thimphu? It's amazing how much money is put on helping the youth, but the most amazing of all is the amount of effort kids put in running away from the helping hands. It's natural to be naughty at certain age but our kids have gone far beyond. They have lost their respect for humanity, they are out for kill and that was the last thing we were expecting from Bhutanese youth. There are more parents in Thimphu than Police, if every parent takes care of their child the problem won't be as grave. We have to be social police.
Why are these happening in Thimphu? The answer is in the question, because everything happens in Thimphu. It's time we realize that Thimphu is not the center of the earth, let there be limit to how much it can hold. Don't we have any other place for the IT Park? Are we still going ahead with the Medical College in Thimphu?
Thank god we don't have enough space in Thimphu, otherwise someday we might consider bringing all the Dzongs to Thimphu and make a Heritage Park there. Don't just Think from Thimphu, Think for Thimphu!

My Dream of Lungtenzampa Bridge

A bridge is a symbol of art, landmark of the city, an icon of development of a country. But what is Lungtenzampa Bridge? In the heart of Bhutan's capital city, where it should have been a beautiful bridge that could live up to the legend of the bridge of destiny lies a dumb-looking engineering blunder. 

It is not pleasing to look at, shapelessly huge and rough, giving an outline of a sleeping elephant seal. It is not friendly for pedestrians to cross and worse is when the summer rain dams up in its enormous depression right in the centre of the bridge. If Phajo Drogom Zhipo and Khandro Sonam Palden had this bridge between them then, they would have gone back rather.

Lungtenzampa- photo by Ugyen

18 Century Wangdue Bridge

Bhutan had built beautiful bridges way before London had the Tower Bridge (1894) or San Francisco had their Golden Gate (1937). We had built them without a piece of iron or a spade of cement.  Without even a drawing. We have history. But history only. Today France has Millau Bridge, South Korea has Banpo Bridge, Singapore has Henderson Waves, China has Hangzhou Bay Bridge, Brazil has Oliveira Bridge, Germany has Magdeburg Water Bridge… all masterpieces of their country's architects and all landmarks of their countries. But what do we have? Lungtenzampa Bridge? If Zhabdrung came back he would die of shame.

I dream to see a Bhutanese masterpiece stretch over the Wang chu one day, that is so beautiful that we are proud to step out of our car and walk over it in the evening, that is so unique that when the world sees it on TV or internet they know that it is in Bhutan, that is so intelligently built that there is way out for the rainwater and way across for people, that is so iconic that it changes the face of Thimphu.