Buying fruit

I'm in the US for a fellowship interview at the moment -- and hoping Chicago doesn't get the blizzard of the decade that's predicted to hit starting tomorrow. My interview is the day after, and my flight is three days after that. I built in a few days after my interview in case of a bad-weather event, but I'm still crossing my fingers it doesn't come to that. I traveled for 43 hours to get back here, quite exhausted by the time I arrived.

I won't have new pictures to share this week, so here's one I took in Phuntsholing when we were buying fruit.

South to the border - the temple

This beautiful temple in Phuentsholing is representative of the home of a very important monk in Bhutan's history.

South to the border -- the landscape

At the south of Bhutan, the Himalayas fall abruptly to the plains of India. This river is still in Bhutan for just a bit further before it continues south to the border.

To the north, you can see how the mountains drop to the flood plain -- it's mostly dry now, but this whole area looks completely different during the monsoon season.

South to the border -- the animals

We took our first trip this weekend and decided south was the way to go in the hopes of T-shirt weather. Phuntsholing is a Bhutanese town that borders India -- in fact, there is a gate and a metal fence that mark the border. The drive took about five hours and included a descent of about 2,000 meters (about 6,500ft) through the different climatic zones. Here are the highlights in a few blog posts.

This is a Gharial crocodile, a critically endangered species that is now extinct in the wild in Bhutan. We saw him (males have the big noses like you see here) at the crocodile zoo/breeding center in town.

This bird was hanging out around the crocodile pond, maybe in hopes of some fish. It is an Indian Pond Heron.

On the drive back to Thimphu, we saw one monkey dash into the forest from the road, and then closer to town, we saw a whole bunch of them. They ran right up to our car.

And this is probably my favorite picture I've taken so far. This little guy was hoping for handouts from a truck that had stopped on the side of the road.

Attempted trip in the snow

Today I set out with a group from the nonprofit where I'm doing my internship to look at a site for a conservation project. We planned to drive to a site about 2.5 hours from Thimphu, but the trip was very slow going from the combination of snow, ice and slush on the highway. After about three hours on the road, we decided to turn around since the roads got even more dicey, and we wouldn't be able to make it to our site and back that afternoon. Even though we didn't make our destination, I was thrilled to appreciate beautiful views and meet more fascinating people.

This site at the top of the highest pass on our journey today was built in 2004 as a memorial after the Bhutanese army drove terrorists out of the country. The pass is at about 10,200ft.

We got out of the van and walked a bit when the road got really icy.

This was a pretty path where we stopped for a break on our way back to Thimphu.

The clouds were much thicker over the pass on our way back into town.

Buddha statue

We visited the Buddha statue yesterday, which is up on a mountainside above Thimphu. As you can see, it's still under construction -- I think someone told me that the area under the statue will be a museum. The statue is somewhere between 50 and 60m tall (164 to 196ft), and offers beautiful views of the surrounding valleys.

This picture shows the valley where we live -- you can just see some white buildings in the center of the photo -- we are up maybe 500 meters or more from there. We'd really like to hike to the top of the highest ridge you can see here -- apparently it's only about a 6-7 hour hike from where our apartment is, and the views are incredible.

What is this fruit?

No, this is not a rhetorical question or a fruit lesson; I actually have no idea what this fruit is. In fact, it might be a vegetable, but the little spines all over it make me think fruit. I decided each week I'll get some fruit or veggie I'm not familiar with from the weekend market and learn how to eat or cook it. The miscalculation this week was that I do not yet know the words for "fruit" or "vegetable" in dzongkha, so the only thing I was able to find out from the woman I bought it from was its price.

So, if you know what this fruit (?) is, send me an email or leave a comment letting me know, and I'll send you a postcard. And yes, I tried searching online for a while, but no luck. Maybe I'll take it to the office staff tomorrow and ask...

Park downtown

Since I'm now downtown most days for my internship (which I'm loving), I've been stopping by this park on my lunch hour to soak in the sun. It's called the Thai Pavilion, and features this structure and a religious building that's not in the picture. There is also a little playground and lots of sitting areas.

What we're eating

When we eat at restaurants in town, we often have Ema Datsi (chilis and cheese), which doesn't even taste very spicy anymore, with red rice. Sometimes we eat meat, either pork or a dish called Chicken Chili, which is not chili as you would think of it in the US, but oh-so-delicious. Definitely one of the recipes I will be learning while we're here.

Mostly we cook at our apartment, where we make a lot of stir-fry type dishes from recipes we find online. Two of my favorites so far have been a hot and sour Chinese eggplant dish and a Thai red curry recipe. The fact that they're both quick and easy makes them even better.

I've also made two batches now of home-made yogurt. Although it involves a bit of time upfront, the taste and health factors make it worth the effort. I also attempted to make pizza just using our stovetop burners (we don't have an oven). It looked okay (those are tamarillos, chilies, and onions on top), but needs some major sauce adjustments and a thinner crust next time around.

Inside a restaurant

We stopped for momos (delicious stuffed dumpling-like snacks) at this restaurant last weekend. I love the intricate woodwork on the piece around the counter. Many restaurants have a structure like this.

Inside the weekend market

This first photo gives you an idea of how big the weekend market really is -- although this is just one part of one half of the first floor. Each vendor has their own corner spot. We bought some tamarillos (aka tomate de arbol or tree tomato), which come from a town about two hours from here. With some sugar and yogurt, they make delicious smoothes. We also bought blue ginger (aka galangal, I think), although I thought it was just plain ginger at the time.

The weekend market

This is another shot of the beautiful bridge that spans the river between the two parts of the weekend market (produce on one bank, clothes/handicrafts on the other).

Around town

This is a religious building in the city, located near the weekend market. I will be stopping by the market shortly for some fresh produce for the week!

Snowfall on New Year's Day

There was snowfall around the valley in the early hours of New Year's Day. This was the view in the morning on Jan. 2 -- by the afternoon, much of this snow was already gone.

Hikes around Thimphu

We went for a hike yesterday, just about an hour long, up to one of the many monasteries around Thimphu. Prayer flags, little stupas, and the monastery itself fitted right into the face of the mountain. Incredible.

Happy New Year!

We had a blast out on the town in Thimphu for New Year's Eve. At a fascinating talk in the afternoon, we met three expats who are teaching out at a college in Eastern Bhutan. Their stories of life out there were incredible, and I can't wait to visit the east now -- it sounds like a place of stunning beauty and very different from the capital.

We shared a couple beers after the talk, then the three of us women got our hair cut. I hadn't been planning on it, but I figured why not -- and guess what look I'm sporting now?? Hint: I haven't looked like this since I was about 10 and my mom cut my and my sister's hair exactly the same way.

For dinner, a delicious Thai restaurant, and then we visited a couple bar/restaurants for drinks. Lots of young people out on the street and in the hip bar we ended the night at. We even attempted to visit a discotheque -- but balked at the 1,500 Nu price tag (that is around $30-ish). Lovely way to end the year, and bring in the new one.

Traditional roofs

Traditionally, (but not anymore) roofs used stones like in this photo. This picture shows the roofing at the stadium in Thimphu. The area to the left of center with the big gold circle is where His Majesty watches archery tournaments from.

A car

This week we settled into something resembling a routine, working from our apartment in the morning and going into town most afternoons to meet contacts and friends.

Because we're far enough away from the city that getting into town is a bit difficult and because Matt will need to be mobile for his research, we ended up buying a 2003 car for $2,200. This is $700 more than we paid for our 1990 acura in the US. It is a tiny little red thing -- think Smart Car, but with 4 seats. I've only driven a tiny bit, and although it feels odd to drive on the opposite side of the road and shift with my left hand, so far, so good.