26. november

On my way back from breakfast the receptionist gave me my laundry bag back - yesterday I had sent my kira to be washed. I thanked him and back in my room I took it out and found to my surprise that it was wet! Apparently wash means WASH and not drying it ;-) Oh well, I hang it in my bathroom and it dried fast.

Then I walked to the bank to change some money - the National Bank of Bhutan is open Saturday mornings, so that is a good time for me. Today there was a line or should have been a line ;-) There were many people waiting and NO line - just elbows. I just had to use mine as well - I am learning new skills here ;-) Of course all the people were foreigners - I don't know if the Bhutanese are better at lines.

After the bank I continued to the market - this time I crossed the river and saw the other side - the non-food department :-) They had lots and lots of clothes and many big and small handicrafts - a fun place to spend some hours! On the bridge on my way back I saw a guy sitting with a bathroom scale. You could pay him to get to know your weight! There were also a group of women sitting at the entrance selling soda water and some kind of food. Their mouths and teeth were red from chewing the doma nut, which many people do here. They wrap them up in a betel leaf and chew them. They say it gives them energy - I say it gives them very red teeth and mouths ;-) I went to look for Denzjin but didn't find him today.

After the market I went for a walk through Thimphu. As the capital of a country one would probably expect high buildings, lots of traffic lights, big warehouses etc. Not in Thimphu. There are no traffic lights (at least I haven't seen any yet). The main street is very long with low houses, small shops in every house, no flashy windows just a sign and a few things to tell you what you can find when stepping inside. And the sidewalks! Wow, you really have to watch your steps all the time - there are holes and loose tiles, several stairs and curbstones so high that you almost have to climb to get up - absolutely not a good place for disabled people in wheelchairs! Carsten told me that they recently built a mall with escalators, and that this was a huge sensation and something people went to see. Kinley said some people hurt themselves when trying the escalators!

I was getting very hungry so I decided to look for a place to eat. I am sure all the places have nice food but I didn't dare to go to one of the very local ones - I was afraid of getting a bad stomach. After 10 minutes I found a nice looking small café called Yak Café and decided to try that. I ordered some rice and vegetables, a bottle of water and a cup of coffee with milk and when it came it looked so good that I had to take a picture of it! It tasted really good, too. And it cost less than 20 kr.! (2,70 Euro).

On my way back I bought some Tsheringma Tea to take back to Denmark. I passed the little art craft huts and stopped to take some pictures of all the goods. One really special thing I saw was bags with solar cells! Why? So you can charge your cell phone or other device while taking a walk! A very green initiative indeed.

I didn't see Mr. Kaka today so I'll wait with the Traditional Medicine Place to some other day.

When I finally returned to Khang (I must admit that this time I took a cab back - very cheap - less than 10 kr. or 1,25 Euro) I felt tired and decided to read my book and write some e-mails, have dinner at the hotel and go to bed early to be ready for another exciting day in Thimphu, Bhutan tomorrow :-)