Today we started off by visiting
the Institute of Zorig Chusum (painting school) and watched the
students practising their crafts at various stages.
Numerous traditional arts and crafts are taught there so that the old paintings etc can be restored and new works completed. There doesn't seem to be any room for personal style as all works have to be identical
Then we had a wander around the City,
it is the only capital city in the world without traffic lights; just one
little traffic cop in a booth controls the major intersection. There are 700,000 people in Bhutan and
100,000 of them live here in Thimpu.
Building design is strictly controlled and fines are imposed if the
traditional appearance of the building is compromised. The scaffolding is all bamboo poles.
After lunch the other 4 wanted to
do a bit more shopping but Ian and I asked to be dropped back at the
National Memorial Chorten and watch the
locals at their devotions. This caused a
bit of consternation on Tenzing’s part as clearly tourists shouldn’t be allowed
to roam free but we promised we wouldn’t stray and that we’d be back on time. Actually it wasn’t as interesting today as
everyone was just sitting around, not walking.
For the evening meal Tenzing
decided we’d probably had enough of the hotel (true!) so took us out to a local
restaurant, which as with most other places, was on the top floor of the
building with no lifts. It was a strange
little place with karaoke going on.
Keith had expressed an interest to see some local dancing or similar so
after the meal we went across the road to a bar, again on the top floor, where
4/5 young girls jigged around on stage to what seemed to be pop music. After a couple of numbers the dances did seem
to get more traditional but who knows – Keith got a lot of ribbing!