Friday 25th
We are fans of Save the Children, and thanks to the US headquarters I've made contact with Save's team in Bhutan in order to learn about their work out here. We begin the day with a discussion with Dorji Wangdi, STC's Program Coordinator in Thimphu. Our time together is all too brief, but Dorji gives us a great perspective on some of the tougher issues facing families here - access to schools from remote villages, building teacher capacity in rural areas, emerging youth troubles in towns, a generation gap (blamed partly on introducing TV into Bhutan 10 years ago). There are lots of good programs, but a reduced budget and staff since the recession hit fund-raising globally.
These Thimphu teenagers walk to and from school in their national-dress uniforms, carrying lunchboxes.
We have a very full day of sightseeing (and shopping!) ahead. We drive into the hills above town to get up close with Bhutan's national animal, the takin, a high-altitude breed which looks like a cross between a goat and a deer. Along the path through the preserve we're tempted by silk and cotton scarves woven by this family.
At a fifteenth century monastery with these huge prayer wheels we watch the monks blessing small children whose mothers have climbed up the long hill in the hope of cures for their ailments. This is often the first port of call before conventional medicine is tried, although health care is virtually free in Bhutan.
After lunch back at the hotel, we take a walk around the National Memorial Chorten, a large whitewashed memorial to the third king. We're in good company, for this is a spot where many of Thimphu's elderly gather to walk or just sit and socialize. 
Before a traditional Bhutanese dinner back at the hotel, the women of our group get dressed up in kira and toego. (Sadly the men in the party can't be persuaded to don the knee-length gho!)
We are fans of Save the Children, and thanks to the US headquarters I've made contact with Save's team in Bhutan in order to learn about their work out here. We begin the day with a discussion with Dorji Wangdi, STC's Program Coordinator in Thimphu. Our time together is all too brief, but Dorji gives us a great perspective on some of the tougher issues facing families here - access to schools from remote villages, building teacher capacity in rural areas, emerging youth troubles in towns, a generation gap (blamed partly on introducing TV into Bhutan 10 years ago). There are lots of good programs, but a reduced budget and staff since the recession hit fund-raising globally.These Thimphu teenagers walk to and from school in their national-dress uniforms, carrying lunchboxes.
We have a very full day of sightseeing (and shopping!) ahead. We drive into the hills above town to get up close with Bhutan's national animal, the takin, a high-altitude breed which looks like a cross between a goat and a deer. Along the path through the preserve we're tempted by silk and cotton scarves woven by this family.
At a fifteenth century monastery with these huge prayer wheels we watch the monks blessing small children whose mothers have climbed up the long hill in the hope of cures for their ailments. This is often the first port of call before conventional medicine is tried, although health care is virtually free in Bhutan.We're all intrigued by the Folk Heritage Museum - a restored wood and cob farmhouse, which shows how life was lived a century ago. With space for animals on the first floor, and the communal family bedroom on the fourth floor, this was vertical living with narrow ladders to climb up and down.
After lunch back at the hotel, we take a walk around the National Memorial Chorten, a large whitewashed memorial to the third king. We're in good company, for this is a spot where many of Thimphu's elderly gather to walk or just sit and socialize. At 4:30 (it's not open to visitors during the work day), we access the capital's most important building - Trashi Chhoe Dzong. This imposing fortress/monastery epitomizes the close connection between the Buddhist 'church' and state. It is both the seat of government, housing the offices of the king, the secretariat and some ministries, and the summer home of the spiritual head of the country: the Je Khempo. The chief monk is the only person other than the king to wear a saffron yellow scarf. He and a community of around 700 monks winter at lower altitude in Punakha, so there's only a skeleton crew in the Thimphu Dzong today. The Je Khempo's, and indeed the king's, power may be constrained since Bhutan became a constitutional democracy in 2008, but both figures are deeply revered.
Trashi Chhoe Dzong is awesome: massive white walls and ancient towers, enormous courtyards, and sacred halls.
Before a traditional Bhutanese dinner back at the hotel, the women of our group get dressed up in kira and toego. (Sadly the men in the party can't be persuaded to don the knee-length gho!)
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