Bhutan national dress

HPIM0114
Originally uploaded by Robubble

Here I am modelling a half kira, wonju (blouse) and toego (open jacket-like garment) for only the second time. I bought them in the Bhutanese capital Thimphu near the end of our trekking trip to the country in April 2003. The other photo of me in it at our hotel in Paro has been viewed a number of times on Geocities so I thought I would revive it. The fabric is very comfortable being silk and cotton but I haven't tried to move extensively in it. A majority of Bhutanese women wear it daily since it was introduced as the national dress in the 17th century to give the Bhutanese a distinctive identity. It and the male equivalent, the gho, is required wear for Bhutanese at all formal occasions and visits to government and religious buildings. Smaller versions form the school uniforms.

HPIM0114

Booderee National Park

Check out the Flickr photos of us at Booderee NP in the ACT bit of the south coast. It was lovely warm weather so we even managed a short swim (good for May). Ryan had a ball at our campsite at Bristol Point (5 mins walk from Greenpatch). We felt relatively childless with the group of 6 dads from Sydney with their tribe of 15? kids nextdoor plus two other groups with children nearby. Their plan was to run them ragged, put them to bed early and then party. Unfortunately for me their partying on the second night and Ryan's very early wakeup added up to no sleep for me. The first morning we had an infant wake us up at 5.30am. On the second morning the kookaburras let rip at 6am whereupon Ryan stood up from his bed and said "Funny bird". Also rather unfortunate was the birds and animals habituated to feeding from kids. We lost a sausage that I was saving for Ryan and a kookaburra took a cheese sandwich right out of Bob's hand as he was eating it.