"Thank you for your kind corporation"
I have dramatically upscaled my life, moving from a basic guesthouse, with a knee-high shower and hard beds, on the main street, where by night I was serranaded by barking dogs and arguing disco-goers, to the quiet of a sprawling, wood-panelled, Danish Liaison Office house, high on a hill 5 km outside of town. Well, the bed is still hard, but the dogs are scarce and the company is unbeatable.
The Danes returned from three weeks at home last week, and immediately phoned and insisted that I stay with them and their 13-month-old, benefitting not only from their largesse, and the services of their two cook-housekeepers. How could I refuse?
My only hesitation came from the great kindness that the folks at Hotel Zey Zhang showed me. They are my family away from home, always introducing me to people, asking about my day, helping with logistics, and generally offering the "kind corporation" that their house rules request. Hotel Zey Zhang caters mainly to Indian tourists in its dozen simple concrete block rooms. I ended up there last fall, because a friend of a colleague works with the owners husband (yeah, that's how things work in Bhutan.) Most places were fully booked for the fall festival season, but those connections were able to land me a room at this relatively new and unknown hotel. The owner and her staff took wonderful care of me, even lending me a kira to wear to Thimphu tshechu. (Later, they insisted that I take the same richly-embroidered kira home with me!).
Because of the noise, and the very basic facilities, I ended up moving out of Zey Zhang in the winter last year, first to a more upscale hotel, which caused some knashing of teeth among my friends at the hotel, and later into a flat with friends, for which they felt more understanding.
On this visit, I thought I would spend the entire three weeks at Zey Zhang, because the people are so lovely, but I couldn't resist the mansion on the hill, with views of Simtoka Dzong (which I would show you, if I had remembered the cable for my camera.)
The Danes returned from three weeks at home last week, and immediately phoned and insisted that I stay with them and their 13-month-old, benefitting not only from their largesse, and the services of their two cook-housekeepers. How could I refuse?
My only hesitation came from the great kindness that the folks at Hotel Zey Zhang showed me. They are my family away from home, always introducing me to people, asking about my day, helping with logistics, and generally offering the "kind corporation" that their house rules request. Hotel Zey Zhang caters mainly to Indian tourists in its dozen simple concrete block rooms. I ended up there last fall, because a friend of a colleague works with the owners husband (yeah, that's how things work in Bhutan.) Most places were fully booked for the fall festival season, but those connections were able to land me a room at this relatively new and unknown hotel. The owner and her staff took wonderful care of me, even lending me a kira to wear to Thimphu tshechu. (Later, they insisted that I take the same richly-embroidered kira home with me!).
Because of the noise, and the very basic facilities, I ended up moving out of Zey Zhang in the winter last year, first to a more upscale hotel, which caused some knashing of teeth among my friends at the hotel, and later into a flat with friends, for which they felt more understanding.
On this visit, I thought I would spend the entire three weeks at Zey Zhang, because the people are so lovely, but I couldn't resist the mansion on the hill, with views of Simtoka Dzong (which I would show you, if I had remembered the cable for my camera.)
Comments
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Simtokha+Dzong+
Lovely place.