Tonight, we, along with fellow travelers Anna from Chicago and Angela from California, were picked up at the hotel by Jigme, a middle aged fellow wearing the Bhutanese garb of a bathrobe tied at the waist, black knee socks and western dress shoes. He drove us 20 minutes or so to their house at the edge of town where we meet his wife Soam and their 18 year old daughter Noam. 

 

They welcomed us and we sat down in the living room to appetizers of toasted red rice, fried lentils and regular old potato chips.

 

Soam is a housewife and managed the construction of their house, which was very nice. It could be anywhere in the US. Jigme is in sports management, and runs a cricket league. Noam just graduated high school and will be starting college, majoring in development economics, perfect for this rapidly transitioning nation. They also have a 14 year old son at boarding school in India.

 

We chatted about lots of stuff, it was comfortable, stimulating conversation. Their son has a video game addiction that he is channeling into tech studies in India. Their water source is a spring 20 minutes walk up the mountain that flows in channels to tanks on their roof. Lots of Bhutanese go abroad for studies and work, but usually return home after some years to start coffee shops and other businesses that they learned about abroad.

 

Dinner was very good: homemade buckwheat cakes, buckwheat noodles, asparagus, egg drop soup, barbecued spare ribs, pumpkin with chicken, spinach in cheese sauce and rice. Mango for dessert.

 

Finally she showed is to her prayer room which has a large elaborately painted alter, statues of Tibetan dieties, and some nice weavings and religious paintings. All Bhutanese homes have such an alter.

 

The evening was the highlight of our trip so far. We had a great time and learned a lot.

 

Time to pack and get ready for the road tomorrow.