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end burns down multi-storey building. How? Please tell me how, when I had been trying hard with a naked flame to set light to a piece of wood?
I was not in bed for long. Suddenly I found myself in the middle of the floor, heart a-pounding. About a foot above my head, on the wall, was a "thing" with black legs about two inches long - and it was moving! As I did not have my wife with me I had no alternative but to try and deal with it myself. Rustling up all the courage I could muster, I approached it step by step. I was happy to see that it had not moved any further. Perhaps it was also frightened of me. In fact, it could not have moved at all. In fact, it was three electric wires poking out of the wall - the site of a future reading light. The “movement” was caused by the flicker of the candle. Feeling rather like St. George having at least tried to slay the dragon but rather glad that nobody had been there to witness his attempt, I once more got back into bed.
Bacon hallucinations
The following day started with a welcome lie-in - breakfast at 7:30 a.m. This was a buffet of porridge, congee, hard-boiled eggs, toast, honey and coffee. I had to attribute the strong smell of sizzling bacon to the hallucinations I had suffered the previous night.
The first stop was the nearby Jampey Lhakhang, a temple dating from its first construction in 659, making it one of Bhutan's oldest, although some additions are as recent as the last century. The sun had risen and, yet very cold, the day was warming up. But there was still frost on the ground reflecting in perfect outline the intricate silhouette of the building as the sun cast its shadow. The photographers amongst us were surprised to find, on Day 5 in Bhutan, the first indication of somebody who was unwilling to be photographed. This old gentleman, on his way to his morning devotions, turned out to be the only reluctant subject on the entire trip. Perhaps he himself was a tourist, or maybe he had missed the briefing from the Bhutan Tourist Authority.
Having inspected the temple complex inside and out, we were distracted by loud and continuous shouting coming from a little way below us. A riot? Amongst these charming and friendly people? Or another invasion by the Tibetans, those charming and friendly people