Today we are going to a festival. Sangay has arranged for me to wear traditional Bhutanese dress. I am a little leery, hoping the belt will stay put and I don’t loose my skirt! The young woman at the hotel that seems to do everything comes to my room to help me dress. Luckily the skirt actually has a Velcro & second fastener – so the skirt should stay put.
Off to the festival – it’s at Tashi Chodzong to witness Thimphu Drubchen (Religious Festival). We get there an hour before the start and the seating area is already packed – and more just keep coming. Sitting on the ground is a bit difficult, but I manage. There are dancers and traditional clowns carrying large penis, The children love having their picture taken with him. Then the masked dancers – two different troupes. About 2 1/2 hours later I’m done in, so we are off. The people watching is great fun at an event like this. I really like the young monks watching from the windows. Lots of children and some babies.
Jamyang and Kinzang have packed a snack, and we walk to a park area and have masala tea and pakoras. Then we are off – but I am so tired from a sleepless night (dogs!!!) that we modify the day so that I’ll have a nap before dinner with Sangay and her family. So to a traditional lunch in a very old converted building. Our dining is upstairs – but really it’s almost upladder – in a long, to the floor, slim traditional dress! Excellent food.
I decide I can just manage one more event – the farmer’s market. I really enjoy it. The vegetables are very known as we grow many of the same. But lovely tropical fruit from the south of Bhutan. There are also several dairy vendors – fresh butter, soft cheeses, yak cheese (hard and soft). Quite fun. It would be great to shop and then cook from the market.
Back at the hotel I move rooms – I really have to sleep, and the rooms with a view also have dogs barking and howling until about 2:30 – 3AM!
This evening I have been invited to Sangay’s family farm, in the hills above Thimphu, for dinner. I feel so, so honoured! It’s quite a rough, steep road up. Rob, Goat Main is dead easy by comparison. It’s like going to the cottage – a lovely fire going outside. So, we sit outside, enjoying the dark evening. I meet Sangay’s husband (Tshering Norbu), their daughter (Nangsa Norbu), Sangay’s sister-in-law (Tshering Pem), and Sangay’s niece (Bumchu). All so very welcoming.
Earlier in the day there was a whole conversation about me also cooking. I decided on pasta (a big favourite with the children) with a simple fresh tomato and basil sauce or fried eggplant. Pasta it is. Great fun cooking with these two woman – they both love to cook. Pasta a hit, with quite a lovely red from Bhutan. They import the grapes. They also make a lot of beer – and apparently I must try “Red Panda”. A lovely dinner has been prepared and we move inside to eat. All the dishes are so good: rice, chanterelle mushrooms and chilies (OK I’ll stop adding “and chilies”, as this is a given), chicken, a great egg and veg dish, and potato and cheese. This family is so hospitable. I feel a bit of a fraud as a ‘friend’ of Randy and Zita’s. I’ve missed watching how to make a Bhutanese dish as the ladies didn’t want to disturb me by the fire. Ugh!
Juts such an amazing evening. The drive home in the dark, with Thimphu’s lights below is so lovely. Thank-you Sangay, from the bottom of my heart.
Note to self: I will sleep tonight!
PS – This family, along with several other families, are intrepid campers. The go out into the wilderness as often as possible, for days even weeks, to camp. The total between 35 – 40 on these amazing camping trips! They have a big one planned for this New Years.