Parry Newsletter 10th May 2006
Room 606,
Jambayang resort,
Postal Box 583,
Thimphu,
Bhutan.
Hi everyone,
Well we’ve been very busy since our last letter. On the work front the project has been going really well. Have a look at the separate report on the website. I must just mention though, that I have spent some time on the delivery unit with the midwives and got to deliver my first Bhutanese baby! A gorgeous little girl, very exciting. I don’t think she’ll be called Emma though as this means ‘chilli’ in Dzongka (the national language)! All babies are named by the local lama when they are about a week old. Many of the names can be used for boys and girls and everyone is given 2 names but there are no surnames. It can get very confusing when you are trying to decide what to call people.
On the social front, Alice has continued to do well at school. She is now starting joined up writing and is writing whole sentences already. Her maths is going well and Elin has been wonderful helping her. The play- The Jungle book- is planned for the 18th May, which we are all looking forward to. Alice is an elephant and a vulture. Alice has made some friends and is going on some playdates.
Rosie is loving preschool! We were away for a week and she couldn’t wait to get back yesterday. We had her first ‘report’ yesterday. She has done a ‘project on three shapes and colours’. I think she’s going to love the UK kindy we have lined up for her- ladybirds. Rosie’s language is getting better- preschool has definitely helped.
Elin is enjoying herself. She has mornings free while Rosie is at preschool and is now teaching young monks English twice a week. She is a great natural teacher as we have seen with Rosie and Alice and this is giving her an added dimension to teaching. She also has time for a social life at the weekends as she has made friends with some Bhutanese university students who are normally based in Bangkok, but are on holiday.
We have just returned from a 6 day holiday in central Bhutan. Dorji was very keen we should have a chance to see this are as it is very beautiful and is the cultural heartland of Bhutan. We went with another family- Emma and Mark (parents) and Benjamin (3, at preschool with Rosie) and Alice (18 months)- yes honestly- we had 2 Emmas and 2 Alices!! It is a long and difficult drive and it was definitely safer with 2 cars going. Also, the children loved it! Rosie and Benjy held hands all the time and are best buddies.
On the first day (4th May) we left Thimphu at 08.30 and drove to Trongsa. This took 7 hours along very windy single track roads perched high on cliffs! Often trucks coming the other way and complex manouvres to pass. We stopped for a sumptuous picnic on the way which included boiled eggs. The reason for mentioning the eggs is that there has been no eggs in Thimphu until a few days before we left on holiday. The bird flu is to blame as people are worried about all products poultry related- don’t get me started, I’ve been to about 4 lectures on this in Auckland and you cannot get bird flu from eggs and dead chickens!! Emma and Mark managed to get eggs too and risked bringing some uncooked ones on the bumpy trip- they made it to Bumthang (central region, pronounced Boom-tang by everyone except Alice who kept saying BUM) though.
Trongsa is an amazing place- literally ‘clinging’ to the side of a mountain. The only flat land is a small carpark for about 20 cars. We stayed in a lovely hotel. When I woke in the morning and looked out of the window all I could see was the hillside on the opposite side of the valley- have a look at the photos.
The next day we looked around the Dzong. Each town and many villages have a Dzong. It is basically like a fortress or castle. They are often very old and in prominent positions on hills. This is because they were designed to provide a good vantage point to spot invaders and make it difficult for them to attack. Certainly this is true of Trongsa Dzong which is in a spectacular position high above the valleys with steep drops on all but one side. After looking around we drove for around 2.5 hours to Jakar. This is the main town in the Bumthang area. It is tiny! We were amazed to find that all the places we went to were very small and that Thimphu is actually a big city in comparison- eggs or no eggs.
Whilst in Jakar we visited Jakar Dzong and Kurjey Lhkang (a smaller Dzong!) At Kurjey, there was an important Buddhist event going on and we were able to see the monks playing their drums and trumpets- very interesting. We also visited a small Tsechu (festival) and had fun laughing at the clown. The dancing was great also.
Elin, Alice and I (Emma) visited a nunnery one afternoon. Some friends we had met in Thimphu had asked us to visit them with a gift from them. We drove for about 30mins out of town, then up a 4WD track for 10 mins. I was glad for the Prado! When we arrived we could hear singing and pounding- the nuns (100 of them) are building the nunnery! It is on the top of a hill surrounded by bigger hills with amazing views. The ground had been leveled by machinery, but other than that it has all been done by hand. The nuns cut down trees, make planks and build. They take rocks and break them up, mix with clay soil and pound down between the planks to make the walls. It is really amazing. We stopped for a cup of tea and had a chat to one of the nuns- Rinzin- who speaks great English. She took a real shine to Alice, who was invited to stay the night!
We headed back to Thimphu on Tuesday and managed to do the journey in one go- 8 hours. The girls were great in the car.
Emma, Dave, Elin, Alice and Rosie