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October 2001

Phuentsholing, Paro, Thimphu, Bumthang District

Brett Voegele
2005-11-14 18:40:19

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chilis sparingly for flavor, but in Bhutan that is the main meal - the vegetable, which accounts for all the chilis you see drying on the rooftops of the homes. We also drank ara, which is a kerosene-tasting alcohol which we drank several nights - usually finishing a 1 1/2 liter bottle between the two of us. We also had our share of bang changg (pronounce bung chung), a warm wheat beer, and sing changg, the same but cold. Dried yak cheese comes in squares about 1 inch square, and you end up chewing on each piece for about an hour, as it's rock hard. Doma, or betel nut, is found in both India and Bhutan, and accounts for most people having red teeth. It's a nut, with a bit of lime paste, wrapped in a leaf. Some people spit out the resulting red liquid, which provides the distinctive red splotches on the sidewalks. Swallowing the fluid provides a slight buzz for a few minutes. I'd only have about one a day, but they would have them one after another. People that Yeshup introduced me to would look shocked when he told them I ate ema datse, yak cheese, ara, bang changg, doma, etc., but I figure if you're going to go to a country you should experience it the way the locals live. Much more interesting.

Bhutanese believe that evil spirits can't bend their heads to pass through a doorway (no comments from those of you who know how often I smack my head on stuff when I travel!) and so all doors are short. The doors also have a small step in them, so the evil spirits can't flow across the ground, meaning that one has to step up and bend down when passing through all doors. Let's just say that at 6'2", I was a whole lot of evil walking around, bumping my head.

Thimphu

After Paro we drove the 1 1/2 hours to the capital of Thimphu - another town in a river valley. I enjoyed Thimphu, as we visited a place where they created the various carvings, religious paintings, ...