gross [inter]national happiness

So we've discussed this topic between ourselves, and with others, at length. And at one point it looked like we were going to write an entire essay about it on here. Instead we reckon these signs just about sum it up...   Posted with Blogsy

On my Facebook page you may have noticed some chillies and even the odd willy in the 'Beautiful Bhutan' album. Well, let me explain... Bhutan produces a staggering 10,500 tonnes of chillies per year. For a country with only 700,000 inhabitants that is a lot of chilli. Of course some are exported but they eat a lot themselves! You see chillies drying on the roofs of most houses, hanging from windows and even on empty petrol drums in the middle of the street... The most popular dish is Ema Datse - chilli cheese. This is green (hot) and red (real hot) chilli mixed into a cheesey consistency much like cheese sauce you get with macaroni cheese. Kezang and Tshering would have this for breakfast with rice. With breakfast was one step too far for us but we did our best to enjoy it with lunch and dinner. And as for the willies , well,you find them in the form of murals on exterior walls or as wooden carvings hanging from the eaves of homes. They ward off evil spirits and bri

We sit writing this from the business lounge of Paro airport in Bhutan , at the end of a fantastic week in the land of Gross National Happiness. Why the business lounge? Because despite our very best efforts to confirm our flight time (some places said 10.30 while others 13.30) we arrived here at 8.30am to have the 10.30 time confirmed... only to find out an hour later that it was actually going to be 13.30. A bit of persuasion later and hey presto! It's quite a nice lounge at a tiny but cute airport, with a view good enough to see that they almost put my bag on the flight that's about to leave for Bangkok, and with direct access to the runway so Jo could ensure that they didn't. Paro International Airport, Bhutan. Housing a fleet of 3 planes and a very cute business lounge. It's kind of a shame to start this blog post this way though as it's actually been a very good slickly organised week. To come to Bhutan you have to book a government-sanctioned tour, compl

So this mixtape was meant to go with the first post on this here blog, but we just couldn't find enough time to do it before we left. Now we seem to have a lot more free time, which makes us happy... ps. this was put together with an iPad app called Dragontape which, while pretty nifty, ain't no Ableton. Not that we actually know how to use Ableton mind...   Posted with Blogsy

Wow! Kathmandu really is an assault on the senses. Quite something after the long journey. A nice easy journey really. Jet Airways were great. Great films, great food (my vegetarianism began on the flight - fab dahl) and we both slept a few hours. Then a couple of hours wait in Dehli's new International terminal; inaugurated for the Commonwealth Games in 2010 I think. My first time in India started there, when it was a building site and I missed my connection to Goa. I have a lasting memory of young, thin, tired and sad looking women in beautiful bright saris carrying slabs of cement on their heads... As we left the airport terminal at Kathmandu it was great to see "JO GALLAGHER" on a board. The guest house included a free airport pick-up you see. But then Duncan noticed that the guy was from a different guest house to the one we had booked! It turned out this was one I contacted way back who never wrote back to me to confirm. Oh dear... And the driver from the guest