Random Pictures

Because I'm not really in the mood to write at the moment, thought I'd share a few images of this fascinating place.

These first 2 pictures were taken from roughly the same spot, less than a year apart... who says I'm not really working here!? A shopping centre in Thimphu (the capital, just up the road), about the same size as our IT Park, took more than 9 years to construct! And that is not unusual here.


December 2010...(That Buddha statue on the horizon sits atop a shopping mall. Use it as a reference point to view these first 2 pics.)






October 2011...






Failed first attempt at digging a rock pool for the future waterfall...
 



 

Large City Hotel     Traditional Home  (And there's that statue of Buddha again!) Intricate Painting All Hands on Deck Multi-Tasking (Get your buns done here!)  Prayer Flags Send their Messages on the Winds Buddhist Temple Queen's Brother's Home (Not sure which queen, or which brother...) Pagoda in the Park Government Ministers' Enclave My First Apartment (Bloody cold in winter!) Buddha Statue on Shopping Mall  (Yes, the same one as in the first 2 pics! Pay attention...) Archery is the National Sport. But those Carbon Fibre Bows aren't Traditional! The King's Pavilion at the Archery Ground Song and Dance Between Changing Ends at the Archery Tournament

 

Fantastic Fungi

Not long ago, we had need to literally "head upstream", to see why no water was arriving at our site via the hi-tech, state-of-the-art, 3 km long, above ground, 25mm poly pipe that delivers it to us. Without water, we have 120 workers who can't cook, drink or wash, and therefore they, not unjustifiably, close us down for a day by refusing to work. Also, without H2O, it's  impossible to make concrete for our building. And this building needs A LOT of concrete. So up we marched. And luckily, I took my camera.

Normally I take sweeping panoramic shots of distant mountains and forests, but this day, I finally got to try out the macro setting on my 8 years old, $99 "point and shoot" Fuji camera.

Pleasantly surpised with the results, too. I intend to print these pics large, then frame them to hang on my wall. One day.

(Not So!) Brief Background

Early 2010 I travelled to India as a volunteer for an Australian charity. http://www.40k.com.au.
I was project managing the construction of a new home and school for severely underprivileged kids. (Pic below...the hostel is named "The Banyan"). We finished it at the end of 2010 and donated the building to an Indian charity, http://www.lovedalefoundation.org, and I still try to visit the kids monthly.

The Banyan was built from mud bricks which we made on site and sun-cured, from the soil excavated for the basement. 70,000 of them! It's a totally ecologically sound building...minimal glazing to allow breezes in the hot Indian summers, solar hot water, solar electricity, rainwater capture, aligned on Vaastu Shastra principles (Indian Feng Shui).
And my favourite feature, huge grates at the entrance to allow rain into the basement garden that sits between 2 classrooms. Lots of fun in the Monsoon season!

Through that work, I met the head of a large property developing company who had started this project in partnership with the Bhutanese government, building the nation's first IT Park. They were having some problems and delays in this difficult-to-work-in area, and he asked me if I could try and help move things along. Of course, I jumped at the chance.
We have about 120 Indian workers on site, mainly masons, carpenters and general labourers. It's very difficult to get local workers in a country whose entire population is around 680,000. But the local stonemasons and traditional painters are highly skilled artisans.


 
 
 
 
 
 
It was only several weeks into the job that I saw the budget for landscaping and the difficulties of getting it done locally, so grabbed the opportunity myself. I left corporate management in Australia many years ago to become a horticulturist, turf manager and landscape designer, and ran my own company, so this project is a perfect blend of my business/horticultural experience. And an incredible life experience! Such a fascinating country, and a wonderful time to be here, just as it's carefully opening its boundaries to the rest of the world.

 
 
 
 
 
 
TV was only introduced here in 1999, it is illegal to smoke, to use plastic bags, or to fish in the King's rivers. By law, 65% of the country must retain tree cover for perpetuity. I was initially very worried about whether this project was going to do good or be harmful to Bhutan's future, but everyone from the King to the most remote villager wants it.