Some of my teaching friends were leaving Bhutan on the 25th, so we agreed to meet on the 24th at my favourite place, the Gangtey Palace. The numbers grew and eventually there were 12 or more of us. I had also invited my two Bhutanese colleagues from The CHSS English department, Palden and Chencho. They were both at home in Paro with their families. A Canadian inventor was at the hotel, he had met with the Ministry of Education and was being toured around by Karma, our logistics guy at the BCF. They also joined us and the inventor brought his wife.
At around 6 pm we were having gin and tonics in the cosy bar. I wandered into the dining room to confirm numbers and add a table to our reservation. The staff were erecting a Christmas tree, which was MUCH too tall for the ceiling. What a contrast – a decorated tree against the backdrop of old Buddhist paintings on the wall. Balloons seem to be a big part of Bhutanese Christmas trees.
Christmas day some of us relocated to Thimphu where Matt and Lucy were staying at a friend Mark's luxurious home. They had invited some of us for turkey dinner. Long story . . . but Nancy, the director of the BCF had received a Thanksgiving turkey from His Majesty and had saved it. In a large, modern kitchen with a fancy oven, we cooked all day and had a wonderful dinner. Lots of wine from the duty free shop. Luckily I had not discovered this earlier in the year, or I would not have had enough cash to live on. Yum. Four desserts.
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| King's Cake :) |
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| Post turkey lull |
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