Monsoon

It has now been raining for almost 40 hours here. And not just a slight drizzle, no: it has been pouring all the time. Roads are blocked because of landslides. Bridges are destroyed. This morning, the whole city had no electricity for about 4 hours. Television is showing (live!) how houses are washed away by flooding rivers.

The government has issued a warning that all travel in the country is forbidden for the moment and that people living near to rivers should evacuate and look for a safer place. They also urged people not to rush to rivers and bridges to watch the spectacle. Now, this idea immediately appealed to me, and I went down to the bridge over the Wang Chu (river) downtown. Great spectacle! The river was big and wild, carrying trees and lots of debris. I even saw a piece of a bridge and an electricity pole passing by.

There were also a few soldiers there, trying to get the people to move on, not to linger on the bridge. Without too much success.

Apart from all of this, Tuesday is Bhutan's national Dry Day. And this means what you might fear it means: all bars are closed on Tuesday. What a horrible idea!!! Luckily Bhutan's black economy is in a very good health :-)

I had a shave and a haircut today, I bought my souvenirs, in short: I'm done here. I hope this rain stops some time soon, so that we can get to the airport (some 50 km from here). And if we manage to get there, I hope they reopen it by then. Well, Inch Allah - oops sorry, wrong religion. Should be something like "If Buddha will allow it".