Today we waited for confirmation of an interview with a Buddhist Master –

Waiting for Buddot…

(Obscure reference, I know…)

While waiting we did several things:

• We saw an archery tournament.
• We went to the Central Markets.
• We had coffee, proper coffee, and I watched the AFL Grand Final.
• We scouted a location for filming tomorrow – one of the world’s largest Buddhas
• We shot at the country’s National Stupa.

Archery – 
Archery is Bhutan’s national sport. We were astonished that these archers could hit the target with such accuracy from 150m.

After an archer hits the target his team members do a little war dance. It’s very cute.

Central Markets –
Have you ever seen markets this clean? Not one piece of trash on the ground. Immaculate.

And the thing about this market, all the produce is organic.
Yes, organic.
Real fruit and veggies, without chemicals. Like in the old days…

Organic fruit and veggies is one of Bhutan’s chief exports.

At the Thimphu Central Markets you can even buy wild orchids to eat!

And they had a tin of ANZAC bikkies which was used as a cash tin.

As I say, they are very fussy about cleanliness…

Karma Cafe – 

We had coffee at Karma Cafe, and I watched the Aussie Rules Grand Final via streaming. Saw the Hawks trounce the Eagles.

I barracked for the Hawks, seeing as how my team – the Sydney Swans – bowed out early.

Giant Buddha –
We drove out of town for about 16 minutes until we reached a hilltop where a giant statue of the Buddha is being built.

I wanted to scout the location for when we return tomorrow to film at first light.

It’s one of the largest Buddhas in the world.

The wind blew Jennifer’s dupatta –

And Pieter’s hat –

You can walk inside the giant Buddha – I took a shot of our guide, Kezung, and our driver, Dorji.

National Stupa –
This evening we shot at the National Memorial Stupa – the Stupa Chorten – which is right opposite our hotel.

This is a very low budget production and so our lighting kit for shots of me looking at the Stupa consisted of an iPhone torch…

Tomorrow we head out of Thimphu on a three hour drive to a city that was once the ancient capital of Bhutan. We’re camping overnight, and so there may not be any internet, and hence no blog…

Here’s a shot to finish this blog…

We were walking around the markets and I’d lined up to shoot the curtain over the doorway, and suddenly this bloke popped out and I took this picture…

It’s one of my favourites…