Advantages: A pot pourri of Bhutanese life Disadvantages: Remember you're the client and if your guide is boring you silly, just move on.
The Museum
Bhutan's National Museum is not located in the capital city of Thimphu, but in the second city of Paro. It's housed in a round building which started life as the watchtower for Paro Dzong, the fortress-monastery that sits below it on the hillside on the outskirts of Paro. It was built in 1641 and converted into the National Museum in 1968. For most people taking a tour of Bhutan, the museum would be visited on the same day as the Dzong, but our first day in town was a Monday and the museum is closed that day. Consequently our visit was taken after climbing to see the Tiger's Nest monastery and before leaving for Thimphu.
Sitting in the car on the way to the museum I was feeling a bit nervous. My legs were aching from the ascent we'd just done and I didn't fancy the walk up the hillside to the Museum. Luckily I need ...
Advantages: Spectacular scenery, stunning architecture, weird stuff Disadvantages: A bit over-sanitised and unreal - like Disney does Asia
'.......(with apologies that this is a very long review)
A is for Archery
The ancient art of "bows-and-arrows" is the National Sport of Bhutan. Bhutan likes 'National' things as you'll discover later. I did wonder if archery had grown from a history of hunting small furry critters for food but I was wrong. Archery is not about food it's about war - shooting at invading Tibetan armies or fighting with your neighbours. In a country with tricky terrain that limits many of the usual forms or warfare, archery remained an effective form of warfare.
On any Sunday afternoon when any self-respecting young man in Europe would be out playing footie with his friends or drinking down the pub, his Bhutanese counterpart can be found in his traditional dress (plus expensive trainers) with his ultra-technical bow firing arrows at a target no bigger than a football ...
Hmmmmmm, not quite sure on how to do this but I would just like to write a review on using your local library services. I was a little surprised as to the area that it was in, but hey ho that is Ciao for you as they put it there supposedly! But anyway, back to the subject in mind.
How do I use the library service?
Well, you have to actually be a member in order to use pretty much any of the facilities that are on offer. It is usually free to join, but there are usually stipulations that you must agree to meet prior to joining:
1. That you are a permanent resident in the area that provides the service. If you live in Devon or Cornwall, then you can't use the service in Avon or Somerset. But even with that said, in Plymouth and Torbay now (both of these being in Devon) they are now separate authorities and so you are only as ...
dynamicnurse 19.08.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Library services
