Being a tourist in your own city // the weekend market

My daily commute to work takes me through the Centenary Farmer’s Market aka the weekend market. The market is open from Thursday till Sunday night. Vendors from throughout the region start arriving from Thursday and Friday morning. So if you want to get fresh produce you should head to the market on a Thursday evening. 
Even for two, I do the vegetable shopping from here. 

In my sixth year of residency in Thimphu, I have never bothered to look beyond the market towards the other side of the Wang chhu. 

Across the cantilever footbridge, known as the Kundeyling Baazam, on the west bank of Wang chhu is the collection of stalls and handicraft market. I was told it was part of the weekend market when I once visited it on a weekday. I was mildly disappointed to see no stalls in sight. 

The amusing fact in Bhutan is that we do not have proper etiquette on notice and direction. The shops may open and shut down anytime. 

For this matter, there’s no information on the name and opening hours of this market. So we call this market as the trinket market for our convenience though it houses clothing stalls at the right. 

It was a pleasant surprise to find a host of handicraft products like wooden bowls, mala beads, printing blocks, amulets, yak tails, prayer wheels and trinkets. There are some gems if you look further and up close. 

What fascinated me most was the trinkets; all looking tribal, vintage and priceless. I lamented for not visiting this market sooner when I needed the accessories. How come it skipped my attention when it was right under my nose?

And the interesting thing is we can bargain too. The prices are reasonable as well. Ahhhh-mazing!

I excitedly told my brother about the market and he was like: 

“Oh yeah, I’ve been there.” Completely taken aback, with eyes rolling I asked him, “Really? When? And why?” 

Him: “I was there to buy khuru.” 
So khurus are sold there too. I’m sure many of you especially men must have been there to buy khurus or even clothing. And for those of you like me, you can still go to buy accessories and other handicraft products. 

P.S: This market is one of the top tourist destinations in Thimphu in case you’re wondering. 

Have you been to this market? 

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

How safe is your town?

Image source : Kuensel

It isn’t surprising any longer to hear news of burglary or auto stripping in Thimphu these days. However, when you wake up to the news of a cold blooded murder in your backyard, it disturbs you tremendously. The murder of a 48 year old Indian official in Chang Jalu, Olakha on the night of November 7 shook the residents of Chang Jalu. If you have been following this blog, you know why I’m gravely concerned over this for the virtue disadvantage of being a Chang Jalu resident.  

 

Chang Jalu is largely a residential area. However, it has all the facilities of bars, drayangs... that encourage unwanted activities. It’s common to hear fighting at night and people high on alcohol disturbing the whole neighborhood.  

  

With majority of the offices located in the core city, returning home from office late in the evening is becoming a safety issue. There are no street lights in the area. In fact, the area where the body was found dead is a pitch black area in the evening where you encounter deadly looking young men and women.

The security personnel just a yell away isn’t of any help either since they are mostly locked inside their cabin to escape the awful cold in the night or they must be snoring to heaven’s glory, we can’t blame them. 

The previous night, my nephews who were returning home from celebrating Diwali were also robbed off their mobile phones and cash on the same spot. 

Urban Bhutan is becoming increasingly unsafe. Why don’t the concerned authorities do something to avoid such social ills? In this case, putting proper street lights in this area could have avoided the miscreants to carry out unnecessary activities. The concern of street lights has always been there for this area. My cousin who returns from office late in the evening given the nature of her job shared with me some months ago that she doesn’t feel safe to walk home from this area. I, as a concerned resident and a responsible gender focal point raised this issue in one of the consultation meetings with the relevant stakeholder long time back. However, the outcome of the meeting remained in policy papers only. 

Not long ago Thimphu was considered as one of the safest cities. It was perfectly ok to run to a grocery store to shop leaving your car’s ignition on. Now what has become of urban Thimphu? This could be just a tip of an iceberg, so many cases go unreported. Sadly, it’s our youths who are dragged and involved in such social ills. 

I hope the concerned authorities really start doing something immediately so that the next morning residents of another town do not wake up to the news of another murder in their backyard. 

I pay my deep condolences to the bereaved family.  

Until then, remain safe. 

When it begins to snow...

The sky with the feathery clouds, Link

While on the way back home from office yesterday, the sky over Thimphu valley was unusually different. Light feathery clouds filled the blue sky and it was so warm with abundant clean air to breathe in.
My heart felt gay! I breathed in as much of air as i could and still with the radiator off in my car, I felt so sleepy to drive that 3 km road to home. It was unusual of me to feel that sleepy, I thought to myself and drove on.  

Later that night, towards the dawn, I heard soft pitter-patter sound on my window shields. It was the sound of the rain on my window. Again I thought it was unusual to rain at this time of the year. Little did I realize Mother Nature’s signs. For some unknown reasons, I have always loved the sound of the rain on the window shields. It brings in me immense tranquility and happiness. I feel at peace and my favorite activity on a rainy day is to read in bed and doze off. 

I have even recorded the sound of rainfall pelting on the window shields and whenever I have difficulty in sleeping I listen to that record and doze off. I know it’s such a weird habit: P. 

Link

Surprisingly I woke up to an ambiance of complete white flakes this morning. I drew over the curtains and rubbed my eyes not once but twice in complete disbelief. It was nature's white dressing. It was snowing! What a wonderful morning to wake up to a valley in white. I looked up and saw soft snow flakes landing softly on the ground. It looked like some awesome subtle dressing on a wedding cake. :).  My heart fluttered, it knew no bounds. This must be the most beautiful morning so far in 2013 for me. Otherwise my mornings would normally be the most gruesome hour of the day when I have to leave the warmth and comfort of my bed to get ready for office. 

To top it all, it’s a day off from work. Yay! This must be my heights of happiness! I need not worry about whether I should call friends or colleagues at work to check whether it really is a day off at work or not. Government offices remains closed on the day of the first snowfall in Bhutan. My brother who works in the hospital had to confirm his day off again and again and finally he had to go to work. Sad for him lol. 

It snowed for some 30 minutes only. How I wish it snowed the whole day.  After that there was bright sunshine marking the end of snowfall in Thimphu, I believe. 

A snowy day means spring is not far. In Bhutan it heralds fieldwork. Farmers believe a snowy winter means plenty to reap in autumn. It’s good news for our farmers. In Korean beliefs, if a couple goes on their first date on the first snowfall, they will be happy forever and if you make a wish on the first snowfall it will come true. So those of you who have planned for some time to go on the first date you should not miss today because it snowed today peeps. And those of you planning to stay home, you should make a wish :D. 

We expected snowfall for quite a while now. So it came, melted softly on the ground and left us disappointed since it didn’t remain for long. It’s a bright sunny day instead now: /. But I loved that it snowed today :).