Weekend markets and other adventures

It’s been a busy weekend.  Not much time for writing, so this will be a relatively short summary but with lots of photos.

Friday began with Lenny, her husband, Lhaba, and their 5-month-old baby taking me to the weekend produce market.

Local organic produce is upstairs, imported (mostly from India) is on the main floor.

Afterwards we went back to their apartment and had a delicious lunch.

Later that afternoon, I walked to the main town

and wandered through many of the shops while waiting for 7pm when I’d heard many foreign volunteers met weekly at The Zone, a restaurant serving everything from pizza to yak burgers. 
Unfortunately it turned out all but one (who was on skype call via their free wifi) were away for the weekend, so I took a taxi home.  Maybe next week…

Saturday, sent a driver and a new Renew intern,

Yeshi, to pick me up.  We spent quite a bit of time at the craft section of the weekend market.  What a treat to have Yeshi there to tell me the stories behind all the fascinating, colorful, and beautiful objects we saw.  I bought another kira and a some tops (tegos and underblouse that I forget the name of ) for a fraction of the price at the shops in town.

Followed that up with a drive about 20 minutes out of Thimphu, way up high on a windy narrow mountain road, to tour Renew.  Renew is a shelter for abused women and children that was created as a project of the Queen-mother. 

She not only created this impressive project, but continues to be an active participant in the work going on there.  The women and children are provided shelter, counseling, schooling, and vocational training. Because of safety issues, I took only distant photos of the place itself, but I was incredibly impressed with the beauty and scope of the entire place.

When I returned home, I tried on my new kira and accompanying tegos.  I find them so beautiful, I’m having a hard time resisting getting dozens of them!  I’ve not done well mastering the art of properly wrapping the kiras and so I went upstairs to my landlords’ family apartment to inquire if I’d put it together properly.  They helped me take one to a nearby tailor to have it fitted with a “hook system.”  Even the local women are switching to having their kiras fitted this way. Now I can simply wrap, Velcro and hook. Much easier!  The kira was fitted, sewn and complete within three hours for a cost of $2.50!

The walk to the tailor included a tour of the best nearby places to shop and eat, and was followed on our return by a most delicious dinner, complete with a Bhutanese cooking lesson.  They and everyone else here are so warm and open and have all gone out of their way to be helpful.