[
    {
        "id": 215473,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-2001",
        "page_number": 250,
        "title": "RAS-2001",
        "content_text": "199\n\nsnoozed for a lot of the way.\n\nHappily, I was awake when we arrived at the Riverview Hotel because there was a large banner on the front of the building, welcoming us to Bhutan and to the hotel. Mobile 'phones have not yet arrived in Bhutan, and not everywhere has an international dialling service. Thimpu, however, being the country's capital, offers this service at its major hotels. So I made a quick two-minute call to Hong Kong to report in. Two minutes after that there was a knock on my door. A member of the hotel staff was asking if I would like to pay for my phone call now - US$51! A big chunk of my spending money went, just like that - but what a worthy cause!\n\nDinner that night was rather special, preceded by a cocktail reception hosted by our local tour company, Etho Metho. There was Bhutanese music, singing and dancing. Like many similar experiences, appreciation of Bhutanese music is an acquired art. It really did seem to me that the musicians misinterpreted our applause, for each time we clapped they appeared to play the same piece again. But I guess that is just my ignorance showing through. I had a long and interesting conversation with Aum Dago Beda, a most impressive lady and the company's urbane managing director. After dinner there was a thorough and rather complex (for my IQ) briefing from Brian who promised us 'a full day' for the morrow. He was not wrong.\n\nA peer through the gate\n\nDay 3, the eve of Losar (the Bhutanese New Year) started with a fairly leisurely 7:00 a.m. breakfast and 8:00 a.m. departure for the Queen Mother's formal residence. This is set in a very secluded spot up the valley from the capital city. Her estate has a lot of trees in the grounds and a very impressive entrance gate - and that is all we were allowed to see. Usually, tourists were not even able to get as far as the gate, so I suppose we were privileged.\n\nPerhaps one of the most photographed buildings in Bhutan is the Tashichho Dzong, our next destination. This is the seat of government and houses the offices of the majority of government departments. As the King is the head of the government, a role he plays similar to that of the chief executive of a large corporation, a great deal of respect has",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 215474,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-2001",
        "page_number": 251,
        "title": "RAS-2001",
        "content_text": "200\n\nto be shown whilst in the vicinity of his head office. Government and other official visitors have to observe a certain dress code - a white shawl has to be draped over the shoulder for male visitors, and a colourful shoulder band for females. We were not allowed past the guard at the beginning of the entrance path, but even so I was asked to take my hat off (one of the very few times that I did).\n\nThe Tashichho Dzong is ginormous, and driving straight up to the front door, so to speak, does not give one the opportunity of seeing it in proper perspective. Therefore, we drove up a nearby hill to a vantage point (covered, as most are in Bhutan, by flapping colourful prayer flags) from where we could appreciate how the building dominates its setting.\n\nAs soon as this had been appreciated, and photographs taken to prove it, once more it was 'all aboard.' No organised tourist trail is complete without a visit to a local industry. Ours was the Jungshi Handmade Paper Factory. Here, in a building about the size of a double garage, half a dozen people were making excellent quality paper from the roots of the daphne plant. I often find myself amazed by the course of human progress. I mean, how on earth, with the thousands of species available in Bhutan, did they find this particular plant, mash up its roots with water, spread the mush on a bamboo sushi roller, dry it and say: 'Do you know, I think I have found a way of making paper!'\n\nSpreading the word\n\nThere was an awful lot of paper at our next port of call - the National Library. We had an appointment for 11:00 a.m. to meet the Director, but it turned out that he was busy with a previous visitor. Would we please wait for 20 minutes? Our energetic tour leader is not a man to wait and so the time was usefully filled by visiting the nearby Folk Heritage Museum. This was rather nicely done, being set in a typical farmhouse and containing examples of every sort of rural implement and artefact - perhaps more than had ever before graced the insides of any one farmer's dwelling.\n\nHis other business by now done, Mynak Rinpoche Tulku, the Director of the National Library of Bhutan, was ready to receive us and he looked every inch the Director. Resplendent in his go he greeted",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g",
        "rank": 0
    }
]