Our New Ride

Things are pretty quiet up at the college, we're in the midst of a 2 month break, and so all of the students and most of the faculty have gone to warmer regions. Since much of my research will be in different parts of the country, we decided to buy a car. We we're really in much of a rush, and mentioned it in passing to the administrative manager Tshering (who is quickly becoming our "fixer"), and a couple of hours later she called to let us know that she had found the car, talked down the price, and that they would arrive on Monday so we could check it out. Here it is!



Please note the awesome decals. This is a major selling point.


One thing to note about cars in S. Asia, they are generally smaller, the big cars are mid sized suvs, and only super-important people drive those. As you can see, we have a pretty small car, more like a go-cart than a than anything. If you think I'm joking, then check out this photo of me driving:


Actually, maybe its more like bumpercars. Since you don't really go faster than 25mph here (the roads aren't exactly straight) and every time I've hit someone they just think it's hilarious.

Driving

Rachel and I are likely going to get a car sometime soon. Actually, we mentioned it in passing to the college's administrative manager and a couple hours later she called and said that she had found us a car. Apparently the seller is going to bring it to the campus on monday, so we'll see.

The other day the dean was kind enough to loan us his car to get into town. Let me start by saying that Indian cars are not made for tall men. We are convinced these are the cars that clowns use. Anyways, I only messed up three times driving on the wrong side of the road. Or should I say messed up with three cars. Luckily you can't drive very fast here (the roads are way to twisty), and people are used to unexpected obstacles, so it wasn't a major problem. We got lost, of course, but eventually managed to find downtown Thimphu and got to see more of Bhutan in the process.

Good times. Oh, and some of you already know this, but Bhutan has no traffic lights. They once installed one, but it confused drivers, so they removed it and major intersections are staffed by traffic policemen. If you look closely you can see that he is chatting on his cell phone as he directs traffic (it's illegal to talk on cell phones and drive here).